by the Pandavas!  At this my heart is greatly pained!  That hero through whose grace those mighty car-warriors, the royal sons of Kunti, as also many other lords of Earth, have become maharathas, alas, hearing of the slaughter of that great bowman of sure aim, Drona, by Dhrishtadyumna, my heart is exceedingly pained!  Those two had not in the world a person equal to them in (knowledge and use of) the four kinds of weapons!  Alas, hearing of the slaughter of these two, Bhishma and Drona, in battle my heart is exceedingly pained!  That warrior who had not in the three worlds a person equal to him in knowledge of weapons, alas, hearing of the slaughter of that hero, Drona, what did the people of my side do?  After the high-souled son of Pandu, Dhananjaya, exerting himself with prowess, had despatched unto Yama’s abode the strong force of the samsaptakas, after the Narayana weapon of the intelligent son of Drona had been baffled, and after the (Kaurava) divisions had begun to fly away, what, indeed, did the people of my side do?  I think that, after Drona’s death my troops, flying away and sinking in an ocean of grief, resembled shipwrecked mariners struggling on the bosom of the vast deep.  What also, O Sanjaya, became the colour of the faces of Duryodhana, and Karna, and Kritavarma the chief of the Bhojas and Shalya, the ruler of the Madras, and of my remaining sons, and of the others, when the Kuru divisions fled away from the field?  Tell me all this as it truly happened in battle, O son of Gavalgana, and describe to me the prowess put forth by the Pandavas and the warriors of my side!”

“Sanjaya said, ’O sire, hearing all that has happened unto the Kauravas through thy fault, thou shouldst not feel any anguish!  He that is wise never feeleth any pain at what Destiny bringeth!  And since Destiny is unconquerable, human purposes may or may not become attainable.  Hence, he that is wise never feeleth pain on the acquisition or the reverse of the objects cherished by him.

“Dhritarashtra said, ’I do not feel great pain, O Sanjaya!  I regard all this to be the result of Destiny!  Tell me all that thou wishest!’”

3

“Sanjaya said, ’Upon the fall of the great bowman Drona, thy sons, those mighty car-warriors, became pale and deprived of their senses.  Armed with weapons, all of them, O monarch, hung down their heads.  Afflicted with grief and without looking at one another, they stood perfectly silent.  Beholding them with such afflicted countenances, thy troops, O Bharata, themselves perturbed by grief, vacantly gazed upwards.  Seeing Drona slain in battle, the weapons of many of them, O king, dyed with blood, dropped from their hands.  Innumerable weapons, again, O Bharata, still retained in the grasp of the soldiers, seemed in their pendent attitude, to resemble falling meteors in the sky.  Then king Duryodhana, O monarch, beholding that army of thine thus standing as if paralysed and lifeless, said, “Relying upon the might of your army I