scratches her hips and without being desirous of giving it, says these cruel words, ’Let no man ask any vinegar of me that is so dear to me.  I would give him my son, I would give him my husband, but vinegar I would not give.’  The young Madraka maidens, we hear, are generally very shameless and hairy and gluttonous and impure.  These and many other things of a like nature, in respect of all their acts, from the crown of their heads to the tip of their toes, are capable of being asserted of them by myself and others.  How, indeed, would the Madrakas and the Sindhu-Sauviras know anything of duty, being born, as they are, in a sinful country, being mlecchas in their practices, and being totally regardless of all duties?  It hath been heard by us that even this is the highest duty of a kshatriya, viz., that slain in battle, he should lie down on the Earth, applauded by the righteous.  That I should lay down (my life) in this clash of arms is my foremost wish, desirous as I am of heaven through Death.  I am also the dear friend of the intelligent son of Dhritarashtra.  For his sake are my life-breaths and whatever wealth I have!  As regards thyself, O thou that art born in a sinful country, it is evident that thou hast been tampered with by the Pandavas, since thou behavest towards us in everything like a foe.  Like a righteous man that is incapable of being led astray by atheists, surely I am incapable of being dissuaded from this battle by hundreds of persons like thee.  Like a deer, covered with sweat, thou art at liberty to weep or thirst.  Observant as I am of the duties of a kshatriya, I am incapable of being frightened by thee.  I recall to my mind the end, declared unto me in past times by my preceptor Rama, of those lions among men, those unreturning heroes, that laid down their lives in battle.  Prepared for rescuing the Kauravas and slaying our foes, know that I am now determined to imitate the excellent behaviour of Pururavas.  I do not, O ruler of the Madrakas, behold the person in the three worlds that can, I think, dissuade me from this purpose.  Forbear to speak, knowing all this.  Why dost thou rave in such a way from fear?  O wretch amongst the Madrakas, I shall not now slay thee and present thy carcase as an offering to carnivorous creatures.  From regard for a friend, O Shalya, for the sake of Dhritarashtra’s son, and for avoiding blame, for these three reasons, thou still livest.  If, O ruler of the Madras, thou speakest such words again, I shall then crush thy head with my mace that is as hard as the thunder.  People will today see or hear, O thou that art born in a sinful country, either that the two Krishnas have slain Karna or that Karna has slain the two Krishnas.”  Having said these words, the son of Radha, O monarch, once more addressed the king of the Madras, fearlessly saying, “Proceed, proceed.’”

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