Vaisampayana said,--"O monarch, it was then that the virtuous Gandhari,
afflicted with grief on account of her affection for her sons,
addressed king Dhritarashtra and said, 'When Duryodhana was born,
Vidura of great intelligence had said, "It is well to send this
disgrace of the race to the other world. He cried repeatedly and
dissonantly like a jackal. It is certain he will prove the destruction
of our race." Take this to heart, O king of the Kurus. O Bharata, sink
not, for thy own fault, into an ocean of calamity. O lord, accord not
thy approbation to the counsels of the wicked ones of immature years.
Be not thou the cause of the terrible destruction of this race. Who is
there that will break an embankment which hath been completed, or
re-kindle a conflagration which hath been extinguished? O bull of the
Bharata race, who is there that will provoke the peaceful sons of
Pritha? Thou rememberest, O Ajamida, everything, but still I will call
thy attention to this. The scriptures can never control the
wicked-minded for good or evil. And, O king, a person of immature
understanding will never act as one of mature years. Let thy sons
follow thee as their leader. Let them not be separated from thee for
ever (by losing their lives). Therefore, at my word, O king, abandon
this wretch of our race. Thou couldst not, O king, from parental
affection, do it before. Know that the time hath come for the
destruction of race through him. Err not, O king. Let thy mind, guided
by counsels of peace, virtue, and true policy, be what it naturally is.
That prosperity which is acquired by the aid of wicked acts, is soon
destroyed; while that which is won by mild means taketh root and
descendeth from generation to generation.'
"The king, thus addressed by Gandhari who pointed out to him in such
language the path of virtue, replied unto her, saying,--'If the
destruction of our race is come, let it take place freely. I am ill
able to prevent it. Let it be as they (these my sons) desire. Let the
Pandavas return. And let my sons again gamble with the sons of Pandu.'"