(Arjunabhigamana Parva)
Vaisampayana said, "Hearing that the Pandavas had been banished, the
Bhojas, the Vrishnis, and the Andhakas went to those heroes residing in
affliction in the great forest. And the consanguinous relatives of
Panchala, and Dhrishtaketu the king of Chedi, and those celebrated and
powerful brothers the Kaikeyas, their hearts fired with wrath, went to
the forest to see the sons of Pritha. And reproaching the sons of
Dhritarashtra, they said, 'What should we do?' And those bulls of the
Kshatriya race, with Vasudeva at their head, sat themselves down round
Yudhishthira the just. And respectfully saluting that foremost of the
Kurus, Kesava mournfully said, 'The earth shall drink the blood of
Duryodhana and Karna, of Dussasana and the wicked Sakuni! Slaying these
in battle and defeating their followers along with their royal allies,
will we all install Yudhishthira the just on the throne! The wicked
deserve to be slain! Verily, this is eternal morality.'"
Vaisampayana continued, "And when on account of the wrongs of Pritha's
sons, Janardana had thus got into a passion, and seemed bent upon
consuming all created things, Arjuna exerted himself to pacify him. And
beholding Kesava angry, Phalguna began to recite the feats achieved in
his former lives by that soul of all things, himself immeasurable, the
eternal one, of infinite energy, the lord of _Prajapati_ himself, the
supreme ruler of the worlds, Vishnu of profound wisdom!'
"Arjuna said, 'In days of old, thou, O Krishna, hadst wandered on the
Gandhamadana mountains for ten thousand years as a _Muni_ having his
home where evening fell! Living upon water alone, thou hadst, in days of
old, O Krishna, also dwelt for full eleven thousand years by the lake of
Pushkara! And, O slayer of Madhu, with arms upraised and standing on one
leg, thou hadst passed a hundred years on the high hills of Vadari,[16]
living all the while upon air! And leaving aside thy upper garment, with
body emaciated and looking like a bundle of veins, thou hadst lived on
the banks of the Saraswati, employed in thy sacrifice extending for
twelve years! And, O Krishna of mighty energy, in observance of thy vow
thou hadst stood on one leg for the length of a thousand years of the
celestials, on the plains of _Prabhasa_ which it behoveth the virtuous
to visit! Vyasa hath told me that thou art the cause of the creation and
its course! And, O Kesava, the lord of _Kshetra_,[17] thou art the mover
of all minds, and the beginning and end of all things! All asceticism
resteth in thee, and thou too art the embodiment of all sacrifices, and
the eternal one! Slaying the Asura Naraka, offspring of the Earth-first
begotten, thou hadst obtained his ear-rings, and performed, O Krishna,
the first horse-sacrifice (offering up that Asura as the sacrificial
horse)! And, O bull of all the worlds, having performed that feat, thou
hast become victorious over all! Thou hadst slain all the _Daityas_ and
_Danavas_ mustered in battle, and giving the lord of _Sachi_ (Indra) the
sovereignty of the universe, thou hast, O Kesava of mighty arms, taken
thy birth among men! O slayer of all foes, having floated on the
primordial waters, thou subsequently becamest _Hari_,[18] and _Brahma_
and _Surya_ and _Dharma_, and _Dhatri_ and _Yama_ and _Anala_ and
_Vasu_, and _Vaisravana_, and _Rudra_, and _Kala_ and the firmament, the
earth, and the ten directions! Thyself increate, thou art the lord of
the mobile and the immobile universe, the Creator of all, O thou
foremost of all existences! And, O slayer of Madhu, O thou of abundant
energy, in the forest of Chitraratha thou didst, O Krishna, gratify with
thy sacrifice the chief of all the gods, the highest of the high! O
Janardana, at each sacrifice thou didst offer, according to shares, gold
by hundreds and thousands. And, O son of the Yadava race, becoming the
son of Aditi, O exalted one of the supreme attributes, thou hast been
known as the younger brother of Indra! And, O thou chastiser of foes,
even while a child thou didst, O Krishna, in consequence of thy energy,
fill by three steps only the heaven, the firmament, and the earth! And,
O thou soul of all covering the heaven and the firmament (while thou
wert thus transformed), thou didst dwell in the body of the sun and
afflict him with thy own splendour! And, O exalted one, in thy
incarnations on those thousand occasions, thou hadst slain, O Krishna,
sinful Asuras by hundreds! By destroying the _Mauravas_ and the
_Pashas_, and slaying Nisunda and Naraka, thou hast again rendered safe
the road to Pragjyotisha! Thou hast slain Ahvriti at Jaruthi, and Kratha
and Sisupala with his adherents, and Jarasandha and Saivya and
Satadhanwan! And on thy car roaring like unto clouds and effulgent like
the sun, thou didst obtain for thy queen the daughter of Bhoja,
defeating Rukmi in battle! Thou didst in fury slay Indradyumna and the
_Yavana_ called Kaseruman! And slaying Salwa the lord of Saubha, thou
didst destroy that city of Saubha itself! These have all been slain in
battle; listen to me as I speak of others (also slain by thee)! At
Iravati thou hast slain king Bhoja equal unto Karttavirya in battle, and
both Gopati and Talaketu also have been slain by thee! And, O Janardana,
thou hast also appropriated unto thyself the sacred city of Dwarka,
abounding in wealth and agreeable unto the _Rishi_ themselves, and thou
wilt submerge it at the end within the ocean! O slayer of Madhu, how can
crookedness be in thee, devoid as thou art, O thou of the Dasarha race,
of anger and envy and untruth and cruelty? O thou who knowest no
deterioration, all the _Rishis_, coming unto thee seated in thy glory on
the sacrificial ground, seek protection of thee! And, O slayer of Madhu,
thou stayest at the end of the _Yuga_, contracting all things and
withdrawing this universe into thy own self, thou repressor of all foes!
O thou of the Vrishni race, at the beginning of the Yuga, there sprang
from thy lotus-like navel, Brahma himself, and lord of all mobile and
immobile things, and whose is this entire universe! When the dreadful
Danavas Madhu and Kaitava were bent on slaying Brahma, beholding their
impious endeavour thou wert angry, and from thy forehead, O Hari, sprang
Sambhu, the holder of the trident. Thus these two foremost of the
deities have sprung from thy body in order to do thy work! Even Narada
it was who hath told me this! O Narayana, thou didst, in the forest of
Chaitraratha, celebrate with plentiful gifts a grand sacrifice
consisting of a multitude of rites! O God, O thou of eyes like lotus
leaves, the deeds thou hast performed while still a boy, having recourse
to thy might and aided by Baladeva, have never been done by others, nor
are they capable of being achieved by others in the future! Thou didst
even dwell in Kailasa, accompanied by Brahmanas!'"
[16] Also called _Vadarika_, a hermitage on the Himalaya near
the sources of the Ganges.
[17] Nilakantha explains _kshetra_ as including _Mahabhuta_,
consciousness, intellect, the unmanifest (primordial elements),
the ten senses, the five objects of the senses, viz., earth,
water, &c., desire, aversion, pleasure, pain, the combinations
of elements, and _chaitanya_.
[18] _Hari_ here means the developed seed that is to expand into
the vast whole of the universe.
Vaisampayana continued, "Having addressed Krishna thus, the illustrious
Pandava, who was the soul of Krishna, became dumb, when Janardana (in
reply addressed that son of Pritha) saying, 'Thou art mine and I am
thine, while all that is mine is thine also! He that hateth thee hateth
me as well, and he that followeth thee followeth me! O thou
irrepressible one, thou art _Nara_ and I am _Narayana_ or Hari! We are
the _Rishis_ Nara and Narayana born in the world of men for a special
purpose. O Partha, thou art from me and I am from thee! O bull of the
Bharata race, no one can understand the difference that is between us!'"
Vaisampayana continued, "When the illustrious Kesava had said so in the
midst of that assembly of brave kings, all excited with anger, Panchali
surrounded by Dhrishtadyumna and her other heroic brothers, approached
him of eyes like lotus leaves seated with his cousins, and, desirous of
protection, addressed in angry accents that refuge of all, saying,
'Asita and Devala have said that in the matter of the creation of all
things, thou hast been indicated (by the sages) as the only _Prajapati_
and the Creator of all the worlds! And, O irrepressible one, Jamadagnya
sayeth that thou art _Vishnu_, and, O slayer of Madhu, that thou art
(embodiment of) _Sacrifice, Sacrificer_ and he for whom the sacrifice is
performed! And, O best of male beings, the _Rishis_ indicate thee as
Forgiveness and Truth! Kasyapa hath said that thou art Sacrifice sprung
from Truth! O exalted one, Narada calleth thee the god of the Sadhyas,
and of the Sivas, as alone the Creator and the Lord of all things. And,
O tiger among men, thou repeatedly sportest with the gods including
Brahma and Sankara and Sakra even as children sporting with their toys!
And, O exalted one, the firmament is covered by thy head, and the earth
by thy feet; these worlds are as thy womb and thou art the Eternal one!
With _Rishis_ sanctified by Vedic lore and asceticism, and whose souls
have been purified by penance, and who are contented with soul-vision,
thou art the best of all objects! And, O chief of all male beings, thou
art the refuge of all royal sages devoted to virtuous acts, never
turning their backs on the field of the battle, and possessed of every
accomplishment! Thou art the Lord of all, thou art Omnipresent, thou art
the Soul of all things, and thou art the active power pervading
everything! The rulers of the several worlds, those worlds themselves,
the stellar conjunctions, the ten points of the horizon, the firmament,
the moon, and the sun, are all established in thee! And, O mighty-armed
one, the morality of (earthly) creatures, the immortality of the
universe, are established in thee! Thou art the Supreme lord of all
creatures, celestial or human! Therefore it is, O slayer of Madhu, that
impelled by the affection thou bearest me that I will relate to thee my
griefs! O Krishna, how could one like me, the wife of Pritha's sons, the
sister of Dhrishtadyumna, and the friend of thee, be dragged to the
assembly! Alas, during my season, stained with blood, with but a single
cloth on, trembling all over, and weeping, I was dragged to the court of
the Kurus! Beholding me, stained with blood in the presence of those
kings in the assembly, the wicked sons of Dhritarashtra laughed at me! O
slayer of Madhu, while the sons of Pandu and the Panchalas and the
Vrishnis lived, they dared express the desire of using me as their
slave! O Krishna, I am according to the ordinance, the daughter in-law
of both Dhritarashtra and Bhishma! Yet, O slayer of Madhu, they wished
to make of me a slave by force! I blame the Pandavas who are mighty and
foremost in battle, for they saw (without stirring) their own wedded
wife known over all the world, treated with such cruelty! Oh, fie on the
might of Bhimasena, fie on the _Gandiva_ of Arjuna, for they, O
Janardana, both suffered me to be thus disgraced by little men! This
eternal course of morality is ever followed by the virtuous--_viz_, that
the husband, however weak, protecteth his wedded wife! By protecting the
wife one protecteth his offspring and by protecting the offspring one
protecteth his own self! One's own self is begotten on one's wife, and
therefore it is that the wife is called _Jaya_. A wife also should
protect her lord, remembering that he is to take his birth in her womb!
The Pandavas never forsake the person that soliciteth their protection,
and yet they abandoned me who solicited it! By my five husbands five
sons of exceeding energy have been born of me: Prativindhya by
Yudhishthira, Sutasoma by Vrikodara, Srutakirti by Arjuna, Satanika by
Nakula and Srutakarman by the youngest, all of them of energy that
cannot be baffled. For their sake, O Janardana, it was necessary to
protect me! Even as (thy son) Pradyumna, they are, O Krishna, mighty
warriors all! They are foremost of bowmen, and invincible in battle by
any foe! Why do they bear the wrongs inflicted (on me) by the sons of
Dhritarashtra of such contemptible strength? Deprived of their kingdom
by deception, the Pandavas were made bondsmen and I myself was dragged
to the assembly while in my season, and having only a single cloth on!
Fie on that _Gandiva_ which none else can string save Arjuna and Bhima
and thyself, O slayer of Madhu! Fie on the strength of Bhima, and fie on
the prowess of Arjuna, since, O Krishna, Duryodhana (after what he had
done) hath drawn breath even for a moment! He it is, O slayer of Madhu,
who formerly drove the guileless Pandavas with their mother from the
kingdom, while they were children still engaged in study and the
observance of their vows. It is that sinful wretch, who, horrible to
relate, mixed in Bhima's food fresh and virulent poison in full dose.
But, O Janardana, Bhima digested that poison with the food, without
sustaining any injury, for, O best of men and mighty-armed one, Bhima's
days had not been ended! O Krishna, it is Duryodhana who at the house
standing by the banyan called _Pramana_ bound Bhima sleeping
unsuspectingly, and casting him into the Ganges returned to the city.
But the powerful Bhimasena the son of Kunti, possessed of mighty arms,
on waking from sleep, tore his bonds and rose from the water. It is
Duryodhana, who caused venomous black cobras to bite all over the body
of Bhimasena, but that slayer of foes died not. Awaking, the son of
Kunti smashed all the serpents and with his left hand killed (the agent,
_viz_.) the favourite charioteer of Duryodhana. Again, while the
children were asleep at Varanavata with their mother, it is he who set
fire to the house intending to burn them to death. Who is there capable
of doing such an act? It was then that the illustrious Kunti, overtaken
by this calamity, and surrounded by the flames, began to cry out in
terror, speaking to the children, "Alas, I am undone! How shall we
escape from this fire today! Alas, I shall meet with destruction with my
little children!" Then Bhima, possessed of mighty arms, and prowess like
unto the force of the wind, comforted his illustrious mother as also his
brothers, saying, "Like that king of birds, Garuda, the son of Vinata, I
will spring up into the air. We have no fear from this fire." And then
taking his mother on his left flank, and the king in his right, and the
twins on each shoulder, and Vibhatsu on his back, the mighty Vrikodara,
thus taking all of them, at one leap cleared the fire and delivered his
mother and brother from the conflagration. Setting out that night with
their renowned mother, they came near the forest of Hidimva. And while
fatigued and distressed, they were sleeping fast with her, a Rakshasa
woman called Hidimva approached them. Beholding the Pandavas with their
mother asleep on the ground, influenced by desire she sought to have
Bhimasena for her lord. The weak one then took up Bhima's feet on her
lap to press them with her soft hands. The mighty Bhima of immeasurable
energy, of prowess that could not be baffled, then woke from sleep, and
asked her, saying, "O thou of faultless features, what dost thou wish
here?" Thus asked by him, the Rakshasa lady of faultless features,
capable, besides, of assuming any form at will, replied unto the
high-souled Bhima, saying, "Do ye speedily fly from this place! My
brother gifted with strength will come to slay ye! Therefore speed and
tarry not!" But Bhima haughtily said, "I do not fear him! If he cometh
here, I will slay him!" Hearing their converse, that vilest of cannibals
came to the spot. Of frightful form and dreadful to behold, uttering
loud cries as he came, the Rakshasa said, "O Hidimva, with whom dost
thou converse? Bring him unto me, I will eat him up. It behoveth thee to
tarry not." But moved by compassion, the Rakshasa lady of faultless
features and pure heart said nothing out of pity. Then the man-eating
monster, uttering dreadful cries, rushed at Bhima with great force. And
approaching him furiously, the mighty cannibal, possessed with rage,
caught hold of Bhima's hand with his own and clenching fast his other
hand and making it hard as the thunder-bolt of Indra, suddenly struck
Bhima a blow that descended with the force of lightning. His hand having
been seized by the Rakshasa, Vrikodara, without being able to brook it,
flew into a rage. Then a dreadful combat took place between Bhimasena
and Hidimva, both skilled in all weapons and which was like unto the
encounter of Vasava with Vritra. And, O sinless one, after sporting with
the Rakshasa for a long while the powerful Bhima of mighty energy slew
the cannibal when the latter had become weak with exertion. Then having
slain Hidimva, and taking (his sister) Hidimva at their head, of whom
was (subsequently) born Ghatotkacha, Bhima and his brothers went away.
Then all those repressers of their foes, accompanied by their mother and
surrounded by many Brahmanas proceeded towards Ekachakra. In the matter
of this their journey, Vyasa ever engaged in their welfare had become
their counsellor. Then arriving at Ekachakra, the Pandavas of rigid vows
there also slew a mighty cannibal, Vaka by name, terrible as Hidimva
himself. And having slain that fierce cannibal, Bhima that foremost of
smiters, went with all his brothers to the capital of Drupada. And, O
Krishna, as thou hadst acquired Rukmim, the daughter of Bhishmaka, even
so Savyasachin, while residing there, obtained me! O slayer of Madhu,
Arjuna won me in the _Swayamvara_, having performed a feat difficult of
achievement by others and having fought also with the assembled kings!
"'Thus, O Krishna, afflicted with numerous griefs, and in great
distress, am I living, with Dhaumya at our head, but deprived of the
company of the adorable Kunti! Why do these that are gifted with
strength and possessed of the prowess of the lion, sit indifferently,
beholding me thus afflicted by enemies so despicable? Suffering such
wrongs at the hands of wicked and evil-doing foes of small strength, am
I to burn in grief so long? Born I was in a great race, coming into the
world in an extraordinary way! I am also the beloved wife of the
Pandavas, and the daughter-in-law of the illustrious Pandu! The foremost
of women and devoted to my husbands, even I, O Krishna, was seized by
hair, O slayer of Madhu, in the sight of the Pandavas, each of whom is
like an Indra himself!'
"Saying this the mild-speeched Krishna hid her face with her soft hands
like the buds of lotus, and began to weep. And the tears of Panchali
begot of grief washed her deep, plump and graceful breasts crowned with
auspicious marks. And wiping her eyes and sighing frequently she said
these words angrily and in a choked voice, 'Husbands, or sons, or
friends, or brothers, or father, have I none! Nor have I thee, O thou
slayer of Madhu, for ye all, beholding me treated so cruelly by inferior
foes, sit still unmoved! My grief at Karna's ridicule is incapable of
being assuaged! On these grounds I deserve to be ever protected by thee,
O Kesava, _viz_., our relationship, thy respect (for me), our
friendship, and thy lordship (over me).'"
Vaisampayana continued, "In that assembly of heroes Vasudeva then spake
unto the weeping Draupadi as follows, 'O fair lady, the wives of those
with whom thou art angry, shall weep even like thee, beholding their
husbands dead on the ground, weltering in blood and their bodies covered
with the arrows of Vivatsu! Weep not, lady, for I will exert to the
utmost of my powers for the sons of Pandu! I promise thou shalt (once
more) be the queen of kings! The heavens might fall, or the Himavat
might split, the earth might be rent, or the waters of the ocean might
dry up, but my words shall never be futile!' Hearing those words of
Achyuta in reply, Draupadi looked obliquely at her third husband
(Arjuna). And, O mighty king, Arjuna said unto Draupadi, 'O thou of
beautiful coppery eyes, grieve not! O illustrious one, it shall be even
as the slayer of Madhu hath said! It can never be otherwise, O beautiful
one!'
"Dhrishtadyumna said, 'I will slay Drona, Sikhandin will slay the
grandfather. And Bhimasena will slay Duryodhana, and Dhananjaya will
slay Karna. And, O sister, assisted by Rama and Krishna, we are
invincible in battle by even the slayer himself of Vritra--what are the
sons of Dhritarashtra?'"
Vaisampayana continued, "After these words had been spoken, all the
heroes there turned their faces towards Vasudeva, who then in their
midst began to speak as follows."