Janamejaya said, "O thou of ascetic wealth! when the sons of Pandu and
the Vrishnis reached the holy spot Prabhasa, what did they do and what
conversation was held there by them, for all of them were of mighty
souls, proficient in all the branches of science and both the Vrishnis
and the sons of Pandu held one another in friendly estimation."
Vaisampayana said, "When the Vrishnis reached the holy spot Prabhasa, the
sacred landing-place on the coast of the sea, they surrounded the sons
of Pandu and waited upon them. Then Valarama, resembling in hue the milk
of the cow and the Kunda flower and the moon and the silver and the
lotus root and who wore a wreath made of wild flowers and who had the
ploughshare for his arms, spake to the lotuseyed one, saying, 'O
Krishna, I do not see that the practice of virtue leads to any good or
that unrighteous practices can cause evil, since the magnanimous
Yudhishthira is in this miserable state, with matted hair, a resident of
the wood, and for his garment wearing the bark of trees. And Duryodhana
is now ruling the earth, and the ground doth not yet swallow him up.
From this, a person of limited sense would believe a vicious course of
life is preferable to a virtuous one. When Duryodhana is in a
flourishing state and Yudhishthira, robbed of his throne, is suffering
thus, what should people do in such a matter?--This is the doubt that is
now perplexing all men. Here is the lord of men sprung from the god of
virtue, holding fast to a righteous path, strictly truthful and of a
liberal heart. This son of Pritha would give up his kingdom and his
pleasure but would not swerve from the righteous path, in order to
thrive. How is it that Bhishma and Kripa and the Brahmana Drona and the
aged king, the senior member of the house, are living happily, after
having banished the sons of Pritha? Fie upon the vicious-minded leaders
of Bharata's race! What will that sinner, the chieftain of the earth,
say to the departed forefathers of his race, when the wretch will meet
them in the world to come? Having hurled from the throne his
in-offensive sons, will he be able to declare that he had treated them
in a blameless way? He doth not now see with his mind's eye how he hath
become so sightless, and on account of what act he hath grown blind
among the kings of this entire earth. Is it not because he hath banished
Kunti's son from his kingdom? I have no doubt that Vichitravirya's son,
when he with his sons perpetrated this inhuman act, beheld on the spot
where dead bodies are burnt, flowering trees of a golden hue. Verily he
must have asked them, when those stood before him with their shoulders
projected forward towards him, and with their large red eyes staring at
him, and he must have listened to their evil advice, since he fearlessly
sent away Yudhishthira to the forest, who had all his weapons of war
with him and was borne company by his younger brothers. This Bhima here,
whose voracious appetite is like that of a wolf, is able to destroy with
the sole strength of his powerful arms, and without the help of any
weapons of war, a formidable array of hostile troops. The forces in the
field of battle were utterly unmanned on hearing his war-cry. And now
the strong one is suffering from hunger and thirst, and is emaciated
with toilsome journeys. But when he will take up in his hand arrows and
diverse other weapons of war, and meet his foes in the field of battle,
he will then remember the sufferings of his exceedingly miserable
forest-life, and kill his enemies to a man: of a certainty do I
anticipate this. There is not throughout the whole world a single soul
who can boast of strength and prowess equal to his. And his body, alas!
is emaciated with cold, and heat and winds. But when he will stand up
for fight, he will not leave a single man out of his foes. This powerful
hero, who is a very great warrior when mounted on a car--this Bhima, of
appetite rivalling a wolf's conquered single-handed all the rulers of
men in the east, together with, those who followed them in battle; and
he returned from those wars safe and uninjured. And that same Bhima,
miserably dressed in the bark of trees, is now leading a wretched life
in the woods. This powerful Sahadeva vanquished all the kings in the
south; those lords of men who had gathered on the coast of the
sea,--look at him now in an anchorite's dress. Valiant in battle Nakula
vanquished single-handed the kings who ruled the regions towards the
west,--and he now walks about the wood, subsisting on fruit and roots,
with a matted mass of hair on the head, and his body besmeared all over
with dirt. This daughter of a king, who is a great soldier when mounted
on a car, took her rise from beneath the altar, during the pomp of
sacrificial rites. She hath been always accustomed to a life of
happiness; how is she now enduring this exceedingly miserable life in
this wood! And the son of the god of virtue,--virtue which stands at the
head of all the three pursuits of life--and the son of the wind-god and
also the son of the lord of celestials, and those two sons of the
celestial physicians,--being the sons of all those gods and always
accustomed to a life of happiness, how are they living in this wood,
deprived of all comforts? When the son of Virtue met with defeat and
when his wife, his brothers, his followers, and himself were all driven
forth, and Duryodhana began to flourish, why did not the earth subside
with all its hills?'"