Mahabharata -Chakravarti Rajagopalachari
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47. PROMISE FULFILLED
What business have men learned in the Vedas, who love and praise their enemies, got here?" said he sneeringly. Aswatthama, Drona's son and Kripa's nephew, could not hear unmoved this sneer at the venerable teachers. He said sternly to Karna: "We have not yet taken the king back to Hastinapura, and the battle is yet to be won. Your brag is idle vainglory. It may be that we are not kshatriyas and that we belong to the class that recites the Vedas and the sastras. But I have not been able to find in any sastra that it is honor able for kings to seize kingdoms by cheating at dice. Even those, who fight and conquer kingdoms, do not crow too loudly about it. And I cannot see what you have done to be proud of. The fire is silent and yet cooks the food. The sun shines but not on him. Likewise, Mother earth sustains all things, movable and immovable, and supports her burden without so much as a whisper. What claim to praise has a kshatriya who has unlawfully seized another's kingdom at a game of dice? To have cheated the Pandavas of their kingdom is no more a matter of glory than to have spread traps for unsuspecting birds. O Duryodhana, O Karna, in what battle did your heroes defeat the Pandavas? You dragged Draupadi to the assembly. Are you proud of it? You have destroyed the Kaurava race like an empty-headed clod that fells a big sandal tree for love of its fragrance. A fight with Arjuna, you will find, is a very different thing from a throw of the dice. The Gandiva will send forth sharp arrows and not fours and twos as in the game of dice. Vain fools, do you think that Sakuni can, by mere cheating, sneak a victory in battle for you?" The leaders of the Kaurava army lost their patience and began a loud wordy warfare. Seeing this, the grandsire was filled with sorrow and said: "The wise man does not insult his teachers. One should engage in battle only after a careful calculation of time, place and circumstance. Even wise people often lose their balance and good sense over their own affairs. Ruffled by anger, even the usually so sensible Duryodhana fails to recognise that the warrior who stands braving our army is Arjuna. His intellect has been clouded by anger. O Aswatthama, pray do not mind Karna's offensive remarks. You must take them as intended merely to put the preceptors on their best spirit and sting them into action. This is not the time to nurse enmity or sow dissension. Drona, Kripa and Aswatthama should forget and forgive. Where can the Kauravas find in the whole world, heroes superior to Drona, the preceptor, and his son Aswatthama, who combine in themselves Vedic scholarship and kshatriya heroism? We know of none other than Parasurama who can equal Drona. |
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