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88.SOMADATTA'S END
I was engaged in combat with
someone else and you have attacked me
without notice. Indeed, then, no man can
resist the evil influence of the company he
keeps, as your unchivalrous conduct
proves. Dhananjaya, when you go back to
your brother Dharmaputra, what account
are you going to give him of this valorous
deed. Ah! Who taught you this low trick,
Arjuna? Did you learn this from your
father Indra or from your teachers Drona
and Kripa? What code of conduct was it
that permitted you to shoot your arrow at
a man who was engaged in combat with
another and could not so much as turn his
eyes on you? You have done the deed of a
low-bred fellow and foully besmirched
your honor. You must have been
instigated into it by the son of Vasudeva.
It was not in your own nature to do it. No
one with princely blood in his veins would
think of such a dastardly deed. I know you
have been incited to it by that
contemptible Krishna."
Thus did Bhurisravas with his right arm
cut off, bitterly denounce Krishna and
Arjuna in the Kurukshetra field.
Said Partha: "Bhurisravas, you are old and
age seems to have affected your judgment.
You accuse Hrishikesa and me without
cause. How could I look on doing nothing,
when, before my eyes, you were in the act
of killing my friend, who came and risked
his life in battle on my behalf, one who
was like a right hand to me, and whom
you were going to stab when he was lying
helpless on the ground? I would have
deserved to go to hell if I had failed to
intervene. You say, I have been ruined by
keeping company with Madhava. Who in
the wide world would not wish to be so
ruined? You have spoken out of confused
understanding. Satyaki who was weary
and exhausted when he came here and
who was inadequately armed, was
challenged by you to give battle. You
overcame him. Having been defeated, he
lay on the ground, powerless. What code
of honor enabled you to raise your sword
to thrust it into the body of the fallen
warrior and slay him? Do I not remember
how you cheered the man who killed my
boy Abhimanyu when he stood
staggering, exhausted and weaponless, his
coat of armor torn off?"
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