I am the sole survivor,
O monarch, of that vast force. I have, O thou of virtuous soul, escaped
with difficulty from Kritavarma at a time when he was heedless!"
Hearing these evil tidings, Kunti's son Yudhishthira, however, capable of
bearing up (against foes), fell down on the earth, afflicted with grief
at the loss of his sons. Advancing forward, Satyaki held the king in his
embrace. Bhimasena and Arjuna and the two sons of Madri also stretched
forth their arms. Having recovered his senses, the son of Kunti lamented
in great affliction, uttering these words rendered indistinct by sorrow:
"Alas, having vanquished the foe, we have ourselves been vanquished in
the end! The course of events is difficult to be ascertained even by
persons endued with spiritual sight. The foes, who were vanquished have
become victorious! Ourselves, again, while victorious, are vanquished!
Having slain brothers and friends and sires and sons and well-wishers,
and kinsmen, and counsellors, and having vanquished them all, we
ourselves are vanquished at last! Misery looks like prosperity and
prosperity looks like misery! This our victory has assumed the shape of
defeat. Our victory, therefore, has ended in defeat! Having won the
victory, I am obliged to grieve as an afflicted wretch. How, then, can I
regard it as a victory? In reality, I have been doubly defeated by the
foe. They for whose sake we have incurred the sin of victory by slaying
our kinsmen and friends, alas, they, after victory had crowned them, have
been vanquished by defeated foes that were heedful!
Alas, through heedlessness have they been slain that had escaped from
even Karna, that warrior who had barbed arrows and nalikas for his teeth,
the sword for his tongue, the bow for his gaping mouth, and the twang of
the bowstring and the sound of palms for his roars--that angry Karna who
never retreated from battle, and who was a very lion among men! Alas,
those princes that succeeded in crossing, by boats constituted by their
own excellent weapons, the great Drona-ocean having cars for its deep
lakes, showers of arrows for its waves, the ornaments of warriors for its
gems, car-steeds for its animals, darts and swords for its fishes,
elephants for its alligators, bows for its whirlpools, mighty weapons for
its foam, and the signal of battle for its moonrise causing it to swell
with energy, and the twang of the bowstring and the sound of palms for
its roar,--alas, even those princes have from heedlessness been slain!
There is, in this world, no more powerful cause of death, as regards men,
than heedlessness! Prosperity abandons a heedless man from every side,
and every kind of misery overtakes him.
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