Yanasandhi Parva — The speech of Duryodhana

Duryodhana said There is nothing to fear, O great king; nor should you grieve for us. We are capable, O king, of winning victory over our battle, O king.

When the slayer of Madhu came to the sons of Pritha wandering in exile in the forest with a large army capable of subjugating the kingdom of the enemies and when Kaikeya, Dhrishtaketu, Dhrishtadyumna of the race of Prishata and many other kings followed them to the sons of Pritha.

And when not far from Indraprastha there assembled together the car-warriors and having joined together, they blamed you along with the Kurus.

And when they, with Krishna at their head, paid homage to Yudhishthira, who was wearing deer skin, O Bharata, and when the rulers of men spoke of giving back the duties of a king (to Yudhishthira) and they longed to bring about the overthrow of yourself with all your followers.

Then were Bhishma, Drona and Kripa thus addressed by me, who heard this, through fear of the ruin of our cousins, Oking, "That the sons of Pandu will abide by the terms agreed to, is my opinion; our destruction does the son of Vasudeva desire.

That with the exception of Vidura, will you be slain, is my opinion; and Dhritarashtra, who knows the nature of virtue-that best one among the Kurus cannot possibly be slain.

O dear, having effected our extinction, Janardana desires to bestow on Yudhishthira the entire kingdom of the Kurus.

When the time comes, what should we do? Surrender or fly or shall we fight against the enemies and give up (all hopes of) our lives.

In a fight against them, defeat shall surely be ours; all the rulers are on the side of Yudhishthira.

On their being dispossessed of their kingdom, our friends are angry with us; and we are reviled by all the kings and by all our kinsmen.

There is no objection to our surrender; for men or our position seek peace from a long time; but I grieve for my father, that lord of men, who has his wisdom only for his eyes.

And who may for my doings be beset with troubles and endless woes. The enemies were opposed by your sons simply for our good; which is known to you before, O best among men.

The sons of Pandu, these mighty carwarriors, will have their revenge for their wrongs by the extinction of the race of the king Dhritarashtra with that of his ministers.

Then did Drona and Bhima and Kripa and the son of Drona thus speak, O Bharata, thinking me to be in the midst of great anxiety and with the senses tortured.

The enemies ready to fight need not be feared, 0 subduer of foes; for the foes when in the battle field are incapable of conquering us.

Each one of us by himself can conquer all the rulers of the earth. Let them come; we shall curb their pride by sharp arrows.

In days of old, all the rulers of the earth were conquered by the single Bhima seated on the single car, extremely wrathful on the death of his father.

That best one among the race of the Kurus, wrathful, killed many among them (enemies); them they out of fear sought the protection of this Devavrata.

That Bhishma is well capable to fight along with us and to conquer to enemies; therefore, O bull among the race of Bharata, let your fears be dispelled.

Such was the determination, at that time, of these ones of immeasurable prowess. In days of old the earth was under the possession of the enemies.

Now they are not capable of again conquering us; the Pandavas are now shorn of their wings and devoid of strength.

The earth, too, O bull among the race of Bharata, is now under our subjection and the rulers of the earth assembled are of the same mind with me in happiness or misery.

O subduer of foes, for my sake, the rulers of the earth, can enter into fireor even the ocean; know this, O you best among the race of Kurus.

In this case they laugh at you, who are grieved and like one insane and giving vent to many sorts of lamentations, struck with fear by the descriptions of the enemies.

Each of these kings by himself are capable of opposing the Pandavas. Every one considers himself all in all. Let the fear which has come on you be dispelled,

To conquer my entire army, which is endless, cannot be annihilated even by Brahma, who is born of himself.

That Yudhishthira foregoing his claims to the entire kingdom begs only five villages; he is afraid of my army and my prowess, O Lord.

The impression you have of the might of Vrikodara, the son of Kunti, has no foundation; you do not know my prowess, O Bharata.

My equal in a fight with the mace, there is none in the world; there has been none my equal, nor will there be any.

Suffering a lot of troubles and employing myself earnestly to my task, have I lived at the abode of my preceptor and learnt my lessons; therefore have I not the slightest fear from Bhima, nor from any other.

In a fight with the mace there is none equal to Duryodhana-this is sure; for he used to live with Sankarshana (his preceptor), good betide you.

In a fight I am Sankarshana's equal and in strength there is none my equal in the world; Bhima will not be able to bear the blows of my mace in battle.

Being enraged, the one blow that I shall deal Bhima, o king, will strike him severely and speedily send him to the palace of death.

I am desirous, O king, to see Vrikodara with the mace in his hand; this has been prayed for by me for a long time, this has ever been the desire of my heart.

Struck by me with the mace, Vrikodara, the son of Pritha, will fall lifeless on the ground with his body smashed.

Struck by a blow from my mace, even the Himavat mountain can be split up into a hundred thousand pieces.

It is very well known to both Vasudeva and Arjuna that it is certain that in a fight with the mace there is none equal to Duryodhana.

There let your fear proceeding from Vrikodara be dispelled; for I shall kill this one. Do not, O king, yield to grief.

He being slain by me, many car-warriors, educed with similar qualities, speedily throw down Arjuna, o bull among the race of Bharata.

Bhishma, Drona, Kripa, Drona's son and Bhurishrava, Shalya, the king of the Pragjyotish and Jayadratha, the king of the Sindhus,

Each one of these by himself is competent to kill the Pandavas, O Bharata, Acting together they will in an instant bring them to the abode of death.

There is no reason why the entire army of the kings on one side is incapable of conquering the single Dhananjaya. Covered by arrows shot by Bhishma a hundred times.

And by Drona, his son and Kripa, this son of Pritha will go to the region of the dead. Born of Ganga, our grandfather, too, is superior to the son of Shantanu, O Bharata.

Like a Brahmarshi ( a devotee of the first rank and order) he was born among men and is hard to be vanquished even by the gods. There is no slayer of Bhishma, Oking.

This boon was granted by his father who was gratified-'You will not die without your own desire. Drona was born of the Brahmarshi Bharadvaja in a water pot.

From Drona was born his son, well acquainted with the use of arins. This Kripa, too, is the foremost among the preceptors and was born of the great Rishi Gautama.

This one, endued with prosperity and born in a clump of heath, is incapable of being killed, such is my impression. Then, too, the father, mother and maternal uncle of Ashvathaman did not take their birth in a woman's womb.

That hero, too, is on my side. All these, o great king, are car-warriors equal to the gods themselves.

They are capable even of giving trouble to Shakra himself in battle. Arjuna is not capable even of gazing at any of them by himself.

And these tigers among men united together will kill Dhananjaya. Bhishma, Drona and Kripa together are equal to Karna, such is my opinion.

He has been told by Rama-you are equal to me, O Bharata. Two beautiful and blessed ear-rings Karna had from his very birth.

These two were asked by the great Indra himself for the sake of Sachi, O subduer of foes, in exchange, O great king of greatly terrific strength and infallible.

How can Dhananjaya escape (after a struggle with) from him who is thus protected; therefore is my victory certain, O king, as a fruit comes within the grasp of my two hands.

Our defeat and the success of enemies, too, are proclaimed in the world. In one day this Bhishma kills ten thousand (enemies), 0 Bharata.

The mighty bowmen, Drona, his son and Kripa, are equal to him (in this respect). Then, too, the ranks of the Sanshaptaka Kshatriya, O subduer of foes, these determined on the destruction of Savyasachin have made this resolution in their mind-Either we shall kill Arjuna or that one having the figure of a monkey on his flag will kill us.

Such are the kings (on my side); why do you all on a sudden express fear for the enemies. Bhimasena being slain, what other warriors will fight, O Bharata.

If you know any among the enemies (who will) thus tell me of him, O subduer of enemies. The five brothers along with Dhrishtadyumna and Satyaki these seven warriors whom you consider to be the best among the enemies and the accomplished warriors on our side are Bhishma, Drona, Kripa and others.

The son of Drona, Karna, Somadatta, Balhika, Shalya the king of the Pragjyotish, the two kings of Avanti and Jayadratha and Dushasana, Durmukha, Dussaha, O Lord of the world, Shrutayu, Shrutayu, Chitrasena, Purumitra, Vivanshati, Shala, Bhurishravas and Vikarna, your sons. These two can never be equal. Ten and one Akshauhinis have been brought together by me, Oking.

That of the enemies is less, it is only seven; why thus should defeat be mine; an army less by a third should be fought with, said Brihaspati. My army, o king, exceeds that of the enemy by a third.

Then again do I see the enemy without any accomplishment, O Bharata; while ours, many accomplishments.

O lord, knowing well all this the superiority of my army, O Bharata; and the inferior number of the Pandavas, it is not proper that you should lose your senses.

Having thus addressed, he asked again of Sanjaya, O Bharata, desirous of knowing more of the enemies thinking that the proper time has come.