Mahabharata Vol. 2 (Penguin Translated Texts) (19 page)

This section has 191 shlokas and six chapters.

Chapter 262(37): 15 shlokas
Chapter 263(38): 40 shlokas
Chapter 264(39): 20 shlokas
Chapter 265(40): 23 shlokas
Chapter 266(41): 33 shlokas
Chapter 267(42): 60 shlokas

Since vadha means killing this section is about the killing of Shishupala.

Vaishampayana said, ‘On seeing that ocean of kings angrily agitated like the sea, Yudhisthira spoke to the old Bhishma, best among those who are intelligent and the grandfather of the Kurus. It was like the greatly energetic Puruhuta
¹
speaking to Brihaspati. “This great ocean of kings is agitated with anger. O grandfather! Tell me what I should do now. O grandfather! Tell me now, in detail and completely, what I must do to prevent an obstruction to the sacrifice, so that the welfare of the subjects is ensured.” When Dharmaraja Yudhishthira, knowledgeable in dharma, uttered these words,
Bhishma, the grandfather of the Kurus, thus spoke to him, “O tiger among the Kuru lineage! Do not be frightened. Can a dog kill a lion? I have already chosen a path that is auspicious and in conformity with good policy. All these rulers of the earth bark like a pack of dogs around a sleeping lion. O son! Like dogs angrily barking before a lion, they stand before the sleeping lion of the Vrishni lineage. As long as the lion Achyuta is asleep, this bull among Chedis and like a lion himself, makes those others seem like lions. O best of kings! O son! Shishupala has limited sense. Through he who is the soul of everything,
²
he desires to take all these kings to Yama’s abode. O descendant of the Bharata lineage! It is certain that Adhokshaja
³
will take away Shishupala’s energy. O Kounteya! O supreme among intelligent ones! You will be fortunate. The intelligence of the king of Chedi, and that of all these kings, has gone astray. Whomever that tiger among men
⁴
wishes to take, his intelligence goes as astray as that of the king of Chedi. O Yudhisthira! Madhava is the creator and the destroyer of the four kinds of beings that exist in the three worlds.” O descendant of the Bharata lineage! Having heard these words, the king of Chedi replied to Bhishma in a harsh tone.’

‘Shishupala said, “You are old and you defile your lineage. You try to frighten all these kings with your threats. Are you not ashamed? You are supreme among all the Kurus. But since you live in the third state,
⁵
it is but appropriate that you should offer advice that runs counter to dharma. O Bhishma! With you at the forefront, it is but natural that the Kouravas should be like a boat tied to a
boat, or like a blind man following the blind. You have once again injured our minds by specially recounting this one’s deeds, such as the killing of Putana
⁶
and so on. O Bhishma! You are arrogant and stupid. If you wish to praise Keshava, why does your tongue not splinter into a hundred parts? O Bhishma! You are supposed to be old in wisdom. Yet you wish to praise a cowherd. His evil repute is recounted by even those who are like children among men.
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O Bhishma! If he killed a vulture
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when he was a child, what is extraordinary? Ashva and Vrishabha
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weren’t skilled in the art of war. O Bhishma! What is extraordinary if he kicked down an inanimate wooden cart with his foot?
¹⁰
O Bhishma! It is my view that there was nothing remarkable in holding up Govardhana mountain for a week.
¹¹
It was nothing but an anthill. O Bhishma! When we hear from you that he ate great quantities of food while sporting on a mountain top, we are astonished even more. You are knowledgeable in dharma. What can be more extraordinary than killing the greatly strong Kamsa, whose food he had partaken? O Bhishma! O wretch of the Kuru lineage! You do not know dharma. I will now tell you the words of the righteous ones, since you do not seem to have heard them.

‘“O Bhishma! Righteous, honest and virtuous ones have always instructed us, that in this world, one should not use weapons against women, cattle, brahmanas, those whose food has been partaken and those who seek refuge. It seems all this has been wasted on you. You speak to me about Keshava, praising him as old in wisdom, old and superior. O supreme among the Kuru lineage! Do I not know anything? O Bhishma! How does the killer of a cow,
¹²
and the killer of a woman,
¹³
deserve praise? ‘He is foremost among all intelligent ones.’ ‘He is
the lord of this universe.’ Hearing these words of yours, Janardana believes them to be true. But it is certain that all this is false. Even if a raconteur sings praises many times, those praises aren’t praise for the raconteur. Like
bhulinga
s
¹⁴
and vultures, every being acts according to its nature. There is no doubt that your nature is vile. The Pandavas think Krishna deserves worship. They must also be evil. You show them the path. You speak of dharma. But though you know about dharma, you have strayed from that path. O Bhishma! Which learned one, with dharma in his heart and supreme among all learned ones, will act as you have, ignoring the precepts of dharma?

‘“O Bhishma! If you think you know dharma and think yourself to be wise in intelligence, why did you abduct the maiden Amba? She desired someone else. Your brother Vichitravirya followed the path indicated by the righteous ones. That king did not accept the maiden you had abducted. He is the one on whose wives others had to beget children.
¹⁵
You believe yourself to be wise. But in your sight, others fathered offspring. That is not the path of the righteous. O Bhishma! Where is your dharma? Your brahmacharya is in vain. There is no doubt that you uphold it as a result of delusion or impotency. I do not see you as one who knows dharma. I do not see you prospering. You have not served the old,
¹⁶
or those who speak of dharma. Offerings, alms, studying and sacrifices characterized by a lot of dakshina—these are not worth a sixteenth of what is obtained through a son. O Bhishma! Whatever is obtained through many vows and fasts certainly goes in vain if one does not have a son. You do not have offspring. You are old. You utter false words in the name of dharma. Like the swan in the story, you will now be killed by your own relatives.

‘“O Bhishma! Learned men in ancient times told this story. So that you can hear, I will now recount it completely. In ancient times, an old swan lived near the ocean. He always spoke of dharma and
instructed the birds. But his conduct was otherwise. ‘Practise dharma and avoid evil.’ These were the words the birds heard from that expounder of dharma. O Bhishma! For the sake of dharma, the other birds brought him food, creatures that lived in the sea.
¹⁷
O Bhishma! Those birds also left all their eggs with him and then roamed in the waters of the sea. But the evil one ate all those eggs. That swan was always attentive to his own interests, while the others were negligent. He ate all the eggs of others. When the number of eggs declined, an extremely intelligent one
¹⁸
was suspicious and kept a watch on him. Having witnessed the swan’s evil act, the bird was extremely unhappy and spoke about it to all the other birds. O descendant of the Kuru lineage! Those birds assembled. When they witnessed it themselves, they killed the untruthful swan. O Bhishma! Since your conduct is like that of the swan, these angry lords of the earth will kill you, like the birds killed the swan. O Bhishma! O descendant of the Bharata lineage! Men who know the ancient tales sing a song about this. I will repeat it for you exactly. ‘O one who rides on the chariot of wings! Your act of eating the eggs contradicts your words. You will be killed in anger, because your soul shows your falsehood.’”’

‘Shishupala said, “I held in great esteem the immensely strong King Jarasandha. He did not wish to fight with this one,
¹⁹
saying that he was no more than a servant. Who will regard as praiseworthy the act of killing Jarasandha, undertaken by Keshava, together with Bhimasena and Arjuna? Entering through a way that was no gate and disguised as a brahmana, Krishna saw the influence of the wise Jarasandha. Since he knew the nature of the brahman and was himself
devoted to dharma, he first offered the evil one water to wash his feet, but it was refused. O descendant of the Kuru lineage! Jarasandha invited Krishna, Bhima and Dhananjaya to partake of food, but Krishna acted in a contrary way.
²⁰
You fool! If this one is the lord of the universe, as you think him to be, why did he not consider himself to be a brahmana? What is amazing to me is that though you make the Pandavas veer away from the path of the truth, yet they regard you as a righteous one. O descendant of the Bharata lineage! Or perhaps it is not strange that you, old and like a woman, are regarded as their guide in all matters.”’

Vaishampayana said, ‘When he heard these long words, harsh and spoken harshly, the powerful Bhimasena, supreme among those who are strong, was angered. His eyes were naturally large, like lotuses. Because of anger, they became dilated and copper-red. All the kings saw him knit his brows in three furrows, like the three-coursed Ganga
²¹
on the three peaks of his forehead. They saw his face, teeth gnashed in anger, like destiny about to consume all beings at the end of a yuga. The strong-minded one was about to swiftly arise. But the strong-armed Bhishma restrained him, like Ishvara
²²
checking Mahasena.
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O descendant of the Bharata lineage! Bhima was soon pacified by Bhishma. The teacher calmed his anger with various words. That destroyer of enemies could not transgress Bhishma’s words, like the ocean never crosses the shoreline, even though it is swollen after the rains. O lord of men! Though Bhimasena was angry with Shishupala, that brave one
²⁴
did not tremble and remained steadfast in his manliness. Though that destroyer of enemies
²⁵
kept jumping up, he
²⁶
did not even think about him, like a lion ignoring small deer. On seeing Bhimasena, terrible in valour, thus angered, the powerful king of Chedi uttered words of jest, “O Bhishma! Let him go. Let all
these lords of men watch him consumed by my power, like moths before a flame.” On hearing these words of the king of Chedi, Bhishma, supreme among those of the Kuru lineage and supreme among those who are intelligent, spoke these words to Bhima.’

‘Bhishma said, “This one
²⁷
was born in the royal lineage of Chedi with three eyes and four arms. As soon as he was born, he screamed and brayed like an ass. His father and mother, and their relatives, were struck with fear on seeing his malformed body and resolved to abandon him. The hearts of the king, his wife, his advisers and his priests were befuddled with anxiety. However, a disembodied voice spoke. ‘O king! This son that has been born will be fortunate and supreme in strength. Therefore, do not be scared of him. Carefully tend to the child. O lord of men! His death will not be at your hands. The time has not yet come. The one who will bring about his death with weapons has also been born.’ On hearing these invisible words, the mother became anxious as a result of affection for her son and said, ‘With hands joined in salutation, I bow down before the one who has uttered these words about my son. Please let him speak some more. I wish to know who will bring about my son’s death.’ At that, the invisible voice spoke again. ‘There is one on whose lap this child will be placed, whereupon the extra arms will fall down on the ground like five-headed snakes and the third eye on the forehead will disappear. He will be the slayer.’ On hearing of the three eyes and four arms and the invisible words, all the kings on earth came to see him.

‘“The lord of the earth showed them homage as they arrived, in accordance with what they deserved and placed his son separately on each king’s lap, one after another. But though the child ascended thousands of laps, what had been said did not come to pass. Then
the Yadavas Samkarshana
²⁸
and Janardana went to the capital of the Chedi kingdom to see the Yadavi who was their father’s sister.
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Rama and Keshava honoured every king in accordance with rank and superiority, inquired about everyone’s welfare and seated themselves. After the two warriors had been shown homage, the queen herself placed her son on Damodara’s
³⁰
lap, with a pleasure that was more than usual. As soon as the child was placed on his lap, the extra arms fell off and the eye on the forehead sank.
³¹
On seeing this, she was miserable and frightened and prayed to Krishna for a boon. ‘O Krishna! O mighty-armed one! I am afflicted with fear. Please grant me a boon. You provide relief to everyone who is oppressed. You are the refuge of everyone who is frightened.’ ‘Do not be afraid,’ Janardana told his father’s sister. ‘O aunt! What boon will I give you? What shall I do? I will obey your words, be it possible or impossible.’ At these words, she told Krishna, the son
³²
of the Yadu lineage, ‘O immensely strong one! Please pardon Shishupala’s transgressions.’ Krishna replied, ‘O aunt! I will pardon one hundred offences of your son, even if they are offences that deserve death. Therefore, do not grieve.’ O brave one! Such is this evil king Shishupala, evil in intelligence. Insolent because of Govinda’s boon, he can now challenge you.”’
³³

‘Bhishma said, “The Chedi king’s intention of challenging Achyuta is not his own. There is no doubt that Krishna, lord of the
universe, determined this. O Bhimasena! What king on earth dares abuse me now, as this defiler of his lineage has done, had it not been for incitement by destiny? O mighty-armed one! It is certain that he is but a small part of Hari’s energy and the greatly famous Hari wishes to reclaim it. O tiger among the Kuru lineage! It is for this reason that the evil-minded king of Chedi roars like a tiger, without thinking about all of us.”’