Karna Parva

Sanjaya Tells

The blind king Dhritarastra, in pain for the fate of his surviving children, did not know how to give himself peace and spent the days and nights looking out of the gates of the palace, waiting only for the return of the faithful Sanjaya who would bring him the most recent news.

And when he arrived, only two days had passed since Drona’s death. His face naturally gave no hope of anything good.

“My friend,” Dhritarastra told him, “don’t make me wait any longer. Tell me about the latest events. What’s happening in Kurukshetra? Why are you back only two days away? My children are all dead or have any of them managed to survive Bhima’s bloody fury? Please tell me everything. Don’t make me wait any longer.”

Sanjaya sat down and began describing the scenes he had witnessed.

“O king, once again I am not the bearer of good news. After the son of Drupada fulfilled his vow by killing the master Drona, your militias were reassembled by Duryodhana and placed under the command of the son of the Suta, Karna. But things have not improved at all; repeatedly defeated by the Pandavas, many of your other sons have fallen at the hands of Bhima and your soldiers have almost all been exterminated; and after two days of hard fighting Karna himself has fallen victim not only to the arrows of the son of Pandu but also to his own misfortune.”

Dhritarastra looked as if struck by a thunderbolt; sighing, with tears in his eyes, he said:

“O Sanjaya, as you have often reminded me, all these griefs have occurred mainly because of my weakness in dealing with my son’s treachery. Please tell me about the events of these last two days in every detail.”

And Sanjaya began to speak.

This is a section of the book “Maha-bharata, Vol. 2”.

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