not, O Bhimasena, regard me as one dead? I have heard that persons that
give may beg: that they who slay may be slain; and that they who
over-throw others may themselves be overthrown by foes. Nothing is
difficult for Destiny and none can over-ride Destiny. It is for this that
I am awaiting the return of favourable fortune. As a tank once dried, is
filled up once again, so hoping for a change for the better, I await the
return of prosperity. When one's business that hath been well-provided
for is seen to be frustrated, a truly wise person should never strive for
bringing back good fortune. Plunged as I am an sorrow, asked or unasked
by thee to explain the purpose of these words spoken by me, I shall tell
thee everything. Queen of the sons of Pandu and daughter of Drupada, who
else, save myself, would wish to live, having fallen into such a plight?
O represser of foes, the misery, therefore, that hath overtaken me, hath
really humiliated the entire Kuru race, the Panchalas, and the sons of
Pandu. Surrounded by numerous brothers and father-in-law and sons, what
other woman having such cause for joy, save myself, would be afflicted
with such woe? Surely, I must, in my childhood, have committed act highly
offensive to Dhatri through whose displeasure, O bull of the Bharata
race, I have been visited with such consequences. Mark, O son of Pandu,
the pallour that hath come over my complexion which not even a life in
the woods fraught as it was with extreme misery, could bring about. Thou,
O Pritha's son, knowest what happiness, O Bhima, was formerly mine. Even,
I, who was such have now sunk into servitude. Sorely distressed, I can
find no rest. That the mighty-armed and terrible bowman, Dhananjaya the
son of Pritha, should now live like a fire that hath been put out, maketh
me think of all this as attributable to Destiny. Surely, O son of Pritha,
it is impossible for men to understand the destinies of creatures (in
this world). I, therefore, think this downfall of yours as something that
could not be averted by forethought. Alas, she who hath you all, that
resemble Indra himself to attend to her comforts--even she, so chaste and