Vaishampayana continued, "While saying this, Dhritarashtra the son of
Ambika, having learnt that only a small portion of his army was alive,
for all his foremost of warriors had died, felt his heart to be
exceedingly agitated by grief. The king swooned away. Partially restored
to his senses, he addressed Sanjaya, saying, 'Wait for a moment!' And the
king said, 'O son, having heard of this dire calamity, my heart is
greatly agitated. My senses are being stupefied, and my limbs are about
to be paralysed!' Having said these words, Dhritarashtra the son of
Ambika, that lord of earth, lost his senses and fell down on the earth."



8

Janamejaya said, "Having heard of Karna's fall and the slaughter of his
sons, what, O foremost of regenerate ones, did the king say, after he had
been a little comforted? Indeed, poignant was the grief that he
experienced, arising from the calamity that befell his sons! Tell me, I
ask thee, all that the king said on that occasion!"

Vaishampayana said, "Hearing of the slaughter of Karna that was
incredible and astounding, that was dreadful and capable of paralysing
the senses of all creatures, that looked like the downfall of Meru, or a
never-to-be-believed clouding of the intellect of the wise Shukra, or the
defeat of Indra of terrible feats at the hands of his foes, or the
falling down on the Earth of the resplendent Sun from the firmament, or a
scarcely-to-be-comprehended drying up of the ocean, that receptacle of
inexhaustible waters, or the annihilation, perfectly astounding, of the
earth, the firmament, the points of the compass, and the waters, or the
fruitlessness of acts both virtuous and sinful, king Dhritarashtra,