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द्रौपदीपरितापवाक्य (draupadIparitApavAkya)

 
Mahabharata
English
[Draupadīparitāpavākya(ṃ)]
(“the complaints of Draupadī”
cf. Arjunābhigamanaparvan). § 325: While they were conversing in the evening, filled with sorrow, Kṛshṇā, who wondered at the hardheartedness of Duryodhana, Karṇa, Śakuni, and Duḥśāsana, who were the only four that did not shed tears at their being exiled, and who lameṇted their present state so different from their former happiness, tried to excite Yudhishṭhira to revenge himself (III, 27).--§ 326: Draupadī related the old story of the conversation between Prahlāda (the chief of the Asuras and the Dānavas, well versed in the mysteries of the science of duty) and his grandson Bali Vairocana, in which Prahlāda told Bali that neither might nor forgiveness is invariably meritorious, and then she said: “I therefore consider, O king! that time has come for thee to put forth thy might” (III, 28).--§ 327: Yudhishṭhira maintained that a wise man should ever forgive his persecutor
that wrath has been given to man for the destruction of the world
and cited gāthās of the forgiving Kāśyapa: “Forgiveness is virtue, sacrifice, the Vedas, etc.
men of forgiveness obtain regions in the Brahmaloka
when one forgives everything, then he becomes bráhman (brahma sampadyate)
this and the other world belongs to him who forgives, etc.” (III, 29). From the fact that pious persons are often unhappy (v. 1133, Yudhishṭhira is said to have performed the aśvamedha(!), rājasūya, puṇḍarīka, and gosava sacrifices) and vicious persons happy, Draupadī concludes that Dhātṛ and Vidhātṛ have clouded Yudhishṭhira's senses, that it is folly to aspire to final emancipation (moksha), that the consequences of acts are inevitable, that God (Īśvara, Dhātṛ, Svayambhū Prapitāmaha) makes creatures to work as a wooden doll is made to move its limbs by a wire-puller, etc., and causes them to destroy each other, that God does not behave towards his creatures like a father or mother, but like a vicious person
either God is sinful, or Might (and not God) is the true cause of acts, and then those are to be pitied that have no might (III, 30). Yudhishṭhira censured Kṛshṇā for her atheism (nāstikya), saying that one should not act virtuously from the desire of reaping fruits, but because it is ordained so by the Veda, the ancient religion revealed by the ṛshis, and because it is the conduct of the good and wise
neither should one doubt virtue or religion nor censure God, by whose grace mortal man, by piety, acquires immortality. For though we may not see the results, being mysterious even to the gods, and the illusion (māyā) of the gods is mysterious to us, yet virtue and vice are not fruitless, as may be seen from the examples of Vyāsa, Vasishṭha, Maitreya, Nārada, Lomaśa, Śuka, and other ṛshis, who by virtue have become superior even to the gods
as also from her own and Dhṛshṭadyumna's birth
nor would men have practised virtue, generation after generation, if asceticism, etc., were useless, and no one would pursue salvation (nirvāṇa), but they would live like beasts, and why should ṛshis, gods, Gandharvas, Rākshasas, and Asuras, who are above human conditions (īśvarāḥ), cherish virtue? He who, trusting the proofs of his own reasoning, rejects other authority or doubts religion and virtue, loses this and yonder world, and is lower than even śūdras and robbers (III, 31). Kṛshṇā said that she did not slander religion nor disregard God (Īśvara, Prajāpati, Maheśvara)
it was affliction that had extorted these words from her. She maintained that besides what a man obtains from Necessity (haṭha), Fate (daiva), Accident (svabhāva), and deeds in a former life (karman) (all of which might be reduced to the last item, also called adṛśya), which God distributes, there are also things of which man himself is the cause, working through his own intelligence and exertion. It is by exertion (utthāna
the explanation of Nīl. here seems to be inadmissible) that all creatures live, even Dhātṛ and Vidhātṛ, as well as the crane on the water. Those who believe only in Destiny (dishṭa) or Necessity are both the meanest among men. On the other hand, if God were not the giver of good and bad fruits, there would not be any creature that was miserable, and all exertions would be successful. Manu himself declares that a man should act
and if he works, even if he be not successful, his debt is cancelled. “Having exerted thyself, thou wilt know what the fruit of thy exertions will be. The tiller tills the soil with the plough, and sows the seed thereon
he then sits silent, for the clouds are now the cause
and if no rain favours him, the tiller is without blame…If, however, no exertion is made, there can be no success…All this, uttered by Bṛhaspati himself, a learned brahman said to my father and my brothers
from them I heard it” (III, 32). Bhīma tried to prevail upon Yudhishṭhira that (especially as they had lost the sovereignty by his carelessness) he should make war with the Dhārtarāshṭras, aided by the Sṛñjayas and Kaikeyas and Kṛshṇa, maintaining that a man should practise virtue (dharma) for the sake of gaining wealth (artha), and acquire wealth for the sake of pleasure (kāma), but neither for its own sake
that might and energy (and the protecting of the subjects) constitute the virtue of the Kshatriya, and that deviation from the virtues of one's own order is never laudable
that the Asuras, though elder brothers in possession of power and abundance, were all vanquished by the gods through stratagem
that as wealth should be spent by one who wishes to increase his wealth, just as seeds are scattered on the ground, thus a person who throws away a little of his virtue like seeds (dharma) in order to gain a larger measure of virtue is regarded as wise, and that whatever sin a monarch commits in acquiring dominion, he cancels it all afterwards by sacrifices and by bestowing villages, etc., on brahmans (III, 33). Yudhishṭhira declared that he was unable to violate the pledge, and that it was now too late for Bhīma to use harsh words (III, 34). Bhīma said that only he whose life is unlimited, or who knows what the period of his life is, has time to wait
they ought to strive for the possession of the kingdom before they died
“if a man, slaying his injurer, goes the very day into hell, that hell becomes heaven to him
the pain one feels in having to suppress his wrath is more burning than fire itself
…thou art kind like a brahman, how hast thou been born in the Kshatriya order? those who are born in this order are generally of cruel hearts
thou hast heard the duties of kings, as promulgated by Manu, cruel and fraught with crookedness and opposed to tranquillity (śama)
moreover, we will not be able to live unknown, as we are known all over the world, and many kings, who have been expelled by us from their kingdoms, and robbed and exiled by us, will assist Duryodhana and set against us numerous spies in disguise
we have now lived in the woods for thirteen months, which may be regarded as so many years, as pūtikas (see BR. and Nīl.) are a substitute for the soma
or one may free himself from this sin by offering food to a bull” (see Nīl.) (III, 35).