“Hear my terrible words, O ye Kshatriyas.... May I never reach Heaven if I do not yet seize Duhsasana in battle and, tearing open his breast, drink his very life blood!...”
Again he spoke and said: “If Yudhishthira will permit me, I will slay the wretched sons of Dhritarashtra without weapons, even as a lion slays small animals.”
Then Bhishma and Vidura and Drona cried out: “Forbear, O Bhima! Everything is possible in thee.”
Duryodhana gloried in his hour of triumph, and unto the elder of the Pandava brethren spake tauntingly and said: “Yudhishthira, thou art spokesman for thy brethren, and they owe thee obedience. Speak and say, thou who dost ever speak truly, hast thou lost thy kingdom and thy brethren and thine own self? O Yudhishthira, hast thou lost even the beauteous Draupadi? And hath she, thy wedded wife, become our humble menial?”
Yudhishthira heard him with downcast eyes, but his lips moved not.... Then Karna laughed; but Bhishma, pious and old, wept in silence.
Then Duryodhana cast burning eyes upon Draupadi, and, baring his knee, invited her, as a slave, to sit upon it.
Bhima gnashed his teeth, for he was unable to restrain his pent-up anger. With eyes flashing like lightning, and in a voice like to thunder he cried out: “Hear my vow! May I never reach Heaven or meet my ancestors hereafter if, for these deeds of sin, I do not break the knee of Duryodhana in battle, and drink the blood of Duhsasana!”
The flames of wrath which leapt on the forehead of Bhima were like red sparks flying from tough branches on a crackling fire.
Dhritarashtra was sitting in his palace, nor knew aught of what was passing. The Brahmans, robed in white, were chanting peacefully their evening mantras, when a jackal howled in the sacrificial chamber. Asses brayed in response, and ravens answered their cries from all sides. Those who heard these dread omens exclaimed: “Swashti! Swashti!”[262]