"Do you know how to write?" "No." "Why?" "I've composed a great poem," "I've composed it all, but nothing is written." "I need someone to write down what I know." "What's your name?" "Vyasa." "What's your poem about?" "It's about you." " Me?" " Yes." "It's the story of your race, how your ancestors were born, how they grew up, how a vast war arose." "It's the poetical history of mankind." "If you listen carefully, at the end you'll be someone else." "Ganesha!" "Welcome!" "Rumour has it you were looking for a scribe for the poetical history of mankind." "I'm at your service." " You're really Ganesha?" " Yes." "Ganesha in person." "I'm ready." "You can begin." "Come and sit down." "There's something ...secret about the beginning." "I don't know how to start." "May I offer a suggestion?" "You're most welcome." "As you claim to be the author of the poem, why don't you begin with yourself?" "Right!" "A king hunting in a forest fell asleep." "He dreamed of his wife, and there was a joyful explosion of sperm." "Very good start." "When the king awoke and saw the sperm on a leaf, he called a falcon and said: "Take my sperm quickly to the queen!"." "But the falcon was attacked by another falcon." "The sperm fell into a river." "A fish swallowed it." "A few months later, a fisherman caught the fish, cut it open and found in its stomach a tiny little girl" " he called Satyavati." " Satyavati..." "She grew up, she became very beautiful but unfortunately she smelled most dreadfully of fish." "This made her very sad, no one would come near her." "But one day, a wandering hermit saw her and said:" ""I like you." "Let's make love here, right away," ""and I promise to turn your dreadful stench" ""into a most delicious odour."" "She cried: "Now?" "Here?" "I can't!"" "So the hermit drew a thick mist across the river and the fields." "She opened herself to him and as she did so, she became fragrant, irresistible." "They had a son?" "Yes." "I am that son." "Vyasa." "Keep going, son of the mist." "You haven't started yet." "What happened at the beginning?" "It was a gold age." "There was no war, no misery." "Men were close to the gods." "There was a prince called Bhishma, a perfect prince." "His mind was clear, his body strong his heart noble." "But he couldn't be king." "Why?" "Because it was impossible for him to marry, to have children." "Why?" "Because his father had cast his eyes on Satyavati and he burnt with passion for her." "Satyavati, your mother?" "Yes, my mother." "Your mother is playing a part in your story?" "Any objection?" "No, no objections at all." "Did she marry Bhishma's father?" "Satyavati refused to marry, unless her sons could be king." "So Bhishma sacrificed himself for his father's happiness, to avoid all family conflicts." "He swore the oath of absolute renunciation." "I abjure forever the love of women." "He said that?" "He said just that, in all solemnity." "I abjure forever the love of women." "And the gods applauded his act." "In fact, they were so pleased with Bhishma that they gave him the power to choose the time of his death." "Is it possible?" "It was possible in those days." "So Satyavati had another child?" "Yes, but he was a poor weakling." "But you know, in the older days, if a king wanted to get married he had to win a wife in a tournament, but this young king's far too feeble to even take part so Bhishma fought in his place." "He swept everyone off the field and came back with three wives instead of one." "The youngest was crying." "Amba, why these tears?" "Before you won me at the tournament" "I had already chosen a husband in secret." "He knows that, and he loves me." "It's king Salwa." "How can you, who so revere fidelity, how can you marry me to your half brother, when I'm already bound by love to another man?" "Salwa's waiting for me." "Let me join him." "What you say is true, Amba." "You can go." "It's me, Amba." "So Bhishma let you go!" "Yes." "Go back to him, Amba." "I don't want you anymore." "What are you saying?" "He got his prize, you're soiled." "I couldn't for anything in the world let someone else's woman penetrate into my palace." "But I'm not his, he's never touched me, nor grazed me with the back of his hand." "He's not even wanted me." "Salwa, I'm a virgin." "My eyes know only you." "Please, leave!" "I can't." "Where could I go?" "I repeat:" "I don't want you anymore." "Bhishma frightens me and you are his prize." "You no longer exist." "Go away." "Did the king marry the two other princesses?" "Yes, but he died on his wedding night." "So there were no children." "Naturally." "But without children this story can't go on." "Precisely." "So the poetical history of mankind is already over." "No." "My mother found the solution." "It was up to me to do the necessary." "Why did you close your eyes?" "So as not to see me?" "You will have a son." "He will be called Dhritharashtra." "But as you closed your eyes on seeing me he will be born blind." " A blind son?" " Yes." "But a king cannot be blind!" "What happened with the second princess?" "Why is your colour draining away?" "Am I so loathsome?" "You too will have a son, but he will be white as milk and he will be known as Pandu the pale." "Bhishma!" "Bhishma!" "Save me." "I've been rejected by the man I love, and you are the cause of my misery." "You can't abandon me now." "You won me, I'm your wife." "Marry me." "You know I can't marry you, Amba." "No women can come into my life." "As Salwa has rejected you, you are free." "Go back to your father." "No, I'm not free, and I refuse to go back to my father, who bartered me like an animal." "Listen, hear what I'll do." "I will walk straight ahead, in ripped clothes, begging my way and I will live with one thought, only one, a thought like a blade:" "how to find someone to fight you to your death." "No one can kill me." "It's impossible." "I will do so all the same." "I too pronounce a vow." "In one of the worlds I will find your executioner." "There's now on this earth a woman who'll always think of you." "Never forget me, Bhishma." "I am your death." "Pandu the pale and his brother Dhritharashtra." "Who became king?" "Pandu, because his brother was blind." "You see this woman?" "Yes." "Her name is Kunti." "She doesn't know it, but she's carrying the fate of the earth in her belly." "Her children will be glorious." "And without them, you wouldn't be here." "Why is she looking so persistently at the sun?" "It's a secret." "King Pandu married Kunti, and he took another wife as well, called Madri." "No sooner married, king Pandu went hunting." "Who could have imagined that a simple hunt could seal the fate of the world?" "Who are you?" "I had taken the form of a gazelle to join my lover." "How could you kill us?" "You have not respected the joys of love." "Pitiless man, I'll show you no pity!" "I curse you!" "If one day you take one of your wives in your arms, at that moment you will die, as I do now." "I'm cursed." "I must vanish without a trace into the mountains." "I will live without anger, without fear, far from the need to kill." "Dhritharashtra, my brother, you are king." "And Madri?" "And me?" "I have nothing to offer you." "We only want poverty and solitude until we die." "So they left the palace," "Pandu, followed by his two faithful, loving wives," "Kunti and Madri." "They walked for many days, until they came to the furthest reaches of the Himalayas, the roof of the world." "There, in the brutal cold, they made their new home." "But the shadow of the gazelle's curse darkened their lives." "They knew how deeply Pandu longed for children, and they knew also that if he ever made love to one of his wives he would die." "Sadly, he accepted the inevitable." "This he thought was his destiny." "How wrong we can be!" "For Kunti held in her heart an ancient secret." "When Kunti was very young, a hermit gave her a magic formula as a reward for serving him well." "With this mantra, she could evoke any god she chose." "Kunti, I'm the sun." "You sent for me, and I'm here." "I am going to be your lover and I'll give you a child." "I can reassure you, your virginity will remain intact." "Abandon all your fears, and come into my arms." "Instantly they had a son, a radiant son." "But Kunti was afraid, she hid her fault." "She put the child in a basket and left him to a river's swim." "A chariot driver found him and brought him up." "Karna was a magnificent child who grew up to be a divinely gifted man." "But in his heart there was a bitter shadow." "He didn't know who he was." "Pandu," "I have a confession to make." "I possess a magic power, a mantra." "What power does this mantra give you?" "The power to call down a god at will." "And to have a child by him?" "Yes." "How can you be so sure?" "I am sure." "Don't hesitate!" "Quick, say your mantra!" "Which god should I call down first?" "Evoke Dharma!" "Beyond him, all thought must stop." "This is Yudhishthira, our first born, son of Dharma, born to be king." "I beseech you, give me another child." "Evoke Vayu, god of the wind." "He is Bhima, son of the wind, strong as thunder." "Now I call on Indra, king of gods." "He's Arjuna, the perfect warrior, born to conquer." "Kunti, lend me your mantra so that I can have children too." "Madri, evoke the Aswins, the twin gods with golden eyes." "Here are our two sons," "Nakula and Sahadeva, as inseparable as patience and wisdom." "Five sons, descended from the gods." "They are the five sons of Pandu, the Pandavas." "We'll never leave them, they are the heart of my poem." "And I have the same blood?" "I come from the gods?" "That's what the story tells." "There was a beautiful princess from the north, called Gandhari." "She'd set out on a long journey to the blind king's city." "All she knew was that her marriage had been prepared." "While waiting for the wedding, she lived in seclusion." "Each day her servant visited the city and told her of its thousand wonders." "Princess..." "What's the matter?" "I saw your future husband." "Is he handsome?" "Strong?" "Yes, he's strong." "Very strong." "Then why are you crying?" "Princess, you've been betrayed." "Dhritharashtra is blind, born blind." "That's impossible." "A king cannot be blind." "I asked an old guard:" "his eyes are dead." "If he's blind, he could only reign over the night, amidst the cries of the diseased people." "What's the use of my paint, of my dresses, if my husband will never see me?" "Why my hair?" "Why my flesh and my eyes?" "Give me my veil." "What are you looking at?" "At you." "You are my last image in this world." "What are you doing?" "I'm putting a veil on my eyes." "I'm tying it firmly." "I will never take it off." "Give me your hand, lead me to my husband." "Now I can never reproach him his misfortune." "Soon, Gandhari felt life in her womb, but two years went by, her belly was hard, nothing stirred." "Gandhari, Kunti has just given birth to a son." "His name is Yudhishthira." "The people say he will be king." "Get an iron bar." "What?" "Obey me!" "Get an iron bar." "Strike me on the belly!" "Do what I tell you!" "Harder!" "Harder still!" "Again!" "Strike!" "Go on!" "Again!" "Strike!" "You're delivering me!" "What has just come out of my womb?" "A ball of flesh." "It's crying?" "It moves?" "No, it's cold and hard like metal." "Throw the ball into a well, and leave me alone." "No!" "Cut the ball into a hundred pieces, put them into a hundred earthenware jars, sprinkle them with fresh water." "Out of them, will come a hundred sons." "The first to be born was called Duryodhana." "Bhishma, what are these sounds?" "Winds, animals, angry birds of prey, and the screams of your son." "What do these omens mean?" "They say Duryodhana comes to destroy." "If you wish to preserve your race, sacrifice him." "Even if he howls, even if he brings with him hatred and terror, no one will kill my first born child without killing me myself." "Madri, the birds chuckle, the insects tremble with joy, the flowers open..." "It's the first day of spring," "and the sun streams through your dress." "Pandu, don't touch me." " If you love me, you die!" " I know..." "But when I look at you, I prefer love to life." "Not a word!" "Don't tempt death!" "Death is seducing you." "Keep away." "There is no risk for you." "Lie down." "No." "You'll need to take me by force!" "Kunti!" "I wanted to save him, but his destiny carried him away." "You are happier than I am, because you have seen his face glow with desire." "I will follow him to the other flow." "No." "As it's in my arms that he breathed his last breath," "I will die." "I give you my sons." "They no longer have a father in this world." "They will be like my sons." "They will share everything." "Burn my body along with the king." "Come." "Help me to die." "Ganesha, you're writing everything?" "I'm writing everything and I understand everything." "Now we skip." "Twenty years?" " Twenty years." " Simple." "So your heroes have now grown up..." "Exactly." "One day, a stranger walked into the blind king's palace, where Bhishma was trying to educate all the cousins together." "Bhishma!" " Bhima!" "Put down that tree!" " No!" "Who are you?" "I am the new teacher." " What's your name?" " Who has sent you?" "My name is Drona." "No one has sent me." "I am here for your education." "Are you really Drona?" "Yes." "I've heard much of you." "Bhishma!" "Is it true that you know all the possible forms of war?" "As well as you, Bhishma." "And you also know sacred weapons?" "Yes, I know them too." "I'm happy you have come to our city." "These are the sons of Pandu, and the sons of Dhritharashtra, the Kauravas and the Pandavas." "At the death of Pandu" "I decided to raise them together, but since childhood everything tears them apart." "So I see." "Duryodhana and all his brothers want to kill us!" "No!" "Bhima tries to strangle us day after day!" "Duryodhana wants the kingdom!" "He wants to destroy us!" "Silence!" "When do you begin?" "I begin." "On top of this wall," "I've placed a vulture made of straw and rags." "Yudhishthira, aim!" "What do you see?" "I see the vulture." "Do you see the wall?" "Yes, I see the wall." "I see my bow and the arrow, I see my arm..." "Back to your place!" "Nakula, come here." "You too, Bhima." "You too, Duryodhana." "Aim at the bird." "What do you see?" "I see the bird, the sky..." "My hand..." "I see the bird, I see my bow, I see the top of the wall..." "I see a cloud in the sky..." "Back!" "All of you!" "Arjuna!" "Aim too!" "Aim!" "What do you see?" "The vulture." "Describe the vulture." "I can't." "Why?" "I can only see its eye." "Raise your arrow!" "I'll make you the finest archer in the world." "But I need you to make a promise." "If one day destiny places us face to face, you must fight me, and you must fight to kill!" "Yes, I promise." "Who's this?" "Wait, you'll see." "Drona, you are my master." "I know it." "My name is Ekalavya." "I come from the other side of the world to receive your teaching." "Take me in your school." "No." "Why?" "Like you, Drona," "I can give up riches and pleasure." "I only wish to learn." "I have enough pupils." "Go away." "Thus rejected, the other, lessened, withdrew to the depths of a wood, and there, alone, he moulded out of the earth a living likeness of Drona." "Each day devotedly he worshipped his idol, and trained himself under its gaze." "Watched over by the statue, he acquired the most astonishing skills." "Drona, you haven't kept your promise!" "In what way?" "You promised I would be the best, none of your pupils would be my rival." "Ekalavya has planted seven arrows in the jaws of a barking dog, and Ekalavya says he's your pupil." "Master, I kiss the earth before you." "I'm your pupil." "Your visit brings me unexpected joy." "If you are my pupil, you must pay me for my lessons." "Ask what you wish." "I owe you everything." "Give me the thumb of your right hand." "Here it is." "Why this sight of cruelty?" "Because the earth has lost its youth, it's gone by like a happy dream." "Now, each day brings us closer to destruction, to barrenness." "In the palace, the young men only thought of war." "As Arjuna showed his extraordinary skills, his cousins watched with growing jealousy and fear." "Dhritharashtra, he's incomparable!" "Even his thoughts are arrows!" "Son of Kunti!" "Who is it?" "A stranger." "Son of Kunti," "I can do all that you have done, as well as you." "Even better." "Watch." "I hit it in the left eye." "Dushassana!" "What's your name?" "Karna." "Welcome." "Come into my arms!" "You are here, but you haven't been invited." "You speak but you have not been addressed." "Isn't this place of arms open to all?" "That is the custom." "Arjuna, wherever you look," "I will always be ahead." "Prepare yourself." "We are going to fight." "Why are you waiting?" "I'm ready." "Arjuna comes from a Ksatriya family." "He is of royal birth, and he cannot fight an inferior person." "Tell us your father's name!" "At least tell us your mother's name, and I'll let you fight." "You don't reply." "Karna..." "Are you ashamed of your mother, or don't you know her?" "I don't know her." "What is your origin?" "I'm called the driver's son." "Withdraw." "This is not your place." "Karna!" "If you have to be a prince to fight, I'll consecrate you here." "Come." "I give you the land of Anga." "I name you king." "What can I give you in exchange?" " Your friendship." " It's yours, forever, truly." "Now the fight can begin." "The son of a driver!" "Sweet heaven..." "Give him a whip, and the shovel for the shit!" "Bhima, quiet or I'll tear out your tongue!" "They set a driver's son on the throne of Anga!" "Shut your mouth and don't speak of birth!" "Birth is obscure, and men are like rivers whose origins are often unknown." "Drona..." "I look at Karna and I'm not mistaken." "I see his power hedged with mystery, and he'll forever be my friend." "The setting sun seems to whisper it's true." "Come, Karna." "The day is over." "Arjuna, you have rejected me." "Inevitably, one day we will fight and I will kill you." "Mother, guess what I've won!" "You must share it with your brothers." "But it's a woman!" "I won her in a tournament." "All the princes of the world wanted her, but I won." "What did I say?" "You said "You must share it with your brothers"." "I can't take back my word." "You must do as I say." "What's her name?" "Draupadi." "You must do as I say." "You must share Draupadi between you, but she mustn't suffer in any way." "There is only one question:" "do you all love Draupadi?" "Yes, I already feel I love her." "I love her, deeply." " So do I." " So do I." "Yes, I love her too." "All of a sudden, love has appeared among us like a light." "We will marry her." "All the five of us." "Yes." "This is how it should be." "Draupadi will have five husbands." "But if she likes one of us more than another?" "If there is one she despises?" "If jealousy tears us apart?" "What I've said is said." "Destiny slipped into my words without warning." "Draupadi must be your wife, and she can be." "Vyasa, why did my family murder one another?" "Because they forgot the essential." "And nothing could save them?" "Listen to me..." "The worlds swarm on an infinity of creatures, those we see..." "...those we'll never see." "Naga snakes who live in the depths of the earth," "Rakshasas, monsters of the forests of the night who live off human flesh." "Gandhavas, frail creatures who fly between us and the sky." "Apasaras, Danavas," "Yakshas, and the long, glittering chain of gods who live like all beings in the shadow of death." "Three gods rule the universe, three, who are also one:" "Brahma, the creator," "Shiva, the destroyer, always present when History ends..." "The third is Vishnu, who's quite the reverse." "It's he who maintains the worlds." "It's he who makes them endure." "When chaos threatens, as it does now," "Vishnu takes on a human form and descends among us to play his role." "Some hint that he might have come down as Krishna." "Is it true?" "One can never be sure." "I'm going to see Krishna?" "It's his flute I hear." "He's on his way?" "Perhaps he's already here." "In what form?" "In the form of a man." "Watch carefully." "His action is subtle, mysteriously clear." "At the same instant, they say he can be everywhere." "Here, there, he's water the trembling of a leaf." "He's you." "He's fire, he's the heart of all that's invisible." "He's you as well?" "Naturally." "Krishna, why have you sent for us?" "I heard the earth complain." "What did she say?" "She said:" "Men have become arrogant, every day they give me fresh wounds, there are more and more of them." "They are violent, driven by thoughts of conquest." "Foolish men trample me." "I shudder and I ask myself, what will they do next?" "What can save the earth?" "I sent men with huge ears into the crowd." "This is what they say:" "The people want a king who will be calm and just, a legitimate king." "Am I this king?" "Who else?" "Even if this title is mine, if I claim it, my uncle and my cousins will feel threatened, they will plunge us into war." "How can you call me a legitimate king if I condemn the earth to a horrifying death?" "Dhritharashtra calls us his sons, he should be proud to see one of his sons on the highest throne." "I'm too unprepared." "I have no desire for the crown." "Destruction never approaches weapon in hand." "Comes slyly on tiptoe, making you see bad in good and good in bad." "Don't deceive yourself." "You are the son of Dharma." "I am your eyes, and your hand." "I'm your neck, and shoulders." "We are your arms and legs." "Resist what resists in you." "Become yourself." "Our youth is over." "We will go to the king." "Why did you agree to see them?" "Do you want to give them a land of their own?" "Cut into pieces what should remain one?" "Why treat the Pandavas as your sons when they are our enemies?" "Our natural enemies." "I am guided by Bhishma." "Bhishma has always been on their side." "But how could you have noticed it, you, who see nothing?" "What should I do?" "Tell me." "Regain your calm." "They are here." "My sons, for you are my sons, welcome to you all." "We come to you as our father." "Greetings, Krishna." "I know you've come with them." "Greetings, Dhritharashtra." "We all respect your wisdom." "So that peace can always shine on our family," "I'm giving away part of my kingdom." "I give you the land of Khandava-Prashta." "What!" "Those stinking bogs?" "Those gruesome forests?" "Silence, Bhima." "I accept, and I thank you." "Why take charity like a beggar?" "Yudhishthira, what demon has invaded your mind?" "Calm down." "Why do you go over at their feet?" "They've only one thought:" "throw us out of the kingdom where our rights are as good as theirs." "And you, you say: "Thank you, I touch your feet," ""I'm most grateful"." "What do you put above justice?" "Above our destiny?" "What?" " Keep calm." " No!" "No!" "Go." "Dry up the mashes, plough the harsh earth that awaits you, build a dazzling city, and throw the universe to it." "We accept and take our leave." "Father, you thought you have made peace You have lost a war." "We must surprise Bhima and destroy him." "We must separate them from Krishna by cunning." "They have one wife for five." "Call in experts in erotics and ask them how to sow jealousy." "Don't despise them Dushassana." "Nothing can separate them from Krishna." "No amount of cunning can bring them down." "If you want to destroy them, accept so before attack them head on!" "I'm your friend." "Why are you afraid?" "Bhishma..." " Have I done well?" " Yes." "The sons of my brother Pandu are my sons." "But in your heart, you have a secret preference." "So have you, Gandhari." "And when one prefers one's own children to the children of others, war is near." "Bhishma, in the event of war, which side will you take?" "I will unfortunately be loyal to you." "And you, Drona?" "I am at your service." "Everything I saw there drives me mad." "Their palace is incomparable." "It was built for them by Maya, the supreme architect." "It's a palace of illusions, where thoughts become real." "Arjuna said to me:" "Look at the crystal walls, those tricks of sunlight and golden beams." "And I saw them." "Suddenly I ran into an invisible wall." "Arjuna laughed and said:" "That's Maya's masterpiece." "You think of a wall, and the wall is there." "I go farther." "Bhima shouts:" "Watch out!" "There's a pool in front of you!" "A pool?" "I don't see any pool, yet my feet are wet." "I run, I open a door..." "There's no door." "I crash into a wall." "I hurt myself and Draupadi cries out:" "He's blind!" "Blind father, blind son!" "Bhima jeered me." "Draupadi laughed." "Her laugh cut me to the heart." "Who is it?" "It's Shakuni, your brother." "What are you doing here?" "I've come to see my nephews." "They are bitter, and restless." "Duryodhana, my eldest son, doesn't eat, doesn't sleep." "Why?" "Because I have see all the kings of the earth surround Yudhishthira," "I have seen his people happy, even the aged, even the children," "Yudhishthira respected, loved..." "While I, I love nothing, I am nothing." "There is a way to ruin Yudhishthira, and I know it." "What are you hatching?" "Tell me your way." "Yudhishthira has one weakness:" "he loves gambling." "Double weakness, because he loves gambling and he doesn't know how to play." "Challenge him to a game of dice." "He won't be able to refuse, but I'm here and I know every throw, every dangerous combination." "No one can beat me." "Let me play in your place, my nephew, and I will win." " We must play high." " We'll play high." "Dhritharashtra, I greet you!" "Shakuni?" "Welcome." "What do you want?" "To distract your son." "Let us arrange a game of dice and invite Yudhishthira." "What do you intend to stake?" "Whatever he proposes." "Gandhari, what do you think of the game of dice?" "Don't touch the game, my son." "You'll find nothing but love, in this palace." "You are the eldest, you rule over everyone." "What more do you want?" "A man says:" "I have enough to eat and wear," "I need nothing more." "Shame!" "He says:" "I don't know anger." "Shame!" "No!" "I am like a dried-up stream, like a wooden elephant!" "All because my father was born blind, because one does not give a throne to a blind man." "Calm yourself." "Send for your wives." "But I want to be discontented!" "Dissatisfied!" "A man's body grows from birth and everyone is delighted." "In the same way his desire grows, his desire for power." "I have doubts about myself." "Sometimes, I even question my value." "I must resolve these doubts." "You have a shadow in your mind, it sweeps you away with incredible force..." "Why?" "Why refuse a simple game of dice?" "The gods created the world as a game..." "Insects play with flowers, the stars dance their secret patterns in the sky..." "Why, Dhritharashtra, must you always frown on pleasure?" "A game of dice has been prepared." "I know." "What do you want?" "Bhishma, here your authority is not disputed." "If I come like a shadow to speak with you it is to ask a favour." "Whatever you see in the course of the game, whatever you hear, you must not interrupt the match." "In no circumstances?" "In no circumstances." "Wouldn't it be better to avoid the worst?" "What is "the worst"?" "Destruction." "Destruction of what?" "Of the way of truth, of the order of the world destruction of Dharma." "That is the worst." "And if your race had to be destroyed so as to save Dharma?" "Would you be prepared to sacrifice your race?" "What is your answer?" "That question is with me always, sharpening my thoughts and destroying my sleep making my heart pound all night long." "It is why I ask you: do not intervene." "Let each one go to his limit." "Shakuni, it's you who are going to play?" "Yes, I'll play for my nephew." "You spend your life playing." "People have seen you perform unbelievable tricks, but cheating is a crime." "The powerful player who knows how to play and who ponders calmly, is not worried by cheating." "Here there is no crime, only the game, nothing but the game." "A seasoned warrior fights against beginners, you call that cheating?" "Science is not cheating." "You always enter a game with the wish to win, that's how life is." "No cheat can ever defeat a master." "Withdraw from the match if you are afraid." "You know I cannot refuse to play once I'm challenged." "I have a gold necklace and pearls without equal, churned in the vortex of the ocean." "I play them against you." "I have won." "I have gold and jewels locked in four hundred coffins." "I have gold and jewels." "That's not what I want." "I have a hundred thousand female slaves, young, beautiful, trained in sixty-four skills." "I have won." "Sweet fingered Shakuni," "I have as many male slaves, obedient, adroit, dressed in the finest silk." "I have won." "I have sixteen thousand chariots with golden shafts." "I have won." "My cows, my bulls, my goats, my elephants." "I have won." "My forests!" "I've won." "My capital." "I've won." " My lands!" " I have won!" " My kingdom!" "All that I possess!" " Yudhishthira!" "Bhishma!" "Stop the match." "You say nothing?" "Yudhishthira, do you wish to stop the game?" "No." "Let's proceed." "I have won." "I won everything!" "Have you still something left?" "I still have my brothers Nakula and Sahadeva, the twins with golden eyes, sons of Madri." "They are beyond all value." "I play them against you." "I have won." "Madri's sons are ours." "I still have Arjuna, he who can never lose," "Krishna's friend." "When he plucks the chord of his bow Ghandiva, every living creature trembles." "He's as precious to me as my life." "I now play him against you." "I have won." "I still have Bhima." "Built like a lion, the mightiest of men." "He is strength itself." "I play him against you." "I have won!" "Have you still something left?" "You've all my brothers, I remained alone." "I stake myself," "Yudhishthira." "I play myself." "I have won." "And nothing is worse than to lose oneself, for when one loses everything freedom is the only wealth that remains." "But you have one last possession" " and you forget it." " What?" "You possess a wife, she's the only treasure I have not won." "Stake Draupadi, and win back everything thanks to her." "She's a woman who's neither too short nor too tall, neither pale nor dark," "she's the earth's most perfect creation, and the pool of all men's desire." "I play her against you." "Draupadi..." "What do you want?" "You're requested to come to the palace." "Who requests me?" "Why?" "Because Yudhishthira has lost you." "What do you mean, he has lost me?" "He has lost you at dice." "Had he nothing else to play?" "He played all he had, and lost it all." "He even played and lost himself." " He lost himself?" " That's what I say." "Before losing me, or after?" "Before losing you." "Return to the hall and ask him this:" "Is it true that you lost yourself first, before losing me?" "And if you yourself were lost, had you the right to play me?" "You were staked and lost." "You're ours." "Come!" "Allow me to dress." "I've only one robe and it is stained in blood." "I'm in my period, don't show me in this state to the kings." "Who cares?" "We have won you at dice." "You are now no more than a slave." "Enough!" "Come!" "Here is the new servant." "There is not a breath of life in Bhishma and Drona?" "They see this shame and they do nothing!" "Yudhishthira, did you have the right to lose me?" "If you lost yourself first before playing me, I was no longer yours!" "Can one belong to someone who has lost himself?" "Bhishma, answer me!" "I'm troubled." "The question is obscure." "When Yudhishthira made this wager he had already lost himself, so he could not play his wife." "Error." "She was designated by name and well and truly won." "Draupadi satisfies five men." "She's clearly public property." "Whether he lost her before or after," "I don't see the difference." "Draupadi has been won." "I regret to have to say it, but it is so." "Everything has been won." "Their clothes." "Down to the last clasp." "And Draupadi as well." "We want to see her naked." "Dushassana, take off her robe." "Listen to what I say!" "When the battle comes," "I will smash Dushassana's chest and I'll drink his blood." "I swear I will!" "I will eat his guts, and I'll drink his blood!" "Don't bellow." "You only frighten the flies." "Krishna..." " Krishna..." " Silence..." "Watch!" "A miracle is taking place under our eyes." "It's a prodigy of Krishna." "A prodigy?" "Where is your prodigy?" "She's wearing layers and layers of cloth." "Stop, Dushassana." "Let her go." "Take her away, put her with the slaves." "Let her scrape the dishes!" "Let me go." "Where is Dharma?" "I see nothing clearly." "Draupadi, your new masters are here." " Choose a new husband." " Karna!" "And you hold your tongue." "You don't own yourself anymore." "You haven't even the right to be angry." "Draupadi, you want another man." "Look at my thigh." "Duryodhana, Dushassana and all your brothers... and you Karna, and you also Shakuni, you are lost." "A savage death will drag you to the ground." "Dushassana, my hair will stay unbound till your death." "I will wash my hair in your blood." "And you, Duryodhana, death will strike you in the thigh." "A jackal cried." "Yes, near the temple." "Draupadi..." "Choose a favour." "Whatever you wish, and I will grant it." "What do you choose?" "That Yudhishthira be free." "Yes, he is free." "But you deserve a second favour." "Choose." "That Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula and Sahadeva be free." "They are free." "But you deserve a third favour." "Choose." "I don't want a third favour." "Why?" "Because greed devours all beings and is Dharma's ruin." "I refuse greed." "Save my husbands." "You ask nothing for yourself?" "I want nothing." "Above all no favour." "Her husbands were drowning..." "Draupadi is the raft that saves them." "Have no fear, Yudhishthira." "Go towards happiness," "Take back your clothes and leave in freedom." "Don't let them go, otherwise it's war." "We've humiliated Draupadi, they can never forgive us." "They want to recover everything, they are already preparing a massacre." "Call them back." "Let's play a final round." "Father, call them back." "They are marching towards our death." "Yes, call them back." "My son is right." "Better a game than the war." " One moment!" " What do you want?" "You're recalled for a final match." "The whole is ready." "You hesitate..." "What does this call of destiny conceal?" "Leave the destiny alone." "We need to make ourselves strong, to recover our possessions..." "Come." "You said the whole is ready?" "Yes, for the final round." "With one throw you can win back your wealth, your kingdom and more besides." "With one throw." "Leave this place." "Yudhishthira you're in a dream, it leads to darkness." "Come with us." " No, I must play." " Why?" "I can't refuse my rivals a last chance of salvation." "What are you saying?" "Shakuni condemns to death those who asked him to cheat." "I repeat:" "I can't deny them a last chance of salvation." "I follow you." "We will play one single throw." "Listen carefully..." "If we lose, we will spend twelve years in exile, clothed in rags, and the thirteenth year in an unknown place, hidden and disguised." "If during the course of the thirteenth year we are discovered, we will spend a further twelve years in exile." "If you lose, the exile is yours." "At the end of the thirteenth year, either you or we, will regain the kingdom." "Let's play." "All our treasure..." "All our women, all our lands, all our herds, against exile in the wilderness." "Let's play." "They have lost." "The Pandavas!" "They thought they were on top of the world, and now they are rejected and cast out." "Draupadi, choose a husband amongst us." "One day, I will remind you of your words and I'll drink your blood, vile swine!" " The big beast, the fat cow!" " Dushassana!" "I will open your belly, and Arjuna will kill Karna." "Yes, I will kill Karna." "I said so and I will do it." "I will always be ahead of you." "Don't forget..." "Take your bow with you, and practise." " I won't forget." " Each day," "I will think of your death." "Death?" "Karna, each of your thought, each breath brings you nearer to death." "I made a vow." "I'll say no more." "Starving, naked what will you live of in the desert?" " Vyasa?" " I'm here." "Describe their departure." "They walk barefoot." "The whole city watches them in silence." "Yudhishthira walks ahead, then comes Bhima, with staring eyes fixed on his two arms." "With each step he takes, Arjuna stirs up clouds of sand." "Sahadeva and Nakula are soiled with dust and mud from head to foot." "Draupadi is last, her head bowed towards the ground." "Why?" "What do these attitudes mean?" "Bhima is contracting his arms, the most powerful arms in the world." "In the grains of sand he scatters," "Arjuna sees a thousand arrows fly." "The twins hide their beauty, so that no woman would be tempted to follow." "And Draupadi murmurs, in her bloodstained robe:" ""One day we will see widows," ""their children dead, their hair unbound," ""on the day of their period," ""honouring cold corpses with their cries."" "I can't see them anymore." "Vtg" "Bhishma, you've launched these attacks... and you've been thrown back." "By what sorcery?" "You, whose strength is legendary, you, the only stranger to death are you on our enemies' side?" "They have Arjuna and Bhima against me," "Krishna is their guide." "Bhishma loves battles, the cries, the frenzy..." "Blood feeds his pride, yet he pities those he fights." "Let him withdraw and I will take his place." "Yes." "If you have fear or pity, withdraw." "The man who is about to die sees all the trees covered with gold." "You are going to die." "I saw Bhima hurl himself towards me crying:" "I'll kill you!" "I'll kill you!" "Bhishma, you have failed me." "Now I demand victory." "Tomorrow will be my greatest battle." "Leave me alone." "Drona, ask your son to leave." "Do you love your son?" "Yes." "He's all I have." "I saw a stranger in a dream." "He cried out:" "I bear Drona's death." "Did he say why he wanted to kill me?" "He said you know." "No one knows why he has to die." "No one." "Except you, Bhishma." "Is it you, Amba?" "As you see..." "I wait for you every night." "I know." "Stop hunting me across the earth." "Accept to be at peace at last." "I bring you strange news." "No one wished to fight against you." "Alone I climbed to the snows that cover the roof of the world, seeking to know how death can outwit death." "In the icy fog, in the biting wind, for twelve years I stayed upright and reached on one toe, waiting for the voice of a god." "I turned into rock," "I became snow." "After twelve years a voice rang out, commanding:" ""Gather bark, twigs, musk"." "I did so. "Make a pile of dry wood"." "I did so." ""Rub flints together, light the wood," ""Wait until the flames hide the sky"." "My eyes open, I threw myself into the fire." "My skin crackled." "The smell reached my nostrils, I chocked..." "I was in pain, I cried out." "I'm dead, Bhishma." " You are dead?" " Yes." "So you lost your desire to kill me?" "No." "In death's grey zone, I waited for my new strength." "One single image before my eyes:" "yours, Bhishma." "I burned myself for you and now I knew another birth." "Here is my second surprise:" "I'm taking part in this battle and I'm now a man." "What is your name?" "I have a man's shape, a man's sex." "One thing is sure, it never wavers." "In the depths of my heart, a woman's heart there's only you." "You alone, for all time." "My name's now Sikhandin." "Sikhandin" "Bhishma," "After nine days of battle victory eludes us." "Our chariots are smashed, our finest horsemen beheaded." "Death and blood spurt from your hand, and we are drowning in them." "Bhishma, how can we defeat you?" "You must tell us." "As long as I'm alive, that's impossible." "You must kill me first." "But you can choose when to die." "How can we kill you?" "No one can kill me as long as I carry my arms." "And if you lay down your arms?" "Yes, if I lay down my arms and I accepted to die, yes, then you could kill me." "Who could make you lay down your arms?" "You want me to die, Yudhishthira?" "You are asking me to die?" "You brought us up." "How could I want you to die?" "Yet you must understand." "As no one can kill you, the massacre will continue until no life remains." "Yes, that's true." "I've made my decision." "If you can't help us, Bhishma, I will stop the war." "No." "There is a man fighting in your ranks, the only man capable of killing me." " Who?" " Sikhandin." "Yes, if I saw Sikhandin before me, I could not fight and he could kill me." "Why?" "No." "I'll say no more." "Kill me if you wish, but grant me the secret of my death." "Arjuna... put Sikhandin in the ring tomorrow, tell him to raise his bow and strike!" "It's lawful to kill an old man, when he comes towards you bearing your death." "Do you recognise me?" "You are Sikhandin." "Go close to him." "Only you can kill him!" "My hand shakes." "How can I kill this immense old man!" "His spirit has already left him." "Attack him!" "Go close to him!" "I can't raise my arm!" "Amba!" "In memory of a long past day," "I now bring this slaughter to its end." "Arjuna and Yudhishthira!" "Listen to me!" "My body drops away, it's wounded and it's dismayed." "The day and the moment have come." "Throw your arrow." "You threw yourself into the fire to kill him." "Why does he call me Amba?" "Why such hate?" "I can't remember." "Shoot an arrow." "Don't let him take back his life." "I can't." "Shoot an arrow." "The precise arrow that kills me, Sikhandin, is not yours, you didn't shoot it." "It enters my flesh like a snake." "It's Arjuna's arrow." "All my life, he's been my guide." "Is he dead?" "Not yet, but he will die, and others will die." "Your friends, your sons, they will die because of you." "You didn't kill him, he decided to end his life." "I loved him." "You're my best friend, yet no doubt you'll see me die." "Arjuna, give me the pillow I need." "Bhishma, can you really die?" "I'll remain on this bed until the day when the sun reaches its zenith, then I will die." "Arjuna, I'm thirsty." "Karna..." "I have always been an object of hate for you." "Give me your hand." "Come." "You betray your nature, you detest those who have the qualities you lack, but you are strong and profound, as strong as Arjuna." "I ask you Karna, unite." "Paralyze the war." "Live peacefully on this earth." "Duryodhana gave me everything." "I will keep faith with him." "Grant me your permission to fight." "I beg you, speak to me favourably before you enter the world of the dead." "Can you fight without anger?" "Without pride?" "Yes." "Give me your leave." "Go, then, join the battle, since life seems to you so trifling, and set me facing the east, towards the rising sun." "Karna..." "Who's there?" "It's me, Kunti." "I remember that day, long ago, when in the middle of a tournament you appeared, glowing, radiant." "What do you want?" "I've come to find you, to hold you by the hand to take you with me." "Your voice draws me deep into the past, back to my childhood," "the sound of your voice." "I feel a hand on my forehead." "Often in my sleep, a veiled woman would come to me." "Are you still a dream?" "Why does the mother of my enemies suddenly make me a child?" "Come with me." "Rage, hate, passion for victory, they all seem false like fevers at night." "Where do you want to take me?" "Over there, to the other camp, towards those lights." " Towards my enemies?" " Yes." " Towards Arjuna?" " Yes." " And there I'll find my mother again?" " Yes." "She rejected me from the very first." "She put me in a cradle, gave me over to a river." "The cruellest enemy couldn't have done me so much harm." "She never gave me her mother's tenderness, her warmth." "Kunti..." "Tonight, for the first time, you are concerned with me." "Why?" "I want to give you back your rights, your position." "It's not true." "You know I intend to fight and you're afraid I will kill Arjuna!" "Karna..." "You are my son, my eldest son." "You're born of me." "Your mother asks your pardon." "I was so young..." "Go and join Arjuna." "When you are united, everything will be possible." "Give me your hand." "Come with me towards the lights." "I'm the son of a driver." "What you have torn, nothing can repair." "Leave me alone, naked once again, on this great red river." "Go!" "Kunti," "I can do one thing for you." "I will not kill Yudhishthira, I promise you." "I will not kill Bhima." "I promise you, nor the twins, sons of Madri." "I will not kill them." "I will only kill your son Arjuna, for one of us must die." "Him or me." "In that way, after the battle you will keep the same number of sons." "What do we hear?" "What's this noise?" "The army lights up the night." "Thousands, thousands of flames." "The shining rises from the earth." "They are even fighting at night?" "It's as though the trees of a forest were covered with glittering flies." "The earth is burning." "It's like the last night of the world." "They must be stopped!" "They must be told to respect the rules!" "Vyasa, go and tell them!" "Karna is going to destroy us!" "Arjuna!" "Where are you going?" "I'm returning to the fight!" "I don't advise you to face Karna tonight." "The iron spear he clasps in his hand is for you." "He's been keeping it for yourself for a long time." "It's a divine spear that can't fail to kill." "What can save us?" "It's a trick of darkness we need." "No one can stop Karna, except..." "Who?" "I'm thinking of Ghatotkatcha, the son of Bhima and the Rakshasi." "He swore that one day he would arise to save his father." "Here I am." "Where is my father?" "Fighting." "But he's wounded and threatened." "Who's threatening him?" "Karna." "Listen carefully, Ghatotkatcha." "None other than you can stop the driver's son." "Karna's power is terrifying, but it's not equal to yours." "Demon of eclipses and illusions, you are your family's last defence." "In the secret of darkness, offer Karna to the gods." "Describe Ghatotkatcha." "His eyes are blood, his beard green, his mouth a gash like the gate of death." "He is cross-eyed, vast bellied sharp-toothed." "His flag drenched in blood, it's crapped with a wreath of guts and its pinnacle is a vulture whose wings touch the sky." "Night increases my power, elephants piss with fear." "And Karna?" "Where is Karna?" "He prepares to fight." "You won't escape from my hands alive!" "Ghatotkatcha heaps, he howls into the clouds..." "He calls down a rain of trees, a hail of rocks!" "He has a hundred bellies, a hundred heads then he shrinks into a finger." "And Karna?" "He shoots blade arrows, reptile arrows." "Ghatotkatcha becomes ferocious animals..." "Karna exterminates them all!" "Our armies are crushed!" "Swift, kill him!" "Kill him with your launch!" "No, he must save this launch for Arjuna!" "He can only use it once!" "Only once!" "Swift!" "Kill him!" "Nothing can resist this vicious demon!" "Men are dying by millions!" "If you hesitate for one more moment, we're lost!" "Quick!" "Hurry!" "No!" "He must keep his launch!" "Why?" "Why?" "Why?" "Ghatotkatcha!" "My son!" "My son!" "Why?" "Why?" "Why are you rejoicing?" "Ghatotkatcha is dead." "Tonight we grieve and you, you dance and laugh." "Why?" "Ghatotkatcha has just killed Karna." "What are you saying?" "No one could resist Karna as long as this launch was in his hands." "Now Arjuna, you can kill him." "Did you throw Ghatotkatcha into the fight knowing he was going to die?" "Karna is like the sun." "You can't fix your eyes on him." "His arrows are his rays." "Now he's reduced to the simple condition of a man." "Yes, Ghatotkatcha has saved you." "To preserve your life I've sent him to his death." "Tonight I'm breathing in joy." "I was born to destroy the destroyers, and I became your friend out of love for the world." "Father, you really know how to destroy the Pandavas?" "Yes." "I know it." "I don't believe you." "If we can draw Arjuna away from the battle," "I grant the victory." "How can you draw him away?" "Why, a trick!" "Father, these men whom you formed, whom you trained and brought up, whom you said were amongst the most beautiful flowers on the earth are you ready to trick and slaughter them?" "Your son has asked you a question." "You don't answer..." "You said you loved the Pandavas, that you wished for their victory." "Now you must organize their death." "Is your loyalty and your commanders' pride strong enough for this?" "What's your decision?" "I know the way." "An attack from the north?" "Yes, a savage attack." "It's a trick of Drona's to draw Arjuna away from the centre of the battle." "But no one can imagine the consequences." "You've always told me Drona cannot be beaten." "Today he will bring victory to my son!" "Yes." "You will have a glorious day and your victory will be your defeat." "Someone will die today because of you, someone whom all the world loved." "Father!" "Father, where are you going?" "They're attacking from the north." "I'm going to throw them back!" "Take me with you!" "Abhimanyu, you aren't old enough for war." "We are going to swim in blood." "I'm your son and I'm strong." "As strong as you." "Are you afraid to grow old in my shadow?" "Why leave me yawning in a tent surrounded by women?" "I need to fight!" "Take me with you." "Abhimanyu, your place is here." "Out of the way." "Abhimanyu, Arjuna's favourite son, conceived with Krishna's own sister," "Abhimanyu will die." "Drona is advancing." "Look!" "He's in the centre of his iron disk." "He's crushing everything!" "He will grind us to dust!" "Who can break it open?" " Only Arjuna." " No." "I can do so too." "Abhimanyu, you know how to force the disk?" "Yes, I know how." "Arjuna gave you the secret?" "No." "But before my birth, as I lay in my mother's womb," "I heard my father speak of this secret." "And you remember what he said?" "Word for word." "Abhimanyu, we are lost." "The disk will destroy us." "Your father is far away." " I plead to you..." " He' s almost a child!" "A child I may be but I'll attack Drona's iron wall." "I'll crack it apart!" "My family needs me." "The entire earth today needs me!" "Fetch me my arms." "Abhimanyu, these words are not your own..." "The glory makes you blind." "Go back to your mother." "This could be your death!" "Without me it's death for everyone!" "I know the special secret and I have miraculous powers!" "Only, in my mother's womb I didn't hear all the secret." "What exactly did you hear?" "I heard how to force a way into the disk, but if the disk should close I don't know how to come out." "Open up a breech." "That's all we need, a breech and we'll follow you." "Open a breech." "I'll be at your heels." "Quick!" "The disk is approaching!" "I'll lead the troops like a flame." "All the armies will follow me." "Arjuna is my father, and the thought of him comes to my aid." "Drona will kill him." "Vyasa, prevent him from fighting!" "I can't." "I'm going to break open your disk!" "Your slaughter ends here!" "Bhima!" "Watch where he goes!" "Abhimanyu, do you want to die?" "Yudhishthira!" "The breech is open!" "Follow me!" "Bhima!" "Here!" "Bhima!" "Help us!" "Bhima!" "Yudhishthira!" "Where are you?" "Follow me!" "Bhima!" "The disk is open!" "Come to me!" " Come!" " I can't!" "The air's hard!" "There's an invisible wall!" "Drona, you seem fascinated by your extraordinary strength!" "The iron disk shattered by a child!" "Drona, where is your promise?" "Are you in love with our enemies too?" "Kill him!" "I'm alone in the middle of the disk, and the disk is closing." "They're all around me:" "Karna, Drona, Ashwattaman." "Come closer!" "Break his bow!" "The bow's broken." "Break his sword!" "The sword is broken!" "Father!" "Is Abhimanyu dead?" "He's lying on the ground..." "He doesn't move." "He's like the wind when it dies down." "Those who killed him weep in silence and say:" "it's just a child lying on the ground." "Was this our duty?" "Why am I greeted in silence?" "Normally my son Abhimanyu runs eagerly to meet me." "Who killed him?" "Who sent him to his death?" "I did." "Only he knew how to force the iron disk." "You didn't defend my son." "We were all behind him, he was leading us to victory, but the disk closed behind him." "Impossible to break through." "You sent my son to his death." "Arjuna, they're telling you the truth." "Krishna did you let my son die so as to push me deeper into the fight?" "I'm crossing the great era of darkness with you." "This struggle is absolute." "You and your brothers are the world's only light." "Every moment, remember what I told you:" "If your heart breaks, closes up if it becomes bitter, dark or dry the light will be lost." "Bhishma..." "I've killed a child." "I'm responsible for his death." "What can I do?" "How can I go on with the war?" "A deathless boy, very old and very young, once said to me:" ""Death doesn't exist"." "What did he mean?" "Ask him." "He's here." "Are you the deathless boy?" "Yes." "You said:" ""Death doesn't exist"?" "I did." "If even gods make sacrifices so as not to die..." "Both things are true." "Poets pay homage to death, they glorify it in song, but I tell you, death is negligence." "It is ignorance, and vigilance is immortality." "Death is a tiger crouching in the brush." "We create children for death, but death cannot devour a man who has shaken off his dust." "It is powerless against eternity." "The wind, life flow from the infinite." "The moon drinks the breath of life." "The sun drinks the moon, and the infinite drinks the sun." "The wise man soars between the worlds." "When his body is destroyed, when no trace of it remains, then death itself is destroyed, and he contemplates infinity." "All my life I've heard wise people say:" "When Dharma is protected, it protects." "When it is destroyed, it destroys." "Are we protecting Dharma?" "Sometimes, the only way to protect Dharma is to forget it." "I watch the fall of kings and I see contempt rise in their place." "Drona, I thought you were my pillar, but you smiled when Abhimanyu slaughtered my men." "You love Arjuna." "Now will you have pity for his grief, or will you press on for victory?" "How can you still hope for victory?" "We are dying, we are dying because of you!" "I know it." "My end is near." "Drona, you're old and feeble." "All that you love is over there, on the other side, and in the depths of your heart you hope for defeat!" "You insult my father!" "I'll tear off your head!" "Stop, Ashwattaman!" "Throw down that weapon!" "Karna!" "Ashwattaman!" "What madness is possessing you?" "Without your promises of victory, I would never have launched this war!" "You suspect us of being other than we are, and we accept to die for you." "Halt!" "Don't go near my father." "I am Vyasa." "What are you looking for?" "I'm not looking for anything." "I'm watching over your father in his last sleep." "Who will kill him?" "Tell me!" "Do you see that shadow?" "It's Drishtadyumna, Draupadi's brother." "Each time your father sleeps," "Drishtadyumna enters his dream and says to him:" "It is for this that I am born, and you know it, because you are afraid." "My father has no fear." "He never committed the slightest error." "He's destroyed his life." "Your father was a Brahmin, a holy man, so poor he couldn't even buy you milk, but he was ashamed and he used all his power to become a terrible warrior, the hardest of men." "He was born for a life of peace, but he chose war." "That was his error." "Why don't you sleep?" "Father, why did you tell the chiefs you were going to die?" "No one can defeat you." "Drona!" "Why did you agree to rest?" "Why not follow your advantage?" "Because I'm tired, I'm old..." "You've often told me so." "Ashwattaman..." "I'm giving you the northern army." "Your men are waiting." "Drona, the day breaks." "Take up your arms." "Arjuna!" "I'm losing all hope of beating Drona." "He will massacre everyone." "He's become war itself." "How can we make him lay down his arms?" "There's just one way." "Drona's only son is his own life." "He must be told that Ashwattaman is dead." "He'll be so discourage, so desperate that he'll drop his weapon." "But Ashwattaman isn't dead." "It would be a lie!" "I know." "I don't agree." "Find anther way." "Wait." "There." "It's done." "I've killed Ashwattaman." "Who?" "An elephant called Ashwattaman." "I've killed him." "Can you hear me?" "What do you want?" "I've killed Ashwattaman!" "Ashwattaman is dead." "I can't believe my son is dead." "I suspect a lie." "Yudhishthira!" "You who can only tell the truth," "I ask you:" "Has Ashwattaman been killed?" "Yes or no?" "Ashwattaman has been killed." "Drishtadyumna..." "Why are you advancing on me?" "Has day-break brought my by death?" "Your greed for victory has corrupted you." "You slipped into a lie like the rest of mankind." "From now on, he's part of the earth." "Perhaps this weakness will bring him victory." "Look at Drona..." "He's like to fight still, but he can't." "His death is inconceivable." "His death is natural." "Look." "His eyes are already closed, his breath quietens, he's reached the furthest fringe of life." "His breath leaves him, rises into the air..." "Only his body stays." "Drishtadyumna will cut off a dead man's head." "Rise up!" "Rejoice!" "We've committed a crime." "Victory is meaningless now." "I hear you calling our enemies' death a crime..." "I don't understand." "Did Drona leap up to forbid Shakuni to cheat and Dushassana dragged me by the hair?" "Yudhishthira, I've endured shame and exile with you and you went on repeating:" "I'll destroy them!" "I will destroy them!" "And now you despise us..." "Yudhishthira, you shove glass in our wounds." "Karna, your day has come." "You hate is pure, your strength intact." "Drive away our darkness." "I will only return in victory." "Arjuna has Krishna as his driver." "Where could I find someone of his power?" "You are looking for a driver, Karna?" "Who are you?" "I'm king Salya." "I'm looking for a driver, I don't need a king." "All the horses in the world obey me." "You won't find a better driver anywhere." "I heard you say: "I'm superior to Arjuna"." "Well, I'm superior to Krishna." "Don't be afraid." "I promised your mother not to kill you." "Bhima..." "Who's coming towards me?" "My eyes are full of blood." "It's me!" "Who you?" "Bring your body over here." "Try to see who I am." "It's Dushassana!" "They've told you I've been wounded, and you're coming on tiptoe to kill me!" "You are slow and heavy!" "I'm not afraid of you!" "I am heave with the dead men's blood!" "You touched me!" "Your friends will be happy," "You sweat like an old elephant!" "You can't move anymore!" "Think of your life," " which ends here!" " Dushassana!" "Dushassana!" "Miserable abortion!" " Who do you want to kill!" " Help!" "Stop crying!" "Your black hour has come Dushassana." "Here is where it all end!" "Now!" "Draupadi!" "Draupadi!" "Can you hear me?" "Look!" "I will drink his blood because I promised." "It's your turn Dushassana." "Do you remember?" "Draupadi drown by the hair!" "Let her be the last thing you see!" "Karna!" "Help, my brother!" "They can't hear you!" "There's no one to help you!" "And I rip out your life!" "My enemy's blood is more delicious than my mother's milk!" "Better than honey, sweeter than the sweetest drink on earth." "Draupadi, don't go away..." "Watch what I'm doing for you." "Come!" "You can wash your hair now." "We weren't born to be happy." "Farewell." "What are you thinking about?" "A curse." "The one that Parashurama made, the man with the axe?" "How do you know?" "I heard the story of the worm that pierced your thigh, how you resisted the pain so as not to wake Parashurama who was sleeping..." "And he awoke, he burst with anger and cried:" "You cheated me about who you are!" "At the moment of your death you will lose your memory, and suddenly you will forget the secret of the weapon I taught you." "Have you forgotten it?" "No." "The worm in your thigh was probably some god trying to protect Arjuna." "Irresistible, incomparable Arjuna!" "You are coming towards me with your extraordinary weapons, with your god-like hands but I will kill you." "I will lift your head from your body!" "I will kill you!" "If you are so sure of killing him, why are you afraid?" "Salya, or whoever you are..." "I'm surrounded in omens, menaced by darkness." "Another time, a Brahmin cursed me." "He shouted:" "The moment fear enters your flesh, your chariot wheel will plunge into the earth." "Yes, I think I'm afraid." "Here I am, Arjuna!" "I, the bastard!" "The obscure!" "You, the prince, the conqueror!" "But the sky has opened up for me, and the sun fills me with strength!" "You won't end this day alive!" "Where are you Arjuna?" "Wait!" "Wait until I free my wheel!" "You have no right to strike, you know it!" "Strike!" "This is the moment, don't listen to him." "Don't wait." "I stand before you unarmed, threatened, weak!" "Law and honour protect me!" "Let me free my wheel!" "You speak of honour now, but when Shakuni threw the dice, where was your honour?" "What hole did you hide it in?" "Don't scorch your mouth with that word." "You won't escape alive." "He's crying with anger." "He's yours." "A chariot wheel doesn't stick without reason." "Who has got hold of this wheel?" "Who is playing this final trick?" "I'll tell you who's got hold of this wheel." "It's the earth herself with her muddy hands, it's she who's grasping this wheel, and she won't let go." "Yes, strike." "Finish the war." "Don't let yourself be killed like a driver!" "Rise up!" "Call your irresistible weapon and release it!" "This is the moment!" "Quick!" "Yes Karna!" "Refuse to die!" "Launch the final weapon!" "I know the secret formula." "If I pronounce it, a heavenly creature will come and place that weapon in my hand." "Strike!" "What's paralysing you?" "Yes, I call I call this distant creature and I say to her..." "What's happening?" "Speak!" "What do I have to say?" "It was a simple phrase..." "Suddenly, I can't remember it anymore." "Why has the sun fled?" "What's this shadow?" "My wheel is buried in the mud..." "My head is dark... and an ancient mystery kills me." "What do I have to say?" "All signs are against him." "Take his life." "When you asked him for anything, he always answered:" ""Yes." "Here it is."" "He didn't know how not to give." "Lifeless, glorious man." "Everything bleeds." " Everything weeps." " Vyasa..." "I'm here." "My heart must be made of stone not to have broken by now." "Duryodhana, are you here?" "Yes, I see him." "He's there with his club." "The waters opened to let him in, and he made them hard." "No one can break them now." "Duryodhana, do you hear me?" "Can you hear me?" "Don't disturb my peace." "I am resting." "What are you doing in these icy waters?" "Get up!" "Leave your conjuring." "Come out and fight!" "Tomorrow." "I'll fight tomorrow." "I want to stay here all night and sing." "You are afraid?" "It's not fear that's drawn me into this lake." "It's fatigue." "It's good down here, in the clear, clean water." "I give you this earth, ruined, clothed in corpses." "The earth you give me isn't yours." "Now it's your life I want!" "Come out of the lake and fight!" "If you win the kingdom is yours!" "Can I choose my weapon?" "Yes, choose your weapon." "I choose clubs!" "I will put an end to your life!" "Come closer!" "Come, come!" "You're heavy!" "You can't keep up any longer!" "I could smash your skull, but one does not strike a fallen adversary!" "Get to your feet!" " You're wounded?" " Yes." "Badly?" "Don't show it!" "You must convince him you're strong." "Stay on your feet, attack, aim low." "Hit his legs." "His legs?" "I can't!" "It is not allowed!" "I said, hit his legs!" "Strike his thigh." "Bhima, take away your foot!" "Don't insult him!" "He has the same blood as you and he was a king." "The war is over." "Yudhishthira..." "I was hit shamefully on the legs, against all the rules." "Come." "He's neither a friend nor an enemy." "You don't waste words on a block of wood." "Let's go." "Krishna!" "You are the origin of evil!" "Sikhandin, it was your idea!" "And who threw Ghatotkatcha against us to force Karna to give up his launch?" "And the lie: "Ashwattaman is dead"?" "And when Karna's wheel stuck in the mud, you said to Arjuna:" ""Take his life!"." "You!" "Always you!" "All that you say is false, and your only assassin is yourself." "Yes..." "Go your way, stay in this unhappy world." "I am going to another world." "Who is happier than I?" "I reigned on earth," "I was just." "I laughed, I sang," "I loved my friends and my wives." "I protected my servants, I held out my hand to the afflicted." "I knew all human joys." "Go and eat, and dance." "Go!" "No good man is entirely good." "No bad man is entirely bad." "Duryodhana, I salute you." "I do not find any pleasure in your suffering, but your defeat is a joy." "Your victory is complete." "Let's go and celebrate." "If you still have breath listen to me." "After the battle, I hid in the forest and there, in the darkness of a vast tree I saw an owl ruthlessly exterminating baby crows in their sleep." "I said to myself: my hour has come." "That was true." "I made a sacrifice." "A God welded this sword to my hand and infused my body with his power." "I entered into the camp slipping softly towards Drishtadyumna's tent where on rare carpets my father's killer lay asleep." "I kicked him awake." "He tried to scream." "I threw him into the ground I crushed his throat with my knees." "I've killed him as one kills cattle!" "Good." "That's good." "Then I hurled myself about the camp." "My force was superhuman," "I massacred everyone:" "I killed Bhima's son, Arjuna's son..." "Yudhishthira's son, I killed the twins' sons..." "Draupadi hasn't one son left." "Good." "I stabbed backs, I tore throats," "I amputated head, arms, ears!" "Then I withdrew in silence." "I met Abhimanyu's young widow." "I killed the foetus in her womb." "The Pandavas have no more descendents." "There," "I've done what I needed to do." "I'm calm." "Good." "That's good." "We'll see one another again." "Now I die." "Why are you kneeling beside Karna?" "Karna, who you killed..." "Karna was your eldest brother, my first son." "I was just fifteen." "Karna was our brother?" "Yes, Arjuna." "He knew it?" "Yes, he knew it." "Why did you hide this from us?" "Constantly hated by you, despised and rejected, he swore not to kill you, to spare you all, except you," "Arjuna, so that after the battle I would have the same number of sons." "Krishna, you knew it?" "Karna forbade me to reveal Kunti's secret." "His promise was absolute." "He preferred his word to his brothers..." "And you must respect his choice." "I led my brother to his death." "Now I'm going off into the woods." "Yudhishthira, don't go." "Don't despise this earth, you are the most upright, you are the truest of men." "And it needed exile, long suffering, this desperate war, and this harsh battle in yourself, and your lie, and you anger, and your delirium, for you now to be him whom the city awaits with all its gallants." "Bhishma, this world is savage." "How can one understand the savagery of this world?" "A man is walking in a dark, dangerous forest, filled with wild beasts." "The forest is surrounded by a vast net." "The man is afraid, he runs to escape from the beasts." "He falls into a pitch-black hole." "By a miracle, he's caught in some twisted roots." "He feels the hot breath of an enormous snake its throat wide open, lying at the bottom of the pit." "It's about to fall into its jaws." "On the edge of the hole, a huge elephant is preparing to crush him." "Black and white mice gnaw the roots from which the man is hanging." "Dangerous bees fly over the hole, letting fall drops of honey." "Then a man holds out his finger." "Slowly, cautiously, he holds out his finger to catch the drops of honey." "Threatened by so many dangers... with hardly a breath between him and so many deaths, he still isn't free from desire." "The thought of honey holds him to life." "But... how can one escape?" "Come with me to the city." "Krishna!" "You didn't keep your word!" "You took part in the battle with weapons more terrible than all the others!" "You rejoiced in our misfortune." "You watched my son die." "Krishna, I curse you!" "One day, all that you are building will crumble." "Your friends will be massacred by your friends." "Dry blood will coat the walls of your dead city, where only vultures reign." "Your shattered heart will crack!" "You will leave, solitary." "A passer-by will kill you." "Yes, Gandhari." "What you say is true, I know." "But even if you can't see it, a light has been saved." "Are you going to die too?" "Yes, of course, like any other life." "Time has fixed my limit." "Gandhari's vision was right." "Later, thirty-six years later, terrible convulsions tore my kingdom apart." "and I said to myself: time has come." "I must go into the forest, alone, and die... on the spot where I drop with fatigue." "A hunter mistook my feet for the ears of a deer." "There's no cause for concern." "I die." "It's as it should be." "Krishna, I've so many things to ask you." "Tell me quickly." "Why all your tricks and your bad directions?" "I fought against terrible powers, and I did what I could." "What was it you said to Arjuna before the battle?" "I showed him the power of freedom, of true, right action, but he's forgotten it all." "What freedom?" "What path?" "These are very difficult questions and I can never say anything twice." "Please!" "Thirty-six years have gone by since the great battle but I still hear the clash of steel and the cry of flesh." "Last night there were rings of light around the moon." "You sigh, Gandhari." "Are you sad?" "It was not a sigh of sadness." "You were married without being told I was blind." "I destroyed your life." "At first you thought that I couldn't hold out, that I'd take off the veil." "You could have ordered me to take it off." "You were the king!" "You could have said to me:" ""At least look at your children!"" "But you never said it." "I felt your anger," "I always felt it towards me." "I still feel it." "Our life is nearly over." " Take off your veil." " No." "You cannot die with your eyes closed." "Take off your veil." "It's an order." "Have you taken it off?" " Yes." " What can you see?" "I can't see anything clearly." "My eyes must get accustomed to the light." "And now?" "Yes..." "I begin to distinguish shapes." "Trees..." "The sky..." "Two birds go by." " It's you, Kunti?" " Yes." "It's me." "I've never seen you." "I've never known the look in your eyes." "What?" "I've just seen a whole army rise out of the river." "All my sons smiling." "Their wounds healing, they're reconciled." "An immense wave of men, all white, mounting into the air." "I can't see them anymore." "The river is quietly closing again." "There is a fire somewhere in the forest." "Yes. since morning I've felt the smoke," "I hear animals crying as they run away." "The flames are coming towards us." "Dive into the river!" "Save your life!" "Come." "Let's both walk towards the flames." "Who has come as far as this?" "Who are you?" "I am Yudhishthira." "I'm looking for the gate of paradise." "It's here." " Are you alone?" " Yes." "We decided to leave the earth, my brothers and Draupadi." "But while climbing the mountain they slipped." "One after the other, they fell into the abyss: the twins, Draupadi... even Arjuna, even Bhima." "Yes, I've come here alone." "Your kingdom has known many years of happiness, you have proved yourself to be the best of kings." "Leave this dog, and enter." " I can't leave this dog." " Why?" "He's followed me ever since I left the city." "Paradise isn't open to dogs!" "Leave him behind!" "It's no cruelty, your brothers are here already." "Enter!" "Come and join them." "Leave this dog!" "Abandon a creature who loves me?" "Who's alone and defenceless?" "I can't." "You've given up everything..." "Give up this dog, otherwise you won't get past this door." "I will stay out here in the freezing cold, with this dog." "Enter." "The dog is another form of Dharma, your father." "Do you remember that a long time ago he took the shape of a lake?" "He's always followed and observed you." "Enter the inconceivable region." "Can I go in with my body?" "Yes, come." " Is that Duryodhana?" " Yes." "He's here?" "He's here with his family, with all his brothers." "Millions of men died because of him, and he's here?" "He drinks, he smiles... he seems happy!" "He is happy." "Here all hates vanish." "Kiss him." "Don't ask me to kiss him." "I can't." "If this murderer is here, where are my brothers?" "Where is our wife?" "What is paradise if I'm separated from my family?" "I want to see them." "I'll show them to you." "Come!" "Where are you taking me?" "To your brothers." "Come." "Where is this path here leading?" "The stench is dreadful, it's all black." "The mist smells of putrefaction." "Follow me." "Where are we?" "Where are my brothers?" "Farther still." "Go on a bit," "I'm stopping here." "If the smell upsets you, you can turn back with me." "Yudhishthira, don't go!" "Stay with us!" "You bring us a fresh breeze." "Stay!" "Our pains are lighter when you're here." "Who are you?" "Who's speaking?" "Don't you know me?" "I'm Karna, your brother." "I'm Arjuna." "I'm Bhima." "I'm Nakula." "I'm Sahadeva." "I'm Draupadi." "We are all here." "You!" "Here!" "Tortured!" "In this rotten smell of corpses..." "Who decided this?" "Am I awake?" "What act have they committed to be thrown down into hell?" "I condemn the gods!" "I condemn Dharma!" "I will stay here, forever, with my family." "Then the keeper of the last dwelling said to Yudhishthira:" "You've known neither paradise nor hell." "Here there is no happiness, no punishment, no family, no enemies." "Raise in tranquillity." "Here words end, like thought." "This was your last illusion." "So they died without children?" "All of them?" "Yes, all of them." "But you told me:" "This story tells the story of your race." "Am I born from a dead race?" "Look at this woman." "She was Abhimanyu's wife, and she bears his child." "Krishna saved the life of this child because his blood is the blood of Arjuna, his friend." "Centuries and centuries will go by and you will come from this woman." "Vtg"