"Bhima!" "Where is Bhima?" "I'm looking for Bhima!" "Where is he?" "Bhima!" "I'm looking for Bhima." "I'm looking for Bhima." "Where is he?" "I am Bhima!" "What do you want?" "I was told I would find you in the forest, and that you are the strongest man in the world." "It's true!" "You must fight for me." "Against whom?" "Against an old man, a proud and ferocious old man." "Against Bhishma!" "Bhishma?" "Impossible." "I love and respect him." "No one would risk himself against him." "He can only die if he wishes for death." "He's invincible." "Who are you?" "I am Amba." "Because of Bhishma long ago, the world rejected me." "You are really Amba?" "It was more than forty years ago." "Hate keeps me young." "I only live to kill Bhishma." "I swore it, but all the men to whom I turn, even you Bhima you all tell me he can't be killed." "Nonetheless, I will kill him." "To find the moment that ends his life," "I have all eternity." "Rest." "Free yourself from this wish to kill." "Why do you always propose peace, forgiveness?" "Amba, don't only search in this world, pray to the demigods, call upon invisible forces." "For forty years I've been searching everywhere." "No force can outwit death." "Except death itself." "Who spoke?" "Who said "Except death itself"?" "How can death outwit death?" "Explain." "Don't leave me in this void." "Amba, would you like to eat?" "I only eat what the wind brings." "I never sleep." "All my life I walk and question." "I need nothing." "Someone is laughing at us." "What are you saying?" "A magician makes us blind, he's torturing us." "What magician?" "We had a kingdom or did I dream it?" "I was dragged in front of all the men, clothed in a single robe stained in my own blood." "The sight of a woman made men laugh." "My husbands were there." "I needed their aid, and Duryodhana is still alive!" "I despise your strength." "I have another question." "You are just, you only speak words of truth." "How did you allow the game take hold of you?" "How did you agree to play to lose everything?" "Your brothers, your wife..." "Yudhishthira, I don't understand." "Sometimes I tell myself that a man is nothing!" "He has his nature imposed upon him." "Nothing comes from himself." "All that we do, all that we think, is just a game, just moving shadows." "Yes, I suspect a magician." "Destiny is vicious and he plays tricks with us." "Even the Creator takes sides." "I condemn him." "I have the same questions as you, Draupadi." "Why is this act rewarded and this one not?" "No one can answer." "It's the secret of all time." "But whether there is a reward or not, with all my strength I do what I must do." "That is my Dharma." "Without this obligation, nothing would be stable anymore and the world would lose its honour in darkness." "I have more than love for you." "I have respect, since the very first day." "But something in your heart eludes me and sucks my strength." "...A man who doesn't know why he's alive?" "Where is his will?" "What hope sustains him?" "Happiness is for a man who acts!" "And if silence were necessary for the harmony of the world?" "Silence..." "Solitude..." "Thought." "Rise!" "Take up your weapons!" "Don't leave us in this wilderness!" "Yudhishthira..." "Yudhishthira, we all want what is good." "That's natural." "Money, for example, wealth all the abundance of the earth." "That's good that's excellent." "And love, that's delicious." "Sometimes, it's divine." "But I say, my brother, there's nothing like love." "It's honey." "It's a bliss." "Love well made can lead to wisdom." "You, you know Dharma better than anyone." "But wealth?" "You will hold out a begging bowl and enjoy wealth?" "And love?" "You will sit alone in a bush and enjoy love?" "Get up!" "You must protect the earth!" "That's the truth!" "Yudhishthira, you can't answer lies with silence." "Our kingdom, and our power, are in the hands of a thief." "Yudhishthira, rise!" "I have promised to spend thirteen years in exile, and I will keep my promise." "At the end of thirteen years, if Duryodhana refuses to give us back our kingdom and he will refuse then I will be as resolute as you are." "One day, Draupadi, wolves and birds will laugh while eating our enemies' flesh, the flesh of those who laughed when they saw you played for and lost." "One day, in twelve years, when the time is ripe." "But not before." "Bhima..." " Why do you embrace me?" " Because I'm going." "Nakula, Sahadeva..." "My arms are idle, my will grows weaker every day." " I can't wait here any longer." " Where are you going?" "Somewhere in the north there are weapons." "I'm going to find them, as those we have will not be sufficient." "Where are these weapons?" "Humans do not know them." "They are buried deep in the mountains." "They say that to obtain them you must forget everything, even your body, even your life." "I'm ready." "I'm going because ever since childhood I've been marked for war, and I know now that one day this war will come and I will lead it." "I know it." "I won't miss out my life." "How long before seeing you?" "I don't know." "I've said all I know." "I will be back." "Duryodhana!" "Yes." "What?" "My dreams are poisoning me." "I have seen Yudhishthira and his brothers clutching winged demons and swarming towards us." "Bhima had red teeth." "Blood streamed from his mouth and he cried:" ""You dragged my wife by the hair!" ""I will tear open your belly, I will eat your guts!"" "Calm down." "Give me your hands." "Our enemies are growing stronger." "We must attack them now." "We must destroy them!" "Otherwise, very soon it will be too late." "Dushassana, my brother, their exile protects them." "The game they lost protects them." "I'm bound by its rules." "Yes, but the Pandavas are stamping the rules into dust." "They are preparing for a war." "You must preserve your empire." "You must kill them." "Announce a hunt." "You can say they died in an accident." "I will help you." "I hear breathing." "Who is that?" "Your sons." "I'm with Dushassana." "Up so early?" "We're preparing a hunt." "What prey?" " Stag, fowl..." " Boar." "I know your voices." "What's disturbing you?" " A bad night." " Yes." "We wonder through the palace from room to room." "Even sleep's been banished." "All the time I think of them." "Out there, miserable, wretched, ravaged by fever, pining for the past..." "I think of nothing else." "I spend all my nights with them." "I see them in the dark, close to me like shadows, but strong." "Stronger and stronger." "Exile strengthens them, I know it." "Friends and allies are gathering and stoking arms." "All they speak of is my death." "My son, your reign is a good reign." "Don't let your anguish destroy it." "If my reign is a good reign, where is your sleep?" "Power is brief." "Yes, I'm disturbed, anguished." "He's right." "You have given him your power because you can't rule the world in the dark." "Well, if your son is your king, let him rule." "Trust him, and stop pacing through the palace all night long." "His heart is blind, and he attracts disaster." "If danger is approaching the Pandavas in the forest, warn them, send them a secret message." "No, I can't betray my son." "No, not that!" "Hidimbi, my sister, I think I'm dreaming." "Yes!" "I smell human flesh!" "Look!" "Bring me their corpses." "Hurry!" "When we have eaten, we'll dance in the moonlight!" "Who are you you I see?" "Bhima." "And who are you, you I don't see?" "My name is Hidimbi." "This forest is my kingdom." " You are a Rakshasi?" " Yes." " Show yourself!" " No!" "I don't want to!" "Why?" "I'm not what humans like." "I'm black and hairy, and I stink!" " I want to see you!" " No, wait!" "First I must give myself the face and the body of a gorgeous woman." "You can do that?" "Look!" " You find me beautiful?" " Like the night." "Then tell me where you come from, splendid young man." "Tell me how you live, what you do." "I watch." "This forest is ruled by a terrifying Rakshasa, my brother, who sent me to take your life." "But at the sight of you love grasped my soul." "You bewitched me." "I love you, I can't kill you." "Love me as I love you and be my husband." "I fly in the air, I do what I please." "I will save you." "I can't be your husband." "I already have a wife." " Where is she?" " There." "But she's sleeping beside another man!" " Who is he?" " He's my brother." "He's also her husband." "She has two husbands?" "She has five." "Five?" "And you refuse to make me your second wife?" "What's this riddle?" "I don't understand!" "I hear him!" "He's running towards us!" "Quick!" "All of you, jump on my back!" "I'll carry you far from here!" "You don't know him, he's wild!" "Hidimbi, I've absolutely no fear of your brother." "Don't look down on me because I'm just a man!" "Hidimbi, it's disgusting!" "You look like a woman, you vile, depraved pervert!" "I'm going to kill you," " and all these slugs as well!" " Stop!" "Before killing this woman, fight with me, with me alone!" "Lift him off the ground!" "Squeeze the wind out of him!" "I'm going to restore this wood to happiness!" "Is he dead?" "Yes, his monster heart is still." "Listen to me." "I know that love is a woman's affliction, and the time has come for me to suffer." "I've chosen your brother, Bhima." "If he rejects me, I'll die." "Call me a poor idiot, but grant me this man." "You have other husbands." "Give me this one, I want him!" "If you give him to me, I'll do everything for you." "I'll protect you all my life." "Yes." "Enjoy my brother Bhima from sunrise to sunset." "As long as there's light in the sky, he's yours." "But don't forget to bring him back with the dark." " Are you still afraid of me?" " I've never been afraid." " What can you still refuse me?" " Nothing." "The sun is rising." "Carry me away." "I'll stay with you until we are given a son." "So, transfigured by joy," "Hidimbi became a woman of almost incredible beauty." "She got hold of Bhima, she swept him up into the air and everywhere." "On mountain peaks, on sky-blue beaches, in the secret layers of gazelles on the shores of forgotten lakes, everywhere, she gave him her love." "We had a son." "An enormous son called Ghatotkatcha." "Here he is." "It's him?" "He's our son?" "Yes." "Isn't he beautiful?" "Already so big?" "So black?" "Oh, he's a magnificent boy." "He has red eyes." "He doesn't seem to know how to walk!" "But he's only just been born..." "But he'll be very strong, a great magician." "I can already feel his power." "Son, son, come into my arms!" " My father!" " Yes, it's me." "Come!" "My father..." " Come, son!" "Yes!" " Father..." " Come, ah ah!" " Father!" "Yes, come, come!" "Ghatotkatcha, my son, stay with us!" " I can't." " Why?" "I live in another world and I must go back with my mother." "But if one day you need me," "I'll hear your call." "I'll be there, by your side." "Hidimbi, wait..." " No, don't look at me!" "I'm leaving!" " Hidimbi!" "Hidimbi!" "I was told that I'd find the king of kings in the desert, the supreme ruler." "Could it be you?" "Where is Arjuna?" "Where is he?" "He's on a journey." "Wasn't he bound to spend twelve years in exile?" "Why has he broken his word?" "Where is he travelling?" "With whom?" "He's travelling alone." "No word has been broken." "Is he looking for allies?" "Answer me!" "Put down that weapon Dushassana!" "Obey!" "No crime should corrupt this poem." " Yes." " Vyasa!" "It's a joy to see you again." "Thank you." "Vyasa, have you condemned us to spend the rest of our days here?" "To watch our lives have their way in this desert?" "No." "Go!" "Profit from exile to see and listen." "Walk." "Pause beside wise men." "Question savages and madmen, and listen to stories." "It's always pleasant, and sometimes it improves you." "Duryodhana, go back to the city." "Today's hunt has not been very good." "Dushassana!" "Do me a favour:" "As you go back through the forest, be very careful." "Keep your throat well away from tigers and wolves." "Stay alive." "Save your blood for me." "If you can stop crimes, you could prevent the war!" "There are some acts a word can check." "Others, nothing can stop." " Who is there?" " Kunti." "What do you want?" "Uncover your eyes, Gandhari." "Your son has launched a hunt against my sons." "Not satisfied by their exile, he wants their death." "He's defending his kingdom." "Take off your veil." "Come out of your dark hiding place." "To each one his darkness, Kunti." "I am used to the night." "You never looked at the earth, the palace... nor the colours of the sky." "That, I understand." "But how can you live without ever seeing your sons?" "A spark of courage;" "that's all you need." "Look around you." "See things as they are." "I'm going to tear off your veil." "Don't touch me." "You don't like me, Gandhari." "My first son was born before yours." "And you haven't forgotten." "I suffered for long time, it's true." "I even asked myself what fathers would have given you your sons." "But I don't think of it anymore." "Listen to me, Kunti." "Your children are united, and they are strong enough to protect themselves." "It is for mine that I fear the worst." "The rage in Duryodhana's heart makes a weakling of him." "He is a blind man's son." "He lives blindly." "He's bringing death upon himself." "I see it clearly." "You must help me to keep him alive." "Even if you hate him, even if the earth fears him," "he's my son." "Did you see them?" "Yes." "Arjuna has left his brothers." "I know." "My spies saw him heading north." "Alone." "What's he doing?" "He's looking for weapons." "Sacred weapons." "Where is he?" "I must know exactly." "You can see him." "Concentrate your thoughts on him, be calm." "Pronounce the necessary words." "Evoke him." "Don't touch that boar." "Who are you?" "I hunt in these vast mountains." "This boar is mine." "Why did you shoot it down?" "This boar is mine." "I hit it first." "No, it was I who hit it, before you." "What brings you here alone?" "Don't come near this boar." "I'll lift the boar onto my shoulders." "It is mine!" "If your hand touches the skin of this animal," " you won't escape alive." " You can't frighten me!" "The earth here knows my step." "You shot at the boar and you missed it." "Don't put your clumsiness onto others." "I'm taking my boar." "Again." "Again!" "More!" "Use up all your arrows..." "You can't touch me." "You can do nothing to me." "I master you." "Look." "I lift you in my arms!" "I block your lungs!" "I draw out your life." "Shiva." "You!" "The most subtle of beings!" "Blue-necked Shiva, with your third eye!" "I came to these mountains drawn by longing to see you." "I fought without recognising you." "I am confused." "Forgive me." "You are forgiven." "I'm pleased to meet you." "Ask me a favour, whatever you wish." "What I wish is an absolute weapon that you possess." " Pasupata?" " Yes." " It can destroy the world." " I know." "You can launch it with your bow, but also with your eye your word, your thought." "It's a weapon you can't recall, it's without limit, without mercy." "I know that too!" "You could never dispose of it, nor give it back." "I need this weapon." "I'll give it to you." "Pasupata!" "The mountains quiver when they hear that name the trees, the wind..." "the whole earth shakes." "Arjuna will never dare use it." "He doesn't know how." "Karma, you are mistaken." "Listen to what happened to me." "Listen carefully." "When Shiva disappeared," "I heard a tumult in the sky, like a hundred thousand claps of thunder and an immense chariot appeared, scattering the clouds." "Who are you in the form of Arjuna?" "An apparition?" "A phantom?" "The voice of the driver said to me:" "Mount!" "My heart beat wildly." "I climbed onto the immense chariot." "Drawn by a prodigious force, it bore me to the regions of light which the earth calls the stars." "Yes, Karna..." "I saw thousands of fiery spheres, making music in endless space." "I saw bodies glowing with their own light." "I passed beyond the world of men," "I arrived at Amavarati, the city that no one may describe, where Indra my father lives." "He took me on his knee." "Yes, Karna..." "He caressed me with a hand burned black with tracks of thunder, and for five years with him" "I deepened my understanding of the use of this weapon." "You don't exist." "I don't believe you." "I will find you again." "Karna, you too must acquire Pasupata." "We will have it." "It is night." "Yes." "You still dread the night?" "I don't like it." "I like the sun, when it wraps me in its warmth." "Every evening, when shadows lengthen I feel cold," "I look behind me, I sleep badly." "But when the first rays touch me, my strength returns intact." "Arjuna!" "Who are you?" "There is a strong wind." "Why hasn't it put out your lamp?" "My name is Urvasi." "What do you want from me?" "You are alone here, in the ice and wind, without a woman to give you her warmth." "Look," "I circled my eyes with shadow, and my arms with gold," "I scented my skin," "I drank a little wine and I came rapidly through the garden." "Are you a creature of the sky?" "An Apsara?" "Don't come near me." "I am a man." "We Apsaras are free to choose, we are not tied to a single man." "What I offer you is neither frightening nor dangerous." "It is only love." "I'm too far from the earth," "I've forgotten pleasure's shape, even her scent." "Love is the same in all the worlds." "Go away Urvasi." "We cannot love each other." "I came to you." "Don't reject me." " I love you." " I love you too." "I respect you like a mother." "I bow to you." "Treat me as your son." "Look at my skin, it is seething with fury!" "Treat you as my son?" "Remember my words:" "because you have insulted a woman who came to love you, you will live like a woman." "You too, amongst women, will be despised and you will be deprived of your virility." "For many months, you have lived in these forests, silent and willing." "I want to grant you a favour." "I don't know the colour of your eyes," "I don't know your name," "I don't know the sound of your voice, but I tell you you deserve a reward, and I have many well hidden secrets." "What is your wish?" "Pasupata." "What?" "Give me the secret of Pasupata." "Who are you?" " I'm your servant." " Liar!" "You want a weapon, that means you are a warrior!" "You belong to that arrogant cast that I detest, the Ksatriyas!" "Why do you detest the Ksatriyas?" "There is nothing to explain!" "I hate them." "I fought twenty-one generations of Ksatriyas with my axe." "I came down from heaven to destroy them!" "I'm not of that cast, I'm a simple man." " That's the truth?" " I'm called the driver's son." "I swear it." "Here." "I'm a man of my word." "The formula is written here." "Learn it by heart." "Quick!" "Hurry, the formula will fade away." "Finished." "It's only a scrub of bark." "You remember what was on it?" "When you utter those words, a creature will come down from the sky and will give you the weapon that you wish." "Now I will sleep a little." "I'm more than a thousand years old and I'm beginning to grow tired." "Where does this blood come from?" "Is this your doing?" "A worm brought a hole in my thigh while you slept, a tiny worm." "Forgive me." "Why didn't you yell?" "I didn't want to wake you." "You have tricked me." "Only a Ksatriya could display such idiotic courage!" "Any intelligent man would have yelled." "You are a Ksatriya!" "You lied to worm out my secret, but listen to me, whoever you are!" "At the last minute, listen to me carefully, the secret will slip from your memory." "You will forget it entirely, and that will be the moment of your death!" "Go!" "Go!" "No!" "Don't drink!" "Answer my question before you drink!" "We must drink!" "The sons of Madri are dead." "Answer my question!" "Answer me!" "Show yourself!" " Show yourself!" " Speak!" " Answer my question!" " Show yourself!" "Don't excite yourself for nothing." "First answer my question." "I'm devoured by thirst!" "Who has killed my brothers?" "Don't drink!" "First answer my questions!" "Who stroke them down?" "There's no trace of blows," "I don't understand." "First answer my questions, then I'll let you drink." "Who are you?" " I don't see you." " Answer!" "Are you in the air?" "Are you in the water?" "I am neither fish nor bird." "I've struck down your brother because they wanted to drink without answering my questions." "Examine me." "What is quicker than the wind?" "Thought." "What can cover the earth?" "Darkness." "Who are more numerous, the living or the dead?" "The living, because the dead are no longer." "Give me an example of space." "My two hands, as one." "An example of grief." "Ignorance." "Of poison." "Desire." "An example of defeat." "Victory." "Which came first, day or night?" "Day, but... it was only a day ahead." "What is the cause of the world?" "Love." "What is your opposite?" "Myself." "What is madness?" "Our forgotten way." "And revolt?" "Why do men revolt?" "To find beauty, either in life or in death." "And what for each of us is inevitable?" "Happiness." "And what is the greatest wonder?" "Each day, death strikes and we live as though we were immortal." "This is the greatest wonder." "Then the voice from the lake said:" "May all your brothers come back to life!" "Who are you?" "I am Dharma, your father." "I am constancy, rightness, the order of the world." "You've taken the form of a lake?" "I am all forms." "Yudhishthira, I am very satisfied." "Choose a favour." "Our stay in the woods is coming to an end." "We must now spend a thirteenth year unseen, unrecognised." "Tell me what our disguise should be." "Choose the disguise of your most secret desire." "Where can we hide?" "For the thirteenth year you must hide so skilfully that no one would recognise you, not even me." "Now you can drink." "Vyasa, why are you inventing this poem?" "So as to engrave Dharma in the hearts of men." "Is that possible?" "It will be long and difficult, and will be even dangerous, but the earth is listening to my poem." "It's wondering: will he find the way to help me?" "Where are we going now?" "I don't know yet." "Are you really the author of this poem?" "Do you doubt it?" "At times you hesitate." "I've composed everything, but nothing is written down and yes, there are moments when my thoughts escape me." "And Krishna?" "Did you invent him as well?" "Vyasa, which of us has invented the other?" "Krishna!" "Greetings." "What are you looking for in this land?" "Vyasa, I was looking for you." "I'm a little cold." "Who are you?" "People say Vishnu has come down to save the world, and some say he has taken your shape." "Is it true?" "What do you say, Vyasa?" "You are narrating me, haven't you already traced out my path?" "No path is traced completely, as well you know." "You are in life and you live." "The days of my youth passed joyfully, and I tasted many wonders." "Now your hairs go grey." "Deep in myself I see a black lake." "Often, in the dark, I hear calling and cries of pain" "I hear them too." "And what do you do?" "At night I sleep, and in the morning I wake." "I wait." "But you must know what has been prepared!" "One of you must know!" "Where are we?" "This is the court of king Virata." "The five Pandavas and their wife have been here for many months, hiding, disguised." "Look..." "Discreetly." "That Brahmin there is Yudhishthira." "He's playing dice?" "I've won." "Yes." "In the course of his journeys he learnt the science of dice, and now he can never lose." "Oh, it's Bhima!" "He's now a cook." "They call him the prince of pots." "The master of four thousand sauces." "Over there is Nakula," "here with the musicians, Sahadeva." "And he is..." "Is he a man or a woman?" "I'm both, a man and a woman." "I've won." "Kitchaka!" "My general!" "My king!" "At last you are back." "I can't run my country without you." "Where have you been so long?" "I've been with Duryodhana." "The Pandavas have disappeared." "He is furious." "His spies have been searching the earth for them, but if I find them, he will give us gold." "I think you should search in remote ambients." "Yes." " In far away mines..." " Yes." "Caves Grottoes." "Yes." "I will track them down even if it takes me to China!" "Who are these men?" "My new servants." "They served Yudhishthira in the forest." " Yudhishthira?" " Yes." "Come!" "One, two, three, four, five." "They are five, like the Pandavas!" "This one is very strong..." "And this one..." "What have you got in your hand?" "A game of dice." "Ah, you play at dice." "Yes, very often." "So, tell me..." "You win or you lose?" "He wins every time." "Then you can't be Yudhishthira." "Who's this beauty?" "Tell me." "I don't know, she's just a servant." "Beloved sister, send her to me, I must have her." "I'll give you emeralds." "Very good." "I'll send her to you tomorrow." "Good." "Come..." "Sit down." "From now on, all my wives are your servants." "Yes, there is no one like you." "You shine like the moon." "Your two breasts... your lips..." "Don't push me away." "You'll regret it." "Come." "You are sick." "I see you already in ashes." "In ashes?" "Just the reverse." "Come." "Come into my fire!" "Who do you think you are to say no to me?" "Open your arms." "Wait..." "Later." "Tonight?" " Tonight." " Good..." "Good." "Bhima, stop cooking!" "Listen to me!" "Draupadi?" "What are you doing here?" "I don't care anymore, I think all your brothers are dead!" "What do you mean?" "Your elder brother lives only for his dice." "He once nourished the earth, and today he eats from a stranger's hands." "And you, stewing rice in a kitchen?" "And Arjuna, the great conqueror, teaching dance to the king's daughter!" "I'm ashamed!" "Look at this miserable dress, these chapped hands!" "I know some people are beginning to suspect us, but I'm in agony!" "My heart is racing!" "Listen!" "Kitchaka's violence terrifies me." "I've promised to meet him again, but I'd rather swallow poison than fall into his hands." "Draupadi..." "You know the new pavilion?" "Are you there?" "I received your message." "I am here." "You see," "I've spent hours dressing and scenting myself for you." "It's a very expensive scent." "When I left, my servants gasped." "They said I was the king of beauty." "I'm happy, it's like a dream." "I'm in ecstasy." "Yes, yes, yes... caress me." "Yes!" "I see you know the ancient art..." "Again, again!" "I've never been caressed so strongly!" "My whole body's tingling!" "Speak to me, tell me something!" "It's true, you are the king." "What?" "It's true, you are the king of beauty." "No wonder women adore you!" "What's that voice?" " No!" " I'll take you in my arms now!" "Yes!" "You didn't know, did you, that you came here looking for death?" "No... no!" "My fingers sink into your flesh!" "I will grind you to powder, my love!" "What's this?" "Is this Kitchaka?" "These are certainly his clothes and his perfume..." "But, where's his neck?" "Where are his feet?" "Where's his head?" "Who killed him?" "He's been killed by greed, by pride." "But who turned him into a ball?" "Only a demon could do that!" "No." "It was my brother." "Who are you?" "I am Yudhishthira." "I can't lie to you." "And here is my brother Bhima, who killed Kitchaka to protect our wife Draupadi." "Here are Arjuna..." "Nakula and Sahadeva." "I have to close my eyes." "Is it true?" "You have honoured my palace in secret." "What can I do for you?" "Our time of exile is over." "We must now demand the return of what is ours." "And if Duryodhana refuses?" "I will fight." "You?" "Would you launch a war?" "Yes." "With my brothers." "Yudhishthira!" "They say that we have entered the age of destruction." "Is it true?" "Don't go away without answering me." "I see the coming of another age, where barbaric kings rule over a vicious and broken world." "Where puny, fearful, hard men, live tiny lives." "White-haired at sixteen, copulating with animals." "Their women, perfect whores making love with greedy mouths." "The cows, dry, sterile." "Trees, standing lifeless." "No more flowers, no more purity." "Ambition, corruption, commerce, is the age of Kali, the black time." "The countryside a desert, crime stocks the cities." "Beasts drink blood and sleep in the streets." "All the water's sucked up by the sky." "Scalded earth, scorched to dead ash." "The fire rises, born by the wind." "Fire pierces the earth." "Cracks open the underground world." "Wind and fire calcining the world." "Immense clouds gather, blue, yellow and red..." "They rise like deep sea monsters, like shattered cities." "Forked with lightening, the rains fall." "The rains fall and engulf the earth." "Twelve years of storm." "The mountains split the waters." "I no longer see the world." "Then, the primary God, when all that remains is a grey sea without a man, beast or tree the Creator drinks the terrible wind and falls asleep." "You said everything will be destroyed..." "So, what's the use of fighting?" "Welcome to you both." "Why this visit?" "War is drawing near." "Krishna, I've come to ask you to be our ally." "I make the same request in the name of my brothers." "I love you all." "I cannot take sides." "It is true." "Our family bonds are the same, but I was the first to enter here." "I have priority." "Yes, you were the first to enter, but when I opened my eyes, they fell on Arjuna." "It's for him to say what he would prefer." "On one side I set the mass of my warriors, fully equipped, ready for war, and on the other side myself, alone, unarmed, taking no part in the battle." " What do you choose?" " I choose you." " Me?" "Alone, unarmed?" " Yes." "That means I have the entire mass of your warriors?" "They are yours." "Fully equipped?" "Determined to fight?" "Determined and faithful." "Even to fight against Arjuna?" "Even against him." "You yourself won't fight?" "I will not fight." "Arjuna?" "Has everything been done to prevent the war?" "Absolutely everything?" "Can it be prevented?" "Arjuna, I can tell you with absolute conviction you won't have the choice between peace and war." "What will be my choice?" "Between war and another war." "The other war, where will it take place?" "On a battlefield... or in my heart?" "I don't see a real difference." "You said that war is inevitable, yet you do everything to prevent it." "Yes." "When you chose me, what was in your mind?" "I'm strong, I don't need your strength." "But I need you to drive my chariot." "Be my driver." "Yes." "I will drive your chariot." "Karna..." "Each day I feel the breath of war come closer." "I know your power and your influence." "If you wished, you could avoid it." "It's not me who decides if there'll be a war, but if the day comes, I will fight." "Your sons are my enemies." "They have despised, soiled and rejected me." "You can never beat them." "You see this launch?" "Touch it." "Feel how it vibrates." "When I was born," "I had a golden brass plate, like a second skin." "One day a god disguised as a beggar said to me:" ""Give me your brass plate"." "I heard a voice in the sky crying:" ""Don't part with that brass plate!"" "But I couldn't refuse." "I can never refuse anything." "Without the least hesitation, I tore it off and gave it dripping with blood." "It was then that the god held out to me this launch, with these words:" ""It will kill a living being, whoever you choose," ""man, god or demon"." "But it will only kill once." "Bhishma," "We must make the last offer of peace." "It's too late." "Death is already here, observing us." "The Pandavas are preparing for war." "Yes." "They will come to inform me of the death of my children and of my children's children!" "Our friends laugh at your fears." "They would throw themselves into the fire for us." "We have eleven complete armies against seven." "Victory is a fruit in my hand." "It's the truth, and I will govern the earth, or else I will die." "You reign has been rich and calm." "Yes, so the poets say." "All around me I see happiness." "Is it true, Drona?" "It is true." "Is it true, Bhishma?" "It is true." "Nobody is calling for our enemies to return." "I was given a kingdom which I stamped with a number: one!" "I won't mutilate this kingdom, I won't skin it alive." "I will leave it intact just as it was given." "I will never share it, I'll yield nothing." "I will kill Arjuna." "I've known this in a dream." "Karna..." "This earth that you despise and walk on with such pride, will strike you one day." "You always treat me like an imbecile and a coward." "Is it because of your great age?" "Old I may be, as you enjoy repeating, still I don't know a warrior in the earth who is my equal." "Not even Drona?" "Not even Drona." "Then I ask you, and you can't refuse... take command, be our general!" "Me?" "Aren't you the best?" "The one that's impossible to kill?" "Duryodhana, don't impose this burden on me!" "Everything that's threatening us, everything that's tearing us apart comes from you, from the lunatic promise you made long before we were born:" ""Never a woman, never a child"." "Your interminable, useless life, you've spent here, eating and drinking from the king's hand!" "If you shrink from this battle, your white life will be stained." "Bhishma, accept the commandment." "With you and Drona there will be no more risk." "You accept?" "Or you're afraid of death, after all?" "I'm afraid of everything except death." "Yes, I accept." "But on one condition." "Karna must not fight." "Why?" "I can't say why." "Are you afraid his light might outshine yours?" "No, that's not what I fear." "Then why leave Karna idle?" "Here." "I will only fight after your death." " Bhishma?" " Yes." "Is it night?" "Yes, it's already dark." " Gandhari?" " I'm here." "Something keeps me awake every night." "I dread the moment of sleep." "Your sons are burning with hatred, and the same hate is clouding your reason." "You want to keep what isn't yours." "Stay close to me all night." " Krishna is on his way." " Krishna?" "He comes in embassy, sent by Yudhishthira." "This is the perfect moment." "Let's seize Krishna and put him in irons!" "Yes." "I already have all his armies, I will keep him prisoner!" "No!" "Krishna brings danger." "Don't touch him!" "Duryodhana!" "Prepare him a palace!" "Let all the city gaze upon him!" "Sprinkle water before him!" "It's not worth the trouble..." "I'm here." "Ambassadors only receive honours at the end of their mission." "This refreshment must be eaten in joy." "Dhritharashtra, my words are for you." "The Pandavas, your five nephews, are like your sons." "You must give them what is theirs." "There's nothing more to say." "Krishna, I am not the master," "I can't answer for myself." "Speak to my son." "Do you wish to listen?" "I'm listening." "You're of noble blood, you're learned." "Your qualities are real, but you're destroying your life." "The man who scorns advice burns his stomach as though with green fruit." "His friends groan for a moment, then disaster catches up with him." "The earth loathes and rejects him." "Krishna, do you believe in the possibility of peace?" "I think what I say is possible, otherwise I wouldn't say it." "But in your heart... if you listen without lying... don't you hear the growl of war?" "Can a war without a winner be a war?" "Could a man with his eyes open plunge into war knowing that everyone will die?" "You all keep telling me I can't win." "Very well." "Death by arms is a glorious death." "I will never bow down." "As I was leaving, Yudhishthira called me back and said:" ""Let Dhritharashtra leave us five villages..." ""...and there'll be no war"." "A king does not stake his kingdom." "A king does not stoop to us for five villages." "I will not give five villages, I will not give one village." "I will not give... the point of a nail of earth." "Then one thing be certain:" "you will have your glorious death!" "If the earth is clamouring for victims, we will see a splendid massacre!" "Dhritharashtra, call them back." "They want to take hold of me." "Like madmen, like children." "Your son wants to make me his hostage." "It's a mistake." "Stop!" "My son, your hatred's for yourself." "After thirteen years of anger, try to be calm." "Duryodhana, you think I'm alone?" "You want to take hold of Krishna?" "You don't know who he is?" "You think he's defenceless?" "Look!" "Look carefully!" "When he laughs... thirteen tongues of fire spring from his mouth." "Brahma sits on his brow." "The guardians of the world stand on his arms." "From his eyes, his ears, his nose, there are fire and smoke." "Rays of light stream from his skin, heavenly, universal, terrible form!" "Krishna, lighten my eyes for a moment." "I beg you, let me see you." "Yes." "Here are eyes." "I see you!" "Out of chaos, a miracle." "My sons, can you see as I do?" "Can you see?" "Where are you going?" "Come back, listen to us." "Look!" "Darkness covers me again." "I can no longer distinguish anything." "Krishna, I did what I could." "So did I." "Kunti, I am leaving." "What should I tell your sons?" "That I found you sad and silent because of this war which is drawing nearer and nearer and which fills you with horror?" "No." "Tell Yudhishthira that a bad king is a contagious disease, that he perverts his age." "Say to him: "Awake, arise!"" "Your son could answer:" "What does a piece of land mean to me?" "Or pleasure, or life?" "Answer him he is not alone." "For all the creatures around him, he is the centre." "And if he says: "You have shut your heart to pity"?" "Tell him to forge himself a heart of iron." "Tell him pity is a poison." "He will say he feels tenderly towards his body." "What right have we to destroy our bodies?" "I would tell my son:" "your body is beautiful, your body is noble, but if you live with the fear of death, why ever give you life?" "Burn like a torch if only for an instant." "You were with Kunti?" "Yes." "You were looking for me?" "No." "I was walking by myself in the palace." "Sometimes I like to be alone." "I go my own way, you know, closed, confused..." "Plagued by rumours." "Him whom I call father and her whom I call mother are not my father and mother." "Karna, you are the son of Kunti." "Your enemies are your brothers." " They know it?" " No." "But if I reveal your birth to them, they'll bring you perfumes and gold, and on the sixth day, Draupadi will be your wife." "Your brothers, your friends, your mother, will be happy." "Duryodhana will no longer dare to fight." "My mother abandoned me." "A chariot driver found me and took me home." "Neither the earth itself, nor mountains of gold, neither joy nor fear could make me change my mind." "I have given my word." "I won't take it back." "Don't reveal my birth." "Yudhishthira would want to give me his crown, and I would pass it on to Duryodhana." "May Yudhishthira have a long reign." "Everything I've said to wound him, I regret." "Krishna..." "We're going to celebrate the great sacrifice of arms, and the eye that lights on everything will be yours." "We will have drums and cries of war, we will have blood, and skulls in which to drink the blood." "The sacrifice will invade the night, dispose of everything." "I know what you want." "I give you the earth, you reject it." "Put Arjuna in front of me, and do not tell him I'm his mother's son." "The victory of the Pandavas is assured." "Tell your friends:" "Look!" "It's spring, the buds are sweet, the water sparkles, everyone is joyful We're going to die." "You, who know me so well why do you trouble me?" "If you are here to bring the earth to its end, very well:" "the time has come." "No." "I'm not here to destroy." "Flesh and blood rain from the sky, bodiless voices cry in the night." "Horses weep..." "One-eyed, one-legged monstrosities hop across the land." "Birds purge on flags with fire in their beaks crying: "Ripe!" "It's ripe!"" "A cow gives birth to an ass, a woman a jackal." "Newborn babies dance, cripples laugh." "The different races merge." "Vultures come to prey." "The setting sun is surrounded by disfigured corpses." "Time will destroy the universe." "I'm racked all night by my dreams." "I've dreamed of you surrounded by bleeding entrails." "I've dreamed of Yudhishthira radiant, mounted on a pile of bones, drinking from a golden goblet." "I know from where victory will come." "You must be right." "If I can't touch your heart, the ruin of the earth is near." "One thing is certain, Krishna." "We will make a great journey together." "Yes, and we will find each other again, one day." "The two armies are face to face, ready to throw themselves on one another." "For fourteen years I have waited for this moment." "Krishna is preparing your chariot, he's talking to your horses, he's checking your weapons." "Everything is in your hands." "You know it." "Duryodhana, you have chosen war." "It is here." "Now, all is ready." "My warriors, my horses, my chariots, many millions of weapons, convoys, food stoves, forgeries tents for the wounded, logs for the funeral pyres, musicians, soothsayers, poisonous snakes." "My orders are given." "My armies shake the earth." "Arjuna, with Krishna at his reins, will give the signal, and the battle you wish for will begin." "We must fix the rules of war." "Speak." "Never fight at night." "Never strike a fallen man, an unarmed man, nor a man who had withdrawn from the fray." "And never strike in the back, nor on the legs." "Bhishma, I touch your feet." "We are going to fight against you, you whom no one can kill." "Grant me leave to strike you." "If you hadn't come to me, Yudhishthira," "I would have hated and despised you." "I am chained to your enemies." "Commit yourself to the struggle, and fight until you win." "Drona, I touch your feet." "We will fight against you, you who made us." "Grant me leave to strike you." "If you hadn't come to me," "I too would have despised you." "I too am chained to your enemies," "I too wish for your victory." "Fight with them, but think of me." "You can't be beaten." "You promise us victory?" "As long as Bhishma and I are alive, that victory is impossible." "Victory and defeat are impossible?" "That's what I say." "Is there a way of killing you?" "No." "Not unless I lay down my arms to prepare for death." "Before whom could you lay down your arms?" "Before a man of truth, the day he chooses to lie." "Who will give the signal to launch the battle?" "Arjuna." "He's led by Krishna, he's advancing between the two armies." "Krishna, my legs grow weak." "My mouth is dry, my body trembles." "My bow slips from my hand." "Uncle, cousins, nephews and Drona my teacher, they are all there." "I can't bring death to my own family." "My resolution's gone." "I can't defend myself." "I will wait here for death." "Arjuna has thrown down his bow and his arrows." "He has thrown down his bow and his arrows?" "Why does he bow his head?" "Where is his pride?" "Where is his wish to fight?" "What is this mad and shameful weakness?" "Stand up and fight!" "I'm in anguish." "I can't see where my duty lies." "Teach me." "What is Krishna doing?" "He's speaking to Arjuna." "What is he saying?" "He's telling Arjuna that victory and defeat are the same." "He's urging him to act, but not to reflect on the fruit of the act." "He says to him:" "Seek detachment, fight without desire." "You say: forget desire, seek detachment, yet you urge me to battle, to massacre." "Your words are ambiguous, I am confused." "Krishna tells him: don't withdraw into solitude." "Renunciation is not enough." "You must act, yet action mustn't dominate you." "In the heart of action, you must remain free from all attachment." "How can I put into practice what you are demanding of me?" "The mind is capricious, unstable it's evasive, feverish, turbulent, tenacious." "It's harder to subdue than taming the wind." "You must learn to see with the same eye a mount of earth and a heap of gold, a cow and a sage, a dog and a man who eats the dog." "There's another intelligence beyond the mind." "Passion drags us away." "Darkness dulls our senses." "How can I find this intelligence?" "With what will?" "To reply to this question," "Krishna led Arjuna through the tangled forest of illusion." "He began to teach him the ancient yoga of wisdom and the mysterious path of action." "He spoke for a long time, very long time, between the two armies preparing to destroy themselves." "All men are born into illusion." "How can man reach the truth, if one is born in illusion?" "Slowly, Krishna led Arjuna through all the fibres of his spirit, he showed him the deepest movements of his being, and his true battlefield, where you need neither warriors nor arrows where each man must fight alone." "It is the most secret knowledge." "He showed him the whole truth." "He taught him how the world unfolds." "I feel my illusions vanish one by one." "Now, if I am capable of contemplating it, show me your universal form." "I see you, in one point I see the entire world." "All the warriors hurl themselves into your mouth." "You grind them between your teeth." "They wish to be destroyed, and you destroy them." "Through your body I see the stars," "I see life and death, I see silence." "Tell me who you are," "I'm shaken to the depths." "I'm afraid." "I am all that you think, all that you say." "Everything hangs on me, like pearls on a thread." "I am the earth's scent and the fire's heat." "I'm appearance and disappearance." "I'm the trickster's hoax." "I'm the radiance of all that shines." "I'm time grown old." "All beings fall into the night, and all beings are brought back to daylight." "I have already defeated all these warriors." "But he who thinks he can kill, and he who thinks he can be killed, are both mistaken." "No weapon can pierce the life that informs you." "No fire can burn it, no water can drench it..." "No wind can make it dry." "Have no fear and rise up, because I love you." "Now you can dominate your mysterious and incomprehensible spirit." "You can see its other side." "Act as you must act." "I myself, I'm never without action." "Rise up!" "My illusion is dissolved." "My error destroyed." "By your grace now, I'm firm." "My doubts are dispersed." "I will act according to your word." "When will they stop talking?" "If Arjuna refuses to fight, if he is paralysed with fear, let him and his brothers go back to the woods, and let me reign!" "Vyasa, you who are composing this poem, do you know who'll win?" "The future doesn't exist, Dhritharashtra." "But I can give you eyes to see the battle." "No." "I don't want to see my children die." "Already torn flesh stomachs ripped, stamping horses crashing chests..." "Fathers can't recognise their sons." "The dying cry:" "It's me!" "Do I know you?" "Don't move!" "Don't leave me!" "Stop!" "The day is over." "Vtg"