O Sanjaya, I had no hope of success. When I heard that Bhima-sena drank the blood of his brother Dushshana in the field of battle without anybody being able to prevent him, then, O Sanjaya, I had no hope of success. When I heard that the infinitely brave Karna, invincible in battle, was slain by Arjuna in that war of brothers mysterious to even the gods, then, O Sanjaya, I had no hope of success. When I heard that Yudhishthira the just overcame the heroic son of Drona, Dushshana, and the fierce Kritavarma, then, O Sanjaya, I had no hope of success. When I heard that the brave king of Madra who ever dared Krishna in battle was slain by Yudhishthira, then, O Sanjaya, I had no hope of success. When I heard that the wicked Sauvala of magic power, the root of the gaming and the feud, was slain in battle by Sahadeva the son of Pandu, then, O Sanjaya, I had no hope of success. When I heard that Duryodhana, spent with fatigue, having gone to a lake and made a refuge for himself within its waters, was lying there alone, his strength gone and without a chariot, then, O Sanjaya, I had no hope of success. When I heard that the Pandavas having gone to that lake accompanied by Vāsudeva and standing on its beach began to address contemptuously my son who was incapable of putting up with affronts, then, O Sanjaya, I had no hope of success. When I heard that while displaying in circles a variety of curious modes (of attack and defence) in an encounter with clubs, he was unfairly slain according to the counsels of Krishna, then, O Sanjaya, I had no hope of success. When I heard that the son of Drona and others by slaying the Panchalas and the sons of Draupadi in their sleep, perpetrated a horrible and infamous deed, then, O Sanjaya, I had no hope of success. When I heard that Aswatthama while being pursued by Bhima-sena had discharged the first of weapons called Aishika, by which the embryo in the womb (of Uttara) was wounded, then, O Sanjaya, I had no hope of success. When I heard that the weapon Brahmashira (discharged by Aswatthama) was repelled by Arjuna with another weapon over which he had pronounced the word "Sasti," and that Aswatthama had to give up the jewel-like excrescence on his head, then, O Sanjaya,
