Laurel · Vyasa · The Mahabharata (condensed)

Insult and Vow of Revenge

Vyasa (about 400 BC), translated by Romesh Chunder Dutt · 1899

trochaic octameter · rhyming couplets · 54 lines · from The Mahabharata (condensed)

Spake Draupadi slender-waisted, and her words were stern and high,Anger flamed within her bosom and the tear was in her eye!

And her sparkling, speaking glances fell on Pandu's sons like fire,Stirred in them a mighty passion and a thirst for vengeance dire!

Lost their empire, wealth and fortune, little recked they for the fall,But Draupadi's pleading glances like a poniard smote them all!

Darkly frowned the ancient Bhishma, wrathful Drona bit his tongue,Pale Vidura marked with anger insults on Draupadi flung!

Fulsome word nor foul dishonour could their truthful utterance taint,And they cursed Duhsasan's action, when they heard Draupadi's plaint!

But brave Karna, though a warrior,--Arjun's deadly foe was he,--'Gainst the humbled sons of Pandu spake his scorn thus bitterly:

"'Tis no fault of thine, fair princess! fallen to this servile state,Wife and son rule not their actions, others rule their hapless fate!

Thy Yudhishthir sold his birthright, sold thee at the impious play,And the wife falls with the husband, and her duty--to obey!

Live thou in this Kuru household, do the Kuru princes' will,Serve them as thy lords and masters, with thy beauty please them still!

Fair One! seek another husband who in foolish reckless gameWill not stake a loving woman, will not cast her forth in shame!

For they censure not a woman, when she is a menial slave,If her woman's fancy wanders to the young and to the brave!

For thy lord is not thy husband, as a slave he hath no wife,Thou art free with truer lover to enjoy a wedded life!

They whom at the swayamvara, chose ye, fair Panchala's bride,They have lost thee, sweet Draupadi, lost their empire and their pride!"

Bhima heard, and quick and fiercely heaved his bosom in his shame,And his red glance fell on Karna like a tongue of withering flame!

Bound by elder's plighted promise Bhima could not smite in ire,Looked a painted form of Anger flaming with an anguish dire!

"King and elder!" uttered Bhima, and his words were few and brave,"Vain were wrath and righteous passion in the sold and bounden slave!

Would that son of chariot-driver fling on us this insult keen,Hadst thou, noble king and elder, staked nor freedom nor our queen?"

Sad Yudhishthir heard in anguish, bent in shame his lowly head,Proud Duryodhan laughed in triumph, and in scornful accents said:

"Speak, Yudhishthir, for thy brothers own their elder's righteous sway,Speak, for truth in thee abideth, virtue ever marks thy way,

Hast thou lost thy new-built empire, and thy brothers proud and brave?Hast thou lost thy fair Draupadi, is thy wedded wife our slave?"

Lip nor eye did move Yudhishthir, hateful truth would not deny,Karna laughed, but saintly Bhishma wiped his old and manly eye!

Madness seized the proud Duryodhan, and inflamed by passion base,Sought the prince to stain Draupadi with a deep and foul disgrace!

On the proud and peerless woman cast his loving, lustful eye,Sought to hold the high-born princess as his slave upon his knee!

Bhima penned his wrath no longer, lightning-like his glance he flung,And the ancient hall of Kurus with his thunder accents rung:

"May I never reach those mansions where my fathers live on high,May I never meet ancestors in the bright and happy sky,

If that knee, by which thou sinnest, Bhima breaks not in his ire,In the battle's red arena with his weapon, deathful, dire!"

Red fire flamed on Bhima's forehead, sparkled from his angry eye,As from tough and gnarled branches fast the crackling red sparks fly!

Words in this poem 21

dire a.: Ill-boding; portentous; as, dire omens. [L. dirus; of uncertain origin.]
wealth n.: Weal; welfare; prosperity; good. [OE. welthe, from wele; cf. D. weelde luxury. See Weal prosperity.]
wrathful a.: Full of wrath; very angry; greatly incensed; ireful; passionate; as, a wrathful man.
fulsome a.: Full; abundant; plenteous; not shriveled. [Full, a. + -some.]
dishonour n.: Lack of honor; disgrace; ignominy; shame; reproach. [OE. deshonour, dishonour, OF. deshonor, deshonur, F. déshonneur; pref. des- (L. dis-) + honor, honur, F. honneur, fr. L. honor. See Honor.]
cursed a.: Deserving a curse; execrable; hateful; detestable; abominable.
plaint n.: Audible expression of sorrow; lamentation; complaint; hence, a mournful song; a lament. Chaucer."The Psalmist's mournful plaint." [OE. plainte, pleynte, F. plainte, fr. L. plangere, planctum (plancta, fem. p.p.), to beat, beat the breast, lament. Cf. Complain, Plague, Plangent.]
bitterly adv.: In a bitter manner.
princess n.: A female prince; a woman having sovereign power, or the rank of a prince. [F. princesse. See Prince, and cf. Princesse.]
hapless a.: Without hap or luck; luckless; unfortunate; unlucky; unhappy; as, hapless youth; hapless maid.
wedded a.: Joined in wedlock; married.
withering a.: Tending to wither; causing to shrink or fade.
bounden a.: Bound; fastened by bonds. [Old. p. p. of bind.]
hast: , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
hateful a.: Manifesting hate or hatred; malignant; malevolent.
saintly a.: Like a saint; becoming a holy person.
penned a.: Winged; having plumes.
rung n.: A floor timber in a ship. [OE. ronge, AS. hrung, a staff, rod, pole; akin to G. runge a short, thick piece of iron or wood, OD. ronghe a prop, support, Icel. röng a rib in a ship, Goth. H]
deathful a.: Full of death or slaughter; murderous; destructive; bloody.
angry a.: Troublesome; vexatious; rigorous. [See Anger.]
gnarled a.: Knotty; full of knots or gnarls; twisted; crossgrained.

Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.

About this text

Insult and Vow of Revenge is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Mahabharata (condensed), Project Gutenberg ebook #19630, the Romesh Chunder Dutt translation; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.

Cite as: Vyasa, Insult and Vow of Revenge, in The Mahabharata (condensed) (1899), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #19630, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/mahabharata/insult-and-vow-of-revenge.html, id L15780.

Form and metre

Insult and Vow of Revenge is 54 lines in 27 stanzas of 2 lines each. It is in rhyming couplets, 96% of the lines. The metre is trochaic octameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%). 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 15.0 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending.

See other poems in rhyming couplets, other poems in trochaic octameter.

Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.

Rhyme words, stanza by stanza

The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.

1 AA high^A · eye^A
2 AA fire^A · dire^A
3 AA fall^A · all^A
4 AA tongue^A · flung^A
5 AA taint^A · plaint^A
7 AA state^A · fate^A
8 AA play^A · obey^A
9 AA will^A · still^A
10 AA game^A · shame^A
11 AA slave^A · brave^A
12 AA wife^A · life^A
13 AA bride^A · pride^A
14 AA shame^A · flame^A
15 AA ire^A · dire^A
16 AA brave^A · slave^A
17 AA keen^A · queen^A
18 AA head^A · said^A
19 AA sway^A · way^A
20 AA brave^A · slave^A
21 AA deny^A · eye^A
22 AA base^A · disgrace^A
23 AA eye^A · knee^A
24 AA flung^A · rung^A
25 AA high^A · sky^A
26 AA ire^A · dire^A
27 AA eye^A · fly^A

Scansion, line by line

Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against trochaic octameter. How this is done.

Line	Syl.	Stress
Spake Draupadi slender-waisted, and her words were stern and high,	15	····/˘/˘·······
Anger flamed within her bosom and the tear was in her eye!	15	/˘····/˘·······
And her sparkling, speaking glances fell on Pandu's sons like fire,	16	··/˘/˘/˘······/˘
Stirred in them a mighty passion and a thirst for vengeance dire!	15	····/˘/˘····/˘·
Lost their empire, wealth and fortune, little recked they for the fall,	15	··/˘··/˘/˘·····
But Draupadi's pleading glances like a poniard smote them all!	15	····/˘/˘··/˘···
Darkly frowned the ancient Bhishma, wrathful Drona bit his tongue,	15	/˘··/˘··/˘·····
Pale Vidura marked with anger insults on Draupadi flung!	15	······/˘/······
Fulsome word nor foul dishonour could their truthful utterance taint,	15	/˘···˘/˘··/˘/˘·
And they cursed Duhsasan's action, when they heard Draupadi's plaint!	15	······/˘·······
But brave Karna, though a warrior,--Arjun's deadly foe was he,--	15	······/˘··/˘···
'Gainst the humbled sons of Pandu spake his scorn thus bitterly:	15	··/˘········/˘˘
"'Tis no fault of thine, fair princess! fallen to this servile state,	15	······/˘/˘··/˘·
Wife and son rule not their actions, others rule their hapless fate!	15	······/˘/˘··/˘·
Thy Yudhishthir sold his birthright, sold thee at the impious play,	16	······/·····˘/˘·
And the wife falls with the husband, and her duty--to obey!	15	······/˘··/˘·˘/
Live thou in this Kuru household, do the Kuru princes' will,	15	······/·····/˘·
Serve them as thy lords and masters, with thy beauty please them still!	15	······/˘··/˘···
Fair One! seek another husband who in foolish reckless game	15	···˘/˘/˘··/˘/˘·
Will not stake a loving woman, will not cast her forth in shame!	15	····/˘/˘·······
For they censure not a woman, when she is a menial slave,	15	··/˘··/˘····/˘·
If her woman's fancy wanders to the young and to the brave!	15	··/˘/˘/˘·······
For thy lord is not thy husband, as a slave he hath no wife,	15	······/˘·······
Thou art free with truer lover to enjoy a wedded life!	15	····/˘/˘·˘/·/˘·
They whom at the swayamvara, chose ye, fair Panchala's bride,	14	··············
They have lost thee, sweet Draupadi, lost their empire and their pride!"	15	··········/˘···
Bhima heard, and quick and fiercely heaved his bosom in his shame,	15	······/˘··/˘···
And his red glance fell on Karna like a tongue of withering flame!	15	············/˘·
Bound by elder's plighted promise Bhima could not smite in ire,	15	··/˘/˘/˘·······
Looked a painted form of Anger flaming with an anguish dire!	15	··/˘··/˘/˘··/˘·
"King and elder!" uttered Bhima, and his words were few and brave,	15	··/˘/˘·········
"Vain were wrath and righteous passion in the sold and bounden slave!	15	····/˘/˘····/˘·
Would that son of chariot-driver fling on us this insult keen,	15	····/˘˘/····˘/·
Hadst thou, noble king and elder, staked nor freedom nor our queen?"	15	··/˘··/˘··/˘·/·
Sad Yudhishthir heard in anguish, bent in shame his lowly head,	15	······/˘····/˘·
Proud Duryodhan laughed in triumph, and in scornful accents said:	15	······/˘··/˘/˘·
"Speak, Yudhishthir, for thy brothers own their elder's righteous sway,	15	······/˘··/˘/˘·
Speak, for truth in thee abideth, virtue ever marks thy way,	15	·····/˘˘/˘/˘···
Hast thou lost thy new-built empire, and thy brothers proud and brave?	15	······/˘··/˘···
Hast thou lost thy fair Draupadi, is thy wedded wife our slave?"	15	··········/˘·/·
Lip nor eye did move Yudhishthir, hateful truth would not deny,	15	········/˘···˘/
Karna laughed, but saintly Bhishma wiped his old and manly eye!	15	····/˘······/˘·
Madness seized the proud Duryodhan, and inflamed by passion base,	15	/˘·······˘/·/˘·
Sought the prince to stain Draupadi with a deep and foul disgrace!	15	·············˘/
On the proud and peerless woman cast his loving, lustful eye,	15	····/˘/˘··/˘/˘·
Sought to hold the high-born princess as his slave upon his knee!	15	······/˘·······
Bhima penned his wrath no longer, lightning-like his glance he flung,	15	······/˘/˘·····
And the ancient hall of Kurus with his thunder accents rung:	15	··/˘······/˘/˘·
"May I never reach those mansions where my fathers live on high,	15	··/˘··/˘··/˘···
May I never meet ancestors in the bright and happy sky,	15	··/˘·/·˘····/˘·
If that knee, by which thou sinnest, Bhima breaks not in his ire,	15	······/˘·······
In the battle's red arena with his weapon, deathful, dire!"	15	··/˘·˘/˘··/˘/˘·
Red fire flamed on Bhima's forehead, sparkled from his angry eye,	15	·/····/˘/˘··/˘·
As from tough and gnarled branches fast the crackling red sparks fly!	15	·····˘/˘··/˘···

The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.

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The Mahabharata (condensed)