Krishna's Speech
Mirth and song and nuptial music waked the echoes of the night,Youthful bosoms throbbed with pleasure, love-lit glances sparkled bright,
But when young and white-robed USHAS ope'd the golden gates of day,To Virata's council chamber chieftains thoughtful held their way.
Stones inlaid in arch and pillar glinted in the glittering dawn,Gay festoons and graceful garlands o'er the golden cushions shone!
Matsya's king, Panchala's monarch, foremost seats of honour claim,Krishna too and Valadeva, Dwarka's chiefs of righteous fame!
By them sate the bold Satyaki from the sea-girt western shore,And the godlike sons of Pandu,--days of dark concealment o'er,
Youthful princes in their splendour graced Virata's royal hall,Valiant sons of valiant fathers, brave in war, august and tall!
In their gem-bespangled garments came the warriors proud and high,Till the council chamber glittered like the star-bespangled sky!
Kind the greetings, sweet the converse, soft the golden moments fly,Till intent on graver questions all on Krishna turn their eye,
Krishna with his inner vision then the state of things surveyed,And his thoughts before the monarchs thus in weighty accents laid:
"Known to all, ye mighty monarchs! May your glory ever last!True to plighted word Yudhishthir hath his weary exile passed,
Twelve long years with fair Draupadi in the pathless jungle strayed,And a year in menial service in Virata's palace stayed,
He hath kept his plighted promise, braved affliction, woe and shame,And he begs, assembled monarchs, ye shall now his duty name!
For he swerveth not from duty kingdom of the sky to win,Prizeth hamlet more than empire, so his course be free from sin,
Loss of realm and wealth and glory higher virtues in him prove,Thoughts of peace and not of anger still the good Yudhishthir move!
Mark again the sleepless anger and the unrelenting hateHarboured by the proud Duryodhan driven by his luckless fate,
From a child, by fire or poison, impious guile or trick of dice,He hath compassed dark destruction, by deceit and low device!
Ponder well, ye gracious monarchs, with a just and righteous mind,Help Yudhishthir with your counsel, with your grace and blessings kind,
Should the noble son of Pandu seek his right by open war,Seek the aid of righteous monarchs and of chieftains near and far?
Should he smite his ancient foemen skilled in each deceitful art,Unforgiving in their vengeance, unrelenting in their heart?
Should he rather send a message to the proud unbending foe,And Duryodhan's haughty purpose seek by messenger to know?
Should he send a noble envoy, trained in virtue, true and wise,With his greetings to Duryodhan in a meek and friendly guise?
Ask him to restore the kingdom on the sacred Jumna's shore?Either king may rule his empire as in happy days of yore!"
Krishna uttered words of wisdom pregnant with his peaceful thought,For in peace and not by bloodshed still Yudhishthir's right he sought.
Words in this poem 18
- honour n.
- Esteem due or paid to worth; high estimation; respect; consideration; reverence; veneration; manifestation of respect or reverence. [OE. honor, honour, onour, onur, OF. honor, onor, honur, onur, honour, onour, F. honneur, fr. L. honor, honos.]
- sate v. t.
- To satisfy the desire or appetite of; to satiate; to glut; to surfeit. [Probably shortened fr. satiate: cf. L. satus full. See Satiate.]
- splendour n.
- Great brightness; brilliant luster; brilliancy; as, the splendor ot the sun. B. Jonson. [L. fr. splendere to shine: cf. F. splendeur.]
- graced a.
- Endowed with grace; beautiful; full of graces; honorable.
- valiant a.
- Vigorous in body; strong; powerful; as, a valiant fencer. [OE. valiant, F. vaillant, OF. vaillant, valant, originally p. pr. of OF. & F. valoir to be worth, L. valere to be strong. See Wield, and cf. Avail, Convalesce, ]
- graver n.
- One who graves; an engraver or a sculptor; one whose occupation is te cut letters or figures in stone or other hard material.
- pathless a.
- Having no beaten path or way; untrodden; impenetrable; as, pathless woods.
- jungle n.
- A dense growth of brushwood, grasses, reeds, vines, etc.; an almost impenetrable thicket of trees, canes, and reedy vegetation, as in India, Africa, Australia, and Brazil. [Hind. jangal desert, forest, jungle; Skr. ja desert.]
- stayed a.
- Staid; fixed; settled; sober; -- now written staid. See Staid.
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- wealth n.
- Weal; welfare; prosperity; good. [OE. welthe, from wele; cf. D. weelde luxury. See Weal prosperity.]
- sleepless a.
- Having no sleep; wakeful.
- unrelenting a.
- Not relenting; unyielding; rigid; hard; stern; cruel.
- luckless a.
- Being without luck; unpropitious; unfortunate; unlucky; meeting with ill success or bad fortune; as, a luckless gamester; a luckless maid.
- compassed a.
- Rounded; arched.
- unbending a.
- Not bending; not suffering flexure; not yielding to pressure; stiff; -- applied to material things. [In senses 1, 2, and 3, pref. un- not + bending; in sense 4, properly p. pr. unbend.]
- haughty a.
- High; lofty; bold. [OE. hautein, F. hautain, fr. haut high, OF. also halt, fr. L. altus. See Altitude.]
- yore adv.
- In time long past; in old time; long since. [OE. , yare, , AS. geára;akin to geár a year, E. year. Year.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Krishna's Speech 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, Krishna's Speech, in The Mahabharata (condensed) (1899), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #19630, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/mahabharata/krishna-s-speech.html, id L15796.
Form and metre
Krishna's Speech is 46 lines in 23 stanzas of 2 lines each. It is in rhyming couplets, 87% of the lines. The metre is trochaic octameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%). 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 15.0 syllables.
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 nightA · brightA
- 2 AA dayA · wayA
- 4 AA claimA · fameA
- 6 AA hallA · tallA
- 7 AA highA · skyA
- 8 AA flyA · eyeA
- 9 AA surveyedA · laidA
- 10 AA lastA · passedA
- 11 AA strayedA · stayedA
- 12 AA shameA · nameA
- 13 AA winA · sinA
- 14 AA proveA · moveA
- 15 AA hateA · fateA
- 16 AA diceA · deviceA
- 17 AA mindA · kindA
- 19 AA artA · heartA
- 20 AA foeA · knowA
- 21 AA wiseA · guiseA
- 22 AA shoreA · yoreA
- 23 AA thoughtA · soughtA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Mirth and song and nuptial music waked the echoes of the night, | 15 | ····/˘/˘··/˘··· |
| Youthful bosoms throbbed with pleasure, love-lit glances sparkled bright, | 15 | /˘/˘··/˘··/˘/˘· |
| But when young and white-robed USHAS ope'd the golden gates of day, | 15 | ··········/˘··· |
| To Virata's council chamber chieftains thoughtful held their way. | 15 | ····/˘/˘/˘/˘··· |
| Stones inlaid in arch and pillar glinted in the glittering dawn, | 15 | ·/····/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Gay festoons and graceful garlands o'er the golden cushions shone! | 15 | ··/·/˘/˘··/˘/˘· |
| Matsya's king, Panchala's monarch, foremost seats of honour claim, | 15 | ······/·/···/˘· |
| Krishna too and Valadeva, Dwarka's chiefs of righteous fame! | 15 | /˘··········/˘· |
| By them sate the bold Satyaki from the sea-girt western shore, | 15 | ············/˘· |
| And the godlike sons of Pandu,--days of dark concealment o'er, | 15 | ··/˘·······˘/˘· |
| Youthful princes in their splendour graced Virata's royal hall, | 15 | /˘/˘··/˘····/˘· |
| Valiant sons of valiant fathers, brave in war, august and tall! | 15 | /˘··/˘/˘···/˘·· |
| In their gem-bespangled garments came the warriors proud and high, | 15 | ·····/˘··/˘˘··· |
| Till the council chamber glittered like the star-bespangled sky! | 15 | ··/˘/˘/˘˘······ |
| Kind the greetings, sweet the converse, soft the golden moments fly, | 15 | ··/˘··/˘··/˘/˘· |
| Till intent on graver questions all on Krishna turn their eye, | 15 | ·˘/·/˘/˘··/˘··· |
| Krishna with his inner vision then the state of things surveyed, | 15 | /˘··/˘/˘·····˘/ |
| And his thoughts before the monarchs thus in weighty accents laid: | 15 | ······/···/˘/˘· |
| "Known to all, ye mighty monarchs! May your glory ever last! | 15 | ····/˘/···/˘/˘· |
| True to plighted word Yudhishthir hath his weary exile passed, | 15 | ··/˘······/˘/·· |
| Twelve long years with fair Draupadi in the pathless jungle strayed, | 15 | ··········/˘/˘· |
| And a year in menial service in Virata's palace stayed, | 15 | ····/˘/˘····/˘· |
| He hath kept his plighted promise, braved affliction, woe and shame, | 15 | ····/˘/˘·˘/˘··· |
| And he begs, assembled monarchs, ye shall now his duty name! | 15 | ···˘/˘/·····/˘· |
| For he swerveth not from duty kingdom of the sky to win, | 15 | ··/˘··/˘/˘····· |
| Prizeth hamlet more than empire, so his course be free from sin, | 15 | /˘/˘··/˘······· |
| Loss of realm and wealth and glory higher virtues in him prove, | 15 | ······/˘/˘/˘··· |
| Thoughts of peace and not of anger still the good Yudhishthir move! | 15 | ······/˘······· |
| Mark again the sleepless anger and the unrelenting hate | 15 | ·˘/·/˘/˘···˘/˘· |
| Harboured by the proud Duryodhan driven by his luckless fate, | 15 | /˘······/˘··/˘· |
| From a child, by fire or poison, impious guile or trick of dice, | 16 | ····/·/˘˘/˘····· |
| He hath compassed dark destruction, by deceit and low device! | 15 | ··/˘·˘/˘·˘/··˘/ |
| Ponder well, ye gracious monarchs, with a just and righteous mind, | 15 | /˘··/˘/·····/˘· |
| Help Yudhishthir with your counsel, with your grace and blessings kind, | 15 | ······/˘····/˘· |
| Should the noble son of Pandu seek his right by open war, | 15 | ··/˘········/˘· |
| Seek the aid of righteous monarchs and of chieftains near and far? | 15 | ····/˘/···/˘··· |
| Should he smite his ancient foemen skilled in each deceitful art, | 15 | ····/˘·····˘/˘· |
| Unforgiving in their vengeance, unrelenting in their heart? | 15 | ˘˘/˘··/˘·˘/˘··· |
| Should he rather send a message to the proud unbending foe, | 15 | ··/˘··/˘····/˘· |
| And Duryodhan's haughty purpose seek by messenger to know? | 15 | ····/˘/˘··/˘˘·· |
| Should he send a noble envoy, trained in virtue, true and wise, | 15 | ····/˘/˘··/˘··· |
| With his greetings to Duryodhan in a meek and friendly guise? | 15 | ··/˘········/˘· |
| Ask him to restore the kingdom on the sacred Jumna's shore? | 15 | ···˘/·/˘··/˘··· |
| Either king may rule his empire as in happy days of yore!" | 15 | /˘····/˘··/˘··· |
| Krishna uttered words of wisdom pregnant with his peaceful thought, | 15 | /˘/˘··/˘/˘··/˘· |
| For in peace and not by bloodshed still Yudhishthir's right he sought. | 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.