Satyaki's Speech
"Shame unto the halting chieftain who thus pleads Duryodhan's part,Timid counsel, Valadeva, speaks a woman's timid heart!
Oft from warlike stock ariseth weakling chief who bends the knee,As a withered fruitless sapling springeth from a fruitful tree!
From a heart so faint and craven, faint and craven words must flow,Monarchs in their pride and glory list not to such counsel low!
Could'st thou, impious Valadeva, midst these potentates of fame,On Yudhishthir pious-hearted cast this undeserved blame?
Challenged by his wily foeman and by dark misfortune crost,Trusting to their faith Yudhishthir played a righteous game and lost!
Challenge from a crowned monarch can a crowned king decline,Can a Kshatra warrior fathom fraud in sons of royal line?
Nathless he surrendered empire true to faith and plighted word,Lived for years in pathless forests Indra-prastha's mighty lord!
Past his years of weary exile, now he claims his realm of old,Claims it, not as humble suppliant, but as king and warrior bold!
Past his year of dark concealment, bold Yudhishthir claims his own,Proud Duryodhan now must render Indra-prastha's jewelled throne!
Bhishma counsels, Drona urges, Kripa pleads for right in vain,False Duryodhan will not render sinful conquest, fraudful gain!
Open war I therefore counsel, ruthless and relentless war,Grace we seek not when we meet them speeding in our battle-car!
And our weapons, not entreaties, shall our foemen force to yield,Yield Yudhishthir's rightful kingdom or they perish on the field!
False Duryodhan and his forces fall beneath our battle's shock,As beneath the bolt of thunder falls the crushed and riven rock!
Who shall meet the helmed Arjun in the gory field of war,Krishna with his fiery discus mounted on his battle-car?
Who shall face the twin-born brothers by the mighty Bhima led,And the vengeful chief Satyaki with his bow and arrows dread?
Ancient Drupad wields his weapon peerless in the field of fight,And his brave son, born of AGNI, owns an all-consuming might!
Abhimanyu, son of Arjun, whom the fair Subhadra bore,And whose happy nuptials brought us from far Dwarka's sea-girt shore,
Men on earth nor bright immortals can the youthful hero face,When with more than Arjun's prowess Abhimanyu leads the race!
Dhrita-rashtra's sons we conquer and Gandhara's wily son,Vanquish Karna though world-honoured for his deeds of valour done,
Win the fierce-contested battle and redeem Yudhishthir's own,Place the exile pious-hearted on his father's ancient throne!
And no sin Satyaki reckons slaughter of the mortal foe,But to beg a grace of foemen were a mortal sin and woe!
Speed we then unto our duty, let our impious foemen yield,Or the fiery son of Sini meets them on the battle-field!"
Words in this poem 16
- weakling n.
- A weak or feeble creature. [Weak + -ling.]
- fruitless a.
- Lacking, or not bearing, fruit; barren; destitute of offspring; as, a fruitless tree or shrub; a fruitless marriage.
- craven v. t.
- To make recreant, weak, spiritless, or cowardly.
- foeman n.
- An enemy in war. [AS. fhman.]
- nathless adv.
- Nevertheless. Chaucer. Milton. E. Arnold. [OE. natheles, na the les, not the less, AS. na never. See Na, The, conj., and cf. Nevertheless.]
- pathless a.
- Having no beaten path or way; untrodden; impenetrable; as, pathless woods.
- suppliant a.
- Asking earnestly and submissively; entreating; beseeching; supplicating. [F., p.pr. of supplier to entreat, L. supplicare. See Supplicate, and cf. Supplicant.]
- fraudful a.
- Full of fraud, deceit, or treachery; trickish; treacherous; fraudulent; -- applied to persons or things. I. Taylor.
- ruthless a.
- Having no ruth; cruel; pitiless.
- relentless a.
- Unmoved by appeals for sympathy or forgiveness; insensible to the distresses of others; destitute of tenderness; unrelenting; unyielding; unpitying; as, a prey to relentless despotism.
- 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,]
- rightful a.
- Righteous; upright; just; good; -- said of persons.
- helmed a.
- Covered with a helmet.
- gory a.
- Covered with gore or clotted blood. [From Gore.]
- vengeful a.
- Vindictive; retributive; revengeful.
- prowess n.
- Distinguished bravery; valor; especially, military bravery and skill; gallantry; intrepidity; fearlessness. Chaucer. Sir P. Sidney. [OF. proece, proesce, F. prouesse. See Prow, a.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Satyaki'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, Satyaki's Speech, in The Mahabharata (condensed) (1899), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #19630, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/mahabharata/satyaki-s-speech.html, id L15798.
Form and metre
Satyaki's Speech is 44 lines in 22 stanzas of 2 lines each. It is in rhyming couplets, 86% of the lines. The metre is trochaic octameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 15.1 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 partA · heartA
- 2 AA kneeA · treeA
- 3 AA flowA · lowA
- 4 AA fameA · blameA
- 5 AA crostA · lostA
- 6 AA declineA · lineA
- 8 AA oldA · boldA
- 9 AA ownA · throneA
- 10 AA vainA · gainA
- 12 AA yieldA · fieldA
- 13 AA shockA · rockA
- 15 AA ledA · dreadA
- 16 AA fightA · mightA
- 17 AA boreA · shoreA
- 18 AA faceA · raceA
- 19 AA sonA · doneA
- 20 AA ownA · throneA
- 21 AA foeA · woeA
- 22 AA yieldA · fieldA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| "Shame unto the halting chieftain who thus pleads Duryodhan's part, | 15 | ····/˘/˘······· |
| Timid counsel, Valadeva, speaks a woman's timid heart! | 15 | /˘/˘······/˘/˘· |
| Oft from warlike stock ariseth weakling chief who bends the knee, | 15 | ··/··˘/˘/˘····· |
| As a withered fruitless sapling springeth from a fruitful tree! | 15 | ··/˘/˘/˘/˘··/˘· |
| From a heart so faint and craven, faint and craven words must flow, | 15 | ······/˘··/˘··· |
| Monarchs in their pride and glory list not to such counsel low! | 15 | /·····/˘····/˘· |
| Could'st thou, impious Valadeva, midst these potentates of fame, | 16 | ··˘/˘······/˘··· |
| On Yudhishthir pious-hearted cast this undeserved blame? | 15 | ····/˘/˘···˘/˘· |
| Challenged by his wily foeman and by dark misfortune crost, | 15 | /˘··/˘/˘···˘/˘· |
| Trusting to their faith Yudhishthir played a righteous game and lost! | 15 | /˘········/˘··· |
| Challenge from a crowned monarch can a crowned king decline, | 15 | /˘···˘/····˘·˘/ |
| Can a Kshatra warrior fathom fraud in sons of royal line? | 15 | ····/˘/˘····/˘· |
| Nathless he surrendered empire true to faith and plighted word, | 15 | /˘·˘/˘/˘····/˘· |
| Lived for years in pathless forests Indra-prastha's mighty lord! | 15 | ····/˘/˘····/˘· |
| Past his years of weary exile, now he claims his realm of old, | 15 | ····/˘/········ |
| Claims it, not as humble suppliant, but as king and warrior bold! | 16 | ····/˘/˘˘····/˘· |
| Past his year of dark concealment, bold Yudhishthir claims his own, | 15 | ·····˘/˘······· |
| Proud Duryodhan now must render Indra-prastha's jewelled throne! | 15 | ······/˘····/˘· |
| Bhishma counsels, Drona urges, Kripa pleads for right in vain, | 15 | ··/˘··/˘······· |
| False Duryodhan will not render sinful conquest, fraudful gain! | 15 | ······/˘/˘/˘/˘· |
| Open war I therefore counsel, ruthless and relentless war, | 15 | /˘····/˘/˘·˘/˘· |
| Grace we seek not when we meet them speeding in our battle-car! | 15 | ········/˘·//˘· |
| And our weapons, not entreaties, shall our foemen force to yield, | 15 | ·//˘·˘/˘·/····· |
| Yield Yudhishthir's rightful kingdom or they perish on the field! | 15 | ····/˘/˘··/˘··· |
| False Duryodhan and his forces fall beneath our battle's shock, | 15 | ······/˘···//˘· |
| As beneath the bolt of thunder falls the crushed and riven rock! | 15 | ······/˘····/˘· |
| Who shall meet the helmed Arjun in the gory field of war, | 15 | ·····˘····/˘··· |
| Krishna with his fiery discus mounted on his battle-car? | 15 | /˘··/˘/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Who shall face the twin-born brothers by the mighty Bhima led, | 15 | ······/˘··/˘··· |
| And the vengeful chief Satyaki with his bow and arrows dread? | 15 | ··/˘········/˘· |
| Ancient Drupad wields his weapon peerless in the field of fight, | 15 | /˘····/˘/˘····· |
| And his brave son, born of AGNI, owns an all-consuming might! | 15 | ···········˘/˘· |
| Abhimanyu, son of Arjun, whom the fair Subhadra bore, | 15 | ··············· |
| And whose happy nuptials brought us from far Dwarka's sea-girt shore, | 15 | ··/˘/˘········· |
| Men on earth nor bright immortals can the youthful hero face, | 15 | ·····˘/˘··/˘/˘· |
| When with more than Arjun's prowess Abhimanyu leads the race! | 15 | ······/˘······· |
| Dhrita-rashtra's sons we conquer and Gandhara's wily son, | 15 | ······/˘····/˘· |
| Vanquish Karna though world-honoured for his deeds of valour done, | 15 | /˘····/˘····/˘· |
| Win the fierce-contested battle and redeem Yudhishthir's own, | 15 | ···˘/˘/˘·˘/···· |
| Place the exile pious-hearted on his father's ancient throne! | 15 | ··/·/˘/˘··/˘/˘· |
| And no sin Satyaki reckons slaughter of the mortal foe, | 15 | ······/˘/˘··/˘· |
| But to beg a grace of foemen were a mortal sin and woe! | 15 | ··········/˘··· |
| Speed we then unto our duty, let our impious foemen yield, | 16 | ·····//˘·/˘/˘··· |
| Or the fiery son of Sini meets them on the battle-field!" | 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.