The Chariot-driver
Wet with drops of toil and languor, lo! a chariot-driver came,Loosely hung his scanty garments, and a staff upheld his frame,
Karna, now a crowned monarch, to the humble charioteer,Bent his head, still moist with water, as unto a parent dear!
With his scanty cloth the driver sought his dusty feet to hide,And he hailed the gallant Karna as his son and as his pride,
And he clasped unto his bosom crowned Karna's noble head,And on Karna's dripping forehead, fresh and loving tear-drops shed!
Is he son of chariot-driver? Doubts arose in Bhima's mind,And he sought to humble Karna with reproachful words unkind:
"Wilt thou, high-descended hero, with a Kuru cross thy brand?But the goad of cattle-drivers better suits, my friend, thy hand!
Wilt thou as a crowned monarch rule a mighty nation's weal?As the jackals of the jungle sacrificial offerings steal!"
Quivered Karna's lips in anger, word of answer spake he none,But a deep sigh shook his bosom, and he gazed upon the sun!
Words in this poem
- charioteer n.
- One who drives a chariot.
- dripping n.
- A falling in drops, or the sound so made.
- unkind a.
- Having no race or kindred; childless. [See Kin kindred.]
- 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.]
- sacrificial a.
- Of or pertaining to sacrifice or sacrifices; consisting in sacrifice; performing sacrifice.
- quivered a.
- Furnished with, or carrying, a quiver.
- shook v. t.
- To pack, as staves, in a shook.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Chariot-driver 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, The Chariot-driver, in The Mahabharata (condensed) (1899), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #19630, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/mahabharata/the-chariot-driver.html, id L15761.
Form and metre
The Chariot-driver is 16 lines in 8 stanzas of 2 lines each. It is in rhyming couplets. The metre is iambic octameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%). 93% 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 iambic 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 cameA · frameA
- 2 AA charioteerA · dearA
- 3 AA hideA · prideA
- 4 AA headA · shedA
- 5 AA mindA · unkindA
- 6 AA brandA · handA
- 7 AA wealA · stealA
- 8 AA noneA · sunA
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 iambic octameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Wet with drops of toil and languor, lo! a chariot-driver came, | 15 | ······/˘··/˘˘/· |
| Loosely hung his scanty garments, and a staff upheld his frame, | 15 | /˘··/˘/˘···˘/·· |
| Karna, now a crowned monarch, to the humble charioteer, | 15 | ·····˘/···/˘··· |
| Bent his head, still moist with water, as unto a parent dear! | 15 | ······/˘····/˘· |
| With his scanty cloth the driver sought his dusty feet to hide, | 15 | ··/˘··/˘··/˘··· |
| And he hailed the gallant Karna as his son and as his pride, | 15 | ····/˘········· |
| And he clasped unto his bosom crowned Karna's noble head, | 15 | ···˘···/˘···/˘· |
| And on Karna's dripping forehead, fresh and loving tear-drops shed! | 15 | ····/˘/˘··/˘··· |
| Is he son of chariot-driver? Doubts arose in Bhima's mind, | 15 | ····/˘˘/·˘/···· |
| And he sought to humble Karna with reproachful words unkind: | 15 | ····/˘···˘/˘·˘/ |
| "Wilt thou, high-descended hero, with a Kuru cross thy brand? | 15 | ···˘/˘/˘······· |
| But the goad of cattle-drivers better suits, my friend, thy hand! | 15 | ····/˘/˘/˘····· |
| Wilt thou as a crowned monarch rule a mighty nation's weal? | 15 | ·····˘/···/˘/˘· |
| As the jackals of the jungle sacrificial offerings steal!" | 15 | ··/˘··/˘·˘/˘/˘· |
| Quivered Karna's lips in anger, word of answer spake he none, | 15 | /˘····/˘··/˘··· |
| But a deep sigh shook his bosom, and he gazed upon the sun! | 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.