Valadeva's Speech
Krishna's elder Valadeva, stalwart chief who bore the plough,Rose and spake, the blood of Vrishnis mantled o'er his lofty brow:
"Ye have listened, pious monarchs, to my brother's gentle word,Love he bears to good Yudhishthir and to proud Hastina's lord,
For his realm by dark blue Jumna good Yudhishthir held of yore,Brave Duryodhan ruled his kingdom on the ruddy Ganga's shore,
And once more in love and friendship either prince may rule his share,For the lands are broad and fertile, and each realm is rich and fair!
Speed the envoy to Hastina with our love and greetings kind,Let him speak Yudhishthir's wishes, seek to know Duryodhan's mind,
Make obeisance unto Bhishma and to Drona true and bold,Unto Kripa, archer Karna, and to chieftains young and old,
To the sons of Dhrita-rashtra, rulers of the Kuru land,Righteous in their kingly duties, stout of heart and strong of hand,
To the princes and to burghers gathered in the council hall,Let him speak Yudhishthir's wishes, plead Yudhishthir's cause to all.
Speak he not in futile anger, for Duryodhan holds the power,And Yudhishthir's wrath were folly in this sad and luckless hour!
By his dearest friends dissuaded, but by rage or madness driven,He hath played and lost his empire, may his folly be forgiven!
Indra-prastha's spacious empire now Duryodhan deems his own,By his tears and soft entreaty let Yudhishthir seek the throne,
Open war I do not counsel, humbly seek Duryodhan's grace,War will not restore the empire nor the gambler's loss replace!"
Thus with cold and cruel candour stalwart Valadeva cried,Wrathful rose the brave Satyaki, fiercely thus to him replied:
Words in this poem
- stalwart a.
- Brave; bold; strong; redoubted; daring; vehement; violent. [OE. stalworth, AS. stælwyrth serviceable, probably originally, good at stealing, or worth stealing or taking, and afterwards extended to other causes of estimat]
- yore adv.
- In time long past; in old time; long since. [OE. , yare, , AS. geára;akin to geár a year, E. year. Year.]
- futile a.
- Talkative; loquacious; tattling. [L. futilis that easily pours out, that easily lets loose, vain, worthless, from the root of fundere to pour out: cf. F. futile. See Fuse, v. t.]
- luckless a.
- Being without luck; unpropitious; unfortunate; unlucky; meeting with ill success or bad fortune; as, a luckless gamester; a luckless maid.
- entreaty n.
- Treatment; reception; entertainment. B. Jonson.
- humbly adv.
- With humility; lowly.
- candour n.
- Whiteness; brightness; (as applied to moral conditions) usullied purity; innocence. [L. candor, fr. candëre; cf. F. candeur. See candid.]
- wrathful a.
- Full of wrath; very angry; greatly incensed; ireful; passionate; as, a wrathful man.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Valadeva'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, Valadeva's Speech, in The Mahabharata (condensed) (1899), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #19630, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/mahabharata/valadeva-s-speech.html, id L15797.
Form and metre
Valadeva's Speech is 26 lines in 13 stanzas of 2 lines each. It is in rhyming couplets, 92% of the lines. The metre is trochaic octameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%). 99% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 15.2 syllables. 4 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 ploughA · browA
- 3 AA yoreA · shoreA
- 4 AA shareA · fairA
- 5 AA kindA · mindA
- 6 AA boldA · oldA
- 7 AA landA · handA
- 8 AA hallA · allA
- 9 AA powerA · hourA
- 10 AA drivenA · forgivenA
- 11 AA ownA · throneA
- 12 AA graceA · replaceA
- 13 AA criedA · repliedA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Krishna's elder Valadeva, stalwart chief who bore the plough, | 15 | /˘/˘····/˘····· |
| Rose and spake, the blood of Vrishnis mantled o'er his lofty brow: | 15 | ········/˘··/˘· |
| "Ye have listened, pious monarchs, to my brother's gentle word, | 15 | ··/˘/˘/···/˘/˘· |
| Love he bears to good Yudhishthir and to proud Hastina's lord, | 15 | ··············· |
| For his realm by dark blue Jumna good Yudhishthir held of yore, | 15 | ··············· |
| Brave Duryodhan ruled his kingdom on the ruddy Ganga's shore, | 15 | ······/˘··/˘··· |
| And once more in love and friendship either prince may rule his share, | 15 | ······/˘/˘····· |
| For the lands are broad and fertile, and each realm is rich and fair! | 15 | ······/˘······· |
| Speed the envoy to Hastina with our love and greetings kind, | 15 | ··/˘·····/··/˘· |
| Let him speak Yudhishthir's wishes, seek to know Duryodhan's mind, | 15 | ······/˘······· |
| Make obeisance unto Bhishma and to Drona true and bold, | 15 | ·˘/˘··········· |
| Unto Kripa, archer Karna, and to chieftains young and old, | 15 | ····/˘····/˘··· |
| To the sons of Dhrita-rashtra, rulers of the Kuru land, | 15 | ········/˘····· |
| Righteous in their kingly duties, stout of heart and strong of hand, | 15 | /˘··/˘/˘······· |
| To the princes and to burghers gathered in the council hall, | 15 | ··/˘··/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Let him speak Yudhishthir's wishes, plead Yudhishthir's cause to all. | 15 | ······/˘······· |
| Speak he not in futile anger, for Duryodhan holds the power, | 16 | ····/˘/˘······/˘ |
| And Yudhishthir's wrath were folly in this sad and luckless hour! | 16 | ······/˘····/˘/˘ |
| By his dearest friends dissuaded, but by rage or madness driven, | 16 | ··/˘·˘/˘····/˘/˘ |
| He hath played and lost his empire, may his folly be forgiven! | 16 | ······/˘··/˘·˘/˘ |
| Indra-prastha's spacious empire now Duryodhan deems his own, | 15 | ····/˘/˘······· |
| By his tears and soft entreaty let Yudhishthir seek the throne, | 15 | ·····˘/˘······· |
| Open war I do not counsel, humbly seek Duryodhan's grace, | 15 | /˘····/˘/˘····· |
| War will not restore the empire nor the gambler's loss replace!" | 15 | ···˘/·/˘··/˘··/ |
| Thus with cold and cruel candour stalwart Valadeva cried, | 15 | ····/˘/˘/˘····· |
| Wrathful rose the brave Satyaki, fiercely thus to him replied: | 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.