Text 40] The Son of Drona Punished 359

joined the enemy camp, he was still held always in respect, for the
Pandavas and Arjuna saluted him before beginning the fight. There was
nothing wrong in that way. But the son of Dronacarya degraded himself
by committing acts which are never done by the dvijas or the twice-born
higher castes. Agvatthama, the son of Dronacarya, committed murder by
killing the five sleeping sons of Draupadi, by which he dissatisfied his
master Duryodhana, who never approved of the heinous act of killing
the five sleeping sons of the Pandavas. This means that Asvatthama became
as assaulter of Arjuna’s own family members, and thus he was liable to be
punished by him. In the sastras, he who attacks without notice or kills
from behind or sets fire to another’s house or kidnaps one’s wife is
condemned to death. These facts are reminded by Krsna to Arjuna so that
he might take notice of them and do the needful.

TEXT 40

ae sara

wy Geral Ta Te: HUT ASA: |

a ° ° 0

SGT THT TAKA Aer voll

suta uvaca
evam pariksata dharmam
parthah krsnena coditah
naicchadd hantum guru-sutam
yadvapy atma-hanam mahan

suitah—Siita Gosvami; uvaca—said; evam—this; pariksata—being exam-
ined; darmam—in the matter of duty; parthah—Sri Arjuna; krsnena—by
Lord Krsna; coditah—being encouraged; na aicchat—did not like; hantum—
to kill; guru-sutam—the son of his teacher; yadyapi—although; a@tma-hanam
—murderer of sons; mahan—very great.

TRANSLATION

Suta Gosvami said: Despite being instructed in his duty and encouraged
to kill the son of Dronacarya, Arjuna, a great soul, did not like the idea of
killing him, although he was a heinous murderer of his family members.
