The king, however, neither
prevented Kichaka, nor inflicted any chastisement on him. The principal
ally of king Virata in war, the cruel Kichaka reft of virtue is loved by
both the king and the queen. O exalted one, brave, proud, sinful,
adulterous, and engrossed in all objects of enjoyment, he earneth
immense wealth (from the king), and robs the possessions of others even
if they cry in distress. And he never walketh in the path of virtue, nor
doth he any virtuous act. Of wicked soul, and vicious disposition,
haughty and villainous, and always afflicted by the shafts of Kama,
though repulsed repeatedly, if he sees me again, he will outrage me. I
shall then surely renounce my life. Although striving to acquire virtue
(on my death) your highly meritorious acts will come to naught. Ye that
are now obeying your pledge, ye will lose your wife. By protecting one's
wife one's offspring are protected, and by protecting one's offspring,
one's own self is protected. And it is because one begets one's own self
in one's wife that the wife is called _Jaya_[15] by the wise. The
husband also should be protected by the wife, thinking,--_How else will
he take his birth in my womb_?--I have heard it from Brahmanas
expounding the duties of the several orders that a Kshatriya hath no
other duty than subduing enemies. Alas, Kichaka kicked me in the very
presence of Yudhishthira the Just, and also of thyself, O Bhimasena of
mighty strength.
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