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Mahābhārata The History of the Great India
<< 91 Duryodhana's Schemes >>
 |  | Thereupon Duryodhana and Karna came to see Dhrtarastra, O king, and they said to him, "We are unable to speak to you in the presence of Vidura. We will speak to you in private."
| | | [When Vidura had gone,] Duryodhana said, "What does he want with you? Father, do you think the success of your rivals is your own? You praise the Pandavas highly in the presence of Vidura, O noble man. But we must constantly cut down their strength. The time has come for all of us to seriously plan what we wish to do, so that they do not swallow us whole, along with our friends, armies, and children."
| | | Dhrtarastra said, "I, too, am worried about this, just as all of you are, but I do not wish to reveal my real feelings to Vidura, and so especially in his company I praise the good qualities of the Pandavas. Duryodhana, tell me where you think we stand now. And Karna, you also tell me how you see the present situation."
| | | Duryodhana said, "At this point we must employ expert and trustworthy brahmanas to divide the sons of Kunti from the sons of Madri. Or perhaps we can use huge amounts of wealth to entice King Drupada, his sons, and all his ministers, and then we can tell them, 'You must all renounce King Yudhisthira.' Or the brahmanas might convince the Pandavas to make their permanent home right there in the kingdom of Drupada. The brahmanas would have to explain to each of the Pandavas the disadvantages of their living here, so that the Pandavas themselves will make up their minds to separate from us.
| | | "Or perhaps some very clever men expert in such affairs should divide the Pandavas by manipulating their affections or causing Draupadi to stand up against them. That should be an easy job, since she has to deal with so many of them. Or the men might sew seeds of conflict in the Pandavas against Draupadi and then cut her off from them.
| | | "Another point, O king, is that some expert men must secretly arrange Bhimasena's death, for he is definitely the strongest of them all. When he is cut down, so will be their daring, vigor, and stamina. They will no more struggle for their kingdom, since he is their shelter and foundation. Arjuna is invincible in battle as long as Bhima guards him from behind, but without him Arjuna is not even one fourth the man in battle that Karna is. Knowing their great weakness without Bhima and recognizing our strength, they will perish with little resistence in his absence.
| | | "When the Pandavas come here, if they agree to be ruled by our command then we shall move forward and crush them with full faith in our plan. Or we can always arrange beautiful, maddening women to seduce them, one by one, and Draupadi will surely give up her affection for them.
| | | "Or let us send Karna to bring them here, and we shall arrange for professional criminals we can trust to kill them on the way.
| | | "Whichever of these methods you consider to be free of flaws, set it into motion at once, before time runs out. Only so long as Drupada, that bull of a king, has not developed full trust in the Pandavas are these plans possible to carry out. Once Drupada's alliance with them is firmly in place, these plans will be impossible to execute. That is my opinion, father, which proceeds from the conviction that we are to curb the Pandavas. What do you think, Karna? Is my opinion right or wrong?"
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