85.30

I did not want the dice game to go ahead.* Vidura was against it. Saindhava did not believe the game should happen. Nor did Bhishma. Shalya and Bhuri·shravas, Puru·mitra and Jaya, Ashvatthaman, Kripa and Drona: they were all of the same mind, Sanjaya. None of them thought the game should go ahead. If only my son had listened to his brothers or to his father or to any of the people that cared about him he might have lived a long and happy life. The Pandavas speak openly to one another. They hold the thoughts of their kith and kin close. Their actions are measured and thoughtful and they work together as all of their kind should. Because of this they will prosper. A man who considers what is just before he acts will in the end find happiness in this life and heaven’s grace in the next. The Pandavas know the value of unity. It is only right that they should enjoy half of this seabounded land* that our forefathers bequeathed to us.

85.35

The Pandavas follow those that guide them and they do not stray from the path they follow. Our own kinsmen had their trust: Shalya, Soma·datta, mighty Bhishma and Drona and Vikarna, Bahlika and Kripa and the other great and wise men of the Bharata clan. I told my son that the Pandavas would have listened to these men if he had let them argue his case. Do you think any of Pandavas would transgress the word of an elder? Krishna would have shown justice and the rest would have followed his lead. I too could have pleaded with them in the name of fairness. The Pandavas live by the principle of order. They would have listened to reason. O driver again and again I berated my fool- ________