Your husbands, having been defeated, exist no more. You have a loving soul — choose yourself another lord.' This speech, coming from Karna, was a wordy arrow, sharp, cutting through every hope, striking at the tenderest parts of one's being, and terrifying. It pierced deep into Arjuna's heart. When the sons of Pandu were about to put on garments of black deer-skin, Duhshasana spoke the following harsh words: 'All of them are vile eunuchs, ruined, and cursed for a long time to come.' And Shakuni, the king of the land of Gandhara, spoke the following words to Yudhishthira during the game of dice, employing a cunning trick: 'Nakula has been won by me from you — what else do you have? Now you had better stake your wife Draupadi.' You know, O Sanjaya, all these insulting words spoken during the game of dice. I wish to go myself to the Kurus, to settle this difficult matter. If, without harming the cause of the Pandavas, I succeed in securing peace with the Kauravas, then I shall perform an act of religious merit bringing very great blessings; and the Kurus, too, will be freed from the snare of death.