O Sanjaya, even in childhood he was never wholly under my control. Wounded by my wicked sons, how could this son of Pandu now come under my control? Fierce and exceedingly wrathful, he would break rather than bend. How can one silence him, with his sidelong glances and knitted brows? Endowed with heroism, incomparable might, and a splendid complexion, tall as a palm tree, taller than Arjuna by the span of a thumb, this second son of Pandu surpasses even horses in speed and elephants in strength, speaks with an indistinct accent, and has eyes the color of honey. As to his form and might, he was already thus in his very childhood — of this I truly heard long ago from the very lips of Vyasa! Terrible and possessed of savage might, in his wrath he will destroy, with his iron mace, chariots, elephants, men, and horses in battle. Acting against his own will, this best of chastisers, ever wrathful and enraged, was once wronged by me, my child. Alas, how will my sons endure this mace of his — straight, of steel, thick, with beautiful sides, adorned with gold, capable of slaying a hundred, and giving forth a terrible sound when hurled at a foe? Alas, my child, my foolish sons wish to cross this impassable ocean created by Bhima, an ocean truly boundless, without a raft upon it, unfathomable in depth, and full of currents as swift as the flight of arrows. Fools indeed, though they boast of their wisdom — alas, my children do not heed me, though I cry out. Seeing only the honey, they do not see the terrible fall that awaits them. Those who hurl themselves into battle against Death itself in human form are surely doomed to destruction by the Supreme Ordainer, like beasts within sight of a lion. Fully four cubits long, six-sided, of immense strength, and bearing a deadly touch, when he hurls his mace as from a sling, how will my sons, my child, bear its blow? Whirling his mace and shattering with it the heads of hostile elephants, licking the corners of his mouth and breathing deeply, when with a great roar he charges the mighty elephants, answering the cries of those enraged beasts that might charge at him, and when he enters the close ranks of chariots, he will slay, with sure aim, the foremost warriors before him — what mortal of my host, resembling a blazing flame, will flee from him?