Bahlika

Krishna arrives in the forest and tells Yudhishthira that everything that happened — the gambling, the loss of the kingdom, the exile — could have been prevented if he had been present. He describes exactly what he would have done: spoken gently first, then used force. His absence from Dvaraka, he says, was the single cause of all their misfortunes.

At dawn, Karna finds Duryodhana still lying in despair and speaks to him with reason and affection — only the living can defeat enemies, he argues, and he swears on his weapons to kill Arjuna when the thirteen years are done. Duryodhana rises, orders his army prepared, and marches back to Hastinapura in full splendor.