Vaishampayana said: -
1. Having said this, the greatly strong Bhisma stopped. Then Sahadeva gave this reply (to Sisupala) of grave import.
2. “If there is any king(present here) who cannot bear the worship offered by me to Keshava, the slayer of Keshi, and the possessor of immeasurable energy.
3. On the head of such heroes I place my foot. When I say this, let that one give me the proper reply.
4-6. Let those kings who possess intelligence approve the worship of the preceptor, the father, and the Guru (Krishna) who (fully) deserves the Arghya and the worship.” When Sahadeva thus showed his foot, no one among those intelligent, wise, proud and powerful kings said anything. Thereupon, showers of flowers fell upon the head of Sahadeva.
7. An invisible voice said, “Excellent, the Excellent!” Clad in a black deer skin, speaker of both the past and the future.
8. The dispeller of all doubts, Narada learned in(the mysteries) of all the world, then said in the midst of innumerable creatures these words of the clearest import.
9. Those men, who will not worship the lotus-eyed Krishna, should be considered as dead though living. He should never be talked to.”
Vaishampayana said: -
10. Having worshipped those that deserved worship, then that god among men, Sahadeva, well-acquainted with the difference between a Brahmana and a Kshatrya competed the ceremony.
11. When Krishna received the first worship, that slayer of foes, Sunitha (Sishupala), with eyes red as copper in anger, thus addressed the kings (present there).
12. “When I am here to be the generalissimo, what are you thinking now? In battle array let us stand against the assembled Vrishnis and the Pandavas”.
13. Having thus stirred up the kings, that best of the Chedis (Sishupala) began to consult with them how to obstruct the completion of the sacrifice.
14. The invited kings, who had come to the sacrifice, all with Sunitha (Sishupala) at their head, looked angry, and their face became pale.
15. They all said, “We must act in such a way as the final sacrificial rites to be performed by Yudhisthira and this worship of Krishna may not be supposed to have our acquiescence”.
16. Having been impelled by a belief in their great power and confidence, and having been also deprived of all sense by anger, all the kings began to talk in this way.
17. Though they were appeased by their friends, their faces glowed with anger, and they roared like lions driven away from their prey.
18. Krishna understood that the undeteriorating great sea of kings with its countless waves of soldiers was making preparation for a fight.
Thus ends the thirty ninth chapter, the consultation of the kings, in the Arghyaharana of the Sabha Parva.