Dhritrashtra instructs Sanjaya before he departs to meet pandavas. ' Sanjaya! Pandavas, in spite of their suffering still want peace. But my son and Karna are intent on provoking the pandavas. I feel it is better to give half the kingdom to the pandavas. Arjuna by himself is capable of turning us upside down and added to this Krishna is his charioteer! Even more than Arjuna's strength I fear Yudhisthira's anger. He is an ascetic. Meet them and convey my message nicely that I am for peace and an agreement. Do what is best for our family and be diplomatic and do not offend anyone!'
Sanjaya travels quickly to meet the pandavas and their supporters, conveys the message of peace sent by Dhirtharashtra, requests them to avoid a war which will mean destruction of everything. Yudhisthira assures Sanjaya that he has no desire for war and whatever occured was the outcome of Dhrithrashtra trying to please his son. He asserts that Duryodhana, by rejecting the good counsel given by Vidura and listening to only Karna and Sakuni is only headed towards ruin. Yudhisthira assures Sanjaya that he is happy to accept Indraprastha and also adds that he will follow whatever advise Krishna gives him.
Krishna had this to say, 'Sanjaya! I want pandavas to do well. So do I want the father of many children Dritharashtra to live well! Hence I am advising peace between them. As Yudhisthira has pointed out, the greed of kauravas is coming in the way. It seems it is difficult to avoid a conflict. What then is the use of stopping pandavas from making an effort regain their kingdom? While it is good to try peaceful methods, for a khsatriya it is also dharma to fight and is more praise worthy if he meets death in a war.' Krishna then says that going by the events in the past it is very difficult for them to re-unite. He says that he is also keen to visit Hastinapura to seek a solution but is not sure if anyone would pay attention to him. 'Convey that Pandavas are ready for peace as well as war and it is left to Dhritarashtra to make his choice.'
Yudhisthira asks Sanjaya to convey his respectful greetings to all the elders and appeals to them individually. To Dritharashtra, 'Pandavas were given a kingdom due to your kindness! Let us all join together and avoid being victims of others.' To Bheeshma 'Please try and bring us, your children, together!' and to Vidhura 'If you want the well being of Yudhisthira, please see that there is no war.' And asks Sanjaya to tell Suyodhana when he is with the other kauravas, 'When you ill-treated Draupadi, we kept quiet as we did not want to kill our own flock. Now give us what is due to us and is just! Give us even five villages for us five brothers. Let us all live as a family and in peace. But do not be mistaken, we are soft, but we are also capable of being harsh. We are keen for peace but we are also ready for war!'
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