May 15 100-word response due at the time of class: Sanjaya's advice

Write a 100-word minimum response to the following prompt. Your answer may be informal and exploratory but should be grounded in the text itself.  In addition to answering the prompt, you are welcome to use this space to briefly record your reactions, thoughts, and/or questions about the content of the reading. The deadline for submitting this response is 11:30 on the day of class.

In Chapter 12 of Narayan's retelling (corresponding to the "Book of Effort" in the Mahābhārata) Sanjaya comes as an ambassador to Yudhishthira and offers the following advice: "Life is transient, and your fame and name will live forever. I will convey your demand [the return of Idraprashtha] in strong terms, but here is my own suggestion—if they will not yield your share, I think it would be preferable for you to live on alms anywhere than acquire sovereignty by force. ... Please avoid a war, which will result in the death of Bhishma, Drona, Kripa, and all our elders in addition to Karna, Duryodhana, and Aswathama. Think for a moment. What happiness will you get out of this strife and victory, O Great One, tell me?”

Yudhishthira's response is apparently simple: “As a kshatriya, I would be failing in my duty if I did not take back my kingdom by persuasion or . . . if driven to it, by force. Now I have no misgivings or doubts on this issue.”

What can you tease out from your short text about the different perspectives of these two characters, Sanjaya and Yudhishthira: where does the difference lie? Do they disagree about the duties of kshatriyas? About goals in life? About happiness? About something else entirely?