Mahabharata: Vol. 5 (37 page)

‘“There were a large number of the best of Kamboja horses, fleet of foot. This was surrounded by a large army from the land of Govasana,
²¹³
with many thousand
gopa
s.
²¹⁴
O lord of the earth! This was surrounded by Madras, Souviras, Gandharas, Trigartas, all the best among the Kalingas, the king of Kalinga,
²¹⁵
nagas and a large number of men, with Duhshasana at the forefront. It was accompanied by King Jayadratha and all the kings. Instructed by your son, there were fourteen thousand supreme horse-riders and they surrounded Soubala. O bull among the Bharata lineage! In that battle, all these on your side assembled against Pandava, on separate chariots and mounts. The chariots, elephants, horses and infantry raised an extremely thick cloud of dust and it made the battle seem even more fearful. Bhishma was supported by a large army with spears, lances, iron arrows, elephants, horses, chariots and warriors and attacked Kiriti. The king of Avanti engaged the king of Kashi and Bhimasena engaged Saindhava. Ajatashatru fought with
Shalya, bull among the Madras, together with his sons and advisers. Vikarna fought with Sahadeva and Chitrasena with Shikhandi. O lord of the earth! The king of Matsya engaged Duryodhana and Shakuni. Drupada, Chekitana and maharatha Satyaki fought with the great-souled Drona, together with his son. Kripa and Kritavarma advanced against Dhrishtaketu. In this fashion, there was a melee with horses, elephants and chariots. In every direction, the soldiers fought with each other. Though there were no clouds, there was terrible lightning. Dust enveloped the directions. O lord of the earth! With terrible sounds, large meteors were seen to fall down. A mighty storm began to blow and a shower of dust fell down. The soldiers were shrouded in dust and the sun disappeared in the sky. Covered by that dust, though they continued to fight with upraised weapons, all the soldiers were confused and dispirited. As they were released from the arms of brave ones, the net of arrows, capable of piercing every kind of armour, raised a loud noise. O bull among the Bharata lineage! Weapons were released from excellent arms and blazed in the sky, like radiant stars. O bull among the Bharata lineage! Shields were seen to be scattered around in all the directions. They were colourful and made from the hides of bulls. They were decorated with golden nets. Heads and bodies were seen to fall in every direction, sliced off by swords with the complexion of the sun. Maharathas fell down on the ground there. The wheels, axles and shafts of their chariots were shattered. Their giant standards were brought down. Their horses were slain. With the charioteers slain, some horses were maimed with weapons and fell down, dragging the chariots with them. O descendant of the Bharata lineage! Those best of horses still had their harnesses on. But they were wounded by arrows and their bodies were mangled. They could be seen there, dragging the yokes after them. O king! Extremely powerful elephants were seen to kill rathas who fought on chariots, with their charioteers and horses, single-handedly. While large numbers of soldiers were being killed, many elephants were seen to sniff in the air, inhaling the scent of the musth exuded by other elephants. In the midst of that large army, elephants were killed with lances and iron arrows and fell down, deprived of their lives. In the midst of the army, the field was
strewn with the dead bodies of the best of elephants. The elephants crushed warriors as they fell down, with their elephant-riders and their standards. O great king! In that battle, the shafts of chariots were seen to be shattered by the trunks of elephants that resembled the king of elephants.
²¹⁶
Tuskers shatterd large numbers of chariots. In that battle, they crushed and dragged down charioteers by the hair, as if they were the branches of trees. As chariots fought with chariots, the best of elephants dragged them down, running in all the directions with a loud noise. As they were thus dragged away by the elephants, they looked like masses of lotus stalks, dragged away from ponds by other elephants. Thus, the field of battle was strewn with a large number of horse-riders, infantry and maharathas, and their standards.”’

‘Sanjaya said, “O lord of the earth! With Virata of Matysa, Shikhandi swiftly attacked Bhishma, the mighty archer who was extremely difficult to vanquish. O bull on the earth! In that battle, Dhananjaya advanced against Drona, Kripa, Vikarna and many other brave kings who were great archers and extremely powerful, and also against the great archer Saindhava, together with his advisers and relatives and the kings from the west and the south. In that encounter, Bhimasena attacked your intolerant son Duryodhana, the great archer, together with Duhsaha. Sahadeva advanced against Shakuni and maharatha Uluka, the father and son who were great archers and were extremely difficult to vanquish in battle.
²¹⁷
O great king! Maharatha Yudhishthira had been deceived by your sons. In that battle, he attacked the army of elephants.
²¹⁸
Pandava Nakula was a brave warrior who could make enemies cry in battle. He attacked the excellent chariots of the Trigartas. Satyaki, Chekitana and Subhadra’s maharatha son were invincible in battle and advanced against Shalva and the Kekayas. Dhrishtaketu and rakshasa Ghatotkacha were extremely difficult to defeat. In that encounter, they attacked the army of chariots that belonged to your sons. General Dhrishtadyumna was immensely strong and immeasurable in his soul. O king! In that battle, he attacked Drona, whose deeds were extremely wonderful. Thus the great archers on your side fought with the Pandavas. Having encountered each other in battle, the brave ones proceeded to strike each other down. When it was midday and the sun had reached the midpoint of the sky, burning down with its fierce rays, the Kurus and the Pandavas began to kill each other. Chariots roamed around on the field of battle. They had standards decorated with gold and pennants. They were covered with tiger skins and were beautiful. As they encountered each other in that battle, wishing to kill each other and roaring like lions, a tumultuous sound arose. In that battle, the brave Srinjayas and Kurus performed extremely terrible deeds and struck each other and it was an extraordinary sight. O king! O tormentor of enemies! We could not see the sky, the directions, or the sun, or the sub-directions. Arrows were released in every direction. There were lances with polished tips, iron spears and yellow swords. These possessed radiance like that of blue lotuses. There were colourful armour and the brilliance of ornaments. The radiance from these made the sky, the directions and the sub-directions blaze. O king! The field of battle was resplendent. There were lions among rathas and tigers among men and they confronted each other in battle. O king! They blazed in that battle, like planets in the sky.

‘“While all the soldiers looked on, Bhishma, foremost among charioteers, angrily repulsed the immensely strong Bhimasena. In that encounter, the arrows used by Bhishma were gold-tufted and sharpened on stone. They were extremely forceful and washed in oil and they wounded Bhima. O descendant of the Bharata lineage! The immensely powerful Bhimasena was enraged. He hurled an extremely powerful javelin that was like a venomous serpent. As
that gold-shafted and invincible lance suddenly descended in that encounter, Bhishma sliced it down with straight-tufted arrows. O descendant of the Bharata lineage! After this, using a broad-headed, yellow and sharp arrow, he sliced Bhimasena’s bow into two. At this, Satyaki quickly attacked Bhishma in that battle. O lord of men! He shot many arrows at your father. Bhishma then affixed an extremely terrible and sharp arrow and brought down Varshneya’s
²¹⁹
charioteer from his chariot. O king! When the charioteer of the chariot was slain, the horses fled. They ran hither and thither, with the speed of the mind and the wind. At this, a tumultuous uproar arose from all the soldiers. There were lamentations of woe from those who were on the side of the great-souled Pandavas. ‘Run’, ‘grab the horses’, ‘advance swiftly’—such loud noises followed Yuyudhana’s chariot.
²²⁰
While this was going on, Bhishma, Shantanu’s son, began to kill the Pandava soldiers, like the slayer of Vritra against the asuras. When the Panchalas and Somakas were being killed by Bhishma, the noble ones
²²¹
resolved to fight and attacked Bhishma. With a desire to kill those in the army of your sons, the Parthas, with Dhrishtadyumna at the forefront, rushed against Shantanu’s son in that encounter. O king! Your soldiers, with Bhishma and Drona at the forefront, advanced forcefully against the enemy and another battle commenced.”’

‘Sanjaya said, “With three arrows, Virata pierced maharatha Bhishma. With another three arrows, he pierced the maharatha’s steeds. At this, Bhishma, Shantanu’s son, the great archer, immensely strong and skilled in the use of his hands, used ten gold-tufted arrows
to pierce him back in return. With a firm hand, Drona’s son, the maharatha who was terrible in wielding the bow, used six arrows to pierce the wielder of Gandiva between his breasts. At this, Phalguna, the slayer of enemy heroes, sliced down his bow. The destroyer of enemies used extremely sharp arrows to wound him. He
²²²
became senseless with rage and grasped an even more powerful bow. In that encounter, he could not tolerate his bow being sliced down by Partha. O king! He pierced Phalguna with nine sharp arrows and pierced Vasudeva with seventy supreme arrows. At this, the eyes of Krishna and Phalguna became coppery red in wrath. They sighed long and deep and began to think repeatedly. The wielder of Gandiva, the destroyer of enemies, grasped his bow with his left hand. He angrily affixed sharp and straight-tufted arrows. They were terrible and were capable of robbing one of one’s life. In that encounter, he swiftly pierced Drona’s son, supreme among strong ones, with these. In that battle, they pierced through his armour and drank up his blood. But though pierced by the wielder of Gandiva, Drona’s son was not distressed. Without being perturbed, he showered back arrows in return. O king! In that battle, he wished to protect the one who was great in his vows.
²²³
The bulls among men applauded this great deed of his, of being able to counter the two Krishnas
²²⁴
together. He remained fearlessly stationed in that battle, fighting all the soldiers. From Drona, he had learnt about releasing and withdrawing extremely difficult weapons. ‘This is the son of my preceptor. This is Drona’s beloved son. In particular, he is a brahmana and is worthy of my veneration.’ Thinking this, the brave Bibhatsu, the tormentor of his enemies and foremost among charioteers, showed mercy towards Bharadvaja’s son. In that battle, Kounteya, the tormentor of his enemies, gave up the fight with Drona’s son. The brave one swiftly began to kill your soldiers.

‘“Duryodhana pierced the mighty archer Bhimasena with ten gold-tufted arrows that had been sharpened on stone and were
shafted with the feathers of vultures. Extremely enraged, Bhimasena grasped a colourful and firm bow, which was capable of slaying the enemy, and ten sharp arrows. He drew the bow back to his ear and aimed those sharp, forceful and extremely energetic arrows. With these, he powerfully pierced the king of the Kurus on his broad chest. A gem hung from his chest on golden threads. When he was pierced, this was as resplendent as the sun surrounded by planets. When oppressed by Bhimasena, your energetic son could not tolerate it, like a snake unable to bear the slap of a palm. O great king! He became extremely wrathful and desiring to protect his own soldiers, used gold-tufted arrows that were sharpened on stone to pierce Bhima. In that battle, they fought and wounded each other. Those two immensely strong sons of yours were like the gods.

‘“Subhadra’s son, the destroyer of enemy heroes, pierced Chitrasena, tiger among men, with ten arrows and Purumitra with seven. He was the equal of Shakra in battle and pierced Satyavrata with seventy. The brave one seemed to dance around on the field, causing great grief to us. Chitrasena pierced him back with ten arrows, Saytavrata with nine and Purumitra with seven. He was pierced and wounded and was covered with blood. However, Arjuna’s son sliced down Chitrasena’s great and colourful bow, which was capable of repulsing the enemy. He used an arrow to pierce his armour and oppress him. At this, all the brave and maharatha princes on your side united together and angrily began to pierce him with sharp arrows. But he was supreme in the knowledge of weapons and wounded all of them with sharp arrows. On witnessing this deed accomplished by him, your sons surrounded him. He was capable of consuming soldiers in a battle, like a fire consumes deadwood in the forest after the winter season is over. As he chastised your soldiers, Subhadra’s son was radiant. O lord of the earth! On beholding the deeds of Satvati’s son
²²⁵
in that battle, your grandson, Lakshmana, the bearer of auspicious marks, swiftly attacked him. Abhimanyu angrily pierced Lakshmana with six arrows and his charioteer with
three. O king! But Lakshmana pierced Subhadra’s son with sharp arrows. O great king! This seemed to be extraordinary. Subhadra’s extremely powerful son used sharp arrows to slay Lakshmana’s four arrows and his charioteer, and then attacked him. When the horses were killed, Lakshmana, the destroyer of enemy heroes, remained stationed on his chariot. He angrily hurled a javelin towards the chariot of Subhadra’s son. It was terrible in form and unassailable and suddenly descended, like a snake. But Abhimanyu used sharp arrows to slice it down. At this, Goutama’s son
²²⁶
took Lakshmana up on his own chariot and carried him away on the chariot, while all the soldiers looked on.

‘“That extremely fearful battle raged on. Warriors violently struck each other, wishing to kill each other. The great archers on your side and the maharatha Pandavas fought each other in that battle, prepared to lay down their lives and killing each other. Their hair was dishevelled. They lost their armour. They were bereft of their chariots. Their bows were sliced down. The Srinjayas and the Kurus fought on, with their bare arms. The mighty-armed and immensely strong Bhishma, angrily began to kill the soldiers of the great-souled Pandavas with divine weapons. Horses, elephants, men, charioteers and horse-riders were slain and brought down there and the earth was covered with them.”’