Mahabharata: Vol. 5 (26 page)

‘“O king! In that battle, the powerful Shikhandi attacked Drona’s son. Angered at this, Ashvatthama wounded Shikhandi with an extremely sharp iron arrow and made him tremble. O king! At this, Shikhandi struck Drona’s son with a well-crafted, extremely sharp and extremely pointed arrow. In that bout, they struck each other with many other kinds of arrows. O king! Virata was the general of an army and in that battle, he quickly and impetuously attacked the brave Bhagadatta. Virata was extremely angry. He showered arrows on Bhagadatta, like clouds showering on a mountain. But in that encounter, Bhagadatta, lord of the earth, quickly enveloped Virata, like clouds around the rising sun. Sharadvat’s son, Kripa, attacked Brihadkshatra from Kekaya. O descendant of the Bharata lineage! Kripa shrouded him with a shower of arrows. The angry Kekaya also showered arrows on Goutama. Having killed each other’s horses and having sliced down each other’s bows, both of them were bereft of their chariots. They wrathfully advanced against each other, intending to fight with swords. The battle that they fought was terrible in form and extremely fearful. King Drupada, the scorcher of enemies, intolerantly advanced against Jayadratha from Sindhu, who was cheerfully waiting. The king of Sindhu pierced Drupada with three tufted arrows and in that battle, was wounded in return. They fought a bout that was terrible in form and extremely fearful. It delighted the hearts of spectators and was like that between Angaraka and Shukra.
⁴⁸

‘“Your son Vikarna possessed swift horses. He advanced against the immensely strong Sutasoma
⁴⁹
and a battle started. Though Vikarna pierced Sutasoma, he could not make him waver. Nor could Sutasoma make Vikarna waver and it was wonderful. In the cause of the Pandavas, maharatha Chekitana, tiger among men, angrily advanced against the valorous Susharma.
⁵⁰
O great king! In that battle, Susharma repulsed maharatha Chekitana with a great shower of arrows. Chekitana was enraged in that great encounter and enveloped Susharma with arrows, like a great cloud on a mountain. O Indra among kings! The powerful Shakuni attacked the powerful Prativindhya, like a crazy elephant against another crazy one. Enraged, Yudhishthira’s son pierced Soubala with sharp arrows in that battle, like Maghavan against a danava. In that battle, Shakuni also wounded the immensely wise Prativindhya with straight-tufted arrows. O Indra among kings! In that battle, Shrutakarma
⁵¹
attacked the valiant maharatha, Sudakshina from Kamboja. In that battle, Sudakshina pierced Sahadeva’s maharatha son, but could not make him waver, like Mount Mainaka. At that, Shrutakarma was enraged and oppressed the maharatha from Kamboja with many arrows, wounding him all over his body. In that battle, the angry Iravan took great care and attacked the intolerant Shrutayusha.
⁵²
In the encounter, Arjuna’s maharatha son killed the horses of his opponent and roared loudly, being honoured by the soldiers. In that battle, the wrathful Shrutayusha used a supreme club to kill the horses of Phalguna’s son and they continued to fight. In the battle, Vinda and Anuvinda from Avanti advanced against the valiant maharatha, Kuntibhoja, who was at the head of his army, together with his son. We witnessed the extraordinary valour of those
from Avanti there. They stationed themselves calmly, though they faced a large army. Anuvinda hurled a club at Kuntibhoja. But Kuntibhoja swiftly repulsed him with a torrent of arrows. Kuntibhoja’s son pierced Vinda with an arrow. But he also pierced him in return and it was wonderful. O revered one! In that battle, together with their soldiers, the five brothers from Kekaya fought with the five from Gandhara, together with their soldiers. Your son Virabahu fought with Virata’s son, Uttara, supreme among charioteers, and pierced him with sharp arrows. Uttara also pierced the steadfast one with sharp arrows. O king! In that battle, the king of Chedi attacked Uluka.
⁵³
Uluka pierced him with sharp and feathered arrows. O lord of the earth! The battle that they fought was terrible in form. Unable to vanquish each other, they angrily wounded each other.

‘“Thus, in that battle, there were thousands of duels between chariots, elephants, horses and infantry, on their side and on ours. For a short instant, the field of battle looked beautiful. O king! But it soon became maddening and nothing could be seen. In that battle, elephants were against elephants and chariots against chariots. Horses were against horses and infantry against infantry. The battle became extremely difficult and confusing. In that battle, large numbers of warriors attacked each other. The assembled devarshis, siddhas and charanas witnessed that terrible battle, equal to that between the gods and the asuras. O revered one! Thousands of elephants and chariots and masses of horses and foot soldiers behaved in a contrary way.
⁵⁴
O tiger among men! It was repeatedly seen that chariots, elephants, cavalry and infantry fought with each other.”’

‘Sanjaya said, “O king! O descendant of the Bharata lineage! I will now tell you about the hundreds and thousands of bouts
that took place there, without showing any considerations of respect. The son did not recognize the father, or the father the son born from his own loins. A brother did not recognize a brother there, nor a sister’s son his maternal uncle. The maternal uncle did not recognize his sister’s son, nor did a friend recognize his friend there. The Pandavas and the Kurus fought as if they were possessed. O bull among the Bharata lineage! Some tigers among men used chariots to bring down and shatter chariots, destroying their yokes. Axles of chariots clashed against axles of chariots. Seats clashed against seats of chariots. Some united against others who were united. They all wished to rob each other of their lives. Some chariots could not move, because they were obstructed by other chariots. Gigantic elephants had their temples shattered and fell down on other elephants. They were angry and used their tusks to attack each other in many places. Elephants adorned with decorations
⁵⁵
and standards attacked the elephants of the enemy. O great king! These were giant elephants that encountered other powerful ones. Injured by the tusks, they were greatly distressed and roared. But these were disciplined because of their training. Urged by pikes and goads, elephants that were in musth attacked others that were in musth. Attacked by those that were in musth, giant elephants ran away everywhere, shrieking like cranes. There were trained elephants, with shattered temples and mouths. These supreme elephants were wounded by swords, lances and iron arrows. Pierced in their innards, they fell down and lost their lives. Others uttered terrible roars and ran away in different directions. The foot soldiers who guarded the elephants were armed and possessed broad chests. They had swords, bows, unblemished battleaxes, clubs, maces, catapults,
⁵⁶
lances, iron bludgeons and sharp and polished cutlasses.
⁵⁷
O great king! Grasping these, they could be seen to run in every direction, desirous of taking each other’s lives. The resplendent cutlasses were steeped in the blood of brave men
and seemed to shine brilliantly. The swords were whirled by the arms of brave ones and made a whizzing sound. As they descended on the inner organs of enemies, they generated a tremendous sound. They were shattered by clubs and maces and by supreme swords. They were gored by the tusks of the tusked ones and wounded by the tusks. O descendant of the Bharata lineage! In every place, large numbers of men were oppressed and let out sounds of lamentation, like those of men who are about to die.

‘“Those who were on extremely swift horses, with tails like those of swans, attacked others on horses. They hurled giant spears that were decorated with gold and were swift, sharp and polished. They descended like snakes. There were some great rathas on swift horses. They sliced off the heads of other brave rathas who were on horses. A ratha on a horse approached many who were within the shooting distance of an arrow and used straight-tufted iron arrows to kill them. There were crazy elephants that were like mountains or clouds and were adorned with gold. They brought down horses and crushed them with their feet. The elephants were struck on their humps and their flanks. They were pierced by spikes and some of them roared in agony. There was terrible confusion there. Many supreme elephants suddenly threw down horses and their riders and crushed them. Using the tips of their tusks, elephants flung down horses and their riders. They crushed chariots and their standards and roamed around. There were some giant male elephants, extremely energetic because of the musth strewing down their temples. They slew horses and riders with their trunks and their feet. Some horses and chariots were flung away by the elephants. All of them were thrown away in all the directions, with a loud noise. Swift, polished and sharp arrows were like serpents. They descended on the bodies of men and riders and pierced their iron armour. Polished javelins were hurled by the arms of brave ones. O lord of the earth! They were terrible, like giant meteors, and descended. Blazing swords were taken out from sheaths made out of the skins of tigers and leopards. Once unsheathed, these polished swords were used to kill the enemies in battle. There were soldiers who had their sides sliced open. Despite this, they angrily attacked with swords, shields and battleaxes. Some
were pierced by javelins. Others were cut down by battleaxes. Some were destroyed by elephants. Others were oppressed by horses. Some were crushed by the wheels of chariots. Others were brought down by sharp arrows. O king! Thus oppressed, the men loudly called for their relatives, their sons, fathers, brothers and kin, their maternal uncles and nephews. In that field of battle, some others called for others.
⁵⁸
O descendant of the Bharata lineage! A large number of combatants lost their weapons. Their thighs were broken and their hands and arms torn apart. Their sides were shattered. Some were still alive and could be seen to be screaming from thirst. O lord of the earth! They had only a little bit of strength left and were overcome by thirst. They had fallen down on the ground in that battle and asked for water. O descendant of the Bharata lineage! Others were weak and were covered in blood. Assembled there, they censured themselves and your son.

‘“O venerable one! But there were other brave kshatriyas. Having acted in enmity towards each other, they did not cast away their weapons. Nor did they lament. They roared in delight towards each other. Lying there, they could be seen to bite their teeth with their own lips. Their bows were contracted and they glanced towards each other. There were others who suffered from wounds and had been oppressed by arrows. But even then, those extremely strong ones bore the pain silently and were firm in their hearts. There were other brave charioteers who had lost their chariots in battle. They had been thrown down and wounded by the supreme elephants. Having been brought down, they asked for the chariots of others. O great king! They were as beautiful as blossoming kimshuka trees. Many terrible cries were heard in every division of the armies. It was an extremely terrible encounter that destroyed heroes. In that battle, the father killed the son and the son killed the father. The sister’s son killed the maternal uncle and the maternal uncle killed the sister’s son. O king! A friend killed a friend and a relative killed a relative. Thus was the battle between the Kurus and the Pandavas. No mercy was shown in that fearful and terrible encounter. On encountering Bhishma, the
army of the Parthas trembled. O bull among the Bharata lineage! The mighty-armed one’s standard was adorned with five stars and a palm tree. It was made out of silver. O king! When ascended on his great chariot, Bhishma looked like the moon on Meru.”’

‘Sanjaya said, “O bull among the Bharata lineage! Most of that terrible forenoon passed, an extremely terrible time that was destructive of great warriors. Then, urged by your son, Durmukha, Kritavarma, Kripa, Shalya and Vivimshati went to Bhishma and began to protect him. Protected by those five atirathas, the maharatha
⁵⁹
penetrated the Pandava army. O descendant of the Bharata lineage! Bhisma’s palm standard was seen to slice through the Chedis, the Kashis, the Karushas and the Panchalas in diverse ways. Bhishma’s bow and weapons then sliced off the heads
⁶⁰
with extremely forceful, straight-tufted and broad-headed arrows. O bull among the Bharata lineage! As the chariot travelled along its path, Bhishma seemed to be dancing. Some elephants were pierced by him in their vital parts and screamed piteously.

‘“Abhimanyu was extremely enraged and rushed towards Bhishma’s chariot, stationed on his own chariot, which was yoked to supreme and tawny horses. His standard was embellished with pure gold and looked like a karnikara.
⁶¹
He attacked Bhishma and those supreme charioteers.
⁶²
Striking the palm standard with sharp arrows, the brave one fought with Bhishma and his followers. He pierced Kritavarma with one and Shalya with five arrows and weakened his great-grandfather with nine sharp arrows. He drew his bow back fully and released an arrow that sliced down the standard embellished
with gold.
⁶³
With a broad-headed and straight-tufted arrow that was capable of penetrating every kind of armour, he severed the head from the body of Durmukha’s charioteer. With another broad-headed arrow, he sliced down Kripa’s bow, decorated with gold. With many sharp and pointed arrows, he wounded all of them. The extremely angry maharatha seemed to be dancing around. On witnessing his dexterity, even the gods were satisfied. On seeing the success with which Krishna’s son
⁶⁴
hit the targets, all the charioteers, with Bhishma at the forefront, thought that he possessed the spirit of Dhananjaya himself. His bow twanged like Gandiva and when it was stretched and stretched again in every direction, it seemed to whirl like a circle of fire. Bhishma, the destroyer of enemy heroes, advanced towards him with great speed and in that battle, pierced Arjuna’s son with nine arrows. He used three broad-headed arrows to slice down the standard of the immensely energetic one. Bhishma, rigid in his bows, used three broad-headed arrows to strike his charioteer. O venerable one! Kritavarma, Kripa and Shalya also pierced Krishna’s son. But they could not make him tremble and he was as firm as Mount Mainaka. The brave one was surrounded by maharathas who were on the side of Dhritarashtra’s son. Nevertheless, Krishna’s son showered down arrows on those five charioteers. He repulsed their great weapons with showers of arrows. Releasing arrows towards Bhishma, Krishna’s son roared loudly. O king! When he endeavoured thus in battle and released arrows towards Bhishma, his strength of arms was seen to be extremely great. Though he was valorous, Bhishma showered arrows at him. But in that battle, he sliced down all the arrows released from Bhishma’s bow. In that encounter, the brave one used nine invincible arrows to slice down Bhishma’s standard. At this, the people let out a loud shout. O descendant of the Bharata lineage! It
⁶⁵
was made out of silver and was decorated with gold. It was extremely large and bore the mark of a palm. Sliced down by the arrows of Subhadra’s son, it fell down on the ground. O bull
among the Bharata lineage! On seeing that the standard had been brought down by the arrows of Subhadra’s son, Bhima roared loudly, so that Subhadra’s son might be encouraged. Then, in that extremely terrible moment, the extremely strong Bhishma made many great and celestial weapons manifest themselves. The great-grandfather, immeasurable in his soul, enveloped Subhadra’s son with hundreds and thousands of arrows with drooping tufts.