Mahabharata: Vol. 5 (54 page)

‘Sanjaya said, “The brave and great archer was like a crazy elephant in his valour. He grasped a giant bow that was capable of restraining a crazy elephant. He brandished that best of bows and drove away the maharathas. The maharatha slaughtered the army of the Pandaveyas. The valiant one was skilled in reading portents and glanced in every direction. Having tormented the soldiers, Drona addressed his son. ‘O son! This is the day when maharatha Partha will try his utmost to slay Bhishma in battle. My arrows are rising up and my bow is outstretched. But when I try to fix my weapons, they are falling off. My mind is without cheer. The peaceful directions have turned terrible and birds and animals are wandering around. Inferior vultures are swooping down towards the army of the Bharatas. The sun has lost its splendour and all the directions have turned red. The earth seems to be suffering and the mounts seem to have been destroyed. Herons, vultures and cranes are repeatedly
shrieking. Jackals are howling in inauspicious tones and this signifies a great calamity. Giant meteors are falling down from the centre of the sun’s disc. The headless torso of parigha is stationed, covering the sun.
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The discs of the sun and the moon have become terrible. They signify a terrible danger, pertaining to the mangling of the bodies of kings. In the temples of the Indra among the Kouravas, the gods are trembling, laughing, dancing and weeping. The planets are circling inauspiciously, keeping the moon to the left. O illustrious one! The moon is rising with its crescent inverted. The bodies of the kings seem to be destroyed. Though they are armoured, the soldiers of the sons of Dhritarashtra are no longer radiant. A great sound has arisen amidst both the armies, because of Panchajanya’s roar and Gandiva’s sound. It is certain that Bibhatsu will use supreme weapons in this battle. He will avoid all the others in the encounter and advance towards the grandfather. The pores in my body are contracting. My mind is weakening. O mighty-armed one! I am thinking about the encounter between Bhishma and Arjuna. Partha is conversant with deceit. He will place the evil-minded Panchala at the forefront of the battle and advance to fight with Bhishma. Bhishma had earlier said that he would not kill Shikhandi. The creator made him a woman and he later became a man through destiny. Yajnasena’s maharatha son
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bears an inauspicious mark on his standard. The son of the one who goes to the ocean
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will not strike someone who bears an inauspicious mark on his standard. Having thought of all these things, my mind is severely distressed. In the battle today, Partha will attack the aged one of the Kuru lineage. Yudhishthira’s anger, the encounter between Bhishma and Arjuna and the rage of my weapons in battle certainly portend ill for all subjects. Pandava is spirited, powerful and brave. He is skilled in the use of weapons and is firm in his valour. He can shoot from a great distance and can strike powerfully. He is skilled in understanding the signs. He
is invincible in battle, even by the gods, with Vasava. He is strong and intelligent. He has conquered exhaustion. He is supreme among warriors. Pandava possesses terrible weapons and is always victorious in battle. Avoid his path and go to the spot where the one who is rigid in his vows is stationed. O mighty-armed one! Behold the visage of what is about to transpire. The armours of the brave ones are decorated with gold. They are expensive and beautiful. They will be shattered with straight-tufted arrows. The tops of the standards, the javelins and the bows will be fragmented. There are polished and sharp spears and lances blazing in gold. There are pennants on elephants and all these will be destroyed by the angry Kiriti. O son! This is not the time when dependents should seek to protect their lives. Go, placing heaven at the forefront, and fame and victory. The whirlpool of horses, elephants and chariots is extremely terrible and is difficult to cross. The one with the ape on his banner is crossing the river of battle on his chariot. Regard for brahmanas, self-control, generosity, austerities and greatness in conduct—these can be seen in the king.
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Dhananjaya is his brother. Bhimasena is powerful and so are the Pandavas who are Madri’s sons. Varshneya Vasudeva is stationed as their protector. The evil-minded sons of Dhritarashtra are overcome by anger. While he
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has scorched his body through austerities, the Bharatas have been scorched through anger. Partha can be seen, with Vasudeva as his refuge. He is shattering all the soldiers of the sons of Dhritarashtra, in every direction. Kiriti can be seen to be agitating the soldiers, like a giant whale agitating large fish at the mouth of a river. Sounds of lamentation and woe can be heard at the head of the army. Go and confront the son of Panchala. I will go and confront Yudhishthira. The centre of the infinitely energetic king’s vyuha is difficult to penetrate. It is like the interior of the ocean and atirathas are stationed in every direction. Satyaki, Abhimanyu, Dhrishtadyumna, Vrikodara and the twins, lords among men, are protecting the king. He is like Upendra
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and is dark. He
is as tall as a giant shala tree. He is advancing amidst the soldiers, like a second Phalguna. Take up your supreme weapons and grasp your giant bow. Advance against King Parshata
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and fight with Vrikodara. Who does not wish that his beloved son may live for an eternal period? However, placing the dharma of kshatriyas at the forefront, I am employing you in this task. In this battle, Bhishma is scorching the great army. O son! In battle, he is the equal of Yama and Varuna.’”’

‘Sanjaya said, “Bhagadatta, Kripa, Shalya, Satvata Kritavarma, Vinda and Anuvinda from Avanti, Saindhava Jayadratha, Chitrasena, Vikarna and the youthful Durmarshana—these ten warriors from your side fought against Bhimasena. They were accompanied by a large army that had come from many countries. O king! In the battle over Bhishma, they sought great fame. Shalya struck Bhimasena with nine arrows, Kritavarma with three arrows and Kripa with nine arrows. O venerable one! Chitrasena, Vikarna and Bhagadatta struck Bhimasena with ten broad-headed arrows each. Saindhava struck him with three arrows in the joints of his shoulders. Vinda and Anuvinda from Avanti struck him with five arrows each. Durmarshana struck Pandava with twenty sharp arrows. O great king! The illustrious one struck all the maharathas from the side of the sons of Dhritarashtra, brave ones in all the worlds, separately. The immensely strong Bhimasena pierced them with many arrows. He pierced Shalya with fifty and Kritavarma with eight. O descendant of the Bharata lineage! He severed Kripa’s bow, with an arrow fixed to it, from the middle. After severing the bow, he pierced him with five arrows. He pierced Vinda and Anuvinda
with three arrows each, Durmarshana with twenty and Chitrasena with five. Bhima pierced Vikarna with ten arrows and Jayadratha with five. He again struck Saindhava with three arrows and roared in delight. Goutama, supreme among rathas, grasped another bow and angrily pierced Bhima with ten sharp arrows. He was pierced by those many arrows, like a giant elephant that has been goaded. The mighty-armed and powerful Bhimasena became angry. In that battle, he wounded Goutama with many arrows. As dazzling as Yama at the end of an era, he pierced Saindhava’s horses and his charioteer with three arrows and sent them to the land of the dead. With his horses slain, the maharatha quickly jumped down from his chariot. In that battle, he released many sharp arrows towards Bhimasena. O descendant of the Bharata lineage! O best of the Bharata lineage! But Bhima used a broad-headed arrow to sever the bow of the great-souled Saindhava into two, from the middle. O king! With his bow severed, bereft of a chariot and with his horses and charioteer slain, he quickly climbed onto Chitrasena’s chariot. In the battle there, Pandava performed an extraordinary deed. The maharatha pierced all those maharathas with his arrows and repulsed them. While all the worlds looked on, he deprived Saindhava of his chariot.

‘“Shalya could not tolerate Bhimasena’s valour. He affixed sharp arrows that had been polished by an artisan. Asking Bhima to wait, he pierced him with seventy arrows. O venerable one! In that battle, for Shalya’s sake, Kripa, Kritavarma, Bhagadatta, Vinda and Anuvinda from Avanti, Chitrasena, Durmarshana, Vikarna and the valiant king of Sindhu, scorchers of enemies, quickly pierced Bhima. He pierced each of them back with five arrows. He pierced Shalya with seventy arrows and yet again with ten. Shalya pierced him with nine arrows and yet again with five. He then used a broad-headed arrow to severely strike his charioteer in his inner organs. On seeing that Vishoka
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had been wounded, the powerful Bhimsena struck the king of Madra in the arms and the chest with three arrows. He pierced each of the other great archers with three arrows each. Having wounded them in that battle, he roared like a
lion. Pandava was unassailable in battle. But the great archers made great efforts. Without any hesitation, each of them severely wounded him in the inner organs with three arrows each. But despite being pierced, Bhimasena, the great archer, was not distressed. He was like a mountain on which showers of rain were pouring down from the clouds. The immensely illustrious one severely pierced Shalya with nine arrows. O king! He firmly pierced Pragjyotisha with one hundred arrows. Using an extremely sharp kshurapra and displaying the dexterity of his hands, he severed the great-souled Satvata’s bow, with an arrow fixed to it. O scorcher of enemies! Kritavarma grasped another bow and struck Vrikodara in the midst of his forehead with an iron arrow. In that encounter, Bhima pierced Shalya with nine iron arrows, Bhagadatta with three and Kritavarma with eight. He pierced Goutama and the other rathas with two arrows each. O king! In that encounter, they pierced him back with sharp arrows. He was thus afflicted in every direction by those maharathas. But he disregarded them like straw and roamed around, without any pain. Those best of rathas were not distracted and released hundreds and thousands of sharp arrows towards Bhima.

‘“The brave maharatha Bhagadatta hurled an immensely forceful javelin in the battle. It was extremely expensive and possessed a golden handle. The strong-armed King Saindhava hurled a spear and a lance. O king! In that encounter, Kripa used a shataghni and Shalya an arrow. The other great archers released five energetic arrows each, in Bhimasena’s direction. But the son of the wind god used a kshurapra to slice down the spear. He severed the lance with three arrows, as if it were the stalk of a sesamum plant. He shattered the shataghni with nine arrows that were tufted with the feathers of herons. The immensely strong one sliced down the arrow shot by the king of Madra and severed the javelin that had been suddenly and forcefully hurled by Bhagadatta in the battle. As for the other terrible arrows, he used straight-tufted arrows to strike them down. Bhimasena was proud in battle and struck each of them with three arrows. Each of those great archers was wounded with three arrows. In the great battle, Dhananjaya arrived there. He arrived on his own chariot and beheld maharatha Bhima, striking the enemy warriors in the battle with his
arrows. O bull among men! On seeing the two great-souled Pandavas united, all those on your side gave up all hope of victory. In the battle, Arjuna advanced to fight with maharatha Bhishma. Wishing to kill Bhishma, he placed Shikhandi at the forefront. O descendant of the Bharata lineage! O king! Those ten warriors on your side had been fighting in the battle with Bhima. On seeing them stationed there and wishing to do that which would bring pleasure to Bhima, Bibhatsu attacked them. King Duryodhana incited Susharma for the death of both Arjuna and Bhimasena. ‘O Susharma! Go swiftly, surrounded by your large army. Vanquish the sons of Pandu, Dhananjaya and Vrikodara.’ On hearing this instruction, Trigarta, the lord of Prasthala, attacked the archers Bhima and Arjuna in the battle. He surrounded them with many thousands of chariots in every direction. A battle commenced between Arjuna and the enemy.”’

‘Sanjaya said, “In the battle, maharatha Arjuna exerted himself against Shalya. In the encounter, he shrouded him with straight-tufted arrows. He pierced Susharma and Kripa with three arrows each. O Indra among kings! In the battle, he wounded Pragjyotisha, Saindhava Jayadratha, Chitrasena, Vikarna, Kritavarma, Durmarshana and the two maharathas from Avanti with three arrows each. These were swift and were tufted with the feathers of herons and peacocks. In the battle, the atiratha oppressed your army with arrows. O descendant of the Bharata lineage! In the encounter, Jayadratha pierced Partha with arrows and while stationed on Chitrasena’s chariot, swiftly pierced Bhima. In the battle, Shalya and Kripa pierced the mighty-armed Jishnu, supreme among rathas, with many arrows that struck at the inner organs. O lord of the earth! O venerable one! In the encounter, your sons, Chitrasena and the others, struck each of them, Arjuna and Bhimasena, with five sharp arrows. But those foremost of rathas, the Kounteyas, bulls among the Bharata
lineage, continued to oppress the large army of the Trigartas in the encounter. In the battle, Susharma pierced Partha with many sharp arrows. The powerful one roared and the sound echoed in the sky. Other brave rathas pierced Bhimasena and Dhananjaya with sharp and swift arrows that were tufted with gold. In the midst of those rathas, the Kounteyas, supreme among rathas, looked beautiful as they seemed to be sporting and roamed around in their chariots. They were like powerful lions amidst a herd of cattle. They shattered the bows and arrows of many brave ones in the battle. They brought down the heads of hundreds of brave kings. They shattered many chariots and killed hundreds of horses. In the great battle, they brought down elephant-riders from their elephants. O king! Many charioteers and riders were seen to be devoid of their lives. O king! They were immobile in every direction. Elephants were slain. Foot soldiers and horses lost their lives. The earth was strewn with many shattered chariots. Many umbrellas and standards were broken and were brought down. O descendant of the Bharata lineage! There were discarded goads and cushions, diadems, armlets, necklaces, hides of ranku deer and discarded headdresses, whisks and fans. There were severed arms with sandalwood paste smeared on them. The earth was strewn with the thighs of Indras among men.