Mahabharata Vol. 6 (Penguin Translated Texts) (21 page)

‘“Duryodhana and the eight maharatha kings assigned to protect Jayadratha then surrounded Pandava.
¹³⁹
Drona’s son struck Vasudeva with seventy-three arrows, Arjuna with three broad-headed arrows and his standard and horses with five. Arjuna was extremely angry at Janardana having been struck and pierced Angiras’s descendant back with a hundred arrows.
¹⁴⁰
He pierced Karna with twelve arrows and Vrishasena with three. The valiant one then sliced down Shalya’s bow and arrows from his hand. Having picked up another bow, Shalya pierced Pandava. Bhurishrava pierced him with three arrows that were gold-tufted and had been sharpened on stone, Karna with thirty-two and Vrishasena with five. Jayadratha pierced him with seventy-three arrows and Kripa with ten. In that battle, the lord of Madra pierced Phalguna with ten arrows. Drona’s son countered Partha with sixty arrows. Yet again, he pierced Vasudeva with seventy arrows and Partha with five. The tiger among men, the
one with the white horses and with Krishna as his charioteer, laughed and pierced all of them back, displaying the dexterity of his hands. He pierced Karna with twelve arrows and Vrishasena with three. In that battle, he sliced down Shalya’s bow from his hand. He pierced Somadatta’s son with three arrows and Shalya with ten. He used eight arrows that were sharp and were like the flames of fires to pierce Drona’s son. He pierced Goutama with twenty-five and Saindhava with a hundred. He again struck Drona’s son with seventy arrows. Bhurishrava became angry and cut down Hari’s whip. He then struck Arjuna with seventy-three arrows. The one with the white horses became wrathful. He brought down hundreds of sharp arrows and struck them, like a mighty storm shredding clouds.”’

‘Dhritarashtra said, “O Sanjaya! There were many resplendent standards of diverse forms, belonging to the Parthas and those on our side. Describe those to me.”

‘Sanjaya replied, “Those great-souled ones possessed many different standards, of diverse forms. They had different forms, colours and names. Listen to me. The chariots of those foremost among rathas had many different kinds of standards. O Indra among kings! They were seen to blaze like fire. They were golden, decorated with gold, or garlanded with gold. They were like golden summits and like giant mountains made out of gold. Those standards were surrounded by pennants in every direction. These were of many different colours and hues and surrounded them everywhere. Those pennants were stirred by the wind. They were seen to be dancing around, like female dancers in an arena. O bull among the Bharata lineage! Those pennants had the complexion of Indra’s weapon.
¹⁴¹
They stirred above the chariots and adorned the maharathas. There
was a standard with the sign of an ape, as fierce as the face and tail of a lion.
¹⁴²
This belonged to Dhananjaya and was seen to cause terror in battle. O king! The flag was adorned with the supreme of apes. Your soldiers were terrified by the standard of the wielder of Gandiva. O descendant of the Bharata lineage! In that way, the top of the standard of Drona’s son had the mark of a lion’s tail and was seen to be as radiant as the rising sun. It was golden and fluttered in the wind. It was as resplendent as Shakra’s standard. The standard of Drona’s son arose high and delighted the Indras among the Kouravas. The standard of Adhiratha’s son
¹⁴³
had the mark of an elephant’s housing that was fashioned in gold. O great king! It dazzled and in the battle, seemed to fill up the sky. In the battle, golden pennants and garlands were attached to Karna’s standard. Stirred by the wind, they seemed to dance around on top of the chariot. The preceptor of the Pandus was the illustrious brahmana. Kripa, the son of Goutama, had a well-crafted bull on his.
¹⁴⁴
O king! With the mark of the bull, the maharatha was resplendent, like the destroyer of Tripura is dazzling with the mark of the bull.
¹⁴⁵
Vrishasena had a golden peacock, adorned with gems and jewels. Stationed there, it seemed to crow and adorn the front of the army. The great-souled one’s chariot was dazzling with the peacock. O Indra among kings! It was like the resplendent Skanda aloft his peacock. Shalya, the king of Madra, possessed a beautiful golden image of a plough on the top of his standard and it was like the flame of a fire. O venerable one! The plough was luminescent on the top of his chariot. The plough was surrounded by prosperity, with every kind of seed sprouting from it. A silver boar adorned the top of the king of Sindhu’s standard. It was decorated with golden nets and had the complexion of a bloodless crystal.
¹⁴⁶
With that silver standard, Jayadratha looked beautiful, like
Pusha was radiant in ancient times in the battle between the gods and the asuras.
¹⁴⁷
Somadatta’s intelligent son was devoted to sacrifices and his standard had the mark of a sacrificial stake and was seen to be as radiant as the sun or the moon. O king! Somadatta’s son was dazzling with that golden sacrificial stake. It was like a sacrificial stake raised in
rajasuya
, the best of all sacrifices. O great king! Shala had a large silver elephant. The pennant was golden and colourful and was adorned with the sign of peacocks. O bull among the Bharata lineage! That pennant adorned your troops, like the giant white elephant adorns the army of the king of the gods.
¹⁴⁸
There was a bejewelled elephant on the king’s standard, which was decorated with gold.
¹⁴⁹
It tinkled with the sound of one hundred bells and colourfully blazed on the supreme of chariots. O king! O lord of the earth! Your son, a bull among the Kurus, looked extremely resplendent with that large standard in the battle. These nine supreme standards arose in your army. They blazed amidst the forces, like the sun at the time of the destruction of a yuga.

‘“The tenth standard was Arjuna’s, marked with a giant ape. Arjuna blazed, like a fire on the Himalayas. The maharathas, scorchers of enemies, grasped colourful, bright and extremely large bows and swiftly advanced against Arjuna. Partha, the destroyer of enemies, also grasped the bow Gandiva, the performer of divine deeds. O king! All this happened because of your evil counsel. Because of your crimes, many men and many warriors were killed. They had been summoned from many directions, with horses, chariots and elephants. With Duryodhana at the forefront, there were these on one side and that bull among Pandus on the other. They roared at each other and the encounter began. Kounteya had Krishna as his charioteer and performed supreme and extraordinary deeds. Fearlessly, the single one advanced against the many. The mighty-armed one was resplendent when he stretched the bow Gandiva. The tiger among men wished to kill Jayadratha. O great king! Arjuna
released thousands of arrows. That scorcher of enemies made the warriors on your side invisible. In that battle, all those maharathas, tigers among men, also showered down a cloud of arrows and made Partha invisible. On seeing that Arjuna, bull among the Kuru lineage, was thus covered through the hands of those lions among men, a great sound arose among the soldiers.”’

‘Dhritarashtra asked, “O Sanjaya! When Arjuna reached Saindhava and the Panchalas were enveloped by Bharadvaja’s son and clashed against the Kurus, what did they do?”

‘Sanjaya said, “O great king! There was a battle in the afternoon and it made the body hair stand up. Drona was like the stake in the clash between the Panchalas and the Kurus. O venerable one! The Panchalas were cheerful in their minds and wished to kill Drona. They roared and showered down arrows. A tumultuous and terrible battle commenced between the Panchalas and the Kurus and it was like that between the gods and the asuras. With the Pandavas, all the Panchalas reached Drona’s chariot. Wishing to penetrate his array, they displayed great weapons. There were rathas stationed on their chariots and with medium speed,
¹⁵⁰
they caused a tremor and reached up to Drona’s chariot. Brihatkshatra, the maharatha from the Kekayas, showered sharp arrows that were like the great Indra’s vajra and advanced. He was swiftly countered by the immensely illustrious Kshemadhurti, who showered hundreds and thousands of sharp arrows. Dhrishtaketu, bull among the Chedis and possessing great strength, quickly attacked Drona, like the great Indra against Shambara. On seeing him suddenly descend, like death with a gaping mouth, Viradhanva, the great archer, quickly countered him. O great
king! Yudhishthira was stationed there, desiring victory, and he and his soldiers were repulsed by the valiant Drona. Nakula was skilled in battle and was valiant. O lord! As he advanced, your valorous son, Vikarna, countered him. Durmukha, the afflicter of enemies, repulsed the advancing Sahadeva with many thousand swift arrows. Vyaghradatta used extremely sharp and pointed arrows to repeatedly make Satyaki, tiger among men, tremble. Droupadi’s sons, tigers among men, angrily released supreme arrows. But those best of rathas were repulsed by Somadatta’s son. Bhimasena advanced wrathfully. But he was countered by Rishyashringa’s maharatha son, who was fierce and terrible of form.
¹⁵¹
O king! In the battle, the encounter that took place between the man and the rakshasa was like that between Rama and Ravana in ancient times.

‘“O descendant of the Bharata lineage! Yudhishthira, foremost among the Bharata lineage, struck Drona with ninety arrows with drooping tufts and these penetrated all the inner organs. At this, Drona became angry and struck the illustrious Kounteya, foremost among the Bharata lineage, between the breasts with twenty-five arrows. While all the archers looked on, Drona again struck him, his horses, his charioteer and his standard with twenty arrows. However, Pandava, with dharma in his soul, showed the dexterity of his hands and countered Drona’s arrows with a shower of arrows of his own. The archer Drona became extremely enraged in that battle. He suddenly severed the bow of the great-souled Dharmaraja. Having severed the bow, the maharatha swiftly covered him everywhere with many thousands of arrows. All those there saw that King Yudhishthira had been rendered invisible because of the arrows of Bharadvaja’s son and thought that he had been killed. Some others thought that he had run away. O Indra among kings! They said, ‘The king has been slain by the illustrious brahmana.’ Dharmaraja Yudhishthira thus confronted a great hardship. He cast aside the bow that had been severed by Bharadvaja’s son in the battle and grasped another divine bow that was capable of bearing a great burden and was more forceful. In that encounter, the brave one sliced down all
the thousands of arrows that had been released by Drona and it was extraordinary. Having severed the arrows, the king’s eyes became red with rage. In that battle, he grasped a lance that was capable of shattering the mountains. It was extremely terrible and fierce. It possessed a golden handle and was decorated with eight bells. The extremely powerful one roared cheerfully and hurled it. O descendant of the Bharata lineage! All the beings screamed in terror. On seeing the lance raised by Dharmaraja in that battle, all the beings suddenly exclaimed, ‘May all be well with Drona.’ Hurled from the king’s arms, it was like a snake that had cast off its skin. It blazed in the sky and in the directions and the sub-directions. It was like a she-serpent with a flaming mouth and it was as if Drona confronted death. O lord of the earth! On seeing it suddenly descend, Drona, supreme among those who knew about weapons, released the brahmastra. That weapon reduced the terrible-looking lance to ashes and then quickly advanced towards the chariot of the illustrious Pandava. O descendant of the Bharata lineage! When Drona’s weapon advanced, the immensely wise King Yudhishthira used a brahmastra to pacify it. In that battle, he then pierced Drona with five arrows with drooping tufts and used a sharp kshurapra arrow to severe his great bow. O venerable one! Drona, the destroyer of kshatriyas, cast aside the severed bow and suddenly hurled a club at Dharma’s son. On seeing that the club was powerfully descending, Yudhishthira, the scorcher of enemies, became angry and grasped a club. Those two clubs were powerfully hurled towards each other. They countered each other and emitted sparks because of the collision. They then fell down on the ground. O venerable one! Drona became extremely angry with Dharmaraja. He used four extremely sharp and supreme arrows to kill his horses. With another arrow, he severed his bow, which was like Indra’s standard. He severed Pandava’s standard and struck him with three arrows. With the horse slain, Yudhishthira quickly descended from the chariot. O bull among the Bharata lineage! The king stood there, with his arms raised and without any weapons. O lord! On seeing that he was without a chariot, and specifically without any weapons, Drona confounded the enemy and all the
soldiers. Displaying the dexterity of his hands, the one who was firm in his vows released large numbers of sharp arrows and advanced against the king, like an angry lion towards a deer.
¹⁵²
On seeing that Drona, the destroyer of enemies, was advancing, sudden sounds of lamentation arose from the assembled Pandavas. O venerable one! ‘The king has been slain. The king has been slain by Bharadvaja’s son.’ These and other loud noises arose from all the Pandu soldiers. But the king ascended Sahadeva’s chariot. Those swift horses bore Yudhishthira, Kunti’s son, away.”’

‘Sanjaya said, “O great king! Kshemadhurti used his arrows to pierce Brihatkshatra of the Kekayas, firm in his valour, in the chest. King Brihatkshatra wished to penetrate Drona’s array and swiftly struck him in that battle with ninety arrows with drooping tufts. Kshemadhurti became angry. He used a yellow, sharp and broad-headed arrow to sever the bow of the great-souled Kekaya. Having severed his bow, he then used an arrow with drooping tufts to quickly pierce that supreme of archers in the chest. Brihatkshatra laughed and took up another bow. He deprived maharatha Kshemadhurti of his horses, charioteer and standard. He then used another yellow, sharp and broad-headed arrow to sever the king’s head, with its blazing earrings, from the body.
¹⁵³
That head, with its curly hair and crown, was suddenly lopped off and fell down on the ground, as resplendent as a stellar body dislodged from the sky. On seeing that he had been slain in the battle, maharatha Brihatkshatra was delighted. For the sake of the Parthas, he descended powerfully on your soldiers. O descendant
of the Bharata lineage! The great archer Viradhanva countered the powerful Dhrishtaketu, who was advancing against Drona. Those two spirited ones clashed against each other and seemed to possess arrows as their teeth. Wishing to kill each other, they struck each other with many thousand arrows. Those two tigers among men fought with each other, like two leaders of elephant herds, fierce and crazy, fighting with each other in a great forest. They were like angry tigers in a mountainous cavern. Wishing to kill each other, those immensely valorous ones fought. O lord of the earth! The battle was tumultuous and worth watching. Masses of siddhas and charanas witnessed the extraordinary wonder. O descendant of the Bharata lineage! The angry Viradhanva laughed and used a broad-headed arrow to sever Dhrishtaketu’s bow into two. The maharatha king of Chedi discarded the severed bow. He grasped a large iron spear that possessed a golden handle. O descendant of the Bharata lineage! The immensely valorous one suddenly hurled this towards Viradhanva’s chariot. That spear was one that could kill heroes. Struck by it, he was severely hurt and with his heart shattered powerfully, fell down from the chariot onto the ground. O lord! When the brave maharatha from Trigarta was killed, the Pandaveyas shattered your army from every direction.