with his dense arrowy shower. I will presently, however, by my training
and might, baffle his purpose." Cutting off every one of those arrows
shot by Ashvatthama into three fragments, that foremost one of Bharata's
race destroyed them all like the Sun destroying a thick fog. After this
the son of Pandu once more pierced with his fierce shafts, the
samsaptakas with their steeds, drivers, cars, elephants, standards and
foot-soldiers. Every one of those that stood there as spectators, every
one of those that were stationed there on foot or car or steed or
elephant, regarded himself as shrouded by the arrows of Arjuna. Shot from
Gandiva, those winged arrows of diverse forms slew in that battle
elephants and steeds and men whether stationed in his immediate front or
at the distance of two miles. The trunks, cut off with broad-headed
shafts, of elephants, down whose cheeks and other limbs flowed the juice
indicative of excitement, fell down like tall trees in the forest struck
down with the axe. A little after down fell elephants, huge as hillocks,
with their riders, like mountains crushed by Indra with his thunder. With
his shafts cutting into minute portions well-equipped cars that looked
like dissolving edifices of vapour in the evening sky and unto which were
yoked well-trained steeds of great speed and which were ridden by
warriors invincible in battle, the son of Pandu continued to shower his
arrows on his enemies. And Dhananjaya continued to slay well-decked
horsemen and foot-soldiers of the foe. Indeed, Dhananjaya, resembling the
very Sun as he rises at the end of the Yuga, dried up the samsaptaka
ocean incapable of being dried up easily, by means of keen arrows
constituting his rays. Without losing a moment, the son of Pandu once
more pierced Drona's son resembling a huge hill, with shafts of great
impetuosity and the splendour of the Sun, like the wielder of the
thunderbolt piercing a mountain with the thunder. Desirous of battle, the
preceptor's son then, filled with rage, approached Arjuna for piercing
him and his steeds and drivers by means of his swiftly coursing shafts.
Arjuna, however, quickly cut off the shafts shot at him by Ashvatthama.
The son of Pandu then filled with great wrath, proffered unto
Ashvatthama, that desirable guest, quivers upon quivers of arrows, like a
charitable person offering everything in his house unto a guest. Leaving
the samsaptakas then the son of Pandu rushed towards Drona's son like a
donor abandoning unworthy guests, for proceeding towards one that is
worthy."
17
"Sanjaya said, 'Then occurred that battle between Arjuna and Ashvatthama
resembling the planets Shukra and Brihaspati in splendour, like the
battle between Shukra and Brihaspati in the firmament for entering the
same constellation. Afflicting each other with blazing shafts that
constituted their rays, those terrifiers of the world stood like two
planets both deviating from their orbits. Then Arjuna deeply pierced
Ashvatthama with a shaft in the midst of his eyebrows. With that shaft
the son of Drona looked resplendent like the Sun with upward rays. The
two Krishnas (Nara and Narayana), also deeply afflicted by Ashvatthama
with hundreds of arrows, looked like two Suns at the end of the Yuga,
resplendent with their own rays. Then when Vasudeva seemed to be
stupefied, Arjuna shot a weapon from which issued torrents of shafts on
all sides. And he struck the son of Drona with innumerable shafts, each
resembling the thunder or fire or the sceptre of Death. Endued with
mighty energy, that achiever of fierce feats, (Ashvatthama) then pierced
both Keshava and Arjuna with well-shot shafts which were inspired with
great impetuosity and struck with which Death himself would feel pain.
Checking the shafts of Drona's son, Arjuna covered him with twice as many
arrows equipped with goodly wings, and shrouding that foremost of heroes
and his steeds and driver and standard, began to strike the samsaptakas.
With his well-shot shafts Partha began to cut off the bows and quivers
and bowstrings and hands and arms and tightly grasped weapons and
umbrellas and standards and steeds and car shafts and robes and floral
garlands and ornaments and coats of mail and handsome shields and
beautiful heads, in large numbers, of his unretreating foes.
Well-equipped cars and steeds and elephants, ridden by heroes fighting
with great care, were destroyed by the hundreds of shafts sped by Partha
and fell down along with the heroes that rode on them. Cut off with
broad-headed and crescent-shaped and razor-faced arrows, human heads,
resembling the lotus, the Sun, or the full Moon in beauty and resplendent
with diadems and necklaces and crowns, dropped ceaselessly on the earth.
Then the Kalinga, the Vanga, and the Nishada heroes, riding on elephants,
that resembled in splendour the elephant of the great foe of the daityas,
rushed with speed against the queller of the pride of the danavas, the
son of Pandu, from desire of slaying him. Partha cut off the vital limbs,
the trunks, the riders, the standards, and the banners of those
elephants, upon which those beasts fell down like mountain summits riven
with thunder. When that elephant force was broken, the diadem-decked
Arjuna shrouded the son of his preceptor with shafts endued with the
splendour of the newly risen Sun, like the wind shrouding the risen Sun
with masses of congregated clouds. Checking with his own shafts those of
Arjuna, Drona's son shrouding both Arjuna and Vasudeva with his arrows,
gave a loud roar, like a mass of clouds at the close of summer after
shrouding the Sun or the Moon in the firmament. Deeply afflicted with
those arrows, Arjuna, aiming his weapons at Ashvatthama and at those
followers of his belonging to the army, speedily dispelled that darkness
caused by Ashvatthama's arrows, and pierced all of them with shafts
equipped with goodly wings. In that battle none could see when Savyasaci
took up his shafts, when he aimed them, and when he let them off. All
that could be seen was that elephants and steeds and foot-soldiers and
car-warriors, struck with his arrows, fell down deprived of life. Then
Drona's son without losing a moment, aiming ten foremost of arrows, sped
them quickly as if they formed only one arrow. Shot with great force,
five of these pierced Arjuna and the other five pierced Vasudeva. Struck
with those arrows, those two foremost of men, like Kuvera and Indra,
became bathed in blood. Thus afflicted, all the people there regarded
those two heroes as slain by Ashvatthama the warrior who had completely
mastered the science of arms. Then the chief of the Dasharhas addressed
Arjuna and said, "Why errest thou in thus sparing Ashvatthama? Slay this
warrior. If treated with indifference, even this one will be the cause of
great woe, like a disease not sought to be put down by treatment."
Replying unto Keshava of unfading glory with the words "So be it!" Arjuna
of unclouded understanding began with good care to mangle the son of
Drona with his shafts. Now the son of Pandu, filled with rage, quickly
pierced the massive arms, smeared with sandal-paste, and the chest, the
head, and the unrivalled thighs of his antagonist with shafts equipped
with heads like goats' ears, and shot with great force from gandiva. Then
cutting off the traces of Ashvatthama's steeds, Arjuna began to pierce
the steeds themselves, whereat the latter bore Ashvatthama away to a
great distance from the field. Thus borne away by these steeds endued
with the speed of the wind, the intelligent son of Drona, deeply
afflicted with the shafts of Partha, reflecting for some time, wished not
to go back and renew the fight with Partha. Knowing that victory is ever
with the chief of the Vrishnis and with Dhananjaya, that foremost one of
Angirasa's race, endued with great activity, entered the army of Karna,
deprived of hope and with shafts and weapons almost exhausted. Indeed,
Drona's son, restraining his steeds, and having comforted himself a
little, O sire, entered the force of Karna, teeming with cars and steeds
and men. After Ashvatthama, that enemy of theirs, had been thus removed
from the field by his steeds like a disease removed from the body by
incantations and medicines and means, Keshava and Arjuna proceeded
towards the samsaptakas, on their car whose rattle resembled the roar of
the clouds and whose banner waved on the wind.'"
18
"Sanjaya said, 'Meanwhile towards the northern part of the Pandava army,
a loud uproar arose of cars and elephants and steeds and foot-soldiers as
those were being massacred by Dandadhara. Turning the course of the car,
but without stopping the steeds which were as fleet as Garuda or the
wind, Keshava, addressing Arjuna, said, "The chief of the Magadhas, with
his (foe-crushing) elephant is unrivalled in prowess. In training and
might he is not inferior to Bhagadatta himself. Having slain him first,
thou wilt then slay the samsaptakas." At the conclusion of his words,
Keshava bore Partha to the presence of Dandadhara. The chief of the
Magadhas, peerless in handling the elephant-hook even as the headless
planet Ketu (is peerless) among all the planets, was destroying the
hostile army like a fierce comet destroying the whole earth. Riding on
his foe-slaying and well-equipped elephant which looked like the danava
with elephantine face and form, and whose roar resembled that of a
congregated mass of clouds, Dandadhara was destroying with his shafts
thousands of cars and steeds and elephants and men. The elephants also,
treading upon cars with their feet, pressed down into the Earth a large
number of men with their steeds and drivers. Many were the elephants,
also, which that foremost of elephants, crushed and slew with his two
forefeet and trunk. Indeed, the beast moved like the wheel of Death.
Slaying men adorned with steel coats of mail, along with their horses and
foot-soldiers, the chief of the Magadhas caused these to be pressed down
into the earth, like thick reeds pressed down with crackling sounds, by
means of that mighty and foremost of elephants belonging to him. Then
Arjuna, riding on that foremost of cars, rushed quickly towards that
prince of elephants in the midst of that host teeming with thousands of
cars and steeds and elephants, and resounding with the beat and blare of
innumerable cymbals and drums and conchs and uproarious with the clatter
of car-wheels, the twang of bow-strings, and the sound of palms. Even
Dandadhara pierced Arjuna with a dozen foremost of shafts and Janardana
with sixteen and each of the steeds with three, and then uttered a loud
shout and laughed repeatedly. Then Partha, with a number of broad-headed
shafts, cut off the bow of his antagonist with its string and arrow fixed
thereon, as also his well-decked standard, and then the guides of his
beast and the footmen that protected the animal. At this, the lord of
Girivraja became filled with rage. Desirous of agitating Janardana with
that tusker of his, whose temples had split from excitement, and which
resembled a mass of clouds and was endued with the speed of the wind,
Dandadhara struck Dhananjaya with many lances. The son of Pandu then,
with three razor-headed arrows, cut off, almost at the same instant of
time, the two arms each looking like the trunk of an elephant, and then
the head, resembling the full Moon, of his foe. Then Arjuna struck the
elephant of this antagonist with hundreds of arrows. Covered with the
gold-decked arrows of Partha, that elephant equipped with golden armour
looked as resplendent as a mountain in the night with its herbs and trees
blazing in a conflagration. Afflicted with the pain and roaring like a
mass of clouds, and exceedingly weakened, the elephant crying and
wandering and running with tottering steps, fell down with the guide on
its neck, like a mountain summit riven by thunder. Upon the fall of his
brother in battle, Danda advanced against Indra's younger brother and
Dhananjaya, desirous of slaying them, on his tusker white as snow and
adorned with gold and looking like a Himalayan summit. Danda struck
Janardana with three whetted lances bright as the rays of the sun, and
Arjuna with five, and uttered a loud shout. The son of Pandu then
uttering a loud shout cut off the two arms of Danda. Cut off by means of
razor-headed shafts, those two arms, smeared with sandal-paste, adorned
with angadas, and with lances in grasp, as they fell from the elephant's
back at the same instant of time, looked resplendent like a couple of
large snakes of great beauty falling down from a mountain summit. Cut off
with a crescent-shaped arrow by the diadem-decked (Partha), the head also
of Danda fell down on the Earth from the elephant's back, and covered
with blood it looked resplendent as it lay like the sun dropped from the
Asta mountain towards the western quarter. Then Partha pierced with many
excellent arrows bright as the rays of the sun that elephant of his foe,
resembling a mass of white clouds whereupon it fell down with a noise
like a Himalayan summit riven with thunder. Then other huge elephants
capable of winning victory and resembling the two already slain, were cut
off by Savyasaci, in that battle, even as the two (belonging to Danda and
Dandadhara) had been cut off. At this the vast hostile force broke. Then
elephants and cars and steeds and men, in dense throngs, clashed against
one another and fell down on the field. Tottering, they violently struck
one another and fell down deprived of life. Then his soldiers,
encompassing Arjuna like the celestials encompassing Purandara, began to
say, "O hero, that foe of whom we had been frightened like creatures at
the sight of Death himself, hath by good luck been slain by thee. If thou
hadst not protected from that fear those people that were so deeply
afflicted by mighty foes, then by this time our foes would have felt that
delight which we now feel at their death, O slayer of enemies." Hearing
these and other words uttered by friends and allies, Arjuna, with a
cheerful heart, worshipped those men, each according to his deserts, and
proceeded once more against the samsaptakas.'"
19
"Sanjaya said, 'Wheeling round, like the planet Mercury in the curvature
of its orbit, Jishnu (Arjuna) once more slew large number of the
samsaptakas. Afflicted with the shafts of Partha, O king, men, steeds,
and elephants, O Bharata, wavered and wondered and lost colour and fell
down and died. Many foremost of animals tied to yokes and drivers and
standards, and bows, and shafts and hands and weapons in grasp, and arms,
and heads, of heroic foes fighting with him, the son of Pandu cut off in
that battle, with arrows, some of which were broad-headed, some equipped
with heads like razors, some crescent-shaped, and some furnished with
heads like the calf's tooth. Like bulls fighting with a bull for the sake
of a cow in season, brave warriors by hundreds and thousands closed upon
Arjuna. The battle that took place between them and him made the hair to
stand on end like the encounter between the Daityas and Indra, the
wielder of the thunderbolt on the occasion of the conquest of the three
worlds. Then the son of Ugrayudha pierced Partha with three shafts
resembling three venomous snakes. Partha, however, cut off from his
enemy's trunk the latter's head. Then those warriors, filled with rage,
covered Arjuna from every side with diverse kinds of weapons like the
clouds urged by the Maruts shrouding Himavat at the close of summer.
Checking with his own weapons those of his foes on every side, Arjuna
slew a large number of his enemies with well-shot shafts. With his arrows
Arjuna then cut off the Trivenus, the steeds, the drivers, and the
parshni drivers of many cars, and displaced the weapons and quivers of
many, and deprived many of their wheels and standards, and broke the
cords, the traces and the axles of many, and destroyed the bottoms and
yokes of others, and caused all the equipment of many to fall from their
places. Those cars, thus smashed and injured by Arjuna in large numbers,
looked like the luxurious mansions of the rich destroyed by fire, wind,
and rain. Elephants, their vitals pierced with shafts resembling
thunderbolts in impetuosity, fell down like mansions on mountain-tops
overthrown by blasts of lightning. Large numbers of steeds with their
riders, struck by Arjuna, fell down on the Earth, their tongues and
entrails pressed out, themselves deprived of strength and bathed in
blood, and presenting an awful sight. Men and steeds and elephants,
pierced by Savyasaci (Arjuna) with his shafts, wondered and tottered and
fell down and uttered cries of pain and looked pale, O sire. Like
Mahendra smiting down the danavas, Partha smote down large numbers of his
foes, by means of shafts whetted on stone and resembling the thunder of
poison in deadliness. Brave warriors, cased in costly coats of mail and
decked with ornaments and armed with diverse kinds of weapons, lay on the
field, with their cars and standards, slain by Partha. Vanquished (and
deprived of life) persons of righteous deeds, possessed of noble birth
and great knowledge, proceeded to heaven in consequence of those glorious
deeds of theirs while their bodies only lay on Earth. Then the chief,
belonging to thy army, of various realms, filled with wrath and
accompanied by their followers, rushed against Arjuna, that foremost of
car-warriors. Warriors borne on their cars and steeds and elephants, and
foot-soldiers also, all desirous of slaying (Arjuna), rushed towards him,
shooting diverse weapons with great speed. Then Arjuna like wind, by
means of keen shafts, destroyed that thick shower of weapons dropped by
those warriors constituting a mass of congregated clouds. People then
beheld Arjuna crossing that raftless ocean constituted by steeds and
foot-soldiers and elephants and cars, and having mighty weapons for its
waves, on a bridge constituted by his own mighty weapons of offence and
defence. Then Vasudeva, addressing Partha, said, "Why, O sinless one,
dost thou sport in this way? Grinding these samsaptakas, haste thyself
for Karna's slaughter." Saying, "So be it" unto Krishna, Arjuna then,
forcibly smiting the remnant of the samsaptakas with his weapons, began
to destroy them like Indra destroying the Daityas. At that time, with
even the closest attention, men could not mark when Arjuna took out his
shafts, when he aimed them and when he let them off quickly. Govinda
himself, O Bharata, regarded it wonderful. Like swans diving into a lake
the shafts of Arjuna, white and active as swans, penetrated into the
hostile force. Then Govinda, beholding the field of battle during the
progress of that carnage, said these words to Savyasaci, "Here, O Partha,
for the sake of Duryodhana alone, occurreth this great and terrible
destruction of the Bharatas and other kings of Earth. Behold, O son of
Bharata, these bows, with golden backs, of many mighty bowmen, and these
girdles and quivers loosened from their bodies. Behold these straight
shafts equipped with wings of gold, and these long arrows washed with oil
and looking like snakes freed from their sloughs. Behold these beautiful
lances decked with gold lying scattered about, and these coats of mail, O
Bharata, adorned with gold and fallen off from the bodies of the
warriors. Behold these spears embellished with gold, these darts adorned
with the same metal, and these huge maces twined round with threads of
gold, and cords of hemp. Behold these swords decked with bright gold and
these axes adorned with the same, and these battle-axes equipped with
gold-decked handles. Behold also these spiked clubs, these short arrows,
these Bhusundis, and these Kanapas; these iron Kuntas lying around, and
these heavy Mushalas. These victory-longing warriors endued with great
activity and armed with diverse weapons, though dead, still seem to be
quick with life. Behold those thousands of warriors, their limbs crushed
with maces, and heads split with Mushalas or smashed and trod by
elephants and steeds and cars. O slayer of foes, the field of battle is
strewn with the bodies of men and elephants and steeds, deprived of life,
dreadfully mangled with shafts and darts and swords and lances and
scimitars and axes and spears and Nakharas and bludgeons, and bathed in
streams of blood. Strewn with arms smeared with sandal-paste and decked
with Angadas and graced with auspicious indications and cased in leathern
fences and adorned with Keyuras, the Earth looks resplendent, O Bharata.
Strewn also with hands having fingers cased in fences, decked with
ornaments, and lopped off from arms, and with severed thighs looking like
the trunks of elephants, of heroes endued with great activity and with
heads adorned with earrings and headgears set with gems, (the Earth looks
exceedingly beautiful). Behold those beautiful cars, decked with golden
bells, broken in diverse ways. Behold those numerous steeds bathed in
blood, those bottoms of cars and long quivers, and diverse kinds of
standards and banners and those huge conchs, of the combatants, and those
yak-tails perfectly white, and those elephants with tongues lolling out
and lying on the field like hills, and those beautiful with triumphal
banners, and those slain elephant-warriors, and those rich coverlets,
each consisting of one piece of blanket, for the backs of those huge
beasts, and those beautiful and variegated and torn blankets, and those
numerous bells loosened from the bodies of elephants and broken into
fragments by those falling creatures, and those hooks with handles set
with stones of lapis lazuli fallen upon the Earth, and those ornamental
yokes of steeds, and those armours set with diamonds for their breasts
and those rich cloths, adorned with gold and tied to the ends of the
standards borne by horsemen, and those variegated coverlets and housings
and Ranku skins, set with brilliant gems and inlaid with gold, for the
backs of steeds and fallen on the ground, and those large diamonds
adorning the head-gears of kings, and those beautiful necklaces of gold,
and those umbrellas displaced from their positions, and those yak-tails
and fans. Behold the earth strewn with faces adorned with earrings bright
as the moon or stars, and embellished with well-cut beards, and each
looking like the full moon. The earth, strewn with those faces looking
like lilies and lotuses, resembles a lake adorned with a dense assemblage
of lilies and lotuses. Behold, the earth possessing the effulgence of the
bright moon and diversified as if with myriads of stars, looks like the
autumnal firmament bespangled with stellar lights. O Arjuna, these feats
that have been achieved by thee in great battle today are, indeed, worthy
of thee or of the chief of the celestials himself in heaven." Even thus
did Krishna show the field of battle unto Arjuna. And while returning
(from the field to their camp), they heard a loud noise in the army of
Duryodhana. Indeed the uproar that was heard consisted of the blare of
conchs and the beat of cymbals and drums and Patahas and the clatter of
car wheels, the neighing of steeds, the grunt of elephants, and the
fierce clash of weapons. Penetrating into that force by the aid of his
steeds possessing the fleetness of the wind, Krishna became filled with
wonder upon beholding the army grinded by Pandya. Like Yama himself
slaying creatures whose lives have run out, Pandya, that foremost of
warriors skilled in shafts and weapons, was destroying crowds of foes by
means of diverse kinds of shafts. Piercing the bodies of the elephants
and steeds and men with sharp shafts, that foremost of smiters overthrew
and deprived them of life. Cutting off with his own shafts the diverse
weapons hurled at him by many foremost of foes, Pandya slew his enemies
like Sakra (Indra) destroying the Danavas.'"
20
"Dhritarashtra said, 'Thou didst mention to me before the name of Pandya,
that hero of world-wide celebrity, but his feats, O Sanjaya, in battle
have never been narrated by thee. Tell me today in detail of the prowess
of that great hero, his skill, spirit, and energy, the measure of his
might, and his pride.'
"Sanjaya said, 'Bhishma and Drona and Kripa and Drona's son and Karna and
Arjuna and Janardana, those thorough masters of the science of weapons,
are regarded by thee as the foremost of car-warriors. Know, however, that
Pandya regarded himself superior to all these foremost of car-warriors in
energy. Indeed he never regarded any one amongst the kings as equal to
himself. He never admitted his equality with Karna and Bhishma. Nor did