Chapter 194

“Sanjaya said, ‘When the weapon called Narayana was invoked, violentwinds began to blow with showers of rain, and peals of thunder were heardalthough the sky was cloudless. The earth trembled, and the seas swelledup in agitation. The rivers began to run in a contrary course. Thesummits of mountains, O Bharata, began to split. Diverse animals began topass by the left side of the Pandavas.[260] Darkness set in, the sunbecame obscure. Diverse kinds of carnivorous creatures began to alight onthe field in joy. The gods, the Danavas, and the Gandharvas, O monarch,all became inspired with fear. Beholding that tremendous agitation (innature), all began to ask one another loudly about its cause. Indeed,seeing that fierce and terrible weapon invoked by Drona’s son, all thekings, inspired with fear, felt great pain.’

“Dhritarashtra said, ‘Tell me, O Sanjaya, what counsel was adopted by thePandavas for the protection of Dhrishtadyumna when they saw the Kauravasonce more advance to battle, rallied by Drona’s son who was scorched bygrief and unable to brook the slaughter of his sire?’

“Sanjaya continued, ‘Having behold before the Dhartarashtras fly away,Yudhishthira, seeing them once more prepared for furious battle,addressed Arjuna, saying, ‘After the preceptor Drona had been slain inbattle by Dhrishtadyumna, like the mighty Asura, Vritra, by the wielderof the thunderbolt, (the Kurus), O Dhananjaya, becoming cheerless, gaveup all hopes of victory. Desirous of saving themselves, all of them fledaway from battle. Some kings fled, riding on cars borne along irregularcourse without Parshni drivers, and divested of standards and banners andumbrellas, and with their Kuvaras and boxes broken, and all theirequipments displaced. Others, struck with panic and deprived of theirsenses, themselves striking the steeds of their cars with their feet,fled precipitately. Others, riding on cars with broken yokes and wheelsand Akshas, fled afflicted with fear. Others on horseback were carriedaway, their bodies half displaced from their saddles. Others, dislodgedfrom their seats, and pinned by shafts to the necks of elephants, werequickly carried away by those animals. Others wore trodden to death allaround by elephants, afflicted and mangled with arrows. Others, deprivedof weapons and divested of armour, fell from their vehicles and animaldown upon the earth. Others were cut by car-wheels, or crushed by steedsand elephants. Others loudly calling after their sires and sons, fledaway in fear, without recognising one another, deprived of all energy bygrief. Some, placing their sons and sires and friends and brothers (onvehicles) and taking off their armour, were seen washing them with water.After the slaughter of Drona, (the Kuru) army, fallen into such a plight,fled away precipitously. By whom then hath it been rallied? Tell me, ifthou knowest. The sound of neighing steeds and trumpeting elephants,mingled with the clatter of car-wheels, is heard loud. These sounds, sofierce, occuring in the Kuru ocean, are repeatedly swelling up andcausing my troops to tremble. This terrific uproar, making the hair standon end, that is now heard, would, it seems, swallow the three worlds withIndra at their head. I think this terrible uproar is uttered by thewielder of the thunderbolt himself. It is evident that upon the fall ofDrona, Vasava himself is approaching (against us) for the sake of theKauravas. Our hairs have stood on their ends, our foremost ofcar-warriors are all afflicted with anxiety. O Dhanaujaya, hearing thisloud and terrible noise, I ask thee who is that mighty car-warrior, likethe lord of the celestials himself, that rallying this terrible andswelling host, is causing it to return?’

“Arjuna said, ‘He, relying upon whose energy the Kauravas, havingaddressed themselves to the accomplishment of fierce feats, are blowingtheir conchs and staying with patience, he about whom thou hast thydoubts. O king, as to who he may be that is roaring so loud, havingrallied the Dhartarashtras after the fall of the disarmed preceptor, he,who is endued with modesty, possessed of mighty arms, has the tread of aninfuriated elephant, owns a face like that of a tiger, always achievesfierce feats, and dispels the fears of the Kurus, he upon whose birthDrona gave away a thousand kine unto Brahmanas of high worth, he O king,that is roaring so loud, is Aswatthaman. As soon as he was born, thathero neighed like Indra’s steed and caused the three worlds to tremble atthat sound. Hearing that sound, an invisible being, O lord, (speakingaudibly) bestowed upon him the name of Aswatthaman (the horse-voiced).That hero, O son of Pandu, is roaring today. Prishata’s son, by anexceedingly cruel act, assailed Drona and took his life as if the latterwas without a preceptor. Yonder stayeth the preceptor of that Drona.Since of the prince of the Panchalas seized my preceptor by the hair,Aswatthaman, confident of his own prowess, will never forgive him. Thou,O monarch, hath told thy preceptor a falsehood for the sake of kingdom!Although thou art acquainted with the dictates of righteousness, thouhast yet perpetrated a very sinful act. Thy ill fame, in consequence ofthe slaughter of Drona, will be eternal in the three worlds with theirmobile and immobile creatures, like Rama’s in consequence of theslaughter of Bali![261] About thyself, Drona had thought, ‘The son ofPandu is possessed of every virtue; he is, besides, my disciple. He willnever speak an untruth to me.’ Thinking so, he gave credence to what thouhadst said. Although in speaking of Aswatthaman’s death thou hadst addedthe world elephant, yet thy answer to the preceptor was, after all, anuntruth in the garb of truth. Thus told by thee, the puissant Drona laidaside his weapons and, as thou sawest, became indifferent (toeverything), exceedingly agitated, and almost deprived of his senses. Itwas even a disciple who, abandoning all morality, thus slew his ownpreceptor, full of affection for his son, while, indeed, that preceptorwas filled with grief and unwilling to fight. Having caused him, who hadlaid his weapons to be unrighteously slain, protect the son of Prishataif thou canst, with all thy counsellors. All of us, uniting together,shall not be able to protect Prishata’s son today, who will be assailedby the preceptor’s son in wrath and grief. That superhuman being who isin that habit of displaying his friendship for all creatures, that hero,hearing of the seizure of his sire’s locks, will certainly consume us allin battle today. Although I cried repeatedly at the top of my voice forsaving the preceptor’s life, yet, disregarding my cries and abandoningmortality, a disciple took the life of that preceptor. All of us havepassed the greater part of our lives. The days that remain to us arelimited. This exceedingly unrighteous act that we have perpetrated hasstained that remnant. In consequence of the affection he bore to us, hewas a sire unto us. According to the dictates of the scriptures also, hewas a sire unto us. Yet he, that preceptor of ours, has been slain by usfor the sake of short-lived sovereignty. Dhritarashtra, O king, had givenunto Bhishma and Drona the whole earth, and what was still more valuable,all his children. Though honoured by our foe thus, and though he hadobtained such wealth from him, the preceptor still loved us as his ownchildren. Of unfading energy and prowess, the preceptor has been slain,only because, induced by thy words he had laid aside his weapons. Whileengaged in fight he was incapable of being slain by Indra himself. Thepreceptor was venerable in years and always devoted to our welfare. Yetunrighteous that we are, and stained with a levity of behaviour, wescrupled not to injure him. Alas, exceedingly cruel and very heinous hasbeen the sin that we have committed, for, moved by the desire of enjoyingthe pleasures of sovereignty, we have slain that Drona. My preceptor hadall along been under the impression that in consequence of my love forhim, I could, (for his sake) abandon all,–sire, brother, children, wifeand life itself. And yet moved by the desire of sovereignty, I interferednot when he was about to be slain. For this fault, O king, I have, Olord, already sunk into hell, overcome with shame. Having, for the sakeof kingdom, caused the slaughter of one who was a Brahmana, who wasvenerable in years, who was my preceptor, who had laid aside his weapons,and who was then devoted, like a great ascetic, to Yoga, death has becomepreferable to me to life!’