Chapter 28

“Sanjaya said, Having slain Bhagadatta who was ever the favourite and Ifriend of Indra and who was possessed of great energy, Parthacircumambulated him. Then the two sons of the king of Gandhara viz., thebrothers Vrishaka and Achala, those subjugators of hostile towns, beganto afflict Arjuna in battle. Those two heroic bowmen, uniting together,began to deeply pierce Arjuna from the front and from behind with whettedshafts of great impetuosity. Arjuna then with sharp shafts cut off thesteeds and driver and bow and umbrella and standard and car of Vrishaka,the son of Suvala, into atoms. With clouds of arrows and diverse otherweapons, Arjuna then once more severely afflicted the Gandhara troopsheaded by Suvala’s son. Then Dhananjaya, filled with rage, despatched toYama’s abode, with his shafts, five hundred heroic Gandharas withupraised weapons. The mighty-armed hero then, quickly alighting from thatcar whose steeds had been slain, mounted upon the car of his brother andtook up another bow. Then those two brothers, viz., Vrishaka and Achala,both mounted on the same car, began incessantly to pierce Vibhatsu withshowers of arrows. Indeed, those high-souled princes, those relatives ofthine by marriage, viz., Vrishaka and Achala, struck Partha veryseverely, like Vritra or Vala striking Indra of old. Of unfailing aim,these two princes of Gandhara, themselves unhurt, began once more tostrike the son of Pandu, like the two months of summer afflicting theworld with sweat-producing rays.[57] Then Arjuna slew those princes andtigers among men, viz., Vrishaka and Achala, staying on one car side byside, with, O monarch, a single arrow. Then those mighty-armed heroes,with red eyes and looking like lions, those uterine brothers havingsimilar features, together fell down from that car. And their bodies,dear to friends, falling down upon the earth, lay there, spreading sacredfame all around.

“Beholding their brave and unretreating maternal uncles thus slain byArjuna, thy sons, O monarch, rained many weapons upon him. Sakuni also,conversant with a hundred different kinds of illusions, seeing hisbrothers slain, created illusions for confounding the two Krishnas. Thenclubs, and iron balls, and rocks and Sataghnis and darts, and maces, andspiked bludgeons, and scimitars, and lances, mallets, axes, and Kampanas,and swords, and nails, and short clubs, and battle-axes, and razors, andarrows with sharp broad heads, and Nalikas, and calf-tooth headed shafts,and arrows having bony heads and discs and snake-headed shafts, andspears, and diverse other kinds of weapons, fell upon Arjuna from allsides. And asses, and camels, and buffaloes, and tigers, and lions, anddeer, and leopards, and bears, and wolves and vultures, and monkeys, andvarious reptiles, and diverse cannibals, and swarms of crows, all hungry,and excited with rage, ran towards Arjuna. Then Dhananjaya, the son ofKunti, that hero conversant with celestial weapons, shooting clouds ofarrows, assailed them all. And assailed by that hero with those excellentand strong shafts, they uttered loud cries and fell down deprived oflife. Then a thick darkness appeared and covered Arjuna’s car, and fromwithin that gloom harsh voices rebuked Arjuna. The latter, however, bymeans of the weapons called Jyotishka, dispelled that thick and awfuldarkness. When that darkness was dispelled frightful waves of waterappeared. For drying up those waters, Arjuna applied the weapon calledAditya. And in consequence of that weapon, the waters were almost driedup. These diverse illusions, repeatedly created by Sauvala, Arjunadestroyed speedily by means of the force of his weapons, laughing thewhile. Upon all his illusions being destroyed, afflicted with Arjuna’sshafts and unmanned by fear, Sakuni fled away, aided by his fleet,steeds, like a vulgar wretch. Then Arjuna, acquainted with all weapons,showing his enemies the exceeding lightness of his hands, showered uponthe Kaurava host clouds of arrows. That host of thy son, thus slaughteredby Partha, became divided into two streams like the current of Ganga whenimpeded by a mountain. And one of those streams, O bull among men,proceeded towards Drona, and the other with loud cries, proceeded towardsDuryodhana. Then a thick dust arose and covered all the troops. We couldnot then see Arjuna. Only the twang of Gandivas was heard by us from offthe field. Indeed, the twang of Gandiva was heard, rising above the blareof conchs and the beat of drums and the noise of other instruments. Thenon the southern part of the field took place a fierce battle between manyforemost warriors on the one side and Arjuna on the other. I, however,followed Drona. The various divisions of Yudhishthira’s force smote thefoe on every part of the field. The diverse divisions of thy son, OBharata, Arjuna smote, even as the wind in the summer season destroysmasses of clouds in the welkin. Indeed, as Arjuna came, scattering cloudsof arrows, like Vasava pouring thick showers of rain, there was none inthy army who could resist that great fierce bowman, that tiger among men.Struck by Partha, thy warriors were in great pain. They fled away, and inflying killed many among their own number. The arrows shot by Arjuna,winged Kanka feathers and capable of penetrating into every body, fellcovering all sides, like flights of locusts. Piercing steeds andcar-warriors and elephants and foot-soldiers, O sire, like snakes throughant-hills, those shafts entered the earth. Arjuna never shot arrows, atany elephant, steed or man. Struck with only one arrow, each of these,severely afflicted, fell down deprived of life. With slain men andelephant and shaft-struck steeds lying all about, and echoing with yellsof dogs and jackals, the field of battle presented a variegated and awfulsight. Pained with arrows, sire forsook son, and friend forsook friendand son forsook sire. Indeed, every one was intent upon protecting hisown self. Struck with Partha’s shafts, many warriors abandoned the veryanimals that bore them.'”