Chapter 96

Sanjaya said, “After that great battle, king Duryodhana, approachingGanga’s son and saluting him with humility, began to narrate to him allthat had happened about the victory won by Ghatotkacha and his owndefeat. That invincible warrior, O king, sighing repeatedly, said thesewords unto Bhishma, the grandsire of the Kurus, ‘O lord, relying uponthee, as Vasudeva hath been (relied upon) by the foe, a fierce war hathbeen commenced by me with the Pandavas. These eleven Akshauhinis ofcelebrated troops that I have, are, with myself, obedient to thy command,O chastiser of foes. O tiger among the Bharatas, though thus situated,yet have I been defeated into battle by the Pandava warriors headed byBhimasena relying upon Ghatotkacha. It is this that consumeth my limbslike fire consuming dry tree. O blessed one, O chastiser of foes, Itherefore, desire, through thy grace, O grandsire, to slay Ghatotkachamyself, that worst of Rakshasas, relying upon thy invincible self. Itbehoveth thee to see that wish of mine may be fulfilled.’ Hearing thesewords of the king, that foremost one among the Bharatas, viz., Bhishma,the son of Santanu, said these words unto Duryodhana, ‘Listen, O king, tothese words of mine that I say unto thee, O thou of Kuru’s race, aboutthe way in which thou, O chastiser of foes, shouldst always behave. One’sown self, under all circumstances, should be protected in battle, Orepressor of foes. Thou shouldst always, O sinless one, battle with kingYudhishthira–the Just, or with Arjuna, or with the twins, or withBhimasena. Keeping the duty of a king before himself, a king striketh aking. Myself, and Drona, and Kripa, and Drona’s son, and Kritavarman ofthe Satwata race, and Salya, and Somadatta’s son, and that mightycar-warrior Vikarna, and thy heroic brothers headed by Dussasana, willall, for thy sake, battle against that mighty Rakshasas. Or if thy griefon account of that fierce prince of the Rakshasas be too great, let thisone proceed in battle against that wicked warrior, that is to say, kingBhagadatta who is equal unto Purandara himself in fight’. Having saidthis much unto the king, the grandsire skilled in speech then addressedBhagadatta in the presence of the (Kuru) king, saying, ‘Proceed quickly,O great monarch, against that invincible warrior, viz., the son ofHidimva. Resist in battle, with care, and in view of all the bowmen, thatRakshasa of cruel deeds, like Indra in days of old resisting Taraka. Thyweapons are celestial. Thy prowess also is great, O chastiser of foes. Indays of old many have been the encounters that thou hadst with Asura, Otiger among kings, thou art that Rakshasa’s match in great battle.Strongly supported by thy own troops, slay, O king, that bull amongRakshasas’. Hearing these words of Bhishma the generalissimo (of theKaurava army), Bhagadatta specially set out with a leonine roar facingthe ranks of the foe. Beholding him advance towards them like a mass ofroaring clouds, many mighty car-warriors of the Pandava army proceededagainst him, inflamed with wrath. They were Bhimasena, and Abhimanyu andthe Rakshasa Ghatotkacha; and the sons of Draupadi, and Satyadhriti, andKshatradeva, O sire, and the rulers of the Chedis, and Vasudana, and theking of the Dasarnas. Bhagadatta then, on his elephant named Supratika,rushed against them. Then commenced a fierce and awful battle between thePandavas and Bhagadatta, that increased the population of Yama’s kingdom.Shafts of terrible energy and great impetuosity, shot by car-warriors,fell, O king, on elephants and cars. Huge elephants with rent temples andtrained (to the fight) by their guides, approaching fell upon one anotherfearlessly. Blind (with fury) in consequence of the temporal juicetrickling down their bodies, and excited with rage, attacking one anotherwith their tusks resembling stout bludgeons, they pierced one anotherwith the points of those weapons.[453] Graced with excellent tails, andridden by warriors armed with lances, steeds, urged by those riders fellfearlessly and with great impetuosity upon one another. Andfoot-soldiers, attacked by bodies of foot-soldiers with darts and lances,fell down on the earth by hundreds and thousands. And car-warriors upontheir cars, slaughtering heroic adversaries in that battle by means ofbarbed arrows and muskets and shafts, uttered leonine shouts.[454] Andduring the progress of the battle making the hair stand on end, thatgreat bowman, viz., Bhagadatta, rushed towards Bhimasena, on his elephantof rent temples and with juice trickling down in seven currents andresembling (on that account) a mountain with (as many) rillets flowingdown its breast after a shower. And he came, O sinless one, scatteringthousands of arrows from the head of Supratika (whereon he stood) likethe illustrious Purandara himself on his Airavata. King Bhagadattaafflicted Bhimasena with that arrowy shower like the clouds afflictingthe mountain breast with torrents of rain on the expiry of summer. Thatmighty bowman Bhimasena, however, excited with rage, slew by his arrowyshowers the combatants numbering more than a hundred, that protected theflanks and rear of Bhagadatta.[455] Beholding them slain, the valiantBhagadatta, filled with rage, urged his prince of elephants towardsBhimasena’s car. That elephant, thus urged by him, rushed impetuouslylike an arrow propelled from the bowstring towards Bhimasena, thatchastiser of foes. Beholding that elephant advancing, the mightycar-warriors of the Pandava army, placing Bhimasena at their head,themselves rushed towards it. Those warriors were the (five) Kekayaprinces, and Abhimanyu, and the (five) sons of Draupadi and the heroicruler of the Dasarnas, and Kshatradeva also, O sire, and the ruler of theChedis, and Chitraketu. And all these mighty warriors came, inflamed withanger, and exhibiting their excellent celestial weapons. And they allsurrounded in anger that single elephant (on which their adversary rode).Pierced with many shafts, that huge elephant, covered with gore flowingfrom his wounds, looked resplendent like a prince of mountain variegatedwith (liquified) red chalk (after a shower). The ruler of the Dasarnasthen, on an elephant that resembled a mountain, rushed towardsBhagadatta’s elephant. That prince of elephants, however, viz.,Supratika, bore (the rush of) that advancing compeer like the continentbearing (the rush of) the surging sea. Beholding that elephant of thehigh souled king of the Dasarnas thus resisted, even the Pandava troops,applauding, cried out ‘Excellent, excellent!’ Then that best of kings,viz., the ruler of the Pragjyotishas, excited with rage, sped four andten lances at that elephant. These, speedily penetrating through theexcellent armour, decked with gold, that covered the animal’s body,entered into it, like snakes entering anthills. Deeply pierced andexceedingly pained, that elephant, O chief of the Bharatas, its furyquelled, speedily turned back with great force. And it fled away withgreat swiftness, uttering frightful shrieks, and crushing the Pandavaranks like the tempest crushing trees with its violence. After thatelephant was (thus) vanquished, the mighty car-warriors of the Pandavaarmy, uttering loud leonine shouts, approached for battle. Placing Bhimaat their head, they rushed at Bhagadatta scattering diverse kinds ofarrows and diverse kinds of weapons. Hearing the fierce shouts, O king,of those advancing warriors swelling with rage and vengeance, that greatbowman Bhagadatta, filled with rage and perfectly fearless, urged his ownelephant. That prince of elephants then, thus urged with the hook and thetoe, soon assumed the form of the (all-destructive) Samvarta fire (thatappears at the end of the Yuga). Crushing crowds of cars and (hostile)compeers and steeds with riders, in that battle, it began, O king, toturn hither and thither. Filled with rage it also crushed foot-soldiersby hundreds and thousands. Attacked and agitated by that elephant, thatlarge force of the Pandavas shrank in dimensions, O king, like a piece ofleather exposed to the heat of fire. Beholding, then the Pandava arraybroken by the intelligent Bhagadatta, Ghatotkacha, of fierce mien, Oking, with blazing face and eyes red as fire, filled with rage, rushedtowards him. Assuming a terrible form and burning with wrath, he took upa bright dart capable of riving the very hills. Endued with greatstrength, he forcibly hurled that dart that emitted blazing flames fromevery part desirous of slaying that elephant. Beholding it coursingtowards him with great impetuosity, the ruler of the Pragjyotishas spedat it a beautiful but fierce and sharp arrow with a crescent head.Possessed of great energy he cut off that dart with that arrow of his.Thereupon that dart, decked with gold, thus divided in twain, droppeddown on the ground, like the bolt of heaven, hurled by Indra, flashingthrough the welkin. Beholding that dart (of his adversary), O king,divided in twain and fallen on the ground, Bhagadatta took up a largejavelin furnished with a golden staff and resembling a flame of fire ineffulgence, and hurled it at the Rakshasa, saying, ‘Wait, Wait’. Seeingit coursing towards him like the bolt of heaven through the welkin, theRakshasa jumped up and speedily seizing it uttered a loud shout. Andquickly placing it against his knee, O Bharata, he broke it in the verysight of all the kings. All this seemed exceedingly wonderful. Beholdingthat feat achieved by the mighty Rakshasa, the celestials in thefirmament, with the Gandharvas  and the Munis, were filled with wonder.And the Pandava warriors also, headed by Bhimasena, filled the earth withcries of ‘Excellent, Excellent’. Hearing, however, those loud shouts ofthe rejoicing Pandavas, that great bowman, viz., the valiant Bhagadatta,could not bear it (coolly). Drawing his large bow whose effulgenceresembled that of Indra’s bolt, he roared with great energy at the mightycar-warriors of the Pandava army, shooting at the same time many brightarrows of great sharpness and possessed of the effulgence of fire. And hepierced Bhima with one arrow, and the Rakshasa with nine. And he piercedAbhimanyu with three, and the Kekaya brothers with five. And with anotherstraight arrow shot from his bow drawn to its fullest stretch, hepierced, in that battle, the right arm of Kshatradeva. Thereupon thelatter’s bow with arrow fixed on the bowstring dropped down from hishand. And he struck the five sons of Draupadi with five arrows. And fromwrath, he slew the steeds of Bhimasena. And with three shafts winged withfeathers, he cut down Bhimasena’s standard bearing the device of a lion.And with three other shafts he pierced Bhima’s charioteer. Deeply piercedby Bhagadatta in that battle, and exceedingly pained, Visoka thereupon, Ochief of the Bharatas, sat down on the terrace of the car. Then, O king,that foremost of car-warriors, viz., Bhima, thus deprived of his car,quickly jumped down from his large vehicle taking up his mace. Beholdinghim with mace upraised and looking like a crested hill, all thy troops, OBharata, became filled with great fear. Just at this time that son ofPandu who had Krishna for his charioteer, O king, slaughtering the foe onall sides as he came, appeared at that spot where those tigers among men,those mighty car-warriors, viz., Bhimasena and Ghatotkacha, sire and son,were engaged with the ruler of the Pragjyotishas. Beholding his brothers,those mighty car-warriors, engaged in battle, that son of Pandu quicklycommenced to fight, profusely scattering his shafts, O chief of theBharatas. Then that mighty car-warrior, viz., king Duryodhana, speedilyurged on a division of his troops abounding with cars and elephants.Towards that mighty division of the Kauravas thus advancing withimpetuosity, Arjuna of white steeds rushed with great impetuosity.Bhagadatta also, upon that elephant of his, O Bharata, crushing thePandava ranks, rushed towards Yudhishthira. Then commenced a fiercebattle between Bhagadatta, O sire, and the Panchalas, the Srinjayas, andthe Kekayas, with upraised weapons. Then Bhimasena, in that battle toldboth Kesava and Arjuna in detail about the slaughter of Iravat as it hadoccurred.”