Chapter 197

“Sanjaya said, ‘Then Drona’s son began to cause a great carnage amongsthis foes in that battle, like the Destroyer himself at the end of theYuga. Slaying his enemies by means of his broad-headed arrows,Aswatthaman soon piled a mountain there of the dead. The standards ofcars formed its trees; and weapons its pointed summits; the lifelesselephants formed its large rocks; the steeds, its Kimpurushas; and bows,its creepers and plants. And it resounded with the cries of allcarnivorous creatures, that constituted its feathery population. And thespirits that walked there formed its Yakshas[266]. Then roaring aloud, Obull of Bharata’s race, Aswatthaman once more repeated his vow in thehearing of thy son, thus, ‘Since Kunti’s son, Yudhishthira, assuming onlythe outward garb of virtue, had caused the preceptor who was(righteously) engaged in battle to lay aside his weapons, I shall, in hisvery sight, rout and destroy his army. Having mangled all his troops, Ishall, then, slay the sinful prince of the Panchalas. Indeed, I shallslay all of them, if they contend with me in battle. I tell thee truly,therefore, rally thou thy troops.’ Hearing these words of Aswatthaman,thy son rallied the troops, having dispelled their fears with a loudleonine, roar. The encounter, then, O king, that once more took placebetween the Kuru and the Pandava armies, became as terrible as that oftwo oceans at full tide. The terrified Kauravas had their fears dispelledby Drona’s son. The Pandus and the Panchalas had become fierce inconsequence of Drona’s slaughter. Great was the violence of thatcollision, on the field of battle, between those warriors, all of whomwere cheerful and filled with rage and inspired with certain hopes ofvictory. Like a mountain, striking against a mountain, or an oceanagainst an ocean, O monarch, was that collision between the Kurus and thePandavas. Filled with joy, the Kuru and the Pandava warriors beatthousands of drums. The loud and stunning uproar that arose from amongthose troops resembled that of the ocean itself while churned (of old bythe gods and the Danavas). Then Drona’s son, aiming at the host of thePandavas and the Panchalas, invoked the weapon called Narayana. Thenthousands of arrows with blazing mouths appeared in the welkin,resembling snakes of fiery mouths, that continued to agitate thePandavas. In that dreadful battle, those shafts, O king, like the veryrays of the sun in a moment shrouded all the points of the compass, thewelkin, and the troops. Innumerable iron balls also, O king, thenappeared, like resplendent luminaries in the clear firmament. Sataghnis,some equipped with four and some with two wheels, and innumerable maces,and discs, with edges sharp as razor and resplendent like the sun, alsoappeared there. Beholding the welkin densely shrouded with those weapons,O bull of Bharata’s race, the Pandavas, the Panchalas, and the Srinjayas,became exceedingly agitated. In all those places, O ruler of men, wherethe great car-warriors of the Pandavas contended in battle, that weaponbecame exceedingly powerful. Slaughtered by the Narayana weapon, as ifconsumed by a conflagration, the Pandava troops were exceedinglyafflicted all over the field in that battle. Indeed, O lord, as fireconsumeth a heap of dry grass in summer, even so did that weapon consumethe army of the Pandus. Beholding that weapon filling every side, seeinghis own troops destroyed in large numbers, king Yudhishthira the just, Olord, became inspired with great fright. Seeing his army in course offlight and deprived of its senses, and beholding Parthas standingindifferent, Dharma’s son said these words, ‘O Dhrishtadyumna, fly awaywith your Panchala troops. O Satyaki, you also go away, surrounded by theVrishnis and the Andhakas. Of virtuous soul, Vasudeva will himself seekthe means of his own safety. He is competent to offer advice to the wholeworld. What need is there of telling him what he should do? We should notany longer fight. I say so unto all the troops. As regards myself, Iwill, with all my brothers ascend a funeral pile. Having crossed theBhishma and the Drona oceans in this battle, that are incapable of beingcrossed by the timid, shall I sink with all my followers in the vestige,represented by Drona’s son, of a cow’s hoof? Let the wishes of kingDuryodhana be crowned with success today, for I have today slain inbattle the preceptor, that always cherished such friendly feelingstowards us, that preceptor, who, without protecting, caused that childunacquainted with battle, viz., the son of Subhadra, to be slain by amultitude of wicked warriors, that preceptor, who with his son, satindifferently, without answering, when Krishna in such distress, draggedinto the assembly and sought to be made a slave, asked him to say thetruth, that preceptor, who, white all the other warriors were fatigued,cased Duryodhana in invulnerable armour when the latter desired to slayPhalguna and who, having cased him so, appointed him to protectJayadratha, who, being acquainted with the Brahma weapon, scrupled not toexterminate the Panchalas, headed by Satyajit, that had exertedthemselves for my victory, that preceptor, who, whilst we were beingunrighteously exiled from our kingdom, freely told us to go into thewoods although he had been solicited by our friends to withhold hispermission[267]. Alas, that great friend of our hath been slain! For hissake, I will, with my friends, lay down my life. After Kunti’s son,Yudhishthira had said this, he of Dasarha’s race, (viz., Kesava) quicklyforbidding the troops, by motion of his arms, to fly away said thesewords, Speedily lay down your weapons, all of you, and alight from yourvehicles. Even this is the means ordained by the illustrious one, (viz.,Narayana himself) for baffling this weapon. Come down on the earth, allof you from your elephants and steeds and cars. If you stand weaponlesson the earth, this weapon will not slay you. In those places where youwill fight for quelling the force of this weapon the Kauravas will becomemore powerful than you. Those men, however, that will throw down theirweapons and alight from their vehicles, will not in this battle, be slainby this weapon. They, however, that will, even in imagination, contendagainst this weapon, will all be slain even if they seek refuge deepbeneath the earth’. The warriors of the Pandava army, hearing, O Bharata,these words of Vasudeva, threw their weapons and drove away from theirhearts all desire of battle. Then Bhimasena, the son of Pandu, beholdingthe warriors about to abandon their weapons, said these words, O king,gladdening them all: ‘None should lay down his weapons here. I shall,with my shafts, oppose this weapon of Drona’s son. With this heavy maceof mine, that is decked with gold, I shall career in this battle like theDestroyer himself, quelling this weapon of Drona’s son. There is no manhere that is equal to me in prowess, even as there is no luminary in thefirmament that is equal to the sun. Beholding these two strong arms ofmine like unto the trunks of a couple of mighty elephants, capable ofpulling down the mountain of Himavat. I am the one person here thatpossesses the might of the thousand elephants. I am without a peer, evenas Sakra is known to be in heaven among the celestials. Let peoplewitness today the prowess of these two arms of my broad-chested self,while engaged in baffling the bright and blazing weapon of Drona’s son.If there be none (else) capable of contending against the Narayanaweapon, even I shall contend against it today in the very sight of allthe Kurus and the Pandavas. O Arjuna, O Vibhatsu, thou shouldst not layGandiva aside. A stain will then attach to thee like that of the moon.’Thus addressed Bhima, Arjuna said, O Bhima, even this is my great vow,viz., that my Gandiva shall not be used against the Narayana weapon,kine, and Brahmanas. Thus answered by Arjuna, Bhima, that chastiser offoes, riding on his car of solar effulgence, whose rattle, besides,resembled the roar of the clouds, rushed against the son of Drona. Enduedwith great energy and prowess, the son of Kunti, in consequence of hisextreme lightness of hand, within the twinkling of an eye, coveredAswatthaman with a shower of weapons. Then Drona’s son, smiling at therushing Bhima and addressing him (in proper words) covered him witharrows, inspired with mantras and equipped with blazing points. Shroudedwith those shafts that vomited fire and resembled snakes of blazingmouths, as if covered with sparks of gold. The form, O king, of Bhimasenain that battle looked like that of a mountain in the evening when coveredwith fire. That weapon of Drona’s son, directed against Bhimasenaincreased in energy and might, O king, like a conflagration assisted bythe wind. Beholding that weapon of terrible energy thus increasing inmight, a panic entered the hearts of all the combatants of the Pandavaarmy with the exception of Bhima. Then all of them, throwing down theirweapons on the earth, alighted from their cars and steeds. After they hadthrown their weapons and alighted from their vehicles, that weapon ofexceeding energy fell upon the head of Bhima. All creatures, especiallythe Pandavas, uttered cries of Oh and Alas, beholding Bhimasenaoverwhelmed by the energy of that weapon.'”