Chapter 25

“Sanjaya said, ‘Thou askest me about the feats of Arjuna in battle.Listen, O thou of mighty arms, to what Partha achieved in the fight.Beholding the risen dust and hearing the wail of the troops whenBhagadatta was performing great feats on the field, the son of Kuntiaddressed Krishna and said ‘O slayer of Madhu, it seems that the ruler ofthe Pragjyotishas hath, on his elephant, with great impetuosity, advancedto battle. This loud din that we hear must be due to him. Well-versed inthe art of grinding and battling from the back of an elephant, and notinferior to Indra himself in battle, he, I think, is the formost of allelephant-warriors in the world.[54] His elephant, again, is the foremostof elephants, without a rival to encounter it in battle. Possessed ofgreat dexterity and above all fatigue, it is, again, impervious to allweapons. Capable of bearing every weapon and even the touch of fire, itwill, O sinless one, alone destroy the Pandava force today. Except ustwo, there is none else capable of checking that creature. Go quickly,therefore, to that spot where the ruler of the Pragjyotishas is. Proud inbattle, in consequence of the strength of his elephant, and arrogant inconsequence of his age, I will this very day send him as a guest to theslayer of Vala.’ At these words of Arjuna, Krishna began to proceed tothe place where Bhagadatta was breaking the Pandava ranks. While Arjunawas proceeding towards Bhagadatta, the mighty Samsaptaka car-warriors,numbering fourteen thousand, made up of ten thousand Gopalas or Narayanaswho used to follow Vasudeva, returning to the field, summoned him tobattle. Beholding the Pandava host broken by Bhagadatta, and summoned onthe other hand by the Samsaptakas, Arjuna’s heart was divided in twain.And he began to think, ‘Which of these two act will be better for me todo today, to return from this spot for battling with Samsaptakas or torepair to Yudhishthira?’ Reflecting with the aid of his understanding, Operpetuator of Kuru’s race, Arjuna’s heart, at last, was firmly fixed onthe slaughter of the Samsaptakas. Desirous of alone slaughtering inbattle thousands of car-warriors, Indra’s son (Arjuna) having theforemost of apes on banner, suddenly turned back. Even this was what bothDuryodhana and Karna had thought of for achieving the slaughter ofArjuna. And it was for this that they had made arrangements for thedouble encounter. The son of Pandu allowed his heart to waver this sideand that, but, at last, resolving to slay those foremost of warriors,viz., the Samsaptakas, he baffled the purpose of his enemies.[55] Thenmighty Samsaptakas car-warriors, O king, shot at Arjuna thousands ofstraight arrows. Covered with those arrows, O monarch, neither Kunti’sson Partha, nor Krishna, otherwise called Janardana, nor the steeds, northe car, could be seen. Then Janardana became deprived of his senses andperspired greatly. Thereupon, Partha shot the Brahma weapon and nearlyexterminated them all. Hundreds upon hundreds of arms with bows andarrows and bowstrings in grasp, cut off from trunks, and hundreds uponhundreds of standards and steeds and charioteers and car-warriors, felldown on the ground. Huge elephants, well-equipped and resembling foremosthills over-grown with woods or masses of clouds, afflicted with Partha’sshafts and deprived of riders, fell down on the earth. Many elephantsagain, with riders on their backs, crushed by means of Arjuna’s shafts,fell down, deprived of life, shorn of the embroidered cloths on theirbacks, and with their housings torn. Cut off by Kiritin with hisbroad-headed arrows, countless arms having swords and lances and rapiersfor their nails or having clubs and battle-axes in grasp, fell down onthe earth. Heads also, beautiful, O king, as the morning sun or the lotusor the moon, cut off by Arjuna with his arrows, dropped down on theground. While Phalguni in rage was thus engaged in slaying the foe withdiverse kinds of well-adorned and fatal shafts, that host seemed to beablaze. Beholding Dhanunjaya crushing that host like an elephant crushinglotus-stalks, all creatures applauded him, saying, ‘Excellent,Excellent!’ Seeing that feat of Partha resembling that of Vasava himself,Madhava wondered much and, addressing him with joined hands, said,’Verily, O Partha, I think that this feat which thou hast achieved, couldnot be performed by Sakra, or Yama, or the Lord of treasures himself. Isee that thou hast today felled in battle hundreds and thousands ofmighty Samsaptaka warriors an together.’ Having slain the Samsaptakasthen,–that is, who were engaged in battle,–Partha addressed Krishna,saying, ‘Go towards Bhagadatta.'”