Chapter 29

“Dhritarashtra said, ‘When those divisions (of mine), O Sanjaya, werebroken and routed, and all of you retreated quickly from the field, whatbecame the state of your minds? The rallying of ranks when broken andflying away without beholding a spot whereon to stand, is alwaysexceedingly difficult. Tell me all about it, O Sanjaya!’

“Sanjaya said, [Although thy troops were broken], yet, O monarch, manyforemost of heroes in the world, inspired by the desire of doing good tothy son and of maintaining their own reputation, followed Drona. In thatdreadful pass, they fearlessly followed their commander, achievingmeritorious feats against the Pandava troops with weapons upraised, andYudhishthira within accessible distance.[58] Taking advantage of an errorof Bhimasena of great energy and of heroic Satyaki and Dhrishtadyumna, Omonarch, the Kuru leaders fell upon the Pandava Army.[59] The Panchalasurged their troops, saying, ‘Drona, Drona!’ Thy sons, however, urged allthe Kurus, saying, ‘Let not Drona be slain. Let not Drona be slain!’ Oneside saying, ‘Slay Drona’, ‘Slay Drona,’ and the other saying, ‘Let notDrona be slain, ‘Let not Drona be slain,’ the Kurus and the Pandavasseemed to gamble, making Drona their stake. Dhrishtadyumna, the prince ofthe Panchalas, proceeded to the side of all those Panchala car-warriorswhom Drona sought to crush. Thus no rule was observed as to theantagonist one night select for battling with him. The strife becamedreadful. Heroes encountered heroes, uttering loud shouts Their foescould not make the Pandavas tremble. On the other hand, recollecting alltheir woes, the latter made the ranks of their enemies tremble. Thoughpossessed of modesty, yet excited with rage and vindictiveness, and urgedby energy and might, they approached that dreadful battle, reckless oftheir very lives for slaying Drona. That encounter of heroes ofimmeasurable energy, sporting in fierce battle making life itself thestake, resembled the collision of iron against adamant. The oldest meneven could not recollect whether they had seen or heard of a battle asfierce as that which took place on this occasion. The earth in thatencounter, marked with great carnage and afflicted with the weight ofthat vast host, began to tremble. The awful noise made by the Kuru armyagitated and tossed by the foe, paralysing the very welkin, penetratedinto the midst of even the Pandava host. Then Drona, coming upon thePandava divisions by thousands, and careering over the field, broke themby means of his whetted shafts. When these were being thus crushed byDrona of wonderful achievements, Dhrishtadyumna, the generalissimo of thePandava host, filled with rage himself checked Drona. The encounter thatwe beheld between Drona and the prince of the Panchalas was highlywonderful. It is my firm conviction that it has no parallel.

“Then Nila, resembling a veritable fire, his arrows constituting itssparks and his bow its flame, began to consume the Kuru ranks, like aconflagration consuming heaps of dry grass. The valiant son of Drona, whofrom before had been desirous of an encounter with him, smilinglyaddressed Nila as the latter came consuming the troops, and said unto himthese polite words,[60] ‘O Nila, what dost thou gain by consuming so manycommon soldiers with thy arrowy flames? Fight with my unaided self, andfilled with rage, strike me.’ Thus addressed, Nila, the brightness ofwhose face resembled the splendour of a full-blown lotus, piercedAswatthaman, whose body resembled an assemblage of lotuses and whose eyeswere like lotus-petals with his shafts. Deeply and suddenly pierced byNila, Drona’s son with three broad-headed arrows, cut off hisantagonist’s bow and standard and umbrella. Quickly jumping down from hiscar, Nila, then, with a shield and an excellent sword, desired to severfrom Aswatthaman’s trunk his head like a bird (bearing away its prey inits talons). Drona’s son, however, O sinless one, by means of a beardedarrow, cut off, from his antagonist’s trunk, his head graced with abeautiful nose and decked with excellent ear-rings, and which rested onelevated shoulders. That hero, then, the brightness of whose faceresembled the splendour of the full moon and whose eyes were likelotus-petals, whose stature was tall, and complexion like that of thelotus, thus slain, fell down on the earth. The Pandava host then, filledwith great grief, began to tremble, when the Preceptor’s son thus slewNila of blazing energy. The great car-warriors of the Pandavas, O sire,all thought, ‘Alas, how would Indra’s son (Arjuna) be able to rescue usfrom the foe, when that mighty warrior is engaged on the southern part ofthe field in slaughtering the remnant of the Samsaptakas and the Narayanaforce?'”