Chapter 71

“Yudhishthira said,–O mighty-armed one, after thou hadst gone towardsthe army of the Samsaptakas, the preceptor Drona made fierce endeavoursfor seizing me. We succeeded, however, in resisting Drona at the head ofthe array at all points, having in that battle, disposed our vigorouslycontending car-divisions in counter-array. Held in check by a largenumber of warriors, and myself also having been well protected, Dronabegan to smite us with great activity, afflicting us with his whettedshafts. Thus afflicted by him, we could not then even gaze at his army,far less face it in battle. All of us then, addressing thy son bySubhadra, who was equal to thyself, O lord, in prowess said unto him, [Oson, pierce this array of Drona!]–That valorous hero thus urged by us,then sought, like a good horse, to take that burden on himself, howeverunbearable it might have been for him. Endued as he was with thy energy,aided by that knowledge of weapons which he derived from thee, that childthen penetrated unto that array, like Garuda penetrating into the ocean.As regards ourselves, we followed that hero, that son of Subhadra,desirous in that battle, of penetrating (into the Dhritarashtra army) bythe same path by which Abhimanyu had entered it. Then, O sire, thewretched king of the Sindhus, viz., Jayadratha, in consequence of theboon granted to him by Rudra, checked all of us! Then Drona, Kripa andKarna and Drona’s son, and the king of the Kosalas, and Kritavarman,these six car-warriors surrounded the son of Subhadra. Having surroundedthat child all those great car-warriors–too many for him although he wascontending to the utmost of his power, deprived him of his car. After hehad been deprived of his car, Dussasana’s son, though he himself had ahair-breadth escape, succeeded, as chance would have it, in makingAbhimanyu, meet with his end. As regards Abhimanyu, he, having slain manythousands of men and steeds and elephants, and eight thousand cars, andonce more nine hundred elephants, two thousand princes, and a largenumber of heroic warriors unknown to fame, and despatching in that battleking Vrihadvala also to heaven, at last, through ill luck, met with hisown death. Thus hath occurred this event that so enhances our grief! Thattiger among men hath even thus ascended to heaven! Hearing these wordsuttered by king Yudhishthira, Arjuna, saying–Oh son!–and breathing adeep sigh, fell down on the earth in great pain. Then all the warriors ofthe Pandavas, surrounding Dhananjaya with cheerless faces began, filledwith grief, to look at one another with winkless eyes. Recoveringconsciousness then, Vasava’s son became furious with rage. He seemed tobe in a feverish tremor, and sighed frequently. Squeezing his hands,drawing deep breaths, with eyes bathed in tears, and casting his glanceslike a mad man, he said these words.’

“Arjuna said,—‘Truly do I swear that tomorrow I will slay Jayadratha!If from fear of death, he doth not forsake the Dhritarashtras, or imploreour protection, or the protection of Krishna that foremost of men or ofthine, O king, I shall assuredly slay him tomorrow! Forgetting hisfriendship for me, engaged in doing what is agreeable to Dhritarashtra’sson, that wretch is the cause of the child’s slaughter! Tomorrow I willslay him! Whoever they may be that will encounter me in battle tomorrowfor protecting him, be it Drona, or Kripa, O king, I will cover them allwith my arrow! Ye bulls among men, if I do not achieve even this in(tomorrow’s) battle, let me not attain the region., reserved for therighteous, ye foremost of heroes! Those regions that are for them thatslay their mothers, or for them that slay their fathers, or them thatviolate their preceptor’s beds, or them that are vile and wicked, or themthat cherish envy against the righteous, or them that speak ill of othersor them that appropriate the wealth confidingly deposited with them byothers, or them that are betrayers of trusts, or them that speak ill ofwives enjoyed by them before, or them that have slain Brahmanas, or themthat have killed kine, or them that eat sugared milk and rice, or foodprepared of barley, or pot-herbs, or dishes prepared of milk, sesamum,and rice, or thin cakes of powdered barley fried in clarified butter orother kinds of cakes, or meat, without having dedicated the same to thegods,–even those regions shall speedily be mine if I do not slayJayadratha!–Those regions to which they go that offer insults toBrahmanas devoted to the study of the Vedas, or otherwise worthy ofrespect, or to those that are their preceptors, (those regions shallspeedily be mine if I do not slay Jayadratha!) That end which becomestheirs who touch Brahmanas or fire with the feet, that end which becomestheirs who throw phlegm and excreta and eject urine into water, even thatmiserable end shall be mine, if I do not slay Jayadratha! That end whichis his who bathes (in water) in a state of nudity, or his who does nothospitably entertain a guest, that end which is theirs who receivebribes, speak falsehood, and deceive and cheat others, that end which istheirs who offend against their own souls, or who falsely utter praises(of others), or of those low wretches who eat sweetmeats in the sight ofservants and sons and wives and dependents without sharing the same withthose, that awful end shall be mine if I do not slay Jayadratha! That endwhich overtakes the wretch of ruthless soul who without supporting arighteous and obedient protege casts him off, or him who, without givingunto a deserving neighbour the offerings in Sraddhas, giveth them awayunto those that deserve them not, that end which is his who drinks wine,or his who insults those that are worthy of respect, or his who isungrateful, or his who speaketh ill of his brothers, that end shall soonbe mine if I do not stay Jayadratha! The end of all those sinful personswhom I have not mentioned, as also of those whom I have mentioned, shallsoon be attained by me, if after this night passes away, I do not slayJayadratha tomorrow:

“–Listen now to another oath of mine! If tomorrow’s sun set without myslaying that wretch, then even here I shall enter the blazing fire! YeAsuras and gods and men. Ye birds and snakes, ye Pitris and all wanderersof the night, ye regenerate Rishis and celestial Rishis, ye mobile andimmobile creatures, ye all that I have not mentioned, ye will not succeedin protecting my foe from me! If he enters the abode of the netherregion, or ascends the firmament, or repairs to the celestials, or therealms of the Daityas, I shall still, with a hundred arrows, assuredlycut off, on the expiration of this night, the head of Abhimanyu’s foe!–‘

“Sanjaya continued,–‘Having uttered these words, Arjuna began to stretchGandiva with both his arms. Transcending Arjuna’s voice the sound of thatbow rose and touched the very heavens. After Arjuna had taken that oath,Janarddana, filled with wrath, blew his conch, Panchajanya. And Phalgunablew Devadatta. The great conch Panchajanya, well filled with the windfrom Krishna’s mouth, produced a loud blare. And that blare made theregents of the cardinal and the subsidiary points, the nether regions,and the whole universe, to shake, as it happens at the end of the Yuga.Indeed after the high-souled Arjuna had taken the oath, the sound ofthousands of musical instruments and loud leonine roars arose from thePandava camp.