Chapter 86
“Sanjaya said, ‘After the divisions of the Kuru army had been (thus)arrayed, and a loud uproar, O sire, had, arisen; after drums andMridangas began to be beaten and played upon, after the din of thewarriors and the noise of musical instruments had become audible; afterconch began to be blown, and an awful roar had arisen, making the hairstand on end; after the field of battle had beer slowly covered by theBharata heroes desirous of fight; and after the hour called Rudra had setin, Savyasachin made his appearance. Many thousands of ravens and crows,O Bharata, proceeded sporting on the front of Arjuna’s car. Variousanimals of terrible cries, and jackals of inauspicious sight, began toyell and howl on our right as we proceeded to battle. Thousands ofblazing meteors fell with great noise. The whole earth trembled on thatdreadful occasion. Dry winds blew in all directions, accompanied bythunder, and driving bard pebbles and gravel when Kunti’s son came at thecommencement of battle. Then Nakula’s son, Satanika, and Dhrishtadyumna,the son of Pritha, those two warriors possessed of great wisdom, arrayedthe several divisions of the Pandavas. Then thy son Durmarshana,accompanied by a thousand cars, a hundred elephants, three thousandheroes, and ten thousand foot-soldiers, and covering a piece of groundthat measured the length of fifteen hundred bows, took up his position atthe very van of all the troops, and said: ‘Like the continent resistingthe surging sea, even I will today resist the wielder of Gandiva, thatscorcher of foes, that warrior who is irresistible in battle. Let peopletoday behold the wrathful Dhananjaya collide with me, like a mass ofstone against another stony mass. Ye car-warriors that are desirous ofbattle, stay ye (as witness). Alone I will fight with all the Pandavasassembled together, for enhancing my honour and fame. That high-souledand noble son of thine, that great bowman saying this, stood theresurrounded by many great bowmen. Then, like the Destroyer himself inwrath, or Vasava himself armed with the thunder, or Death’s irresistibleself armed with his club and urged on by Time, or Mahadeva armed with thetrident and incapable of being ruffled, or Varuna bearing his noise, orthe blazing fire at the end of the Yuga risen for consuming the creation,the slayer of the Nivatakavachas inflamed with rage and swelling withmight, the ever-victorious Jaya, devoted to truth and desirous ofachieving his great vow, clad in mail and armed with sword, decked ingolden diadem, adorned with garlands of swords of white flowers andattired in white robes, his arms decked with beautiful Angadas and earswith excellent ear-rings, mounted on his own foremost of cars, (theincarnate) Nara, accompanied by Narayana, shaking his Gandiva in battle,shone brilliantly like the risen sun. And Dhananjaya of great prowess,placing his car, O king, at the very van of his army, where densestshowers of arrows would fall, blew his conch. Then Krishna also, O sire,fearlessly blew with great force his foremost of conchs calledPanchajanya as Partha blew his. And in consequence of the blare of theconchs, all the warriors in thy army, O monarch, trembled and became lostheart. And their hair stood on end at that sound. As an creatures areoppressed with fright at the sound of the thunder, even so did all thywarriors took fright at the blare of those conchs. And all the animalsejected urine and excreta. Thy whole army with its animals became filledwith anxiety, O king, and in consequence of the blare of those (two)conchs, all men, O sire, lost their strength. And some amongst them, Omonarch, were inspired with dread, and some lost their senses. And theape on Arjuna’s banner, opening his mouth wide, made an awful noise withthe other creatures on it, for terrifying thy troops. Then conchs andhorns and cymbals and Anakas were once more blown and beat for cheeringthy warriors. And that noise mingled with the noise of diverse (other)musical instruments, with the shouts of warriors and the slaps of theirarm-pits, and with their leonine roars uttered by great car-warriors insummoning and challenging (their antagonists). When that tumultuousuproar rose there, an uproar that enhanced the fear of the timid, the sonof Pakasana, filled with great delight, addressing him of Dasarha’s race,said (these words).’
“Arjuna said, ‘Urge the steeds, O Hrishikesa, to where Durmarshanastayeth. Piercing through that elephant division I will penetrate intothe hostile army.’
“Sanjaya continued, ‘Thus addressed by Savyasachin, the mighty-armedKesava urged the steeds to where Durmarshana was staying. Fierce andawful was the encounter that commenced there between one and the many, anencounter that proved very destructive of cars and elephants and men.Then Partha, resembling a pouring cloud, covered his foes with showers ofshafts, like a mass of clouds pouring rain on the mountain breast.[135]The hostile of car-warriors also, displaying great lightness of hand,quickly covered both Krishna and Dhananjaya with clouds of arrows. Themighty-armed Partha, then, thus opposed in battle by his foes, becamefilled with wrath, and began to strike off with his arrows the heads ofcar-warriors from their trunks. And the earth became strewn withbeautiful heads decked with ear-rings and turbans, the nether lips bit bythe upper ones, and the faces adorned with eyes troubled with wrath.Indeed, the scattered heads of the warriors looked resplendent like anassemblage of plucked off and crushed lotuses lying strewn about thefield. Golden coats of mail[136] dyed with gore (lying thick over thefield), looked like masses of clouds charged with lightning. The sound, Oking, of severed heads dropping on the earth, resembled that of fallingpalmyra fruits ripened in due time, headless trunks arose, some with bowin hand, and some with naked swords upraised in the act of striking.Those brave warriors incapable of brooking Arjuna’s feats and desirous ofvanquishing him, had no distinct perception as to when their heads werestruck off by Arjuna. The earth became strewn with heads of horses,trunks of elephants, and the arms and legs of heroic warriors. ‘This isone Partha’, ‘Where is Partha? Here is Partha!’, ‘Even thus, O king, thewarriors, of thy army became filled with the idea of Partha only.Deprived of their senses by Time, they regarded the whole world to befull of Partha only, and therefore, many of them perished, striking oneanother, and some struck even their own selves. Uttering yells of woe,many heroes, covered with blood, deprived of their senses, and in greatagony, laid themselves down, calling upon their friends and kinsmen.Arms, bearing short arrows, or lances, or darts, or swords, orbattle-axes, or pointed stakes, or scimitars, or bows, or spears, orshafts, or maces, and cased in armour and decked with Angadas and otherornaments, and looking like large snakes, and resembling huge clubs, cutoff (from trunks) with mighty weapons, were seen to jump about, jerkabout, and move about, with great force, as if in rage. Every one amongstthose that wrathfully advanced against Partha in that battle, perished,pierced in his body with some fatal shafts of that hero. While dancing onhis car as it moved, and drawing his bow, no one there could detect theminutest opportunity for striking him. The quickness with which he tookhis shafts, fixed them on the bow, and let them off, filled all hisenemies with wonder. Indeed Phalguna, with his shafts, pierced elephantsand elephant-riders, horses and horse-riders, car-warriors and drivers ofcars. There was none amongst his enemies, whether staying before him orstruggling in battle, or wheeling about, whom the son of Pandu did notslay. As the sun rising in the welkin destroyeth the thick gloom, even sodid Arjuna destroy that elephant-force by means of his shafts winged withKanka plumes. The field occupied by thy troops, in consequence of rivenelephants fallen upon it, looked like the earth strewn with huge hills atthe hour of universal dissolution. As the midday sun is incapable ofbeing looked at by all creatures, even so was Dhananjaya, excited withwrath, incapable of being looked at, in battle, by his enemies. Thetroops of thy son, O chastiser of foes, afflicted (with the arrows ofDhananjaya), broke and fled in fear. Like a mass of clouds pierced anddriven away by a mighty wind, that army was pierced and routed by Partha.None indeed could gaze at the hero while he was slaying the foe. Urgingtheir heroes to great speed by spurs, by the horns of their bows, by deepgrowls, by encouraging behests, by whips, by cuts on their flanks, and bythreatening speeches, thy men, viz., thy cavalry and thy car-warriors, asalso thy foot-soldiers, struck by the shafts of Arjuna, fled away fromthe fields. Others (that rode on elephants), fled away, urging those hugebeasts by pressing their flanks with their hooks and many warriors struckby Partha’s arrows, in flying, ran against Partha himself. Indeed, thywarriors, then became all cheerless and their understandings were allconfused.
