Chapter 88

“Sanjaya said, ‘Slaying the force of Duhsasana, the mighty car-warrior,Savyasachin, desirous of getting at the ruler of the Sindhus, proceededagainst the division of Drona, Having approached Drona who was stationedat the entrance of the array, Partha, at Krishna’s request joined hishands and said these words unto Drona: ‘Wish me well, O Brahmana, andbless me, saying Swasti! Through thy grace, I wish to penetrate into thisimpenetrable array. Thou art to me even as my sire, or even as kingYudhishthira the just, or even as Krishna! I tell thee this truly. Osire, O sinless one! Even as Aswatthaman deserves to be protected bythee, I also deserve to be protected by thee, O foremost of regenerateones! Through thy grace, O foremost of men, I desire to stay the ruler ofthe Sindhu in battle. O lord, see that my vow is accomplished.’

“Sanjaya continued, ‘Thus addressed by him, the preceptor, smiling,replied unto him, saying, ‘O Vibhatsu, without vanquishing me, thou shaltnot be able to vanquish Jayadratha. Telling him this much, Drona, with asmile covered him with showers of sharp arrows, as also his car andsteeds and standard and charioteer. Then, Arjuna baffling Drona’s arrowyshowers with his own arrows, rushed against Drona, shooting mightier andMore awful shafts. Observant of Kshatriya duties, Arjuna then piercedDrona in that battle with nine arrows. Cutting the shafts of Arjuna byhis own shafts, Drona then pierced both Krishna and Arjuna with manyshafts that resembled poison or fire, Then, while Arjuna was thinking ofcutting of Drona’s bow with his arrows, the latter, endued with greatvalour, fearlessly and quickly cut off, with shafts the bow-string of theillustrious Phalguna. And he also pierced Phalguna’s steeds and standardand charioteer. And the heroic Drona covered Phalguna himself with manyarrows, smiling the while. Meantime, stringing his large bow anew,Partha, that foremost of all persons conversant with arms, getting thebetter of his preceptor, quickly shot six hundred arrows as if he hadtaken and shot only one arrow. And once more he shot seven hundred otherarrows, and then a thousand arrows incapable of being resisted, and tenthousand other arrows. All these slew many warriors of Drona’s array.Deeply pierced with those weapons by the mighty and accomplished Partha,acquainted with all modes of warfare, many men and steeds and elephantsfell down deprived of life. And car-warriors, afflicted by those shafts,fell down from their foremost of cars, deprived of horses and standardsand destitute of weapons and life. And elephants fell down like summitsof hills, or masses of clouds, or large houses, loosened, dispersed, orburnt down by the thunder, or by the wind, or fire. Struck with Arjuna’sshafts, thousands of steeds fell down like swans on the breast ofHimavat, struck down by the force of watery current. Like the Sun, thatrises at the end of the Yuga, drying up with his rays, vast quantities ofwater, the son of Pandu, by his showers of weapons and arrows, slew avast number of car-warriors and steeds and elephants and foot-soldiers.Then like the clouds covering the sun, the Drona-cloud, with its arrowyshowers, covered the Pandava-sun, whose rays in the shape of thickshowers of arrows were scorching in the battle the foremost ones amongthe Kurus. And then the preceptor struck Dhananjaya at the breast with along shaft shot with great force and capable of drinking the life-bloodof every foe. Then Arjuna, deprived of strength, shook in all his limbs,like a hill during an earthquake. Soon, however, regaining for fortitude,Vibhatsu pierced Drona with many winged arrows. Then Drona struckVasudeva with five arrows. And he struck Arjuna with three and seventyarrows, and his standard with three. Then, O king, the valorous Dronagetting the better of his disciple, within the twinkling of an eye madeArjuna invisible by means of his arrowy showers. We then beheld theshafts of Bharadwaja’s son falling in continuous lines, and his bow alsowas seen to present the wonderful aspect of being incessantly drawn to acircle. And those shafts, countless in number, and winged with the Kankafeathers, shot by Drona in that battle, incessantly fell, O king, onDhananjaya and Vasudeva. Beholding then that battle between Drona and theson of Pandu, Vasudeva of great intelligence began to reflect upon theaccomplishment of the (important) task. Then Vasudeva, addressingDhananjaya, said these words: ‘O Partha, O thou of mighty arms, we shouldnot waste time. We must go on, avoiding Drona, for a more important taskawaits us. In reply Partha said unto Krishna, O Kesava, as thou pleasest!Then keeping the mighty-armed Drona to their right, Arjuna proceededonwards. Turning his face round, Vibhatsu proceeded, shooting his shafts.Then Drona, addressing Arjuna, said, Whither dost thou proceed, O son ofPandu! Is it not true that thou ceasest not (to fight) till thou hastvanquished thy foe?’

“Arjuna answered, ‘Thou art my preceptor and not my foe. I am thydisciple and, therefore, like to thy son. Nor is there the man in thewhole world who can vanquish thee in battle.’

“Sanjaya continued, ‘Saying these words, the mighty-armed Vibhatsu,desirous of slaying Jayadratha, quickly proceeded against the (Kaurava)troops. And while he penetrated into thy army, those high-souled princesof Panchala, viz., Yudhamanyu, and Uttamaujas, followed him as theprotector of his wheels. Then, O King, Jaya, and Kritavarman of theSatwata race, and the ruler of the Kamvojas, and Srutayus, began tooppose the progress of Dhananjaya. And these had ten thousandcar-warriors for their followers. The Abhishahas, the Surasenas, theSivis, the Vasatis, the Mavellakas, the Lilithyas, the Kaikeyas, theMadrakas, the Narayana Gopalas, and the various tribes of the Kamvojaswho had before been vanquished by Karna, all of whom were regarded asvery brave, placing Bharadwaja’s son at their head, and becomingregardless of their lives, rushed towards Arjuna, for resisting thatangry hero, burning with grief on account of the death of his son, thatwarrior resembling all-destroying Death himself, clad in mail, conversantwith all modes of warfare, prepared to throw away his life in thick ofbattle,–that mighty bowman of great prowess, that tiger among men,–whoresembled an infuriate leader of elephantine herd, and who seemed readyto devour the whole hostile army. The battle then that commenced wasexceedingly fierce and made the hair stand on end, between all thosecombatants on the one side and Arjuna on the other. And all of them,uniting together, began to resist that bull among men, advancing for theslaughter of Jayadratha, like medicines resisting a raging disease.'”