Chapter 91

“Sanjaya said, ‘After the son of Kunti, impelled by the desire of slayingthe ruler of the Sindhus, had penetrated (into the Bharata host) havingpierced through the irresistible divisions of both Drona and the Bhojas,after the heir of the ruler of the Kamvojas, viz., prince Sudakshina, hadbeen slain, after Savyasachin had killed the valiant Srutayudha also,after the (Kuru) ranks had fled away and confusion had set in on allsides, thy son, beholding his army broken, repaired to Drona. Quicklycoming on his car to Drona, Duryodhana said: ‘That tiger among men (viz.,Arjuna), having crushed this vast host hath already passed through it.Aided by thy judgment, think now what should be done next for theslaughter of Arjuna in view of awful carnage. Blessed be thou, adopt suchmeasures that that tiger among men may not succeed in slaying Jayadratha.Thou art our sole refuge. Like a raging conflagration consuming heaps ofdry grass and straw, Dhananjaya-fire, urged by the wind of his wrath, isconsuming the grass and straw constituted by my troops. O scorcher offoes, seeing the son of Kunti pass, having pierced through this host,those warriors that are protecting Jayadratha have become doubtful (oftheir ability to resist Partha). O foremost of those acquainted withBrahma, it was the settled conviction of the kings that Dhananjaya wouldnever, with life, succeed in transgressing Drona. O thou of greatsplendour, when, however, Partha has pierced through thy division in thevery sight, I regard my army to be very weak. Indeed, I think that I haveno troops. O thou that art highly blessed, I know thou art devoted to thewelfare of the Pandavas. I lose my reason, o regenerate one, in thinkingwhat should be done. To the best of my power, I also seek to gratifythee. Thou, however, dost not bear all this in mind. O thou ofimmeasurable prowess, although we are devoted to thee, still thou neverseekest our welfare. Thou art always well-pleased with the Pandavas andalways engaged in doing us evil. Though deriving thy livelihood from us,still thou art engaged in doing evil to us. I was not aware that thou artbut a razor steeped in honey. If thou hadst not granted me the boon abouthumiliating and checking the Pandavas, I would never have prevented theruler of the Sindhus from returning to his own country. Fool that I am,expecting protection from thee, I assured the ruler of the Sindhus, andthrough my folly offered him as a victim to death. A man may escape,having entered the very jaws of death, but there is no escape forJayadratha, when once he comes within reach of Dhananjaya’s arms. O thouthat ownest red steeds, do that by which the ruler of the Sindhus may yetbe saved. Do not give way to wrath on hearing the delirious ravings of myafflicted self, O, protect ye the ruler of the Sindhus.’

“Drona said, ‘I do not find fault with thy words. Thou art as dear to meas Aswatthaman himself. I tell thee truly. Act, however, now according tomy words, O king! Of all drivers of cars, Krishna is the foremost. Hissteeds are also the foremost of their species. Obtaining only a verysmall space, Dhananjaya can pass very quickly through it. Seest thou notthat the shafts of the diadem-decked (Arjuna), countless in number, shotfrom his bow, are falling full two miles behind his car as he isproceeding? Burdened with the weight of years, I am now incapable ofgoing so fast. The whole army of the Parthas, again, is now close uponour van. Yudhishthira also should be seized by me. Even so, O thou ofmighty arms, hath been the vow made by me in the Presence of all bowmenand in the midst of all the Kshatriyas. O king! he is now staying at thehead of his troops, abandoned by Dhananjaya. I shall not, therefore,abandoning the gate of our array, fight with Phalguna. It is meet thatthyself, properly supported, shouldst fight With that foe of thine, whois alone and who is thy equal in lineage and feats. Do not fear. Go andfight with him. Thou art the ruler of the world. Thou art a king. Thouart a hero. Possessed of fame, thou art accomplished in vanquishing (thyfoes). O brave subjugator of hostile towns, go thyself to that spot whereDhananjaya the son of Pritha is.’

“Duryodhana said, ‘O preceptor, how is it possible for me to resistDhananjaya who has transgressed even thee that art the foremost of allwielders of arms? The very chief of celestials, armed with the thunder,is capable of being vanquished in battle, but Arjuna that subjugator ofhostile towns, cannot be vanquished in battle. He by whom Hridika’s son(Kritavarman), the ruler of the Bhojas, and thyself equal unto acelestial, have both been vanquished by the power of his weapons, he bywhom Srutayus hath been slain, as also Sudakshina, and king Srutayus too,he by whom both Srutayus and Achyutayus and myriads of Mlecchas also havebeen slain, how can I contend in battle with that invincible son ofPandu, that accomplished master of weapons, who is even like anall-consuming fire? How also dost thou think me competent to fight withhim today? I am dependent on thee like a slave. Protect my fame.’

“Drona said, ‘Thou sayest truly, O thou of Kuru’s race, that Dhananjayais irresistible. I, however, will do that by which thou shalt be able tobear him. Let all the bowmen in the world behold today the wonderful featof the son of Kunti being held in check by thee in the very sight ofVasudeva. This thy armour of gold, O king, I will tie on thy body in sucha way that no weapon used by man will be able to strike thee in battle.If even the three worlds with the Asuras and the celestials, the Yakshas,the Uragas, and the Rakshasas, together with all human beings, fight withthee today, thou needst still entertain no fear. Neither Krishna, nor theson of Kunti, nor any other wielder of weapons in battle, will be able topierce this armour of thine with arrows. Cased in that coat of mail,quickly go thou today against angry Arjuna in battle. He will not be ableto bear thee.’

“Sanjaya said, ‘Having said these words, Drona, that foremost of personsconversant with Brahma, touching water, and duly uttering certainMantras, speedily tied that highly wonderful and bright armour onDuryodhana’s body for the victory of thy son in that dreadful battle andcausing (by that act) all persons there to be filled with amazement. AndDrona said, ‘Let the Vedas, and Brahman, and the Brahmanas, bless thee.Let all the higher classes of reptiles be a source of blessings to thee,O Bharata! Let Yayati and Nahusha, and Dhundhumara, and Bhagiratha, andthe other royal sages, all do what is beneficial to thee. Let blessingsbe to thee from creatures having but one leg, and from those that havemany legs. Let blessings be to thee, in this great battle from creaturesthat have no legs. Let Swaha, and Swadha, and Sachi, also, all do what isbeneficial to thee. O sinless one, let Lakshmi and Arundhati too do whatis beneficial to thee. Let Asita, and Devala and Viswamitra, and Angiras,and Vasishtha, and Kasyapa, O king, do what is beneficial to thee. LetDhatri, and the lord of the worlds and the points of the compass and theregents of those points, and the six-faced Karttikeya, all give thee whatis beneficial. Let the divine Vivaswat benefit thee completely. Let thefour elephants, of the four quarters, the earth, the firmament, theplanets, and he who is underneath the earth and holds her (on his head),O king, viz., Sesha, that foremost of snakes, give thee what is for thybenefit. O son of Gandhari, formerly the Asura named Vritra, displayinghis prowess in battle, had defeated the best of celestials in battle. Thelatter, numbering thousands upon thousands, with mangled bodies, thosedenizens of heaven, with Indra at their head, deprived of energy andmight, all repaired to Brahman and sought his protection, afraid of thegreat Asura Vritra. And the gods said, ‘O best of gods, O foremost ofcelestials, be thou the refuge of the gods now crushed by Vritra. Indeed,rescue us from this great fear.’ Then Brahmana, addressing Vishnu stayingbeside him as also those best of celestials headed by Sakra, said untothem that were all cheerless, these words fraught with truth: Indeed, thegods with Indra at their head, and the Brahmanas also, should ever beprotected by me. The energy of Tvashtri from which Vritra hath beencreated is invincible. Having in days of yore performed ascetic penancesfor a million of years, Tvashtri, then, ye gods, created Vritra,obtaining permission from Maheswara. That mighty foe of yours hathsucceeded in smiting you through the grace of that god of gods. Withoutgoing to the place where Sankara stayeth, ye cannot see the divine Hara.Having seen that god, ye will be able to vanquish Vritra. Therefore, goye without delay to the mountains of Mandara. There stayeth that originof ascetic penances, that destroyer of Daksha’s sacrifice, that wielderof Pinaka, that lord of all creatures, that slayer of the Asura calledBhaganetra.’ Thus addressed by Brahman, the gods proceeding to Mandarawith Brahman in their company, beheld there that heap of energy, thatSupreme god endued with the splendour of a million suns. Seeing the godsMaheswara welcomed them and enquired what he was to do for them. ‘Thesight of ray person can never be fruitless. Let the fruition of yourdesires proceed from this.’ Thus addressed by him, the dwellers of heavenreplied, ‘We have been deprived of our energy by Vritra. Be thou therefuge of the dwellers of heaven. Behold, O lord, our bodies beaten andbruised by his strokes. We seek thy protection. Be thou our refuge, OMaheswara!’ The god of gods, called Sarva, then said, ‘Ye gods, it iswell-known to you how this action, fraught with great strength, terribleand incapable of being resisted by persons destitute of ascetic merit,originated, springing from the energy of Tvashtri (the divine artificer).As regards myself, it is certainly my duty to render aid to the dwellersof heaven. O Sakra, take this effulgent armour from off my body. And, Ochief of the celestials, put it on, mentally uttering these mantras.’

“Drona continued, ‘Having said these words, the boon-giving (Siva) gavethat armour with the mantras (to be uttered by the wearer). Protected bythat armour, Sakra proceeded against the host of Vritra in battle. Andalthough diverse kinds of weapons were hurled at him in that dreadfulbattle, yet the joints of that armour could not be cut open. Then thelord of the celestials slew Vritra, and afterwards gave unto Angiras thatarmour, whose joints were made up of mantras. And Angiras imparted thosemantras to his son Vrihaspati, having a knowledge of all mantras. AndVrihaspati imparted that knowledge to Agnivesya of great intelligence.And Agnivesya imparted it to me, and it is with the aid of those mantras,O best of kings, that I, for protecting thy body, tie this armour on thybody.’

`Sanjaya continued, Having said these words Drona, that bull amongpreceptors, once more addressed thy son, of great splendour, saying, ‘Oking, I put this armour on thy body, joining its pieces with the aid ofBrahma strings. In days of yore, Brahma himself had thus put it on Vishnuin battle. Even as Brahma himself had put this celestial armour on Sakrain the battle caused by the abduction of Taraka, I put it on thee.’Having thus, with mantras, donned that armour duly on Duryodhana, theregenerate Drona sent the king to battle. And the mighty-armed king,cased in armour by the high-souled preceptor, and accomplished insmiting, and a thousand infuriated elephants endued with great prowess,and a hundred thousand horses, and many other mighty car-warriors,proceeded towards the car of Arjuna. And the mighty-armed king proceeded,with the sound of diverse kinds of musical instruments, against his foe,like Virochana’s son (Vali in days of yore). Then, O Bharata, a louduproar arose among thy troops, beholding the Kuru king proceeding like afathomless ocean.'”