Chapter 83

“Sanjaya said, ‘Fighting fiercely, prince Duhshasana achieved the mostdifficult feats in that encounter. With a single shaft he cut off Bhima’sbow, and then with six shafts he pierced his foe’s driver. Havingachieved those feats, the prince, endued with great activity, piercedBhima himself with nine shafts. Indeed the high-souled warrior, withoutlosing a moment, then pierced Bhimasena with many shafts of great energy.Filled with rage at this, Bhimasena, endued with great activity, sped atthy son a fierce dart. Beholding that terrible dart impetuously coursingtowards him like a blazing brand, thy high-souled son cut it off with tenshafts shot from his bow drawn to its fullest stretch. Seeing thatdifficult feat achieved by him, all the warriors, filled with joy,applauded him highly. Thy son then once more pierced Bhima deeply withanother shaft. Blazing with wrath at sight of Duhshasana, Bhima thenaddressed him, saying, “Pierced I have been, O hero, quickly and deeply,by thee. Bear now, however, once more, the stroke of my mace.” Havingsaid this, the enraged Bhima took up that terrible mace of his forDuhshasana’s slaughter. Once more addressing him, he said, “O thou ofwicked soul, I shall today drink thy blood on the field of battle.” Thusaddressed, thy son sped at Bhima with great force a fierce dartresembling Death itself. Bhima also, his form filled with wrath, whirledhis terrible mace and hurled it at his antagonist. That mace,precipitately breaking Duhshasana’s dart, struck thy son on his head.Indeed, perspiring like an elephant with juicy secretions trickling downhis body, Bhima, in that dreadful battle, hurled his mace at the prince.With that weapon, Bhimasena forcibly threw Duhshasana down from his carat a distance measured by the length of ten bows. Struck with theimpetuous mace, Duhshasana, thrown down on the ground, began to tremble.All his steeds also, O king, were slain, and his car too was reduced toatoms by that falling weapon. As regards Duhshasana himself, his armourand ornaments and attire and garlands were all displaced, and he began towrithe, afflicted with agony. Endued with great activity, Bhimasena thenrecollected, in the midst of that terrible battle and standing as he didamid many foremost warriors of the Kuru army, all the acts of hostility(done towards the Pandavas) by thy sons. The mighty-armed Bhima ofinconceivable feats, O king, beholding Duhshasana (in that plight), andrecollecting the seizure of Draupadi’s tresses and her disrobing whileshe was ill,–indeed, the innocent Bhima, reflecting also upon thediverse other wrongs inflicted on that princess while her husbands satwith faces turned away from the scene, blazed up in wrath like fire fedwith libations of clarified butter. Addressing Karna and Suyodhana andKripa and Drona’s son and Kritavarma, he said, “Today I shall slay thewretched Duhshasana. Let all the warriors protect him (if they can).”Having said this, Bhima of exceeding strength and great activity suddenlyrushed, from desire of slaying Duhshasana. Like a lion of fierceimpetuosity rushing towards a mighty elephant, Vrikodara, that foremostof heroes, rushed towards Duhshasana in that battle and attacked him inthe very sight of Suyodhana and Karna. Jumping down from his car, healighted on the ground, and fixed his eyes steadfastly on his fallen foe.Drawing then his whetted sword of keen edge, and trembling with rage, heplaced his foot upon the throat of Duhshasana, and ripping open thebreast of his enemy stretched on the ground, quaffed his warm life-blood.Then throwing him down and cutting off, O king, with that sword the headof thy son, Bhima of great intelligence, desirous of accomplishing hisvow, again quaffed his enemy’s blood little by little, as if for enjoyingits taste. Then looking at him with wrathful eyes, he said these words,”I regard the taste of this blood of my enemy to be superior to that ofmy mother’s milk, or honey, or clarified butter, or good wine that isprepared from honey, or excellent water, or milk, or curds, or skimmedmilk, or all other kinds of drinks there are on earth that are sweet asambrosia or nectar.” Once more, Bhima of fierce deeds, his heart filledwith wrath, beholding Duhshasana dead, laughed softly and said, “Whatmore can I do to thee? Death has rescued thee from my hands.” They, Oking, that saw Bhimasena, while he filled with joy at having quaffed theblood of his foe, was uttering those words and stalking on the field ofbattle, fell down in fear. They that did not fall down at the sight, sawtheir weapons drop from their hands. Many, from fear, cried out feeblyand looked at Bhima with half-shut eyes. Indeed, all those that stoodaround Bhima and beheld him drink the blood of Duhshasana, fled away,overwhelmed with fear, and saying unto one another, “This one is no humanbeing!” When Bhima had assumed that form, people, beholding him quaff hisenemy’s blood, fled away with Citrasena, saying unto one another, ‘ThisBhima must be a rakshasa!” Then the (Pancala) prince Yudhamanyu, at thehead of his troops, fearlessly pursued the retreating Citrasena andpierced him with seven keen shafts, quickly sped one after another. Atthis, like a trampled snake of great energy repeatedly darting out itstongue and desirous of vomiting its poison, Citrasena turned back andpierced the Pancala prince with three shafts and his driver with six. Thebrave Yudhamanyu then struck off his enemy’s head with a shaft equippedwith goodly wings and an exceedingly keen point and sped with great carefrom his bow drawn to its fullest stretch. Upon the fall of his brotherCitrasena, Karna, filled with wrath and displaying his prowess, put thePandava host to flight, at which Nakula rushed against that warrior ofimmeasurable energy. Bhima, having slain there (at the very sight ofKarna) the vindictive Duhshasana, took up a little quantity of his blood,and, endued with stentorian lungs, he said these words in the hearing ofall those foremost of heroes of the world, “O wretch amongst men, here Idrink thy life-blood from thy throat. Filled with joy, abuse us oncemore, saying ‘beast, beast’ (as thou didst before).” And he continued,”They that danced at us then, saying, ‘beast, beast,’ even we will danceat them now, repeating their own words. Our sleep at the palace atPramanakoti, the administration of deadly poison to our food, the bitesof black cobras, the setting fire to the house of lac, the robbing of ourkingdom by gambling, our exile in the woods, the cruel seizure ofDraupadi’s beautiful tresses, the strokes of shafts and weapons inbattle, our miseries at home, the other kinds of sufferings we endured atVirata’s abode, all these woes borne by us through the counsels ofShakuni and Duryodhana and Radha’s son, proceeded from thee as theircause. Through the wickedness of Dhritarashtra and his son, we haveendured all these woes. Happiness has never been ours.” Having said thesewords, O king, the victorious Vrikodara, once more spoke these words untoKeshava and Arjuna. Indeed, bathed in blood, with blood flowing from hiswounds, with face exceedingly red, filled with great wrath, Bhimasenaendued with great activity, said these words, “Ye heroes, that which Ihad vowed in respect of Duhshasana in battle, I have accomplished today.I will soon accomplish my other vow by slaying that second beast, viz.,Duryodhana, in this sacrifice of battle. Striking the head of thatwicked-souled one with my foot in the presence of the Kauravas, I shallobtain peace.” Having said these words, Bhima, filled with great joy,drenched with blood, uttered loud shouts, even as the mighty andhigh-souled Indra of a 1,000 eyes had roared after slaying (the Asura)Vritra.'”