Chapter 19

“Vaisampayana said, ‘Then Yuyudhana, the great hero of the Satwata race,came to Yudhishthira with a large army of foot, and horses and cars andelephants. And his soldiers of great valour come from various lands, borevarious weapons of war, and heroic in look they beautified the Pandavaarmy. And that army looked splendid by reason of battleaxes, and missilesand spears, and lances, and mallets, and clubs, and staves, and cords,and stainless swords, and daggers, and arrows of various kinds, all ofthe best temper. And the army, beautified by those weapons, andresembling in colour the cloudy sky, assumed an appearance like to amassof clouds with lightning-flashes in its midst. And the army counted anAkshauhini of troops. And when absorbed in the troops of Yudhishthira itentirely disappeared, as doth a small river when it enters the sea. Andsimilarly, the powerful chief of the Chedis, Dhrishtaketu, accompanied byan Akshauhini, came to the sons of Pandu of immeasurable strength. Andthe king of Magadha, Jayatsena of great strength, brought with him forYudhishthira an Akshauhini of troops. And similarly, Pandya, who dwelt onthe coast-land near the sea, came accompanied by troops of various kindsto Yudhishthira, the king of kings. And, O king, when all these troopshad assembled, his army, finely dressed and exceedingly strong, assumedan appearance pleasant to the eye. And the army of Drupada, also wasbeautified by valiant soldiers who had come from various lands, and alsoby his mighty sons. And similarly, Virata, the king of the Matsyas, aleader of troops, accompanied by the king of the hilly regions, came toPandu’s sons. And for the high-souled sons of Pandu there were thusassembled from various directions, seven Akshauhini of troops, bristlingwith banners of various forms. And eager to fight with the Kurus, theygladdened the hearts of the Pandavas. And in the same way kingBhagadatta, gladdening the heart of Dhritarashtra’s son, gave anAkshauhini of troops to him. And the unassailable mass of his troops,crowded with Chins and Kiratas, all looking like figures of gold, assumeda beauty like to that of a forest of Karnikara trees. And so the valiantBhurisravas, and Salya, O son of Kuru, came to Duryodhana, with anAkshauhini of troops each. And Kritavarman, the son of Hridika,accompanied by the Bhojas, the Andhas, and the Kukuras, came toDuryodhana with an Akshauhini of troops. And the body of his troopscomposed of those mighty soldiers, who wore on their persons garlands ofmany-coloured flowers, looked as graceful as a number of sportiveelephants that have passed through a wood. And others led by Jayadratha,the dwellers of the land of Sindhusauvira, came in such force that thehills seemed to tremble under their tread. And their force, counting anAkshauhini, looked like a mass of clouds moved by the wind. AndSudakshina, the king of the Kambhojas, O ruler of men, accompanied by theYavanas and Sakas, came to the Kuru chief with an Akshauhini of troops.And the body of his troops that looked like a flight of locusts, meetingwith the Kuru force, was absorbed and disappeared in it. And similarlycame king Nila, the resident of the city of the Mahishmati, with mightysoldiers from the southern country who carried weapons of pretty make.And the two kings of Avanti, accompanied by a mighty force, brought toDuryodhana, each a separate Akshauhini of troops. And those tigers amongmen, the five royal brothers, the princes of Kekaya, hastened toDuryodhana with an Akshauhini of troops, and gladdened his heart. Andfrom the illustrious king, of other quarters there came, O best ofBharata’s race, three large divisions of troops. And thus Duryodhana hada force which numbered eleven Akshauhinis all eager to fight with thesons of Kunti, and bristling with banners of various forms. And, Odescendant of Bharata, there was no space in the city of Hastinapura evenfor the principal leaders of Duryodhana’s army. And for this reason theland of the five rivers, and the whole of the region called Kurujangala,and the forest of Rohitaka which was uniformly wild, and Ahichatra andKalakuta, and the banks of the Ganga, and Varana, and Vatadhana, and thehill tracts on the border of the Yamuna–the whole of this extensivetract–full of abundant corn and wealth, was entirely overspread with thearmy of the Kauravas. And that army, so arranged, was beheld by thepriest who had been sent by the king of the Panchalas to the Kurus.'”