Chapter 57

“Vaisampayana said, ‘Beholding the army of the Kurus arrayed in order ofbattle, that descendant of the Kuru race, Partha, addressing Virata’sson, said, ‘Do thou proceed to the spot where Kripa, the son of Saradwat,is going by the southern side of that car whose flag is seen to bear thedevice of a golden altar.’

“Vaisampayana continued, ‘Hearing these words of Dhananjaya, the son ofVirata urged, without a moment’s delay, those steeds of silvery huedecked in golden armour. And making them adopt, one after another, everykind of the swifter paces, he urged those fiery steeds resembling themoon in colour. And versed in horse-lore, Uttara, having approached theKuru host, turned back those steeds endued with the speed of the wind.And skilled in guiding vehicles, the prince of Matsya, sometimes wheelingabout, and sometimes proceeding in circular mazes, and sometimes turningto the left, began to be wilder the Kurus. And wheeling round, theintrepid and mighty son of Virata at last approached the car of Kripa,and stood confronting him. Then announcing his own name, Arjunapowerfully blew that best of conchs called Devadatta, of loud blare. Andblown on the field of battle by the mighty Jishnu, the blare of thatconch was heard like the splitting of a mountain. And seeing that theconch did not break into a hundred fragments when blown by Arjuna, theKurus with all their warriors began to applaud it highly. And havingreached the very heavens, that sound coming back was heard even like thecrash of the thunderbolt hurled by Maghavat on the mountain breast.Thereupon that heroic and intrepid and mighty car-warrior, Saradwat’s sonKripa, endued with strength and prowess, waxing wroth at Arjuna, andunable to bear that sound and eager for fight, took up his ownsea-begotten conch and blew it vehemently. And filling the three worldswith that sound, that foremost of car-warriors took up a large bow andtwanged the bow-string powerfully. And those mighty car-warriors, equalunto two suns, standing opposed to each other, shone like two masses ofautumnal clouds. Then Saradwat’s son quickly pierced Partha, that slayerof hostile heroes, with ten swift and whetted arrows capable of enteringinto the very vitals. And Pritha’s son also, on his part, drawing thatforemost of weapons, the Gandiva, celebrated over the world, shotinnumerable iron-arrows, all capable of penetrating into the very core ofthe body. Thereupon Kripa, by means of whetted shafts, cut into hundredsand thousands of fragments, those blood-drinking arrows of Partha beforethey could come up. Then that mighty car-warrior, Partha also, in wrathdisplaying various manoeuvres, covered all sides with a shower of arrows.And covering the entire welkin with his shafts, that mighty warrior ofimmeasurable soul, the son of Pritha, enveloped Kripa with hundred ofshafts. And sorely afflicted by those whetted arrows resembling flames offire, Kripa waxed wroth and quickly afflicting the high-souled Partha ofimmeasurable prowess with ten thousand shafts, set up on the field ofbattle a loud roar. Then the heroic Arjuna quickly pierced the foursteeds of his adversary with four fatal arrows shot from the Gandiva,sharp and straight, and furnished with golden wings. And pierced by meansof those whetted arrows resembling flames of fire those steeds suddenlyreared themselves, and in consequence Kripa reeled off his place. Andseeing Gautama thrown off his place, the slayer of hostile heroes, thedescendant of the Kuru race, out of regard for his opponent’s dignity,ceased to discharge his shafts at him. Then regaining his proper place,Gautama quickly pierced Savyasachin with ten arrows furnished withfeathers of the Kanka bird. Then with a crescent-shaped arrow of keenedge, Partha cut off Kripa’s bow and leathern fences. And soon Partha cutoff Kripa’s coat of mail also by means of arrows capable of penetratingthe very vitals, but he did not wound his person. And divested of hiscoat of mail, his body resembled that of a serpent which hath in seasoncast off its slough. And as soon as his bow had been cut off by Partha,Gautama took up another and stringed it in a trice. And strange to say,that bow of him was also cut off by Kunti’s son, by means of straightshafts. And in this way that slayer of hostile heroes, the son of Pandu,cut off other bows as soon as they were taken up, one after another, bySaradwat’s son. And when all his bows were thus cut off, that mighty herohurled, from his car, at Pandu’s son, a javelin like unto the blazingthunderbolt. Thereupon, as the gold-decked javelin came whizzing throughthe air with the flash of a meteor, Arjuna cut it off by means of tenarrows. And beholding his dart thus cut off by the intelligent Arjuna,Kripa quickly took up another bow and almost simultaneously shot a numberof crescent-shaped arrows. Partha, however, quickly cut them intofragments by means of ten keen-edged shafts, and endued with greatenergy, the son of Pritha then, inflamed with wrath on the field ofbattle, discharged three and ten arrows whetted on stone and resemblingflames of fire. And with one of these he cut off the yoke of hisadversary’s car, and with four pierced his four steeds, and with thesixth he severed the head of his antagonist’s car-driver from off hisbody. And with three that mighty car-warrior pierced, in that encounter,the triple bamboo-pole of Kripa’s car and with two, its wheels. And withthe twelfth arrow he cut off Kripa’s flagstaff. And with the thirteenthFalguni, who was like Indra himself as if smiling in derision, piercedKripa in the breast. Then with his bow cut off, his car broken, hissteeds slain, his car-driver killed, Kripa leapt down and taking up amace quickly hurled it at Arjuna. But that heavy and polished mace hurledby Kripa was sent back along its course, struck by means of Arjuna’sarrows. And then the warriors (of Kripa’s division), desirous of rescuingwrathful son of Saradwat encountered Partha from all sides and coveredhim with their arrows. Then the son of Virata, turning the steed to theleft began to perform circuitous evolution called Yamaka and thuswithstood all those warriors. And those illustrious bulls among men,taking Kripa with them who had been deprived of his car, led him awayfrom the vicinity of Dhananiaya, the son of Kunti.'”