Mahabharata Vol. 6 (Penguin Translated Texts) (41 page)

‘Dhritarashtra asked, “O son! After the king of Sindhu was killed in the battle by Savyasachi, and so was Bhurishrava,
what was the state of your mind then? In the assembly of the Kurus, Duryodhana spoke in that fashion to Drona. O Sanjaya! What did he
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say after that? Tell me all this.”

‘Sanjaya replied, “O descendant of the Bharata lineage! On seeing that Saindhava and Bhurishrava had been killed, a loud and great lamentation arose among your soldiers. All of them censured the counsel of your son. Because of that policy, hundreds of bulls among kshatriyas had been slain. On hearing the words of your evil-minded son, Drona reflected for a short while. He was grievously hurt and said, ‘O Duryodhana! Why are you striking me with words that are like arrows? I have always told you that Savyasachi cannot be defeated in battle. O Kourava! We know what Arjuna is capable of accomplishing in the battle. Protected by Kiriti, Shikhandi killed Bhishma in the battle. The one who could not be killed by gods and men was killed in the encounter. On seeing this, I knew that the army of the Bharatas would be destroyed. We regarded that man as the foremost among all brave ones in the three worlds. On that hero having been killed, who else can we depend on? O son!
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Shakuni played with dice in the assembly of the Kurus. However, those dice were not dice at all. They were sharp arrows capable of tormenting enemies. O son! Those arrows are now being released by Jaya and are killing us. In his lamentations, the great-souled Vidura described them thus and spoke grave and auspicious words for your benefit. But you did not listen. That is the reason for this terrible and great calamity. O Duryodhana! By ignoring his words, you have caused it. Krishna
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was born in a noble lineage and in her conduct, followed all forms of dharma. She did not deserve it. But in our sight, you had her brought to the assembly hall. O son of Gandhari! You are reaping the fruits of that adharma now. This is nothing and greater evils will befall you in the world hereafter. This is because you used deceit to defeat the Pandavas in the gambling match and exiled them to the forest, dressed in the skin of ruru deer. They are like my sons and have always followed dharma. Tell me. In this world of men, is there any
other brahmana other than me, who will injure them? In the assembly of the Kurus, with Shakuni and with Dhritrarashtra’s sanction, you excited the wrath of the Pandavas. Duhshasana supported you and Karna increased it. Ignoring the words of Kshatta,
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you yourself repeatedly increased it. All of you surrounded Arjuna and sought to protect the king of Sindhu. How was he killed in your midst? O Kouravya! How was Saindhava killed when you, Karna, Kripa, Shalya and Ashvatthama were alive? To protect the king of Sindhu, all the kings fought and used their fierce energy. How was he killed in their midst? O Duryodhana! In particular, the lord of the earth
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sought assurance from you and me to save him from Arjuna. But he did not obtain that rescue and Phalguna killed him. I do not see any means for my remaining alive. I see that I will myself be immersed in the disease that is Dhrishtadyumna, until I kill the Panchala and Shikhandi. Since I am myself tormented, why are you striking me with these stakes of words? O descendant of the Bharata lineage! You have been incapable of rescuing the king of Sindhu. Bhishma was never exhausted in his deeds. He possessed a golden standard and was unwavering in his aim. Since you do not see him in the battle, how can you hope for victory? Saindhava has been killed in the midst of the maharathas and Bhurishrava has also been slain. What do you think the outcome will be? O king! Kripa is invincible and is still alive. I honour him for not having followed the king of Sindhu.
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Bhishma was incapable of being killed in a battle, even by the gods, with Vasava. He was the performer of extremely difficult deeds. O king! When I saw that he was brought down, while you and younger brother, Duhshasana, looked on, I thought that the earth no longer belonged to you. O descendant of the Bharata lineage! O venerable one! The formations of the Pandavas and the Srinjayas are united and are attacking me now. Without killing all the Panchalas, I will not take off my armour. O son of Dhritarashtra! For your welfare, I will perform deeds in the battle. O king! Go
and tell my son Ashvatthama that I have said that in this battle, he should protect his life and destroy the Somakas. “Follow the words and instructions of your father. Establish yourself in non-violence, self-control, truth and virtue. Observe dharma, artha and kama, but without transgressing dharma and artha. You must always perform deeds in which dharma is the most important. With the eye and the mind, brahmanas must be satisified and served to the best of one’s capacity. Do not do anything to cause them displeasure. They are like the flames of the fire.”
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O king! I have been tormented by the stakes of your words and will wage a great battle. O destroyer of enemies! I will penetrate this battle formation.
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O Duryodhana! If you can, go and protect your army. The angry Kurus and Srinjayas will fight, even during the night.’ Having said this, Drona proceeded against the Pandavas and the Srinjayas. He wished to sap the energy of the kshatriyas, like the sun does to the stars.”’

‘Sanjaya said, “Thus urged by Drona, King Duryodhana became overcome by intolerance and made up his mind to fight. Your son, Duryodhana, then spoke to Karna. ‘The vyuha constructed by the preceptor is extremely impenetrable, even to the gods. Behold. With Krishna as his aide, Pandava Kiriti penetrated it, while you were looking and the great-souled Drona was struggling and so were the foremost among warriors. He brought down Saindhava. O Radheya! Look. Kings of the earth, foremost among warriors, have single-handedly been killed by Partha, like inferior animals by a lion. O destroyer of enemies! In this battle, this happened while I was looking on. Shakra’s son has left only a little bit of my soldiers left. Despite Drona fighting and making the best of efforts in the
battle, how could Phalguna accomplish his desire and penetrate the extremely impenetrable vyuha? The great-souled preceptor has always loved Phalguna. O destroyer of enemies! That is the reason he granted him entry, without fighting with him. Drona, scorcher of enemies, offered assurance to Saindhava. He then allowed Kiriti to enter. Behold my bad luck. Had I permitted the king of Sindhu to leave for his home earlier, there would not have been this destruction of men in the battle. In the hope of remaining alive, Jayadratha wished to go home. But having obtained assurance from Drona in the battle, I restrained him. My warrior brothers, Chitrasena and the others, have encountered Bhimasena and were destroyed by him, while we evil-souled ones looked on.’

‘“Karna said, ‘Do not censure the preceptor. The brahmana is fighting to the best of his ability. In the battle, I do not think that Pandava can be defeated by Drona, though he is skilled in the use of weapons. That is the reason the one with the white horses
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has passed him and has penetrated. O Suyodhana! I think that anything determined by destiny can never be transgressed, even if we make endeavours and fight to the utmost of our strength. O king! With Saindhava killed in the battle, it seems that destiny is supreme. With you, we have made the utmost effort in the field of battle. All our manliness has been rendered futile by fate. We have always endeavoured, but our valour has been unsuccessful. Whenever a man performs an act, but is not favoured by destiny, fate destroys all his exertions. A man with perseverance must do whatever he has to do and must not have doubts about the act. Success depends on destiny. O descendant of the Bharata lineage! The Parthas were deprived through deceit and the use of poison.
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They were burnt in the house of lac
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and defeated in the gambling match. Using the principles of royal policy, they were exiled to the forest. Though all of this was undertaken with great care, it has been frustrated by destiny. Let us make efforts to fight and not turn our backs on death.
You and they will make efforts and traverse the path determined by destiny. It does not seem that they have done anything good by using superior intelligence. O extender of the Kuru lineage! O brave one! Nor is it the case that we have performed bad deeds because of inferior intelligence. Destiny determines the outcome, of good deeds and inferior ones. Fate has its own action and is awake when everyone else is asleep. When the war commenced, you had many soldiers and many warriors. The sons of Pandu had fewer, but have destroyed many strikers on your side. I think that this destruction of our manliness is the work of fate.’”

‘Sanjaya said, “O lord of men! While they were talking a lot, the Pandava battle formations appeared in the battle. O king! Because of your evil cousel, an encounter commenced between those on your side and the others and chariots and elephants clashed against each other.”’

‘Sanjaya said, “O lord of men! That army of yours had large numbers of horses and elephants. It fought everywhere, attacking the soldiers of the Pandus. The Panchalas and the Kurus fought against each other, having decided to go to the afterworld, the great kingdom of Yama. Brave ones clashed against brave ones and struck with arrows, lances and spears. They quickly sent each other to Yama’s abode. Rathas fought against rathas and caused fierce flowing of blood. There was a great battle and they killed each other. O great king! Crazy and intoxicated elephants clashed against each other and gored each other with tusks. In that tumultuous battle, horse riders desired great fame and killed horse riders with javelins, spears and battleaxes. O mighty-armed one! There were hundreds of foot soldiers, with weapons in their hands. O king! They dashed against each other, always enterprising in their valour. O venerable one! The lineages, names and families of the Panchalas and the Kurus could
only be deciphered through hearing.
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In that battle, the warriors attacked each other with arrows, spears and battleaxes. Wishing to send others to the afterworld, they roamed around fearlessly. O king! They released thousands of arrows in the ten directions, which were no longer illuminated, because the sun had set. O great king! When the Pandaveyas were fearlessly fighting, Duryodhana penetrated into their army. Because of Saindhava’s death, he was overcome by supreme grief. Thinking that life was mortal, he penetrated into the army of the enemy. Making the earth tremble with the roar of his chariot, your son attacked the Pandava army. O descendant of the Bharata lineage! That tumultuous clash between them and him caused a great destruction among all the soldiers. Just as the midday sun scorches with its rays, in their midst, your son tormented them with his shower of arrows. In that battle, the Pandavas were incapable of glancing at him. They were only interested in running away and lost all enthusiasm about defeating the enemy. Your great-souled and archer son used gold-tufted arrows that were dazzling at the tip. The Panchalas were slaughtered and fled. Afflicted by those arrows, the Pandu soldiers quickly began to fall down. O lord of the earth! In the battle, those on their side were incapable of performing deeds like those done by the king who was your son. In the encounter, the Pandava soldiers were crushed by your son, like lotuses by an elephant. They were like blooming lotuses destroyed by an elephant, ones that had lost their sheen because of the wind and the sun, once the water had dried up. Because of your son’s energy, the Pandava soldiers were like that.

‘“O descendant of the Bharata lineage! On seeing that the Pandava soldiers were being killed by your son, the Panchalas attacked him, with Bhimasena at the forefront. He
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pierced Bhimasena with ten arrows, each of Madri’s sons with three arrows, Virata and Drupada with six each, Shikhandi with one hundred, Dhrishtadyumna with seventy, Dharma’s son with seven and the Kekayas and the Chedis with many sharp arrows. He pierced Satvata with five, each of
Droupadi’s sons with three and also piercing Ghatotkacha in that battle, roared like a lion. With arrows that were fierce at the tip, he brought down hundreds of other warriors, elephants, horses and chariots in that battle, like an angry Destroyer slaughtering beings. His large bow had a golden back. O venerable one! As he was striking down enemies with this, the eldest of the Pandavas
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severed it into three fragments with two broad-headed arrows. He then pierced him with ten powerful and sharp arrows. These passed through all his inner organs and having mangled him, entered the ground. The warriors who were around Yudhishthira were delighted, like the gods surrounding Purandara after Vritra had been killed. O venerable one! Then, King Yudhishthira, who is supremely difficult to repulse, dispatched an arrow towards your son in that battle. Severely wounded by this, he sat down on his supreme chariot. O Indra among kings! At this, a great noise arose from the Panchala soldiers. ‘The king has been killed,’ they shouted in delight. O venerable one! The fierce sound of arrows was heard there. In that battle, Drona quickly showed himself. Cheerfully, Duryodhana grasped his bow firmly and asking the Pandava king to wait, attacked him. Wishing to seize the king,
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the Panchalas swiftly attacked back. Wishing to save the supreme among the Kurus, Drona received them, like the one with the rays destroys clouds that have been raised by a violent wind. O king! A great battle commenced between those on your side and the enemy, as they clashed in their desire to fight, and it increased the carnage.”’

‘Dhritarashtra said, “After speaking to Duryodhana, my son, who has always transgressed me, the preceptor was overcome by anger and penetrated the Pandavas. The brave one is extremely
skilled in weapons. He entered and roamed around in the battle. How did the Pandavas counter the great archer, Drona? Who protected the right wheel of the great-souled preceptor? When he killed the enemies in the battle, who protected his left wheel? The one who is supreme among all wielders of weapons seemed to be dancing along the path of his chariot. He was as angry as a fire.
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How did he come by his death?”