Mahabharata: Volume 7 (11 page)

‘D
hritarashtra asked, “O Sanjaya! When Pandya was killed, what did Arjuna do in the battle, especially when the brave Karna was single-handedly driving away the enemy? Pandava is brave and accomplished in learning. He is powerful. The great-souled Shankara made all beings subservient to him.
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That is the reason my greatest fear is from Dhananjaya, the slayer of enemies. O Sanjaya! Tell me everything that Partha did there.”

‘Sanjaya replied, “When Pandya was killed, Krishna quickly spoke these beneficial words to him. ‘Without looking towards the king,
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the Pandavas are retreating. To accomplish Ashvatthama’s resolution, Karna is killing the Srinjayas. He is creating a great carnage there, amidst the horses, men and elephants.’ The extremely unassailable Vasudeva spoke these words to Kiriti. On hearing this and on seeing that his brother was facing a great and terrible calamity, Pandava asked Hrishikesha to quickly urge the horses. Hrishikesha advanced on that chariot against those warriors.

‘ “O supreme among kings! Yet again, there was a terrible encounter and clash between Karna and the Pandavas and it extended Yama’s kingdom. Wishing to kill each other, they swiftly grasped bows, arrows, clubs, swords, lances, spikes, maces, catapults, spears, scimitars, battleaxes, bludgeons, javelins, cutlasses, darts, slings and large hooks and descended. The whizzing of arrows and the sound of palms against bowstrings extended into the sky, the directions and the sub-directions. As they attacked, they roared and the earth resounded with the thunder of chariot wheels. Those great sounds of battle cheered them. Brave ones fought extremely terrible battles with brave ones, wishing to bring an end to the hostility. There were sounds from bowstrings, palm-guards and bows and the trumpeting of elephants. They were
attacked and as they fell down, roared loudly. There were many sounds generated by the arrows and by the roars of brave ones. O descendant of the Bharata lineage! On hearing this terrible sound, some were frightened, turned pale and fell down. There were many among them who roared and showered down arrows. In the battle, Atiratha Karna crushed many of them with his arrows. With his arrows, Karna conveyed five heroes from Panchala, ten rathas and five others, with their horses, charioteers and standards, to Yama’s eternal abode. Many foremost and immensely valorous warriors from the Pandus swiftly attacked Karna in that battle and surrounding him from all sides, covered the sky with their weapons. Karna agitated the enemy soldiers with his shower of arrows. He was like the leader of a herd
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plunging into a lake full of birds and lotuses. Radheya penetrated into the midst of the enemy. He brandished his supreme bow and using his sharp arrows, began to bring down their heads. The shields and armour were shattered and the bodies were deprived of life. There was no one among them who needed the touch of a second arrow.
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The arrows that were released from the bow crushed armour and bodies. The bowstrings and palm-guards were shattered, like horses lashed with a whip. Whenever Pandus, Srinjayas and Panchalas came within the reach of his arrows, Karna quickly struck them in the inner organs, like a lion among large numbers of deer.

‘ “O venerable one! The son of Panchala,
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Droupadi’s sons, the twins and Yuyudhana united and advanced against Karna. When the Kurus were severly engaged with the Pandavas and the Srinjayas, warriors advanced against each other, prepared to give up their lives in the battle. They were armoured well, with coats of mail, helmets and ornaments. The maharathas used clubs, maces and other kinds of bludgeons. They advanced fiercely, like the god wielding his staff.
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O venerable one! They roared loudly and challenged each other. They
struck each other. Struck by the others, they fell down. They vomited blood and lost their limbs, heads and eyes in the battle. Complete with teeth, but laced with blood, the faces looked like pomegranates. Though they had been brought down by weapons, they seemed to be alive. They struck each other with spears, swords, lances, catapults, nails, javelins and spikes. They were crushed and cut down by others. They also crushed and cut others down. They angrily killed and struck each other. They were brought down and killed by others. Losing their lives, they were covered with blood. They seemed to exude their own natural red juice, like sandalwood trees. Rathas were killed by rathas, elephants by elephants, men by the best of men and thousands of horses were brought down by horses. Standards, heads, umbrellas, the trunks of elephants and the arms of men were severed by razor-sharp and broad-headed arrows, arrows in the shape of a half-moon and other weapons. In that battle, men, elephants, chariots and horses were brought down. Horse riders slew brave warriors. The trunks of tuskers were severed. Flags and standards were shattered and brought down, strewn around like mountains. Foot soldiers destroyed elephants and chariots. Struck and killed, they fell down in every direction. Horse riders clashed against foot soldiers and were swiftly killed by them. In the battle, large numbers of foot soldiers were killed by horse riders and lay down. O greatly intelligent one! The faces and limbs of those who were killed looked like crushed lotuses and faded garlands. O king! The beautiful forms of elephants, horses and men looked like garments that had been sullied and therefore, became supremely hideous to see.” ’

‘S
anjaya said, “There were many excellent elephants that were urged on by your son. Wishing to kill Dhrishtadyumna, they angrily advanced against Parshata. These were among the best who fought on elephants, from the east, the south, Anga, Vanga, Pundra,
Magadha, Tamraliptaka, Mekala, Kosala, Madra, Dasharna and Nishadha. O descendant of the Bharata lineage! They were skilled in fighing with elephants and united with those from Kalinga. Arrows, spears and iron arrows showered down like rain from clouds and in that battle, all of them sprinkled Panchala, who was like a mountain. Those elephants were violently urged on against the enemy with goads and with toes prodding the flanks. As they advanced towards Parshata, he showered down iron arrows on them. O descendant of the Bharata lineage! Each of those angry elephants was like a mountain and he pierced each with ten, six or eight arrows. He was enveloped by those elephants, like clouds covering the sun. On seeing this, the Pandus and Panchalas roared. They raised sharp weapons and attacked those elephants, the arrows making music on the bowstrings. Nakula, Sahadeva, Droupadi’s sons, the Prabhadrakas, Satyaki, Shikhandi and the valiant Chekitana advanced. The elephants were driven by
mleccha
s
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and used their trunks to pick up men, horses and chariots and crush them with their feet. They pierced others with the tips of their tusks, picked them up and flung them down. Others were stuck to the tips of the tusks and looked terrible. Vanga’s
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elephant was stationed in front of him. Satyaki powerfully struck it with a fierce iron arrow. Pierced in its inner organs, it fell down. Abandoning that elephant, he
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was about to descend from the elephant. However, Satyaki struck him on the breast with an iron arrow and made him fall down on the ground. Pundra’s elephant was descending like a mobile mountain. Sahadeva carefully killed it with three iron arrows. It was deprived of its flag, its rider, its armour, its standard and its life. Having brought that elephant down, Sahadeva advanced against Anga.
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However, Nakula asked Sahadeva to desist and himself attacked Anga. He struck him with three iron arrows that were like Yama’s staff and struck the elephant with one hundred. Anga hurled eight hundred spears that were as bright as the rays of the sun.
However, Nakula sliced each of these down into three fragments. Pandava then severed his head with an arrow that was in the shape of a half-moon. Having been killed, the mleccha fell down, together with the tusker. The son of their preceptor was skilled in the technique of managing elephants.
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When he was killed, the excellent ones from Anga attacked Nakula on elephants. The best of flags fluttered and the sides
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were decorated in gold. They looked like mountains on fire and wished to swiftly destroy the enemy. There were those from Mekala, Utkala, Kalinga, Nishadha and Tamraliptaka. Wishing to kill him, they showered down arrows and spears. They enveloped Nakula, like the sun shrouded by clouds. At this, the Pandus, the Panchalas and the Somakas were enraged. A battle commenced between those rathas and the elephants. Showers of arrows and thousands of spears were released. These shattered the temples of the elephants and penetrated their inner organs in many ways. The tusks were pierced by iron arrows and seemed to be ornamented. Sahadeva quickly killed eight giant elephants with sixty-four extremely energetic arrows and brought them down, together with their riders. Nakula, the descendant of the Kuru lineage, carefully drew his supreme bow and used many straight-flying iron arrows to kill many elephants. Shini’s descendant, Panchala, Droupadi’s sons, the Prabhadrakas and Shikhandi brought down many showers of arrows on the mighty elephants. The warriors on the Pandu side were like clouds full of rain and the elephants of the enemy were like mountains. Slain by those showers of arrows, they fell down, like mountains shattered by a storm of thunder. Your elephants were thus killed by the Pandus, who were like elephants among men. The soldiers
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were soon seen like a river with shattered banks. Having thus agitated the
soldiers,
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the soldiers of the sons of Pandu glanced towards them and again advanced towards Karna.

‘ “O great king! While Sahadeva was angrily scorching your army, Duhshasana advanced against him and it was brother against brother. The kings who were there, witnessed a great battle between them and roaring like lions, waved their garments around. O descendant of the Bharata lineage! Your archer son was angry and pierced Pandu’s powerful son in the chest with three arrows. O king! Sahadeva pierced your son with an iron arrow and again pierced him with seventy, striking his charioteer with three. O king! In that great battle, Duhshasana severed his bow and struck Sahadeva in the arms and the chest with seventy-three arrows. Sahadeva became wrathful and in that great encounter, grasped a sword. The foremost among warriors whirled and hurled it towards your handsome son. That great sword severed his bow, with an arrow still affixed to it. It then fell down on the ground, like a serpent that has been dislodged from the sky. The powerful Sahadeva picked up another bow and shot an arrow that was like death towards Duhshasana. That arrow was as bright as Yama’s staff and descended. However, Kourava severed it into two parts with a sword that was sharp at the edges. As that sword suddenly descended in the battle, Sahadeva cut it down with sharp arrows and seemed to be laughing.
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O descendant of the Bharata lineage! In that great battle, your son swiftly shot sixty-four arrows towards Sahadeva’s chariot. O king! In that encounter, many arrows descended with force. However, Sahadeva sliced down these with five arrows each. Having countered the great arrows that were shot by your son, Madri’s son released a large number of arrows. O great king! The powerful Sahadeva became angry and affixed an extremely fierce arrow that was like the Destroyer and like Death. He drew his bow back with force and shot it towards your son. O king! It penetrated his armour and his body with great force and penetrated the earth, like a snake entering a termite hill. O king!
Your maharatha son lost his senses. On seeing that he had lost his consciousness, his charioteer, who was frightened and himself severely wounded with sharp arrows, quickly bore him away on the chariot. O Pandu’s elder brother! O king! Having defeated him in the battle, Pandava cheerfully began to crush Duryodhana’s army in every direction, like an extremely angry man crushing a large number of ants. O descendant of the Bharata lineage! Thus did he wrathfully crush the Kourava soldiers.

‘ “O king! While Nakula was violently destroying the soldiers in the battle, Vaikartana Karna repulsed him. Nakula laughed and spoke to Karna. ‘After a long time, because of the kindness of destiny, you have seen me. O wicked one! And in this battle, you have surfaced before my sight. You are the root cause of the evil, the enmity and the quarrel. It is because of your sins that those of the Kuru lineage are clashing against each other and are being destroyed. I will kill you in the battle today and become successful, devoid of fever.’
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Having been thus addressed, the son of the suta, who was himself like a prince and also an archer, replied to Nakula. ‘O child! Strike me in this battle. Let me see your manliness. O brave one! One should boast only after having performed deeds in a battle. O son!
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Those who do not speak in an encounter, but fight to the best of their strength, are known as brave. Fight with me, to the utmost of your strength and I will destroy your pride today.’ Having spoken thus, the son of the suta swiftly struck Pandu’s son. In that battle, he pierced him with seventy-three arrows that had been sharpened on stone. O descendant of the Bharata lineage! Having been thus pierced by the son of the suta, Nakula pierced the son of the suta back with eighty arrows that were like venomous serpents. Karna severed his bow with gold-tufted arrows that had been sharpened on stone. The supreme archer then struck Pandava with thirty arrows. Those pierced his armour and drank his blood in the battle. They were like venomous serpents that drink water after entering
the earth. O great king! Nakula, the destroyer of enemy heroes, became angry at this. He picked up another bow with a back that was embellished with gold. It was extremely difficult to resist. He pierced Karna with twenty arrows and his charioteer with three. With an extremely sharp arrow that was like a razor at the tip, he severed Karna’s bow. Having severed the bow, the brave one, who was regarded as a maharatha by the entire world, laughed and struck him with three hundred arrows. O venerable one! On seeing that Karna was thus afflicted by Pandu’s son, all the rathas and all the gods were struck by supreme wonder. Vaikartana Karna picked up another bow and struck Nakula between the shoulder joints with five arrows. With those arrows sticking to his chest, Madri’s son looked resplendent on the chariot, as if the sun was using its rays to shower radiance on the earth. O venerable one! Nakula pierced Karna with seven iron arrows and again severed the ends of his bow. In that encounter, he
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picked up another bow that was even more powerful and enveloped Nakula and all the directions with his arrows. When the maharatha was suddenly covered with arrows released from Karna’s bow, he swiftly used his own arrows to slice down those arrows. The sky was seen to be shrouded with a net of arrows and it was as if the firmament was covered with a large number of fireflies that were flitting around. Hundreds of arrows were released and covered the sky and it was as if it was full of a swarm of locusts that had been stirred up by the wind. Arrows decorated in gold descended repeatedly in an array and were as beautiful as an array of swans. When the sky was covered by the arrows, the sun was shrouded. O lord of the earth! No beings could descend and nothing could be seen.
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In every direction, those large numbers of arrows obstructed their paths. Those two immensely fortunate ones were as resplendent as two young suns that had just arisen. The arrows released from Karna’s bow slaughtered the Somakas. O Indra among kings! They were severely afflicted and pained by the
arrows and lost their lives. In a similar way, Nakula’s arrows killed your soldiers. O king! They were driven away in all the directions, like clouds dispelled by the wind. Those two sets of soldiers were slaughtered by their large and divine arrows and withdrew from that rain of arrows, remaining only as spectators. When the men there were driven away by Karna and Pandava’s arrows, those two great-souled ones started to pierce each other with their showers of arrows. In that field of battle, they displayed their divine weapons. Wishing to kill each other, they violently enveloped each other. The arrows released by Nakula were tufted with the feathers of herons and peacocks. They seemed to remain stationed there, after having enveloped Karna. O king! Both of them seemed to be in a chamber created by arrows and could not be seen. They were like the moon and the sun, enveloped during the monsoon.

‘ “Karna became wrathful in that battle and assumed a fiercer form. In every direction, he shrouded Pandava with showers of arrows. O king! In that encounter, Pandava was enveloped by the son of the suta. However, like the sun covered by clouds, he felt no pain. O venerable one! At this, Adhiratha’s son laughed in the battle and shot hundreds and thousands of nets of arrows. The arrows of the great-souled one seemed to cover everything in a canopy of shade. Those supreme arrows were like clouds that were descending. O great king! The great-souled Karna severed his bow. He laughingly brought his charioteer down from the seat on the chariot. O descendant of the Bharata lineage! With four sharp arrows, he killed his four horses and quickly dispatched them to Yama’s abode. O venerable one! Using his arrows, he swiftly shattered his chariot into tiny fragments and also destroyed his flags, the ones who protected his wheels, his standard, his sword, his shield that was decorated with the signs of one hundred moons and all his implements. O lord of the earth! His horses were slain. He was without a chariot. He was devoid of his armour. He quickly descended from his chariot and stood there, with a club. O king! That extremely terrible club was raised. However, using hundreds and thousands of arrows, the son of the suta shattered it into fragments. On seeing that he was without
any weapons, Karna struck with many arrows with drooping tufts, but made sure that he did not hurt him grievously. O king! Nakula was defeated in that battle by someone who was powerful and was skilled in the use of weapons. With his senses afflicted, he suddenly fled. Radheya followed him, laughing repeatedly. O descendant of the Bharata lineage! O king! He placed the string of his bow around the neck of the one who was running away.
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Pulled by the string of the great bow around his neck, he was as resplendent as the moon in the sky, surrounded by white clouds and decorated with Shakra’s bow.
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Karna spoke these words to him. ‘The words that were spoken by you have been rendered futile. You have been repeatedly struck by me. Can you cheerfully utter them again? O Pandava! Do not fight again with those who are your superior in strength. O son! O Pandava! Fight with those who are your equals. Do not be ashamed at this. O son of Madri! Go home, or go where Krishna and Phalguna are.’ O great king! Having spoken these words, he released him. O king! Though he could have been killed, the son of the suta did not kill him. O king! He remembered Kunti’s words and abandoned him. O king! Having been released by the archer son of the suta, Pandava was ashamed and went towards Yudhishthira’s chariot. Having been tormented by the son of the suta, he ascended that chariot and sighed, scorched by grief, like angry snakes inside a pot.

‘ “Having abandoned him in the battle, Karna swiftly advanced against the Panchalas. He was on a chariot with dazzling flags and drawn by horses with the complexion of the moon. O lord of the earth! When they saw the commander
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advancing against the Panchalas on his chariot, a great uproar arose among the Pandavas. O great king! The son of the suta caused carnage there. As the sun reached its midday spot, the lord roamed and wheeled around. The
wheels of chariots were shattered. The standards and flags of others were torn. O venerable one! The son of the suta killed charioteers and shattered the wheels. We saw the dispirited Panchalas fleeing on their chariots. Crazy elephants were terrified and roamed here and there, as if their limbs had been burnt by a conflagration in a great forest. The temples of elephants were shattered and they exuded blood. Their trunks were severed. O venerable one! Their bodies and armour were mangled, their tails were sliced down. They were like dispelled clouds, destroyed by that great-souled one. There were other elephants that were frightened because of the iron arrows and hundreds of spears. They advanced towards him, like insects towards a fire. We saw other giant elephants destroying each other. Blood flowed from their bodies, like water from the slopes of mountains. Horses lost their breastplates, the dressings on their tails and their silver, bronze and golden ornaments. Their coverings were destroyed and they lost their bridles. Whisks, spreads and quivers fell down. Brave riders, the ornaments of a battle, were killed. In that battle there, we saw supreme horses wandering around. O lord of men! We saw the best of warriors who fought on horses, with lances, swords and scimitars. They wore armour and headdresses. They were destroyed. There were chariots embellished with gold, yoked to swift horses. With the rathas swiftly slain, we saw them roaming around.
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O venerable one! Wheels and poles were destroyed for some, wheels were shattered for others. There were others without flags and standards, or with their yokes destroyed. O lord of the earth! Deprived of everything, we saw rathas wandering around in every direction, scorched by the arrows and weapons of Surya’s son.
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There were those without weapons. And there were many with weapons, but they had been killed. We saw many foot soldiers from their side running around in every direction. They were adorned with colourful flags of many different hues, decorated with bells. There were other warriors with severed head, arms and thighs. We
saw the arrows released from Karna’s bow sever them. We beheld those warriors confront a terrible and great calamity. They were killed by Karna’s sharp arrows. In that battle, the Srinjayas were slaughtered by the son of the suta, as they advanced towards him, like insects towards a flame. In every spot there, he consumed those arrays of maharathas and the kshatriyas avoided him, taking him to be the fire that comes at the time of the destruction of a yuga. The remnants of the brave Panchala maharathas were routed and retreated. Karna pursued them from the rear, showering arrows. They were devoid of armour and standards, but the spirited one pursued them. The maharatha son of the suta tormented them with his arrows. It was like the destroyer of darkness
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scorching beings when it has attained midday.” ’