SECTION XXII
"Bhima said, 'I will, O timid one, do even as you sayest. I will
presently slay Kichaka with all his friends. O Yajnaseni of sweet smiles,
tomorrow evening, renouncing sorrow and grief, manage to have a meeting
with Kichaka. The dancing-hall that the king of the Matsya hath caused to
be erected is used by the girls for dancing during the day. They repair,
however, to their homes at night. There in that hall, is an excellent and
well-placed wooden bed-stead. Even there I will make him see the spirits
of his deceased grandsires. But, O beautiful one, when you holdest
converse with him, you must manage it so that others may not espy thee."
"Vaisampayana continued, 'Having thus conversed with others, and shed
tears in grief, they waited for the dawn of that night with painful
impatience. And when the night had passed away, Kichaka, rising in the
morning, went to the palace, and accosted Draupadi saying, 'Throwing thee
down in the court I kicked you in the presence of the king. Attacked by
mighty self, you couldst not obtain protection. This Virata is in name
only the king of the Matsyas. Commanding the forces of this realm it is
I, who am the real lord of the Matsyas. Do thou, O timid one, accept me
cheerfully. I shall become your slave. And, O you of graceful hips, I
will immediately give you a hundred nishkas, and engage a hundred male
and a hundred female servants (to tend thee), and will also bestow on
thee cars yoked with she-mules. O timid lady, let our union take place.'
Draupadi replied, 'O Kichaka, know even this is my condition. Neither thy
friends nor your brothers should know your union with me. I am a terror of
detection by those illustrious Gandharvas. Promise me this, and I yield
to thee.' Hearing this Kichaka said, 'I will, O you of graceful hips, do
even as you sayest. Afflicted by the god of love, I will, O beauteous
damsel, alone repair to your abode for union with thee, O you of thighs
round and tapering like the trunks of the plantain,--so that those
Gandharvas, effulgent as the sun, may not come to know of this act of
thine.' Draupadi said, 'Do thou, when it is dark, go to the dancing-hall
erected by the king of the Matsyas where the girls dance during the day,
repairing to their respective homes at night. The Gandharvas do not know
that place. We shall then without doubt, escape all censure.'
"Vaisampayana continued, 'Reflecting on the subject of her conversation
with Kichaka, that half a day seemed to Krishna as long as a whole month.
And the stupid Kichaka also, not knowing that it was Death that had
assumed the form of a Sairindhri, returning home experienced the greatest
delight. And deprived of sense by lust, Kichaka became speedily engaged
in embellishing his person with unguents and garlands and ornaments. And
while he was doing all this, thinking of that damsel of large eyes, the
day seemed to him to be without an end. And the beauty of Kichaka, who
was about to forsake his beauty for ever, seemed to heighten, like the
wick of a burning lamp about to expire. And reposing the fullest
confidence in Draupadi, Kichaka, deprived of his senses by lust and
absorbed in the contemplation of expected meeting, did not even perceive
that the day had departed. Meanwhile, the beautiful Draupadi approaching
her husband Bhima of the Kuru race, stood before him in the kitchen. And
that lady with tresses ending in beautiful curls then spake unto him,
saying, 'O chastiser of foes, even as you had directed, I have given
Kichaka to understand that our meeting will take place in the
dancing-hall. Alone will he come at night to the empty hall. Slay him
there, O you of mighty arms. Do thou, O son of Kunti, repair to that
dancing-hall, and take the life, O Pandava, of Kichaka, that son of a
Suta intoxicated with vanity. From vanity alone, that son of a Suta
slights the Gandharvas. O best of smiters, lift him up from the earth
even as Krishna had lifted up the Naga (Kaliya) from the Yamuna. O
Pandava, afflicted as I am with grief, wipe you my tears, and blessed be
thou, protect your own honour and that of your race.'
"Bhima said, 'Welcome, O beauteous lady, Except the glad tidings thou
bringest me, I need, O you of exceeding beauty, no other aid whatever.
The delight that I feel, O you of great beauty, on hearing from thee
about my coming encounter with Kichaka, is equal to what I felt in
slaying Hidimva. I swear unto you by Truth, by my brothers, and by
morality, that I will slay Kichaka even as the lord of the celestials
slew Vritra. Whether secretly or openly, I will crush Kichaka, and if the
Matsyas fight for him, then I will slay them too. And slaying Duryodhana
afterwards, I shall win back the earth. Let Yudhishthira, the son of
Kunti, continue to pay homage unto the king of Matsya.' Hearing these
words of Bhima, Draupadi said, 'In order that, O lord, you mayst not
have to renounce the truth already pledged to me, do thou, O hero, slay
Kichaka in secret.' Bhima assuring her said, 'Even today I shall slay
Kichaka together with his friends unknown to others during the darkness
of the night. I shall, O faultless lady, crush, even as an elephant
crusheth a vela fruit, [16] the head of the wicked Kichaka who wisheth
for what is unattainable by him!'
"Vaisampayana continued, 'Repairing first to the place of assignation at
night, Bhima sat down, disguising himself. And he waited there in
expectation of Kichaka, like a lion lying in wait for a deer. And
Kichaka, having embellished his person as he chose, came to the
dancing-hall at the appointed time in the hope of meeting Panchali. And
thinking of the assignation, he entered the chamber. And having entered
that hall enveloped in deep gloom, that wretch of wicked soul came upon
Bhima of incomparable prowess, who had come a little before and who was
waiting in a corner. And as an insect approacheth towards a flaming fire,
or a puny animal towards a lion, Kichaka approached Bhima, lying down in
a bed and burning in anger at the thought of the insult offered to
Krishna, as if he were the Suta's Death. And having approached Bhima,
Kichaka possessed by lust, and his heart and soul filled with ecstacy
smilingly said, 'O you of pencilled eye-brows, to you I have already
given many and various kinds of wealth from the stores earned by me, as
well as hundred maids and many fine robes, and also a mansion with an
inner apartment adorned with beauteous and lovely and youthful maid
servants and embellished by every kind of sports and amusements And
having set all those apart for thee, I have speedily come hither. And all
on a sudden, women have begun to praise me, saying, 'There is not in this
world any other person like unto you in beauty and dress!' Hearing this,
Bhima said, 'It is well that you are handsome, and it is well thou
praisest thyself. I think, however, that you had never before this
such pleasurable touch! Thou hast an acute touch, and knowest the ways of
gallantry. Skilled in the are of love-making, you are a favourite with
women. There is none like you in this world!'
"Vaisampayana continued, 'Saying this, that son of Kunti, the
mighty-armed Bhima of terrible prowess, suddenly rose up, and laughingly
said, 'Thy sister, O wretch, shall today behold you dragged by me to the
ground, like a mighty elephant, huge as a mountain, dragged to the ground
by a lion. Thyself slain Sairindhri will live in peace, and we, her
husbands, will also live in peace.' Saying this, the mighty Bhima seized
Kichaka by the hairs of his head, which were adorned with garlands. And
thus seized with force by the hair, that foremost of mighty persons,
Kichaka, quickly freed his hair and grasped the arms of Bhima. And then
between those lions among men, fired with wrath, between that chief of
the Kichaka clan, and that best of men, there ensued a hand-to-hand
encounter, like that between two powerful elephants for a female elephant
in the season of spring, or like that which happened in days of yore
between those lions among monkeys, the brothers Vali and Sugriva. And
both equally infuriate and both eager for victory, both those combatants
raised their arms resembling snakes furnished with five hoods, and
attacked each other with their nails and teeth, wrought up to frenzy of
wrath. Impetuously assailed by the powerful Kichaka in that encounter,
the resolute Bhima did not waver a single step. And locked in each
other's embraces and dragging each other, they fought on like two mighty
bulls. And having nails and teeth for their weapons, the encounter
between them was fierce and terrible like that of two furious tigers. And
felling each other in fury, they encountered each other like a couple of
elephants with rent temples. And the mighty Bhima then seized Kichaka,
and Kichaka, that foremost of strong persons threw Bhima down with
violence. And as those mighty combatants fought on, the crash of their
arms produced a loud noise that resembled the clatter of splitting
bamboos. Then Vrikodara throwing Kichaka down by main force within the
room, began to toss him about furiously even as a hurricane tosseth a
tree. And attacked thus in battle by the powerful Bhima, Kichaka grew
weak and began to tremble. For all that, however, he tugged at the
Pandava to the best of his power. And attacking Bhima, and making him
wave a little, the mighty Kichaka struck him with his knees and brought
him down to the ground. And overthrown by the powerful Kichaka, Bhima
quickly rose up like Yama himself with mace in hand. And thus that
powerful Suta and the Pandava, intoxicated with strength and challenging
each other, grappled with each other at midnight in that solitary place.
And as they roared at each other in wrath, that excellent and strong
edifice began to shake every moment. And slapped on the chest by the
mighty Bhima, Kichaka fired with wrath moved not a single pace. And
bearing for a moment only that onslaught incapable of being born on
earth, the Suta, overpowered by Bhima's might, became enfeebled. And
seeing him waning weak, Bhima endued with great strength forcibly drew
Kichaka towards his breast, and began to press hard. And breathing hard
again and again in wrath, that best of victors, Vrikodara, forcibly
seized Kichaka by the hair. And having seized Kichaka, the mighty 'Bhima
began to roar like a hungry tiger that hath killed a large animal. And
finding him exceedingly exhausted, Vrikodara bound him fast with his
arms, as one binds a beast with a cord. And then Bhima began for a long
while, to whirl the senseless Kichaka, who began to roar frightfully like
a broken trumpet.[17] And in order to pacify Krishna's wrath Vrikodara
grasped Kichaka's throat with his arms and began to squeeze it. And
assailing with his knees the waist of that worst of the Kichakas, all the
limbs of whose body had been broken into fragments and whose eye-lids
were closed, Vrikodara slew him, as one would slay a beast. And beholding
Kichaka entirely motionless, the son of Pandu began to roll him about on
the ground. And Bhima then said, 'Slaying this wretch who intended to
violate our wife,--this thorn in the side of Sairindhri, I am freed from
the debt I owed to my brothers, and have attained perfect peace.' And
having said this, that foremost of men, with eyes red in wrath,
relinquished his hold of Kichaka, whose dress and ornaments had been
thrown off his person, whose eyes were rolling, and whose body was yet
trembling. And that foremost of mighty persons, squeezing his own hands,
and biting his lips in rage, again attacked his adversary and thrust his
arms and legs and neck and head into his body like the wielder of the
Pinaka reducing into shapeless mass the deer, which form sacrifice had
assumed in order to escape his ire. And having; crushed all his limbs,
and reduced him into a ball of flesh, the mighty Bhimasena showed him
unto Krishna. And endued with mighty energy that hero then addressed
Draupadi, that foremost of all women, saying, 'Come princess of Panchala,
and see what hath become of that lustful wretch!' And saying this, Bhima
of terrible prowess began to press with his feet the body of that wicked
wight. And lighting a torch then and showing Draupadi the body of
Kichaka, that hero addressed her, saying, 'O you of tresses ending in
beautiful curls, those that solicit thee, endued as you are with an
excellent disposition and every virtue, will be slain by me even as this
Kichaka hath been, O timid one.' And having accomplished that difficult
task so highly agreeable to Krishna--having indeed slain Kichaka and
thereby pacified his wrath, Bhima bade farewell to Krishna, the daughter
of Drupada, and quickly went back to the kitchen. And Draupadi also, that
best of women, having caused Kichaka to be slain had her grief removed
and experienced the greatest delight. And addressing the keepers of the
dancing-hall, she said, 'Come the and behold Kichaka who had violated
after other people's wives lieth down here, slain by my Gandharva
husbands.' And hearing these words the guards of the dancing hall soon
came by thousands to that spot, torches in hand. And repairing to that
room, they beheld the lifeless Kichaka thrown on the ground, drenched
with blood. And beholding him without arms and legs, they were filled
with grief. And as they gazed at Kichaka, they were struck with
amazement. And seeing that superhuman act, viz., the overthrow of
Kichaka, they said, 'Where is his neck, and where are his legs?' And
beholding him in this plight they all concluded that he had been killed
by a Gandharva.'"
--------------------END OF PARVA 4 : UPA-PARVA 22 ---------------------
