SECTION 19
"Sanjaya said, 'Wheeling round, like the planet Mercury in the curvature
of its orbit, Jishnu (Arjuna) once more slew large number of the
samsaptakas. Afflicted with the shafts of Partha, O king, men, steeds,
and elephants, O Bharata, wavered and wondered and lost colour and fell
down and died. Many foremost of animals tied to yokes and drivers and
standards, and bows, and shafts and hands and weapons in grasp, and arms,
and heads, of heroic foes fighting with him, the son of Pandu cut off in
that battle, with arrows, some of which were broad-headed, some equipped
with heads like razors, some crescent-shaped, and some furnished with
heads like the calf's tooth. Like bulls fighting with a bull for the sake
of a cow in season, brave warriors by hundreds and thousands closed upon
Arjuna. The battle that took place between them and him made the hair to
stand on end like the encounter between the Daityas and Indra, the
wielder of the thunderbolt on the occasion of the conquest of the three
worlds. Then the son of Ugrayudha pierced Partha with three shafts
resembling three venomous snakes. Partha, however, cut off from his
enemy's trunk the latter's head. Then those warriors, filled with rage,
covered Arjuna from every side with diverse kinds of weapons like the
clouds urged by the Maruts shrouding Himavat at the close of summer.
Checking with his own weapons those of his foes on every side, Arjuna
slew a large number of his enemies with well-shot shafts. With his arrows
Arjuna then cut off the Trivenus, the steeds, the drivers, and the
parshni drivers of many cars, and displaced the weapons and quivers of
many, and deprived many of their wheels and standards, and broke the
cords, the traces and the axles of many, and destroyed the bottoms and
yokes of others, and caused all the equipment of many to fall from their
places. Those cars, thus smashed and injured by Arjuna in large numbers,
looked like the luxurious mansions of the rich destroyed by fire, wind,
and rain. Elephants, their vitals pierced with shafts resembling
thunderbolts in impetuosity, fell down like mansions on mountain-tops
overthrown by blasts of lightning. Large numbers of steeds with their
riders, struck by Arjuna, fell down on the Earth, their tongues and
entrails pressed out, themselves deprived of strength and bathed in
blood, and presenting an awful sight. Men and steeds and elephants,
pierced by Savyasaci (Arjuna) with his shafts, wondered and tottered and
fell down and uttered cries of pain and looked pale, O sire. Like
Mahendra smiting down the danavas, Partha smote down large numbers of his
foes, by means of shafts whetted on stone and resembling the thunder of
poison in deadliness. Brave warriors, cased in costly coats of mail and
decked with ornaments and armed with diverse kinds of weapons, lay on the
field, with their cars and standards, slain by Partha. Vanquished (and
deprived of life) persons of righteous deeds, possessed of noble birth
and great knowledge, proceeded to heaven in consequence of those glorious
deeds of theirs while their bodies only lay on Earth. Then the chief,
belonging to your army, of various realms, filled with wrath and
accompanied by their followers, rushed against Arjuna, that foremost of
car-warriors. Warriors borne on their cars and steeds and elephants, and
foot-soldiers also, all desirous of slaying (Arjuna), rushed towards him,
shooting diverse weapons with great speed. Then Arjuna like wind, by
means of keen shafts, destroyed that thick shower of weapons dropped by
those warriors constituting a mass of congregated clouds. People then
beheld Arjuna crossing that raftless ocean constituted by steeds and
foot-soldiers and elephants and cars, and having mighty weapons for its
waves, on a bridge constituted by his own mighty weapons of offence and
defence. Then Vasudeva, addressing Partha, said, "Why, O sinless one,
dost you sport in this way? Grinding these samsaptakas, haste thyself
for Karna's slaughter." Saying, "So be it" unto Krishna, Arjuna then,
forcibly smiting the remnant of the samsaptakas with his weapons, began
to destroy them like Indra destroying the Daityas. At that time, with
even the closest attention, men could not mark when Arjuna took out his
shafts, when he aimed them and when he let them off quickly. Govinda
himself, O Bharata, regarded it wonderful. Like swans diving into a lake
the shafts of Arjuna, white and active as swans, penetrated into the
hostile force. Then Govinda, beholding the field of battle during the
progress of that carnage, said these words to Savyasaci, "Here, O Partha,
for the sake of Duryodhana alone, occurreth this great and terrible
destruction of the Bharatas and other kings of Earth. Behold, O son of
Bharata, these bows, with golden backs, of many mighty bowmen, and these
girdles and quivers loosened from their bodies. Behold these straight
shafts equipped with wings of gold, and these long arrows washed with oil
and looking like snakes freed from their sloughs. Behold these beautiful
lances decked with gold lying scattered about, and these coats of mail, O
Bharata, adorned with gold and fallen off from the bodies of the
warriors. Behold these spears embellished with gold, these darts adorned
with the same metal, and these huge maces twined round with threads of
gold, and cords of hemp. Behold these swords decked with bright gold and
these axes adorned with the same, and these battle-axes equipped with
gold-decked handles. Behold also these spiked clubs, these short arrows,
these Bhusundis, and these Kanapas; these iron Kuntas lying around, and
these heavy Mushalas. These victory-longing warriors endued with great
activity and armed with diverse weapons, though dead, still seem to be
quick with life. Behold those thousands of warriors, their limbs crushed
with maces, and heads split with Mushalas or smashed and trod by
elephants and steeds and cars. O slayer of foes, the field of battle is
strewn with the bodies of men and elephants and steeds, deprived of life,
dreadfully mangled with shafts and darts and swords and lances and
scimitars and axes and spears and Nakharas and bludgeons, and bathed in
streams of blood. Strewn with arms smeared with sandal-paste and decked
with Angadas and graced with auspicious indications and cased in leathern
fences and adorned with Keyuras, the Earth looks resplendent, O Bharata.
Strewn also with hands having fingers cased in fences, decked with
ornaments, and lopped off from arms, and with severed thighs looking like
the trunks of elephants, of heroes endued with great activity and with
heads adorned with earrings and headgears set with gems, (the Earth looks
exceedingly beautiful). Behold those beautiful cars, decked with golden
bells, broken in diverse ways. Behold those numerous steeds bathed in
blood, those bottoms of cars and long quivers, and diverse kinds of
standards and banners and those huge conchs, of the combatants, and those
yak-tails perfectly white, and those elephants with tongues lolling out
and lying on the field like hills, and those beautiful with triumphal
banners, and those slain elephant-warriors, and those rich coverlets,
each consisting of one piece of blanket, for the backs of those huge
beasts, and those beautiful and variegated and torn blankets, and those
numerous bells loosened from the bodies of elephants and broken into
fragments by those falling creatures, and those hooks with handles set
with stones of lapis lazuli fallen upon the Earth, and those ornamental
yokes of steeds, and those armours set with diamonds for their breasts
and those rich cloths, adorned with gold and tied to the ends of the
standards borne by horsemen, and those variegated coverlets and housings
and Ranku skins, set with brilliant gems and inlaid with gold, for the
backs of steeds and fallen on the ground, and those large diamonds
adorning the head-gears of kings, and those beautiful necklaces of gold,
and those umbrellas displaced from their positions, and those yak-tails
and fans. Behold the earth strewn with faces adorned with earrings bright
as the moon or stars, and embellished with well-cut beards, and each
looking like the full moon. The earth, strewn with those faces looking
like lilies and lotuses, resembles a lake adorned with a dense assemblage
of lilies and lotuses. Behold, the earth possessing the effulgence of the
bright moon and diversified as if with myriads of stars, looks like the
autumnal firmament bespangled with stellar lights. O Arjuna, these feats
that have been achieved by you in great battle today are, indeed, worthy
of you or of the chief of the celestials himself in heaven." Even thus
did Krishna show the field of battle unto Arjuna. And while returning
(from the field to their camp), they heard a loud noise in the army of
Duryodhana. Indeed the uproar that was heard consisted of the blare of
conchs and the beat of cymbals and drums and Patahas and the clatter of
car wheels, the neighing of steeds, the grunt of elephants, and the
fierce clash of weapons. Penetrating into that force by the aid of his
steeds possessing the fleetness of the wind, Krishna became filled with
wonder upon beholding the army grinded by Pandya. Like Yama himself
slaying creatures whose lives have run out, Pandya, that foremost of
warriors skilled in shafts and weapons, was destroying crowds of foes by
means of diverse kinds of shafts. Piercing the bodies of the elephants
and steeds and men with sharp shafts, that foremost of smiters overthrew
and deprived them of life. Cutting off with his own shafts the diverse
weapons hurled at him by many foremost of foes, Pandya slew his enemies
like Sakra (Indra) destroying the Danavas.'"
--------------------END OF PARVA 8 : UPA-PARVA 19 ---------------------
