Mahabharata Vol. 2 (Penguin Translated Texts) (36 page)

‘“My conch shell Panchajanya originated in the ocean. It had the colour of cow’s milk, jasmine, the moon, the stalk of a lotus or silver. I filled it with my breath. On seeing them fall, Shalva, the lord of Soubha, began to fight with me in a great battle of maya. He hurled iron clubs, barbed missiles, spears, lances, battleaxes and bhushundis incessantly at me. But I grasped them and destroyed all of them through my own maya. On seeing that his maya had been destroyed, he fought with me with mountain-peaks. O descendant of the Bharata lineage! At one moment, it seemed as if it was night. The next instant, it seemed as if it was morning. In one instant, it was a nice day. The next instant, it was a foul day. It was cold, followed by hot. Creating such maya, the enemy fought with me. But knowing this, I destroyed all this maya with my own. At the right time in battle, I scattered all of them with my arrows. O great king! O Kounteya! Then the sky seemed to blaze forth with a hundred suns. There were a hundred moons, and suddenly, there were ten thousand stars. Neither day nor night could be detected, nor the directions. I was then bewildered and attached the
prajna
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weapon. That weapon blew his arrows away, as if they were cotton. Then a tumultuous battle raged, making the hair stand up. O Indra among kings! Having obtained light, I again began to fight with the enemy.”’

‘Vasudeva said, “O tiger among men! King Shalva, the great enemy, was engaged in battle with me and again arose into
the sky. O great king! In his desire for victory, the evil-minded Shalva angrily hurled shataghnis, giant clubs, flaming lances, bludgeons and swords at me. With my fast arrows, I warded them off as they descended towards me from the sky. I sliced them into two and three parts. At that, a great uproar arose in the sky. He covered Daruka, my horses and my chariot with a hundred thousand nataparva arrows. Daruka was afflicted and spoke to me, ‘O brave one! Though I am suffering from Shalva’s arrows, I will stay here, because I must.’ On hearing these pitiful words of my charioteer, I looked at him and saw that the charioteer had been wounded by the arrows. O best of the Pandavas! There was not a spot on his chest, his head, his torso and his two arms that had not been wounded by an arrow. Blood freely flowed from the wounds the shower of arrows had caused. He looked like a mountain of red chalk after a shower of rain. O mighty-armed one! I saw that though the charioteer still held the reins in battle, he was fatigued. He was suffering from Shalva’s arrows and I cheered him.

‘“O descendant of the Bharata lineage! At this time, a man swiftly came to me from Dvaraka and spoke to me, in my chariot, like a well-wisher. O brave one! He was Ahuka’s servant and he carried a message from him. O Yudhisthira! Listen to what he told me in a sad and breathless voice. ‘O valiant one! Ahuka, the lord of Dvaraka, has sent a message for you. O Keshava! Know what your father’s friend has told you. O descendant of the Vrishni lineage!
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O invincible one! While you were restrained, Shalva has attacked Dvaraka today. He has forcibly killed Shura’s son.
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O Janardana! Therefore refrain from fighting here. Your greatest task now is to defend Dvaraka.’ Having heard his words, my mind was extremely distressed. I could not make up my mind about the right course of duty. O brave one! Having heard those unpleasant words, I mentally censured Satyaki, Baladeva and maharatha Pradyumna. O descendant of the Kuru lineage!
¹¹⁹
Having entrusted the task of protecting Dvaraka and my
father to them, I had come for the destruction of Soubha. How could the mighty-armed Baladeva, the destroyer of enemies, still be alive? What about Satyaki, Rukmini’s son, the valiant Charudeshna and the others led by Samba? The thought made me miserable. Had those tigers among men been alive, not even the wielder of the vajra
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himself would have been able to kill Shura’s son.
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But it was clear that Shura’s son had been killed and therefore it was clear that so had the others. I presumed that all the others, with Baladeva as the chief, had also been killed. I repeatedly kept thinking about all their destruction. O great king! Though I was greatly overwhelmed, I continued to fight with Shalva. O great king! I then saw that warrior, Shura’s son, himself fall from Soubha and at this, confusion overtook me. O lord of men! I saw the exact form of my father falling down, like Yayati fell down from heaven to earth after all the merits of his good deeds had been exhausted.
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I saw him faded, deprived of his headdress. His garments and hair were dishevelled. He could be seen falling, like a planet that has lost all its merits. O Kounteya! Then Sharnga, supreme among bows, fell down from my hand and in complete bewilderment, I sat down on my chariot. O descendant of the Bharata lineage! On seeing me bereft of my senses, a loud wail of lamentation arose from all my army, because they could see me on my chariot, as if I had lost my life. I saw the form of my father drop like a vulture
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from the sky, with his arms extended and his feet extended. O mighty-armed one! As he fell, powerful warriors struck at him with lances and spears in their hands. My heart began to tremble.

‘“O brave one! But I regained my senses in an instant. When I did, I could no longer see Soubha, or the enemies, or Shalva in that great battle. Nor could I see my old father. I then concluded in my mind that this was certainly nothing but maya. On regaining my senses, I again began to shoot hundreds of arrows.”’

‘Vasudeva said, “O best of the Bharata lineage! Then I grasped my beautiful bow and with my arrows, began to slice off the heads of the enemies of the gods who were on Soubha. From Sharnga, I unleashed excellently prepared arrows at King Shalva. They had the forms of virulent serpents, were infinitely energetic and were capable of rising to great heights. O extender of the Kuru lineage! At that time, I could no longer see Soubha. It had disappeared because of the maya and I was surprised. O great king! The masses of danavas had deformed faces and dishevelled hair. They let out a great roar as I stood there. In that great battle, with the intention of destroying them, I affixed a weapon that could only kill by sound
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and the uproar ceased. All those danavas who had raised the uproar were killed by my arrows, which blazed like the sun and which could strike only by sound. O great king! When the noise died down in one place, it arose again in another. I then shot my arrows at the other place where the noise arose. O descendant of the Bharata lineage! In this way, the asuras raised an uproar from all the ten directions, including the side and above, but I killed them.

‘“O valiant one! Soubha was capable of going anywhere at will. Having gone to Pragjyotisha,
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it suddenly reappeared, confounding my eyes. Then a danava in the form of a monkey, a destroyer of the world, suddenly covered me with a great shower of rocks. O Indra among kings! He repeatedly tried to kill me with this shower of mountains. Covered with those mountains, I looked like an anthill. O king! Covered with all those mountains, I became completely invisible, with my horses, my charioteer and my flag. At that, the heroes from the Vrishni lineage who were part of my troops became frightened and suddenly fled in all the directions. O lord of the earth!
On seeing me in that state, when I became invisible, loud wails of lamentation were heard everywhere, in heaven, on the earth and in the sky. O king! My well-wishers were miserable in their minds and cried and wept, immersed in grief and sorrow. O brave one! O one without decay! My enemies were delighted. My friends were miserable. Later, after I had triumphed, this is what I heard. Then I took up my beloved vajra weapon. It was capable of destroying all rocks and using it, I shattered all the mountains. O great king! My horses had been oppressed by that burden of rocks and stood there trembling, weak in breath and effort. On seeing me appear like a sun in the sky after the net of clouds had dispersed, all my well-wishers repeatedly raised cheers.

‘“O king! My charioteer bowed to me and with hands joined in salutation, said, ‘O Varshneya! Look. Shalva, the lord of Soubha, is there. O Krishna! Do not ignore him now and take care about the task. O mighty-armed Keshava! Forget all gentleness and friendship towards Shalva. Kill Shalva. Do not allow him to live. O valiant one! O slayer of enemies! An enemy should be killed with all one’s valour and even a weak enemy should not be disregarded by those who are strong, even if he is at one’s feet, not to speak of one who is standing in battle. O tiger among men! O lord! Use all your efforts to kill him. O best among those of the Vrishni lineage! Do not delay any more. This one cannot be killed through gentleless. O brave one! Nor in my view can he be your friend, since he fought with you and oppressed Dvaraka.’ O Kounteya! On hearing these words of my charioteer and knowing them to be true, I once again set my mind on the battle, with the intention of killing King Shalva and destroying Soubha.

‘“O brave one! I asked Daruka to hold steady for an instant. I then affixed my beloved agneya weapon to my bow. It was irresistible and divine. It could not be cut and it was extremely energetic. It had great radiance and was capable of destroying everything in battle—yakshas, rakshasas, danavas and perverse kings. This great one could reduce all of them to ashes. My chakra is as sharp as a razor. It is unblemished and is like time, or Yama himself. I invoked mantras
over this unmatched destroyer of enemies.
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I asked it to destroy, with its own valour, Soubha and whatever enemies of mine were inside it. Having uttered these words, I angrily flung it, with the valour of my arms. It arose into the sky in the form of Sudarshana
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and descended, like a second sun when the destruction of an era is near. It approached the city of Soubha, which had now lost its splendour. It sliced through the middle, just as a saw cuts through a piece of wood. Cut into two by the force of Sudarshana, Soubha fell down, like Tripura through Maheshvara’s arrow.
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When Soubha fell down, the chakra returned to my hand. I took it up once more and hurled it, saying, ‘Go to Shalva.’ Shalva was about to hurl a giant club in that great battle. The chakra suddenly blazed up with its energy and cut him into two. When that brave one was killed, the danavas were frightened and lost their senses. Chased by my arrows, they lamented and fled towards the sky. I then took my chariot close to Soubha. I blew on my conch shell and brought great delight into the hearts of my well-wishers. On seeing that the city, as high as Mount Meru, had been destroyed, with all its palaces and towers, and was in flames, the women fled. Thus it was that I killed Shalva in war and destroyed Soubha. Then I again returned to Anarta and delighted my well-wishers. O king! It was because of this that I could not go to Nagasahrya.
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O destroyer of enemy warriors! Had I been there, Suyodhana would not have been alive.”’

Vaishampayana said, ‘Having thus spoken to Kourava,
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Madhusudana, the mighty-armed Supreme Being, took his leave from the intelligent Pandavas and got ready to depart. The mighty-armed one paid his respects to Dharmaraja Yudhishthira.
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The king and
the mighty-armed Bhima inhaled the fragrance of his head.
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He asked Subhadra and Abhimanyu to ascend his golden chariot.
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Having been duly shown homage by the Pandavas, Krishna then ascended the chariot. Having comforted Yudhishthira, Krishna left for Dvaraka on a chariot that had the radiance of the sun and to which, Sainya and Sugriva had been yoked. When Dasharha
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had left, Dhrishtadyumna, the son of Prishata,
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took Droupadi’s sons with him and left for his own city. After having met the Pandavas, Dhrishtaketu, the king of Chedi, took his sister with him and left for the beautiful city of Shuktimati.
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O descendant of the Bharata lineage! The Kekayas also took their leave from the infinitely energetic Kounteya. Having paid their respects to all the Pandavas, they departed. Then the brahmanas and the vaishyas who lived there were also repeatedly urged to go, but they refused to abandon the Pandavas. O Indra among kings! O bull among the Bharata lineage! Those great-souled ones remained in Kamyaka and the crowd that surrounded them was large and extraordinary. Honouring the great-souled brahmanas, in due course of time, Yudhishthira instructed his servants to yoke the chariots.’

Vaishampayana said, ‘When the lord of the Dasharhas
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had left, Yudhishthira, Bhimasena, Arjuna, the twins, Krishna
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and
the priest
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ascended chariots that were extremely expensive and yoked to supreme horses. In forms that resembled that of Bhutapati,
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the warriors left for the forest.
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They gave golden coins, garments and cattle to those who were knowledgeable in studies, letters and mantras.
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They were led by twenty armed servants with bows, shields, yellow arrows,
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bowstrings, implements and arrows. All of them followed behind. Indrasena
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swiftly collected the garments of the princess,
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her nurses, maidservants and ornaments into another chariot and followed them.

‘Then the citizens went to the best of the Kurus.
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With dejected minds, they circumambulated him. All the brahmanas happily pronounced their blessings, as did all the chiefs of Kurujangala. With his brothers, Dharmaraja happily greeted them back. The great-souled lord stood there for some time, to see the great numbers of people in Kurujangala. The great-souled bull among the Kurus felt for them the way a father feels for his sons. For the chief of the Bharata lineage, they too felt the way sons feel for their father. The people approached in large numbers and stood around the chief of the Kurus. They lamented, “Oh, Protector!”, “Oh, dharma!” and the like, and tears rolled down all their shamed faces. “You are the supreme lord of the Kurus and we are subjects.
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O Dharmaraja! Where are you going, leaving all the inhabitants of the cities and the countryside, like a father deserting his sons? Shame on the cruel-minded son of
Dhritarashtra! Shame on the evil-minded Soubala and Karna! Those evil ones wish for destruction. O Indra among men! You are always devoted to dharma, but they harm you. O great-souled one! You have yourself established a great and unmatched city that is as radiant as a city of the gods. Shatakratuprastha is unfailing in deeds. O Dharmaraja! You are ours and where are you going, leaving us and that? Great-souled Maya built an unmatched sabha for you that was like the sabhas of the gods. It was like divine maya and had divine mysteries. O Dharmaraja! You are ours and where are you going, leaving us and that?” Then energetic Bibhatsu, learned in dharma, kama and artha, spoke in a loud voice to the gathering, “The king will make his home in the forest so as to rob the enemies of all their fame. With the brahmanas at the forefront, separately and collectively, let all the ascetics approach us and bless us. Let those who are learned in dharma and artha exactly tell us how we will attain our supreme success.” O king! When these words were uttered by Arjuna, all the brahmanas and all the varnas were delighted and rejoiced. They circumambulated the one who was supreme among all those who uphold dharma.
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They said farewell to Partha,
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Vrikodara, Dhananjaya, Yajnaseni
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and the twins. Then they took Yudhishthira’s permission and sorrowfully returned to the kingdom, to wherever they lived.’