Mahabharata: Volume 4 (10 page)

Vaishampayana said, ‘King Susharma of Trigata, the leader of a large number of chariots, had been repeatedly defeated earlier by Kichaka, the suta of the Matsyas, accompanied by the Salveyakas. When the time was right, that lord swiftly spoke these words of grave import. O lord! His forces, together with those of his relatives, had earlier been defeated by that powerful one. He now looked at Karna and spoke to Duryodhana. “In earlier times, using his greater powers, the king of Matsya oppressed my kingdom. The powerful Kichaka was his general. The evil-souled one was terrible and invincible and was famous on earth because of his valour. That wicked and cruel one has now been killed by the gandharvas. O king! On his being killed, it is my view that Virata has lost his insolence and is without endeavour and without refuge. O unblemished one! If it pleases you, let me, all the Kouravas and the great-souled Karna go there. I think that this occurrence requires immediate action that will fetch us benefits. Let all of us go to that kingdom, which is full of foodgrains. We will take away all its jewels and many riches. We will rob the villages and provinces and divide them up. We will invade his city by force and take away the many thousands of excellent cattle. O lord of the earth! The Kouravas, together with the Trigartas, arrayed well, will take away all the cattle. We will rob him of his virility and force an alliance on him. We will kill all his soldiers and bring him under our suzerainty. Having brought him under our subjugation, we will dwell there happily. There is no doubt that this will increase your strength.”

‘On hearing these words, Karna told the king, “Susharma has spoken words that are appropriate to the occasion and they are for our welfare. Let our forces yoke their mounts and swiftly march
out. O unblemished one! Let us arrange our forces, or whatever else that you desire. Consult with the wise elders among the Kurus, our grandfather, the preceptor Drona and Sharadvan’s son, Kripa. Do what all of them think and let us advance. We should advance quickly and overpower that lord of the earth. What do we have to do with the Pandavas? They are weak in riches, forces and manliness. They have either been destroyed, or have reached Yama’s abode. O king! Let us attack Virata’s kingdom without any anxiety. Let us grab his cattle and his many other riches.” King Duryodhana swiftly accepted Vaikartana
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Karna’s words. He himself instructed Duhshasana, who was always devoted to his commands. “Consult with the elders and swiftly yoke the army. As instructed, we will go there, with all the Kouravas. As instructed, let maharatha King Susharma also go there, with all his forces and vehicles. Let him go to Matysa first, but concealing his intentions. We will follow him, but a day later. Preparing ourselves well, we will advance towards Matsya’s territory. Suddenly arriving in Virata’s city, we will swiftly subdue the cowherds and take away their great riches. There are hundreds of thousands of handsome cattle, with all the qualities. We will divide our forces into two and rob him of these.” O lord of the earth! As commanded, Susharma marched in a south-eastern direction. He began to rob the cattle on the seventh lunar day of
dharmapaksha
.
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O king! On the following day, the eighth day, all the Kouravas joined forces and robbed thousands of cowsheds.’

Vaishampayana said, ‘O great king! The infinitely energetic and great-souled Pandavas had adopted disguises and dwelt in Virata’s excellent city. While they lived there, the promised period elapsed. They performed tasks for Virata, lord of the earth. O
descendant of the Bharata lineage! After the end of the thirteenth year, Susharma swiftly robbed a large number of cattle. A herdsman then arrived at the city with great speed and descended from his chariot. He saw the king of Matsya seated, wearing earrings and bracelets. He was surrounded by brave warriors, all adorned with earrings and armlets. He was surrounded by his advisers, together with the Pandavas, bulls among men. The great king, the extender of the kingdom, was seated in his assembly hall. He approached Virata, bowed in worship, and said, “The Trigartas have vanquished us, together with our relatives, in battle. They are taking away hundreds and thousands of cattle. O Indra among men! Rescue your animals quickly, or they will be lost.” When he heard this, the king of Matsya assembled his army.

‘There were a large number of chariots, elephants and horses. There were flags and infantry. The kings and the princes donned their armour, bright and colourful and prepared well. Virata’s beloved brother, Shatanika, donned armour made out of molten gold and made firm with an underlay of iron. Madirashva, younger to Shatanika, wore invincible and firm armour that was constructed well. The king of Matsya wore impenetrable armour, adorned with a hundred suns, a hundred circles, a hundred dots and a hundred eyes. There were one hundred lotuses and
sougandhika
s
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embossed on Suryadatta’s armour, plated with gold and as bright as the sun. Virata’s eldest son, the brave maharatha Shankha, wore shining armour made out of iron, with one hundred eyes embossed on it. There were hundreds of maharathas armoured in this way. Armed and ready to fight, they looked like gods. Their chariots were bright and large and had been prepared well. Each of the maharathas yoked horses with golden harnesses to their respective chariots. Matysa’s glorious standard was raised on his golden and divine chariot, resplendent like the sun and the moon. There were many other pennants of different types, adorned in gold. The brave kshatriyas affixed them to their respective chariots.

‘Then the king of Matsya spoke to his younger brother Shatanika. “In my view, there is no doubt that Kanka, Ballava, the one in charge
of the cows,
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and the brave Damagranthi will fight. Give them chariots with flags and pennants. They should have colourful armour, both firm and malleable. Let them wear these on their bodies and give them weapons. Those men have the bodies of brave ones, like the trunks of kings of elephants. It is my view that they have never refused to fight.” Having heard the king’s words, Shatanika, whose understanding was swift, followed the king’s instructions and gave chariots to the Parthas—Sahadeva, the king,
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Bhima and Nakula. Those charioteers placed devotion to the king in the forefront and happily yoked the chariots that had been given by the lord of men. Their deeds were unsullied and they donned the colourful armour, both firm and malleable, that had been given by Virata. Those scorchers of enemies donned them on their bodies and were armed. All of them were skilled in fighting and swift, but were still in disguise. Those bulls among the Kurus followed Virata—the four brave Pandava brothers, with truth as their valour. There were terrible mad elephants, musth strewing down their temples. They were sixty years old, with well-formed tusks, and were like monsoon clouds. They had skilled riders as mounts, trained in elephants, and these followed the king, like moving mountains. The foremost and skilled among the followers of Matsya were obedient and happy. They had eight thousand chariots, one thousand elephants and sixty thousand horses, and advanced. O bull among the Bharata lineage! O great king! As it emerged, Virata’s beautiful army was resplendent and followed the footprints of the cattle. Virata’s army were splendid. There were firmly armed infantry and a large number of elephants, horses and chariots.’

Vaishampayana said, ‘Emerging from the city, the brave and armed ones arranged themselves in battle formsations. The
Matsyas encountered the Trigartas when the sun had gone down. The Trigartas and the Matsyas were powerful and irrepressible in battle. The immensely strong ones roared at each other in anger, eager to grasp the cattle. Brave ones, skilled in handling elephants, were ascended on elephants and goaded them with spikes and hooks. There ensued a terrible and tumultuous fight, which made the body hair stand up. O king! As the sun went down, it was like that between the gods and the asuras. Dust arose from the ground and nothing could be seen. Covered with dust raised by the soldiers, birds fell down on the ground. The sun disappeared behind the thick shower of arrows that were released. The firmament was ablaze, as if with fireflies. The bows of the archers were plated with gold. Those brave ones in the world shot with the right hand and the left and were smitten down. Chariots fought with chariots and infantry with infantry. Cavalry fought with cavalry and elephants with mighty elephants. O king! As they engaged in battle, they struck each other with swords, sharp spears, lances, spikes and javelins. The brave ones possessed arms that were like clubs. They struck each other in that battle, but the brave ones were unable to vanquish the enemy heroes. Severed heads could be seen, covered with dust, with mangled lips, but with the noses intact, ornamented and adorned with earrings and with the hair dressed. In that great battle, the bodies of kshatriyas could be seen there, shattered into many parts by the arrows, resembling the trunks of shala trees. The earth was covered with heads wearing earrings and smeared with sandalwood, like the bodies of serpents. The earth was covered with dust and the flow of blood made this subside. But the terrible and dreadful combat went on, without any restraint.

‘Shatanika killed one hundred. Vishalaksha killed four hundred.
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Those maharathas penetrated the large army of the Trigartas. They engaged in hand to hand, hair to hair and nail to nail combat. On noticing the collection of chariots of the Trigartas, they penetrated with Suryadatta at the front and Madirashva at the back.
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Virata
destroyed five hundred chariots in that battle. He killed hundreds of horses and five maharathas. Following different routes, that leader of charioteers penetrated that mass of chariots, until he encountered Susharma of Trigarta, mounted on a golden chariot, in that field of battle. Those two great-souled and immensely strong ones struck each other, roaring at each other like bulls in a pen of cows. Those charioteers circled each other on chariots. They swiftly discharged arrows, like clouds unleashing torrents of rain. Intolerant and angry, skilled in use of weapons, they attacked each other with sharp arrows, swords, lances and clubs. Then the king pierced Susharma with ten arrows and each of his four horses with five arrows each. But Susharma was irrepressible in battle and supreme in use of weapons. He struck the king of the Matsyas with fifty sharp arrows. In the evening, with everything covered in dust, the soldiers of the king of Matsya and Susharma could not see each other.’

Vaishampayana said, ‘O descendant of the Bharata lineage! The world was then covered in darkness and dust. The warriors paused for an instant, without breaking the battle formations. Then the moon arose, dispelling the darkness. It made the night clear and gladdened the kshatriyas engaged in battle. When everything could be seen, the battle resumed. It assumed a terrible form and they could not see each other. Susharma of Trigarta, and his younger brother, rushed at the king of Matsya and surrounded him from all sides with chariots. Descending from their chariots, those bulls among the kshatriyas, grasped clubs in their hands and dashed towards the horses.
¹⁹
The powerful ones were angry and attacked each other with clubs, swords, battleaxes and sharp arrows that had fine and
yellow tips.
²⁰
Having vanquished all the forces of the king of Matysa with his army, Susharma, the lord of Trigarta, skilfully defeated Matsya and rushed at the great-spirited Virata. He separately killed the horses and the charioteers who were on both sides. With the king of Matsya having lost his chariot, he
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captured him alive. Susharma molested him, like one driven by lust acting towards a weeping bride. He made him ascend his own chariot and departed with his swift steeds.

‘Virata was supremely strong. But he was bereft of his chariot and was captured. The Matsyas, oppressed by the Trigartas, were frightened and fled. On seeing that they were terrified, Yudhishthira, Kunti’s son, spoke to the mighty-armed Bhimasena, the destroyer of enemies. “Susharma of Trigarta has captured the king of the Matsyas. O mighty-armed one! Free him, so that he does not fall into the clutches of the enemy. All of us have lived happily in his house. All our wishes have been met and we have been honoured well. O Bhimasena! You must act thus and free us of the debt we owe him for our dwelling there.” Bhimasena replied, “O king! On your instructions, I will free him. Behold my extremely great deed when I fight with the enemies. Resorting to the strength of your arms, stand here, on one side, together with our brothers. Witness my valour now. This gigantic tree stands here, with a well-formed trunk that is like a club. I will uproot it and drive away the enemies.” On seeing that his brave brother was glancing at the tree, like an angry elephant, Dharmaraja Yudhishthira spoke to him. “O Bhima! Do not act rashly. Let the tree stand there. You should not perform such superhuman deeds with a tree. O descendant of the Bharata lineage! People will then recognize you to be Bhima. Get hold of some other weapon that is used by men—a bow, or a spear, a sword or a battleaxe. O Bhima! Grasp a weapon used by humans and free the lord of the earth, so that you are not noticed by others. The immensely strong twins will guard your wheels. O son!
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Thus, arrayed in battle
formation, free the king of Matsya.” Then all of them goaded their horses. Using divine weapons, they impatiently attacked the Trigartas. On seeing that the Pandavas were returning on their chariots, Virata’s large army took heart again. They were extremely enraged and performed wonderful deeds in battle.

‘Yudhishthira, Kunti’s son, killed one thousand. Bhima made seven hundred others see the world hereafter. Nakula killed seven hundred with his arrows and the powerful Sahadeva killed three hundred heroes. O bull among men! Following Yudhishthira’s orders, those bulls among men, destroyed that large army of Trigarta. Maharatha King Yudhishthira swiftly rushed at Susharma and showered him with arrows. Susharma was extremely enraged and impatiently pierced Yudhishthira with nine arrows and his horses with four. O king! Then Vrikodara, Kunti’s son, approached Susharma and destroyed his horses. Having killed the warriors stationed at the rear with supreme arrows, he angrily brought down the charioteer from the chariot. The brave one who protected his
²³
wheels was famous by the name of Shonashva. He was frightened on seeing that Trigarta had been robbed of his chariot. Then Virata descended from Susharma’s chariot. Grasping his
²⁴
club, he powerfully attacked him. Though he was old, with a club in his hand, he attacked him like one who was young. Bhima, terrible in form and wearing earrings, jumped down from his chariot and grasped the king of Trigarta, like a lion grasping small deer. Bereft of his chariot, maharatha Trigarta was thus grasped. All of Trigarta’s soldiers were afflicted by fear and dispersed.