‘ “As he seemed to be dancing around, he,189 best among strikers, fearlessly challenged him and spoke to him in sweet words. ‘O king! O one with eyes like the petals of a lotus! You are foremost among those who are borne into a battle. You are known as someone who can withstand the vajra and you are foremost in strength and manliness. You have weapons in your hands and you are using your arms to stretch your giant bow. As you extend it with your arms, you seem to be like a large cloud. With great force, you are showering down torrents of arrows on the enemy. In this battle, with my exception, I do not see anyone who is your match in bravery. You have single-handedly crushed many chariots, elephants, foot soldiers and horses, like an extremely fierce and powerful lion kills large numbers of deer. The sky and the earth resound with the great noise of your chariot. O king! At the end of the monsoon, you are filling the earth and its crops.190 You are taking out sharp arrows from your quiver and they are like venomous serpents. You should fight with me alone, like Andhaka fighting with Tryambaka.’191 Having been thus addressed, he192 agreed.
‘ “Asking him to strike, Drona’s son struck him and Malayadhvaja struck him back with a barbed arrow. Drona’s son, supreme among preceptors, smiled and struck Pandya with fierce arrows that were like the flames of fire and could penetrate the inner organs. Ashvatthama then released nine other sharp and iron arrows that were tufted with the feathers of herons and covered the ten directions. Pandya severed five of these with five sharp arrows. However, four swiftly struck his horses and robbed them of their lives.193 Pandya, who was as radiant as the sun, severed the bowstring of Drona’s son with sharp arrows. However, Drona’s son, the destroyer of enemies, fixed another string to his bow and shot thousands of arrows at Pandya. He enveloped the sky and all the directions with his torrents of arrows. Pandya, the great-souled bull among men, knew that the arrows shot by Drona’s son were inexhaustible. However, he made efforts to cut down the arrows of Drona’s son and then used sharp arrows to rob the ones who were protecting his chariot wheels of their lives. On seeing his dexterity, Drona’s son stretched his bow into a circle and showered down arrows, like rain pouring from a cloud. O venerable one! That encounter lasted for an eighth part of a day.194 Nevertheless, Drona’s son shot as many weapons as could be carried on eight carts, drawn by eight bullocks. He was like an angry Destroyer, or like the Destroyer of the Destroyer. Almost every one who saw him there lost his senses. The preceptor’s son showered down arrows like rain on the soldiers, like rain pouring on the earth, with its mountains and trees, at the end of summer. That shower of arrows released by Drona’s son, who was like a cloud, was extremely difficult to withstand. Pandya swiftly countered it with a vayavya weapon195 and roared like a gale. His standard was smeared with sandalwood paste and aloe and he looked like Mount Malaya. As he was roaring, Drona’s son severed his standard and killed his four horses. He then killed his charioteer with another arrow. With an arrow that was in the shape of a half-moon, he severed the bow that thundered like a giant cloud and shattered the chariot into small fragments. Having countered his weapons with his own weapons and having cut down all his weapons, Drona’s son found the opportunity to kill him in the battle. There was a supreme tusker that had been prepared well and its rider had been killed. As it was swiftly advancing towards him, as if against a rival, the powerful one196 climbed onto it, roaring like a lion. Stationed on it, the lord of Malaya looked like a mountain with two peaks.197 He swiftly urged the elephant forward. He picked up a spear that was as radiant as the rays of the sun and hurled that weapon with supreme force, care and anger. The lord of the mountains hurled this towards the preceptor’s son and roared. The head of Drona’s son was decorated with a diadem. It was decorated with supreme gems, jewels and diamonds and adorned with excellent cloth, garlands and pearls. It was as dazzling as the sun, the moon, the planets and the fire. Being severely struck,198 it was shattered into fragments and fell down, like a large forest when it is struck by the great Indra’s vajra, or when the summit of a mountain falls down on the ground. At this, he199 blazed with great rage, like a king of the serpents that has been struck by the foot. He picked up fourteen arrows that were capable of killing the enemy and each of these was like Yama’s staff. With five, he served the feet and trunk of the elephant and with three, the king’s arms and head. With six, he killed the six splendid maharathas who were following the king of Pandya. The king’s arms were long and smeared with the best of sandalwood paste. They were adorned with gold, pearls, gems and diamonds. Those arms of the king fell down on the ground and writhed around like serpents that had been killed by Tarkshya.200 His head possessed a face with the complexion of the full moon. His eyes were coppery red with rage and his nose was excellent. With its earrings, the head fell down on the ground and was as resplendent as the moon between two Vishakhas.201 The preceptor’s son was accomplished in learning and when he completed this task, your son, the king, was delighted and surrounded by his well-wishers, honoured him, like the lord of the immortals honouring Vishnu after he had vanquished Bali.” ’202
Chapter 1166(16)
‘Dhritarashtra 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.203 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,204 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 herd205 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.206 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,207 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.208 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.” ’
Chapter 1167(17)
‘Sanjaya 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 mlecchas209 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’s210 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, he211 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.212 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.213 When he was killed, the excellent ones from Anga attacked Nakula on elephants. The best of flags fluttered and the sides214 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 soldiers215 were soon seen like a river with shattered banks. Having thus agitated the soldiers,216 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.217 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.’218 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!219 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, he220 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.221 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.
Mahabharata: Volume 7 Page 10