Parva 10
Ancient Vyāsa Sanskrit10.1.1 Saṃjaya said: Then those heroes, banded together, set out facing southward, and as the hour of sunset drew near they came to the neighborhood of the camp.
10.1.2 Hastily unyoking their mounts, they grew afraid; and reaching a dense thicket, they settled there, hidden from view.
10.1.3 They halted not far off, near the army's encampment, hacked by sharp weapons and gashed with wounds on every side.
10.1.4 Breathing long, hot sighs, they brooded upon the Pāṇḍavas, having heard the terrible uproar of the Pāṇḍavas hungry for victory.
10.1.5 Afraid of pursuit, in terror they fled again, this time turned eastward; and after going on for a short while, their mounts spent and themselves athirst,
10.1.6 those mighty archers could bear it no longer, falling under the sway of wrath and indignation; tormented by the slaying of their king, they halted for a moment.
10.1.7 Dhṛtarāṣṭra said: Unbelievable is this deed wrought by Bhīma, Saṃjaya—that my son, whose strength was that of ten thousand elephants, has been struck down.
10.1.8 Unslayable by all beings, his frame hard as the thunderbolt, my son in his youth has been killed in battle by the Pāṇḍavas, Saṃjaya.
10.1.9 It is not possible, O son of Gavalgaṇa, for men to overstep what fate decrees—since, having closed with the sons of Pṛthā in battle, my son has been brought down.
10.1.10 Surely my heart is made of the very substance of stone, Saṃjaya, for on hearing that a hundred sons are slain it has not burst into a thousand shards.
10.1.11 How shall an aged couple endure the loss of their sons? For I have no heart to dwell within the realm of the son of Pāṇḍu.
10.1.12 How, having been father of a king and myself a king, Saṃjaya, am I to live on as a servant, at the command of the son of Pāṇḍu?
10.1.13 Having commanded the whole earth and stood at its very summit, Saṃjaya, how shall I now become a servant, I who once wrought deeds past all bounds?
10.1.14 How, Saṃjaya, shall I be able to hear the words of Bhīma, by whom alone my full hundred sons have been slain?
10.1.15 True has been made the word of that great-souled Vidura, for that son of mine, Saṃjaya, would not act upon his counsel.
10.1.16 When my son Duryodhana had been slain by foul means, dear Saṃjaya, what then did Kṛtavarman, Kṛpa, and the son of Droṇa do?
10.1.17 Saṃjaya said: Having gone on, O king, your men halted not far away, and beheld a terrible forest thick with manifold trees and creepers.
10.1.18 Resting a while, with their fine horses now watered, at the hour of the sun's setting they reached a vast forest—
10.1.19 frequented by herds of varied beasts, alive with birds of every kind, mantled in diverse trees and creepers, haunted by manifold serpents,
10.1.20 strewn with many waters and graced with ponds, covered over with a hundred lotus-beds and bright with blue lilies.
10.1.21 Entering that fearsome forest and gazing about on every side, they then beheld a banyan veiled in a thousand boughs.
10.1.22 Approaching that banyan, O king, those great chariot-warriors, foremost among men, looked upon that finest of forest-lords.
10.1.23 Dismounting from their chariots and unharnessing their horses, they sipped water as the rite ordains, O lord, and sat in worship of the twilight.
10.1.24 Then, when the day-maker had passed to the foremost of mountains in the west, night came on, the sustainer of the whole world.
10.1.25 Adorned with planets, lunar mansions, and stars scattered abroad, the sky shone like a fair garment, lovely to behold on every side.
10.1.26 The creatures that roam by night began faintly to stir abroad, while the creatures that move by day passed into the power of sleep.
10.1.27 Dreadful grew the cry of the night-roaming creatures, the eaters of raw flesh rejoiced, and the terrible night had come.
10.1.28 In that fearful onset of night, filled with anguish and grief, Kṛtavarman, Kṛpa, and the son of Droṇa sat down together side by side.
10.1.29 Seated there, grieving all about the banyan, they brooded on that very matter now past undoing—the ruin of Kurus and Pāṇḍavas alike.
10.1.30 Their limbs overcome by sleep, they sank to the surface of the earth, bound fast by weariness and torn with arrows of every kind.
10.1.31 Then the two great chariot-warriors, Kṛpa and the Bhoja, fell under the sway of sleep—men used to ease and undeserving of pain—and lay down upon the bare earth; and those two slept, O great king, worn out with toil and sorrow.
10.1.32 But the son of Droṇa, O Bhārata, fallen under the sway of wrath and indignation, could in no way win his way to sleep, hissing like a serpent.
10.1.33 Sleep he gained not at all, burning with measureless fury; and the mighty-armed one let his gaze wander over that forest, terrible to behold.
10.1.34 Surveying that quarter of the wood, haunted by manifold creatures, the mighty-armed one beheld the banyan thronged with crows.
10.1.35 There thousands of crows were passing that night, sleeping at ease, O scion of Kuru, each roosting apart in its own place.
10.1.36 While those crows slept untroubled all about, he beheld of a sudden an owl come gliding in, dreadful to behold—
10.1.37 loud of voice and huge of body, tawny-eyed, of dun and ruddy hue, with a very long beak and talons, swift as a fine-winged eagle.
10.1.38 That bird, uttering a soft cry, as if stealing in unseen, made then for a bough of the banyan, O Bhārata.
10.1.39 Alighting upon that bough of the banyan, that bird, the bane of crows, slew the sleeping crows in great numbers.
10.1.40 From some it sheared the wings, and the heads of some it lopped away; and the feet of others it broke off—that creature whose weapons were its claws.
10.1.41 In an instant the strong bird slew all that stood within the path of its sight; and with their severed limbs and bodies, O lord of peoples, the whole compass of the banyan was strewn over on every side.
10.1.42 Having slain those crows, the owl rejoiced, that slayer of foes, taking its vengeance upon its enemies according to its heart's desire.
10.1.43 Beholding that stealthy deed wrought by the owl in the night, the son of Droṇa, his resolve shaped to that very mind, pondered alone:
10.1.44 "A lesson has this bird taught me for my own warfare, fit for the destruction of foes; and I deem the moment for it has come.
10.1.45 The Pāṇḍavas, flushed with the show of victory, cannot be slain by me this day—they are strong, full of zeal, sure of their aim, and fierce in the strike; yet I have sworn their slaughter in the presence of my king.
10.1.46 To take up a course like the moth's rush into the fire, that ends in one's own undoing—for one who fights by fair rule, the loss of life is beyond doubt; but by stratagem success may come, and a great destruction of the foe.
10.1.47 In such a case, the course that proves certain, set against the course of doubtful issue—that men hold in high esteem, those who are versed in the science of statecraft.
10.1.48 And whatever in this would be blameworthy, censured, and condemned by the world—that too must a man do who walks in the warrior's law.
10.1.49 And all manner of blameworthy, contemptible, and crooked deeds have been done at every step by the Pāṇḍavas, men of unmastered souls.
10.1.50 On this matter two verses sung of old are heard, framed by ponderers of the law, who looked to right reason—seers of the truth of things, who grasped its inmost sense:
10.1.51 "When the enemy's host is spent, when it is scattered, when it is taking food, at its setting out and at its entering in—then is the foe's force to be struck.
10.1.52 Spent with sleep at the dead of night, and likewise when its leaders are lost, when its warriors are broken, and when the force is split in two—"
10.1.53 Thus did the valorous son of Droṇa form his resolve—to slay in the night, while they slept, the sons of Pāṇḍu together with the Pāñcālas.
10.1.54 Fixing his mind upon that cruel purpose, and resolving on it again and again, he roused those two as they slept—his maternal uncle and the Bhoja.
10.1.55 He could find there no fitting answer, held back by shame; and after musing as it were a moment, choked with tears, he spoke:
10.1.56 "Slain is King Duryodhana, the matchless hero of mighty strength, for whose sake this feud of ours with the Pāṇḍavas was joined.
10.1.57 Alone, by many base men, that lord of eleven armies, whose valor was pure, was brought down in battle by Bhīmasena.
10.1.58 By base Vṛkodara this most cruel thing was done—that he ground with his foot the head of a king consecrated with the royal anointing.
10.1.59 The Pāñcālas roared aloud, they shouted and they laughed; in their hundreds, exultant, they blew their conches and beat their kettledrums.
10.1.60 The tumultuous din of their instruments, mingled with the blare of conches and borne upon the wind, dreadful, seems to fill all the quarters of the sky.
10.1.61 Of horses neighing and of elephants trumpeting, and the lions' roar of warriors—this mighty clamor is heard.
10.1.62 From the eastern quarter, where the exultant ones roar fiercely, the very clatter of chariot-rims is heard, making the hair stand on end.
10.1.63 This slaughter of the sons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra has been wrought by the Pāṇḍavas; and we three alone are left in that great carnage.
10.1.64 Some who had the strength of a hundred elephants, some skilled in every weapon, have been slain by the sons of Pāṇḍu—I deem it the turning of Time.
10.1.65 Surely this end was fated to be, in very truth, by the working of that deed—seeing that such was its issue, even when the hard task had been accomplished.
10.1.66 But if the wisdom of you both has not, through bewilderment, been diminished, now that this great cause is undone, let that which is our welfare be spoken."
10.2.1 Kṛpa said: All your words, well grounded in reason, have I heard, O lord; yet hear now some word of mine also, O mighty-armed one.
10.2.2 All men are bound, held fast, by two kinds of working—by fate and by human effort; beyond these two there is nothing.
10.2.3 For deeds are not brought to fulfillment by fate alone, O noblest one, nor yet by effort alone; success comes only from the joining of the two.
10.2.4 By these two together are all undertakings bound, the lowest and the highest alike; and they are seen both set in motion and held back in every way.
10.2.5 The rain-cloud, pouring upon a mountain, what fruit does it bring to pass? And withholding its rain from a ploughed field, what fruit does it then bring to pass?
10.2.6 The exertion that lacks fate's favor, and fate that lacks exertion—each is everywhere in vain; which of them, then, comes first, who can decide?
10.2.7 As, when the god of rain has poured well and the field is rightly ploughed, the seed yields a rich abundance—even so is success that is wrought by man.
10.2.8 Of these two, fate ordains its course wholly by its own will; but the wise, taking their stand on diligence, strive on through human effort.
10.2.9 For by these two are all the aims of men's undertakings governed, O bull among men; and they are seen both striving forward and likewise held back.
10.2.10 Even human effort, once made, comes to its fulfillment by fate; and so for the doer of that deed the fruit is brought to pass.
10.2.11 But the exertion of able men, when fate is wanting, is seen in the world to bear no fruit, even though rightly carried through.
10.2.12 Thereupon the slothful among men, those who are dull of spirit, decry exertion; but to the wise that thinking is not pleasing.
10.2.13 For most often a deed once done is seen to bear no fruit on earth; and again, a deed not done is, to one's sorrow, seen to have borne great fruit.
10.2.14 If one who makes no effort yet gains something by mere chance, or one who, having made his effort, gains nothing—both these are in sorry case alike.
10.2.15 The capable man is able to live; the slothful man does not prosper in ease. Here in the world of the living it is the capable, for the most part, who are seen to be the friends of their own welfare.
10.2.16 If a capable man, for all his undertaking of deeds, does not reap their fruit, no blame whatever can fall upon him, and he yet arrives at the truth of things.
10.2.17 But he who in the world wins a reward without having done the work, sitting idle, makes himself liable to censure and for the most part becomes an object of hatred.
10.2.18 He who, disregarding this truth, conducts himself otherwise brings ruin upon himself; this is not the way of the wise.
10.2.19 When effort is wanting in human exertion, or again in destiny, or in both these causes together, then endeavor proves fruitless; and a deed that lacks human exertion does not succeed here.
10.2.20 But he who, having paid homage to the gods, rightly strives after his aims—capable and endowed with skill—is not struck down in vain.
10.2.21 And this, again, is right striving: that a man attends upon his elders, asks them what is best, and acts upon their salutary counsel.
10.2.22 Rising up again and again, one should always question those honored by the aged; they are the supreme root of his enterprise, and success is said to be rooted in them.
10.2.23 He who, having heard the word of the elders, then applies himself to exertion, soon obtains in full measure the fruit of that exertion.
10.2.24 The man who strives after his ends out of passion, anger, fear, or greed—without self-mastery and full of arrogance—swiftly falls away from prosperity.
10.2.25 This very aim was begun by Duryodhana—greedy, short-sighted—without due preparation, undertaken in folly and without reflection.
10.2.26 Disregarding those of benevolent counsel, taking counsel instead with the wicked, and though dissuaded, he wrought enmity with the Pāṇḍavas, who were the worthier in virtue.
10.2.27 Of exceedingly evil character even before, he ought not now to give way to despair; for when an undertaking has come to ruin, it is the unheeded word of friends that scorches the heart.
10.2.28 But because we followed in the train of that wicked man, this great and terrible calamity has now come upon us as well.
10.2.29 And my mind, even now tormented by this disaster, though it ponders, cannot in any way discern what is for its own good.
10.2.30 A man bewildered should question his wise and well-wishing friends; and whatever they, being asked, may say, that should be done accordingly.
10.2.31 Let us, then, go and approach Dhṛtarāṣṭra and Gāndhārī, and the great-minded Vidura too, and inquire of them.
10.2.32 And whatever they, being asked, may declare to be best for us in the time at hand, that we should thereupon do—such is my settled conviction.
10.2.33 From the non-undertaking of tasks no end is ever accomplished; and those whose task does not succeed though human exertion has been made are stricken down by destiny—about them there need be no debate.
10.3.1 Saṃjaya said: Having heard the auspicious words of Kṛpa, joined with righteousness and reason, Aśvatthāman, O great king, was filled with grief and sorrow.
10.3.2 Burning with grief as though by blazing fire, he then hardened his mind to cruelty and addressed those two in reply.
10.3.3 In each and every man his own particular understanding seems fair to him, and all alike take satisfaction, each in his own wisdom.
10.3.4 For every man in the world deems himself the wiser; to each his own self is held in high regard, and each man praises his own self.
10.3.5 For every man's own wisdom is fixed in self-approval; men blame another's understanding and praise their own again and again.
10.3.6 Those whose judgment, through the play of differing causes, happens to agree in an undertaking take satisfaction in one another and esteem each other highly, again and again.
10.3.7 Yet in one and the same man this or that understanding, from time to time, undergoes a reversal as circumstances change, and one judgment falls out of accord with another.
10.3.8 For because the minds of men are unfathomable, and especially so, it is upon coming into some derangement of mind that this or that understanding is born in them.
10.3.9 Just as a skilled physician, having duly diagnosed a disease, prepares a remedy by sound method for the sake of its cure, O lord—
10.3.10 so do men form a judgment for the accomplishment of a task; yet though endowed with their own wisdom, men afterward find fault with that very judgment.
10.3.11 In youth a mortal is beguiled by one cast of mind, in middle life by another, and in old age he comes to favor yet another judgment.
10.3.12 And again, upon meeting with terrible adversity, or with prosperity of like measure, a man, O Bhoja, undergoes a transformation of his understanding.
10.3.13 In one and the same man this or that understanding arises from time to time, and because his wisdom is impermanent, that very judgment ceases to please him.
10.3.14 But the resolve which, having decided according to his wisdom, a man sees to be sound—upon that he fixes his intent, and it becomes the spur to his exertion.
10.3.15 For every man, O Bhoja, once he has resolved "this is right," sets about gladly to perform it, even in deeds that lead to death and the like.
10.3.16 For all men, having grasped a course of action and their own wisdom too, exert themselves in manifold endeavors, deeming each one to be for their good.
10.3.17 This resolve of mine that has arisen today, born of calamity, I shall declare to you both—a resolve that is the destroyer of my grief.
10.3.18 The Lord of Creatures, having created beings and ordained their tasks, established in each several class one special excellence above the rest.
10.3.19 In the Brāhmaṇa, unwavering self-restraint; in the Kṣatriya, the highest valor; in the Vaiśya, skill; and in the Śūdra, willing service to all the classes.
10.3.20 An unrestrained Brāhmaṇa is no true man; a Kṣatriya without valor is base; a Vaiśya is blamed if he lacks skill, and a Śūdra if he is contrary.
10.3.21 I am born in the most excellent and honored lineage of Brāhmaṇas; yet through ill fortune I have taken up this duty of the Kṣatriya.
10.3.22 If, while knowing the Kṣatriya's duty, I were to perform some very great deed grounded instead in the Brāhmaṇa's way, that would not be thought becoming in me.
10.3.23 Having borne the celestial bow and celestial weapons in battle, yet having seen my father slain, what shall I say in the assembly of men?
10.3.24 Therefore today, embracing that Kṣatriya's duty according to my will, I shall go upon the path of the king, and of my father too, of mighty splendor.
10.3.25 This night the Pāñcālas will sleep, trusting and wearing the look of victors, their yokes and armor cast off and filled with joy, holding that we are beaten and worn out by our exertion.
10.3.26 Upon them, as they sleep at ease in the night within their own camp, I shall this day make a hard onslaught upon the encampment.
10.3.27 Falling upon them in the camp, senseless and as good as corpses, I shall strike them down by my valor, as Maghavat struck down the Dānavas.
10.3.28 This day I shall strike down by my valor all of them gathered together, led by Dhṛṣṭadyumna, as a blazing fire consumes dry grass; and having slain the Pāñcālas, I shall win peace, O best of men.
10.3.29 I shall range among the Pāñcālas this day, slaying them in battle, as Rudra himself, the Pināka in hand, in fury ranges among the beasts.
10.3.30 This day, having slain and cut down all the Pāñcālas, I shall in my fury crush in battle the sons of Pāṇḍu as well.
10.3.31 This day, having strewn the earth with the bodies of all the Pāñcālas, smiting them down one by one, I shall become free of my debt to my father.
10.3.32 This day I shall send the Pāñcālas upon that hard road traveled by Duryodhana, by Karṇa, by Bhīṣma, and by the lord of the Saindhavas as well.
10.3.33 This day, in the dead of night, I shall by main force crush the head of Dhṛṣṭadyumna, the king of the Pāñcālas, as one crushes the head of a sacrificial beast.
10.3.34 This day, in the night, I shall crush in combat with my whetted sword the sleeping sons of the Pāñcālas and the Pāṇḍavas, O Gautama.
10.3.35 This day, having slain that host of the Pāñcālas in their sleep by night, I shall be a man whose purpose is fulfilled and who is content, O great-minded one.
10.4.1 Kṛpa said: By good fortune this resolve to requite the foe has arisen in you, O undecaying one; not even the wielder of the thunderbolt himself were able to turn you back.
10.4.2 But we two together shall follow you at dawn; tonight take your rest, your armor and banner laid aside.
10.4.3 I shall follow you, and Kṛtavarman of the Sātvatas as well, both mounting our chariots and clad in mail, as you advance to face the enemy.
10.4.4 United with us two, tomorrow in the encounter you shall slay the foe, displaying your valor, O best of chariot-warriors—the Pāñcālas together with their followers.
10.4.5 You are well able to display your valor; rest this night. Long have you kept awake, dear son; sleep, then, for this one night.
10.4.6 Rested, your sleep taken, and your mind at ease, O bestower of honor, you shall meet the foe in battle and slay them—of that there is no doubt.
10.4.7 For when you, O best of chariot-warriors, son of the Fire, have taken up your choicest weapons, none even among the gods has the power to conquer you.
10.4.8 As the son of Droṇa advances, joined with Kṛpa and arrayed beside Kṛtavarman, who—even the king of the gods—could do battle with him, raging in the fight?
10.4.9 We, well rested, our sleep taken, and our fever of grief gone, will slay our enemies when the night has given way to dawn.
10.4.10 For yours are celestial weapons, and mine too, beyond doubt; and the Sātvata also is a mighty archer, ever skilled in battles.
10.4.11 We three together, dear son, having by main force slain in battle all the foes assembled, shall win abundant joy. Rest, then, untroubled, and sleep this night in comfort.
10.4.12 I and Kṛtavarman, both bowmen and scorchers of the foe, mounting our chariots and clad in mail, shall together follow you, O best of men, as you set forth—a chariot-warrior advancing in haste.
10.4.13 Having gone to their camp and proclaimed your name aloud in the battle, you shall then work great slaughter among the enemies as they fight.
10.4.14 And when you have wrought their slaughter, you shall in the clear light of dawn disport yourself as Śakra did when he had struck down the great Asuras.
10.4.15 For you are able to conquer in battle the host of the Pāñcālas, as the slayer of all the Dānavas, in his wrath, conquered the army of the Daityas.
10.4.16 When you are joined with me in the fray and guarded by Kṛtavarman, not even the mighty wielder of the thunderbolt himself, in person, could withstand you.
10.4.17 And neither I in battle, dear son, nor Kṛtavarman likewise, will ever withdraw from the fight until we have conquered the Pāṇḍavas.
10.4.18 Having slain in battle the base Pāñcālas together with the Pāṇḍavas, we shall all return—or else, slain, we shall go to heaven.
10.4.19 At dawn we ourselves shall be your helpers by every means; this I declare to you truly, O mighty-armed and sinless one.
10.4.20 Thus addressed in salutary words by his maternal uncle, the son of Droṇa then answered his uncle, O king, his eyes rolling with wrath.
10.4.21 Whence comes sleep to a man who is anguished, and who is consumed with rage, who broods over his purposes, or who again is filled with longing?
10.4.22 See how all four of these have come upon me today; any one quarter of them would in a moment destroy my sleep.
10.4.23 What grief in this world can equal the remembrance of my father's slaying? It burns my heart, and today, by night and by day, it gives me no rest.
10.4.24 And the manner in which my father, above all, was slain by those wicked men—you yourself witnessed it all—that cuts me to the very vitals.
10.4.25 How indeed can one like me live in this world even for a moment, when I hear the words of the Pāñcālas: "Droṇa is slain"?
10.4.26 Without slaying Dhṛṣṭadyumna in battle I have no wish to live; he, for the murder of my father, must die, and so must the Pāñcālas who were leagued with him.
10.4.27 And that lament of the king whose thighs were shattered, which I heard — whose heart, even the heart of a cruel man, would it not consume with grief?
10.4.28 From whose eyes, even a pitiless man's, would tears not flow, on hearing again such words as those of the king whose thighs were broken?
10.4.29 And the cause of my friends, vanquished while I yet live, swells my sorrow as the rush of waters swells the sea. With my mind fixed on one thing alone this day, whence should sleep come to me, whence any ease?
10.4.30 Guarded as they are by Vāsudeva and Arjuna, I hold them, uncle, to be utterly unassailable, even by mighty Indra himself.
10.4.31 Nor can I in any way be restrained from this deed; I see no one in this world who could turn me back from my purpose. This is my settled resolve, and I deem it right.
10.4.32 The ruin of my friends, told to me by the messengers, and the victory of the Pāṇḍavas — these all but burn my heart away.
10.4.33 But once I have wrought slaughter among my foes this night while they sleep, then I shall take my rest, and sleep at last, my fever gone.
10.5.1 Kṛpa said: A man dull of wit and unrestrained in his senses, though eager to learn, is not able to grasp duty and gain in their fullness — such is my thought.
10.5.2 Likewise the keen-witted man who is not schooled in discipline knows nothing whatever of the sure judgment of duty and gain.
10.5.3 But the keen-witted man, eager to learn and restrained in his senses, would understand all the sacred teachings and would not contend against what ought to be accepted.
10.5.4 But the ungovernable man, scornful, evil-souled and base, casting aside the blessed path ordained, performs deeds heavy with sin.
10.5.5 Friends restrain from wrongdoing the man who heeds them; the man of good fortune turns back, but the luckless man turns not back.
10.5.6 As a man whose mind is troubled is steadied by words now stern, now gentle, so too the tractable man can be guided by a friend; but the untractable comes to ruin.
10.5.7 Even so, when a wise friend sets about an evil deed, the wise restrain him with all their power, again and again.
10.5.8 Set your mind, then, upon the good, restraining yourself by yourself; heed my word, my son, that you may not grieve hereafter.
10.5.9 The slaying of those who sleep is not honored in this world by the law of righteousness, nor the slaying of those who have laid down their weapons and unyoked their chariots and steeds.
10.5.10 Nor of those who would say, 'I am yours,' nor of those who have come for refuge, nor of those whose hair has come loose, nor of those whose mounts are slain.
10.5.11 This night the Pāñcālas will sleep, lord, their armor cast off, all of them trusting and unwary through the night, like the senseless dead.
10.5.12 The crooked man who should do them violence while they are in such a state would surely sink into a hell bottomless, vast, and without a raft to bear him.
10.5.13 In all the world you are renowned as the foremost of those skilled in every weapon, and never in this world has even the slightest stain clung to you.
10.5.14 You, again, are like the sun: when the dawn comes and the sun has risen, in the sight of all beings you shall conquer your foes in open battle.
10.5.15 A blameworthy deed would be a thing unthinkable in you — like a stain of red set upon white cloth: such is my thought.
10.5.16 Aśvatthāman said: It is so, even as you instruct me here, uncle. But by them was this dyke of righteousness first shattered into a hundred pieces.
10.5.17 Before the very eyes of the lords of earth, and in your presence too, my father, having laid down his weapon, was struck down by Dhṛṣṭadyumna.
10.5.18 And Karṇa, foremost of chariot-warriors, when the wheel of his chariot had sunk down, caught in dire distress, was slain by the wielder of the Gāṇḍīva.
10.5.19 So too Bhīṣma, son of Śaṃtanu, his weapon laid down and unarmed, was slain by the wielder of the Gāṇḍīva, who set Śikhaṇḍin before him.
10.5.20 Bhūriśravas, the great archer, having sat down in the rite of fasting unto death upon the field, was struck down by Yuyudhāna while the lords of earth cried out against it.
10.5.21 And Duryodhana, meeting Bhīma with the mace in combat, was felled by foul means in the sight of the lords of earth.
10.5.22 Alone, hemmed in there by many great chariot-warriors, that tiger among men was felled unrighteously by Bhīmasena.
10.5.23 The lament of my king whose thighs were shattered, which I have heard from the telling of the messengers, cuts me to the quick.
10.5.24 Thus lawless and sinful are the Pāñcālas, breakers of the dyke of right. Why does your honor not condemn them, who have so broken every bound?
10.5.25 Having slain in the night, as they sleep, the Pāñcālas who killed my father, I am content, even if I be reborn as a worm or a moth.
10.5.26 And I make haste this day toward this that I am resolved to do; for me who hasten so, whence should sleep come, whence any ease?
10.5.27 There is born in this world no man, nor shall there ever be, who could turn me from this resolve I have set upon their slaying.
10.5.28 Saṃjaya said: Having so spoken, great king, the valiant son of Droṇa yoked his horses apart and set forth straight toward his foes.
10.5.29 To him the two great-souled ones, the Bhoja and the son of Śaradvat, said: Why is this chariot yoked, and what deed do you intend to do?
10.5.30 We two have set out together with you on one road, O bull among men, sharing alike your grief and joy; you should not mistrust us.
10.5.31 Then Aśvatthāman, kindled to wrath as he recalled his father's slaying, told them truly what he was resolved within himself to do.
10.5.32 When he had slain warriors by the hundred thousand with his keen arrows, my father, his weapon laid down, was struck down by Dhṛṣṭadyumna.
10.5.33 Just so will I slay this very day, with his armor cast off, that sinful son of the Pāñcāla king — by a deed as foul as his own.
10.5.34 And how should that wicked Pāñcāla, slain by me like a beast, attain the worlds won by the valor of arms in battle? Such is my thought.
10.5.35 Quickly, then, your armor girt on, swords at your sides and bows in hand, mount your noble chariots, you scorchers of foes, and wait for me.
10.5.36 Having spoken thus, he mounted his chariot and set forth straight toward his foes; and Kṛpa, O king, and Kṛtavarman of the Sātvatas followed him.
10.5.37 As they went forth, the three of them, facing their foes, shone like three blazing sacrificial fires being fed with oblations at a sacrifice.
10.5.38 And they came to the camp of their foes, where the folk lay deep in sleep, lord; and reaching the place of the gate, the son of Droṇa halted upon his splendid chariot.
10.6.1 Dhṛtarāṣṭra said: When they beheld the son of Droṇa halted there at the place of the gate, what did those two, the Bhoja and Kṛpa, do? Tell me, Saṃjaya.
10.6.2 Saṃjaya said: Bidding Kṛtavarman and the great chariot-warrior Kṛpa await him, the son of Droṇa, his soul possessed by fury, drew near the gate of the camp.
10.6.3 There he beheld a being of vast body, of splendor like the moon and the sun, standing and barring the gate, terrible enough to make the hair stand on end.
10.6.4 He was clad in a tiger's skin streaming with great gouts of blood, a black antelope-hide for his upper garment, and a serpent for his sacred thread.
10.6.5 With his long, massive arms raised aloft bearing weapons of every kind, great serpents bound about him for armlets, his face wreathed in garlands of flame —
10.6.6 his mouth dreadful with fangs and gaping wide, a thing of terror, adorned with thousands of wondrous eyes of many hues.
10.6.7 Neither his form nor his very garb could be told in words; and at the sight of it, the very mountains might burst asunder.
10.6.8 From his mouth, from his nostrils, from his ears on every side, and from those thousands of eyes, there blazed forth mighty tongues of flame.
10.6.9 And from those rays of blazing light there appeared, by the hundred and the thousand, forms of Hṛṣīkeśa, each bearing conch and discus and mace.
10.6.10 Beholding that most wondrous being, terror of the worlds, the son of Droṇa, unshaken, overwhelmed it with showers of celestial weapons.
10.6.11 But that great being devoured those arrows loosed by the son of Droṇa, as the submarine fire devours the floods of the sea.
10.6.12 Aśvatthāman, seeing those floods of arrows spent in vain, hurled at it the spear from his chariot, blazing like a tongue of fire.
10.6.13 That spear with its blazing point struck the being and shattered to pieces, like a great meteor fallen from the sky striking the sun at the world's end.
10.6.14 Then he swiftly drew from its sheath a celestial sword with hilt of gold and the sheen of the sky, like a glowing serpent drawn forth from its hole.
10.6.15 Then the wise one flung that excellent sword at the being; but reaching that being, it dissolved away like a wisp of cotton.
10.6.16 Then the son of Droṇa, enraged, hurled at it a blazing mace like the banner of Indra; but the being devoured that too.
10.6.17 Then, all his weapons gone, gazing this way and that, he saw the whole sky made no longer sky, filled with forms of Janārdana.
10.6.18 Beholding that most wondrous sight, the son of Droṇa, now without a weapon, scorched with anguish, recalling the words of Kṛpa, spoke aloud.
10.6.19 He who heeds not friends when they speak the wholesome word, though it be unwelcome, grieves when he meets with calamity — as I do now, having disregarded those two.
10.6.20 He who, passing over those whom scripture holds inviolable, seeks to slay them, falls from the path of righteousness and enters upon an evil road.
10.6.21 Against cows, brahmins, kings, and women, against a friend, a mother, a teacher, against the old, the young, the dull-witted and the blind, against the sleeping, the terror-struck, and one just risen —
10.6.22 against the drunken, the mad, and the heedless — one should not draw weapons. So in former times have teachers ever instructed men.
10.6.23 I, having stepped beyond the eternal path that scripture shows, and so set out upon a way that is no way, have come to a dreadful calamity.
10.6.24 And the wise call that the most dreadful calamity of all, when a man, having set about some great deed, turns back from it through fear.
10.6.25 And who here is able by the strength of his power to do what cannot be done? For the deed of man is never said to outweigh fate.
10.6.26 If for the man who does a human deed it succeeds not because of fate, then, fallen from the path of righteousness, he meets with disaster.
10.6.27 The wise call it an unforeseen thwarting when a man, having begun some undertaking, turns back from it here through fear.
10.6.28 This terror has come upon me through ill-guided conduct; yet the son of Droṇa could in no wise turn back in battle.
10.6.29 And this exceedingly mighty being, raised up like the rod of fate — this I do not recognize, however I ponder it in every way.
10.6.30 Surely this defiled resolve of mine, bent upon unrighteousness — this dreadful fruit of it is seen here, set to thwart me.
10.6.31 This turning-back of mine in battle is ordained by fate; and save by fate there is no power here in any way to act.
10.6.32 Therefore this day I take refuge with Mahādeva, the Lord; for he it is who will destroy for me this dreadful rod of fate.
10.6.33 I take refuge with the matted-haired one, god of gods, lord of Umā, with Rudra wreathed in skulls, Hara, who tore out the eye of Bhaga.
10.6.34 For that god surpassed all the gods by his austerity and his valor; therefore will I go for refuge to the dweller on the mountain, the bearer of the trident.
10.7.1 Saṃjaya said: Having thought thus, the son of Droṇa, O lord of peoples, descended from the floor of his chariot and, standing in earnest devotion, fell to meditating.
10.7.2 The son of Droṇa said: The fierce one, the immovable, the auspicious Śiva, Rudra, Śarva, Īśāna, the Lord; the dweller of the mountain, the granter of boons, the god, Bhava, the source of being, the imperishable;
10.7.3 the dark-throated, the unborn, the mighty, the slayer, the destroyer of sacrifice, Hara; he whose form is the universe, the odd-eyed one, the many-formed, the lord of Umā;
10.7.4 the dweller in the cremation-ground, the exultant, the great lord of hosts, the sovereign; the bearer of the skull-staff, the shaven-headed, the matted-haired, the keeper of holy vows;
10.7.5 him who is hard to conceive even in mind by one of little understanding, hard to attain — I, even I, shall worship the destroyer of the Three Cities with the offering of my own self.
10.7.6 He who is praised, worthy of praise, being praised; the unfailing, the hide-clad, the blood-red, the blue-throated, the unmingled, the one who cannot be withstood;
10.7.7 the radiant, the maker of the universe, the Absolute, and the holy celibate; the keeper of vows, ever given to austerity, the endless one, the goal of those who practise penance;
10.7.8 the many-formed, the overlord of the hosts, the three-eyed, dear to his attendants; he upon whose face the chiefs of the hosts gaze, the beloved of Gaurī's heart;
10.7.9 the father of Kumāra, the tawny one, who rides the noblest of bulls; the scantily clad, the exceedingly fierce, intent upon the adorning of Umā;
10.7.10 the supreme, higher than the highest, the utmost, beyond whom nothing exists; the master of the finest of bows and weapons, and the very horizon of the south;
10.7.11 the golden-armoured god, adorned with the moon upon his crown — to that god I go for refuge, with the deepest concentration.
10.7.12 This dread peril too, so hard to cross, I shall cross this very day; with an offering of all beings, pure myself, I shall worship the Pure One.
10.7.13 Knowing the resolve of that great-souled one, his mind set upon self-surrender, a golden altar appeared before him.
10.7.14 On that altar, O king, the brilliant-rayed Fire then sprang up, filling heaven, the quarters and the intermediate quarters, and the sky with its flames.
10.7.15 And there appeared beings with blazing mouths and eyes, with many feet and heads and arms, vast as elephants and mountains, huge of countenance.
10.7.16 Some shaped like dogs, boars and camels; some with the faces of horses, jackals and cattle; some with the visages of bears and cats, and some with the muzzles of tigers and leopards;
10.7.17 some crow-mouthed, some frog-faced, and likewise parrot-beaked; some with the maws of great pythons, and some swan-faced and gleaming white;
10.7.18 some with the faces of woodpeckers and blue-jays, O Bhārata; some with the heads of turtles and crocodiles, and some with the snouts of porpoises;
10.7.19 some with the jaws of great sea-monsters, and likewise of whales; some lion-faced, some heron-mouthed, and some with the faces of doves and elephants;
10.7.20 some pigeon-faced, and likewise some with the bills of cormorants; some whose hands were ears, some thousand-eyed, and some with a hundred bellies;
10.7.21 some fleshless, some wolf-faced, and some hawk-visaged, O Bhārata; and some headless, O king, and some with the dread faces of bears;
10.7.22 some with eyes and tongues ablaze, and likewise some with flaming mouths; some ram-faced, and others again with the heads of goats, O lord of men;
10.7.23 some conch-hued, some conch-faced, and likewise some conch-eared; some girt with garlands of conches, their voices like the blast of conches;
10.7.24 some matted-haired, some with five tufts, and some shaven-headed and lean of belly; some four-tusked, four-tongued, with pointed ears, and some crowned with diadems;
10.7.25 some wearing chaplets, O lord of kings, and some with curling locks; some turbaned, some helmeted, fair of face and richly adorned;
10.7.26 some wearing wreaths of lotus and water-lily, and some bearing white lilies; and endowed with greatness, by hundreds and by thousands.
10.7.27 In their hands they bore the hundred-slaying engine and the discus, and clubs in their fists; some held the bhuśuṇḍi and the noose, and some maces, O Bhārata.
10.7.28 Quivers were bound upon their backs, their arrows of many hues, and they were furious for battle; with banners and pennons, with bells and battle-axes.
10.7.29 With great nooses raised in their hands, and some with cudgels in their grip; some bearing pillars, some swords, their diadems reared up like serpents; wearing armlets of mighty snakes, and decked in ornaments of varied splendour.
10.7.30 Some grimed with dust, some smeared with mire, yet all clad in white garments and garlands; some with dark-blue limbs, some lotus-hued, and some with shaven faces.
10.7.31 Those attendants, in their joy and golden of hue, sounded kettledrums, conches and tabors, jharjharas, war-drums and cow-horn trumpets.
10.7.32 Some of them sang, and others again danced; the mighty ones leapt and bounded and capered about.
10.7.33 Swift and fierce they ran, their hair tossed by the wind, roaring again and again like great elephants in rut.
10.7.34 Most terrible they were, and dreadful of form, with pikes and spears in their hands, clad in garments of many colours, with bright garlands and unguents.
10.7.35 Wearing armlets bright with jewels, with their arms upraised, those heroes were slayers of foes, irresistible in their unconquerable might.
10.7.36 Drinkers of blood and marrow and such, feeding upon flesh and entrails; some crested, some with great earlocks, some emaciated, some pot-bellied.
10.7.37 Some very short, some very tall, mighty and exceedingly fearful; misshapen, with dark pendulous lips, with huge members and knots of bone.
10.7.38 Some wore precious crowns of varied kinds, some were shaven, and others matted-haired — such as could fashion upon the earth a heaven with sun, moon, planets and stars,
10.7.39 and who could dare to destroy the fourfold host of living things; ever free from fear, those warriors of Hara's frown,
10.7.40 doers of their own will, perfected, lords over the lords of the three worlds; ever exultant in eternal bliss, masters of speech, devoid of envy;
10.7.41 who, though they had won the eightfold lordly power, knew no wonder at it; at whose deeds the blessed Hara himself forever marvels;
10.7.42 by whom, in thought, word and deed, with devotion, he is ever worshipped, and who in thought, word and deed protects his devotees as a father his own sons;
10.7.43 others again, wrathful, ever drinking the blood and marrow of the haters of the sacred, and who forever drink the Soma made of the four-and-twenty principles.
10.7.44 By sacred learning, by celibacy, by penance and by self-restraint they had propitiated the Trident-marked, and so attained oneness with Bhava.
10.7.45 With these, who had become his very self, the blessed Maheśvara, lord of past, future and present, together with Pārvatī, enjoys the hosts of beings.
10.7.46 Filling the whole world with their manifold and wondrous laughter, their hissing, shrieking and roaring, they came toward Aśvatthāman.
10.7.47 Praising the Great God, radiant and shedding light, eager to magnify the glory of the great-souled son of Droṇa,
10.7.48 and longing to test his might and to behold the slaughter of the sleeping host — the hordes of beings, fearful of form, bearing dreadful clubs, firebrands, pikes and spears in their hands, gathered there from every side.
10.7.49 Though the very sight of them might strike terror into the three worlds, the mighty one, even as he looked upon them, felt no dismay.
10.7.50 Then the son of Droṇa, bow in hand, his fingers guarded by the leathern fence, offered up his own self with his own self as the oblation.
10.7.51 His bow was the kindling-wood, his keen arrows the sacred sprigs, and the self of that self-possessed one was the offering in that rite, O Bhārata.
10.7.52 Then with a gentle hymn the valorous son of Droṇa, in his great wrath, offered up himself as the oblation.
10.7.53 Having praised that Rudra, the doer of terrible deeds, unfailing in his terrible works, the great-souled one, with joined palms, spoke thus:
10.7.54 "This self of mine, born this day in the line of Aṅgiras, I offer into the fire, O Lord; accept me as thy sacrifice."
10.7.55 "Out of devotion to thee, O Great God, with the deepest concentration, in this hour of peril, O Soul of all, I make this offering before thee."
10.7.56 "In thee abide all beings, and in all beings dwellest thou; in thee rests the unity of the foremost qualities."
10.7.57 "O thou refuge of all beings, all-pervading Lord, here stands the oblation made ready; accept me, O god, if my foes are not to be vanquished by me."
10.7.58 Having spoken thus, the son of Droṇa, mounting that altar of blazing fire and renouncing his very self, took his seat within the path of the Dark-tracked Flame.
10.7.59 Beholding him, his arms upraised and motionless, set there as the oblation, the blessed Great God himself, as though smiling, spoke:
10.7.60 "By truth, purity, uprightness and renunciation, by austerity and self-discipline, by patience, by devotion, by steadfastness, by understanding, and likewise by speech,"
10.7.61 "I have been duly worshipped by Kṛṣṇa, whose deeds are untiring; therefore none is dearer to me than Kṛṣṇa."
10.7.62 "To do him honour, and to put thee to the test, I have shielded the Pāñcālas all this while, and wrought many an illusion."
10.7.63 "This honour I have shown him by guarding the Pāñcālas; but now they are overtaken by Time, and their span of life is at an end this day."
10.7.64 Having spoken thus to the great archer, the Lord entered into his body, and gave to him a stainless and excellent sword.
10.7.65 Then, possessed by the Lord, he blazed anew with splendour, and in the fight he grew vast in stature through the god-given energy.
10.7.66 Unseen beings and demons thronged about him on every side as he went toward the enemy's camp, like the Lord himself made manifest.
10.8.1 Dhṛtarāṣṭra said: When the great warrior, the son of Droṇa, had thus set out for the camp, did not Kṛpa and the Bhoja chieftain turn back, stricken with fear?
10.8.2 Were the two great warriors not held back, unmarked by the lowly sentinels? Or, deeming the task unbearable, did they not turn away?
10.8.3 Or did they, having crushed the camp and slain the Somakas and Pāṇḍavas, follow Duryodhana upon his highest road in battle?
10.8.4 Or, slain by the Pāñcālas, do they not now lie asleep upon the earth? Whatever the deed those two have done, tell it to me, Saṃjaya.
10.8.5 Saṃjaya said: When the great-souled son of Droṇa had set out for the camp, Kṛpa and Kṛtavarman took their stand at the gate of the camp.
10.8.6 Aśvatthāman, seeing those two great warriors ready and resolute, rejoiced, O king, and softly spoke these words:
10.8.7 "You two, exerting yourselves, would suffice to destroy the whole warrior race; how much more, then, this remnant of fighters, and they fast asleep?"
10.8.8 "I will enter the camp and range through it like Death itself, that no living man may escape from me."
10.8.9 Having said this, the son of Droṇa, casting off all fear, leapt over the wall and entered the great camp of the Pārthas, not by the gate.
10.8.10 The mighty-armed one, having entered and knowing the place well, softly approached the dwelling of Dhṛṣṭadyumna.
10.8.11 But those men, having wrought great feats and grown sorely weary in the battle, lay deep in slumber, wholly at their ease, encircled by their own troops.
10.8.12 Then, entering the chamber of Dhṛṣṭadyumna, O Bhārata, the son of Droṇa beheld the prince of Pāñcāla asleep upon his couch close at hand,
10.8.13 upon a great bed bright with fine linen, spread with coverlets fit for envy, adorned with choice garlands, and made fragrant with incense and aromatic powders.
10.8.14 That great-souled one, lying there at ease and fearing nothing, asleep upon his bed, he awakened with his foot, O lord of the earth.
10.8.15 Roused by the touch of the foot, that one, fierce in battle and of immeasurable spirit, rose up and knew him for the son of Droṇa, the great warrior.
10.8.16 As he sprang up from his couch, the mighty Aśvatthāman seized him by the hair with both hands and ground him down against the earth.
10.8.17 Crushed by him with main force, O Bhārata, and overcome by terror and by sleep, the prince of Pāñcāla could not so much as stir.
10.8.18 Pinning him down, O king, by the throat and by the chest with both his arms, he slew him as one slaughters a beast, while he roared and writhed.
10.8.19 Clawing at the son of Droṇa with his nails, he spoke, scarcely able to make himself heard: "Son of the preceptor, slay me with a weapon, do not delay — let me, through you, O best of men, attain the worlds of the righteous."
10.8.20 Hearing that faltering speech of his, the son of Droṇa replied: "There are no worlds for the slayers of preceptors, O disgrace of your line; therefore, vile one, you do not deserve death by a weapon."
10.8.21 So speaking, enraged, he battered that hero in his vital parts with his cruel heels and ankle-bones, as a lion mauls a rutting elephant.
10.8.22 At the cries of that hero being slain within the dwelling, O great king, the women and his guards awoke.
10.8.23 Seeing him, towering and of more-than-human prowess, and taking him for some demon, they uttered not a word for fear.
10.8.24 Having by that means dispatched him to the realm of Yama, the radiant one regained his fair chariot and mounted it.
10.8.25 Issuing from that mansion, O king, and making the quarters resound, the mighty one drove on in his chariot through the camp, eager to slay his foes.
10.8.26 When that great warrior, the son of Droṇa, had departed, the women, together with all the guards, then broke into wailing.
10.8.27 Seeing their prince slain, all of Dhṛṣṭadyumna's warriors, plunged in bitter grief, cried out aloud, O Bhārata.
10.8.28 At their outcry the bulls among warriors close by quickly armed themselves and said, "What is this?"
10.8.29 But the terrified women, O king, catching sight of the son of Bharadvāja, cried out to them in piteous voices, "Make haste, give chase at once!"
10.8.30 "Whether demon or man we know not — he who, having slain the king of Pāñcāla, now stands mounted upon his chariot."
10.8.31 Then those foremost of fighters at once surrounded him; but as they rushed upon him, he crushed them all with the weapon of Rudra.
10.8.32 Having slain Dhṛṣṭadyumna and these his followers, he beheld Uttamaujas asleep upon his bed close by.
10.8.33 Pinning him too with his foot, by the throat and the chest with main force, he slew that tamer of foes in the same way, even as he bellowed.
10.8.34 But Yudhāmanyu came up, and thinking the man slain by a demon, raised his mace and swiftly struck the son of Droṇa upon the breast.
10.8.35 Rushing upon him, he seized him and hurled him to the ground, and as he struggled like a beast, slew him in the very same way.
10.8.36 Thus having slain that hero, the warrior fell next upon others — great chariot-fighters still asleep here and there, O lord of kings — while they writhed and trembled, as a slaughterer dispatches the beasts at a sacrifice.
10.8.37 Then, taking up his sword, skilled in swordsmanship, he ranged the paths division by division and cut down others, the common folk.
10.8.38 And spying out in the picket the sentries lying within it, weary and with their weapons laid aside, he crushed them all in a single moment.
10.8.39 Fighters, horses, and elephants he hewed down with his excellent sword, all his limbs drenched in blood, like Death let loose by Time.
10.8.40 By those who writhed beneath him, by the wielding of his sword, and by its very swinging, the son of Droṇa was drenched in blood in three ways at once.
10.8.41 As he fought, soaked in blood, his blazing sword in hand, his form shone more-than-human, utterly terrible to behold.
10.8.42 And those who lay awake, O Kaurava, bewildered too by the din, gazing upon one another, beheld the son of Droṇa and quailed.
10.8.43 Beholding that form of his, the warriors, harriers of foes, took him for a demon and shut their very eyes.
10.8.44 Terrible of form, he ranged the camp then like Death, and caught sight of the sons of Draupadī and the surviving Somakas.
10.8.45 Alarmed by that din, those great car-warriors, the sons of Draupadī, bows in hand — having heard that Dhṛṣṭadyumna was slain, O lord of peoples — covered the son of Bharadvāja with showers of arrows, undaunted.
10.8.46 Then, roused by that uproar, the Prabhadrakas and Śikhaṇḍin assailed the son of Droṇa with their shafts.
10.8.47 But the son of Bharadvāja, seeing them pouring down their rains of arrows, gave a mighty roar, eager to slay those near-invincible foes.
10.8.48 Then, beside himself with wrath and recalling his father's slaughter, he leapt down from the floor of his chariot and rushed upon them in haste.
10.8.49 Taking up in battle a broad shield blazoned with a thousand moons and a great celestial sword adorned with gold, the mighty one charged the sons of Draupadī and ranged among them with his blade.
10.8.50 Then that tiger among men struck Prativindhya in the belly in that fray, O king, and he, slain, fell to the earth.
10.8.51 Having pierced the son of Droṇa with a lance, the valiant Sutasoma raised his sword again and rushed upon Droṇa's son.
10.8.52 But that bull among men severed Sutasoma's sword-bearing arm and struck him again in the side; his heart cloven, he fell.
10.8.53 Then the valiant Śatānīka, son of Nakula, heaving up a chariot-wheel with both arms, struck him swiftly upon the chest.
10.8.54 But the brāhmaṇa struck Śatānīka, who had let fly the wheel; reeling, he sank to the ground, and then he struck off his head.
10.8.55 Then Śrutakarman, seizing an iron club and rushing in, struck the son of Droṇa hard upon his left buckler.
10.8.56 But he smote that Śrutakarman upon the face with his excellent sword; slain, he fell to the ground, senseless, his countenance disfigured.
10.8.57 At that din the hero Śrutakīrti, the great archer, closed with Aśvatthāman and covered him with showers of arrows.
10.8.58 Warding off his rains of arrows too upon his shield, he struck from the trunk his shining head with its earrings.
10.8.59 Then the slayer of Bhīṣma, together with all the Prabhadrakas, the mighty one, smote that hero on every side with weapons of every kind, and struck him too with a shaft between the brows.
10.8.60 But the mighty son of Droṇa, possessed by wrath, closed with Śikhaṇḍin and clove him in two with his sword.
10.8.61 Having slain Śikhaṇḍin, that scorcher of foes, filled with wrath, swiftly fell upon all the bands of the Prabhadrakas, and charged too what remained of Virāṭa's host.
10.8.62 And among the sons of Drupada, his grandsons, and his friends, the mighty one wrought dreadful carnage, striking each down as he sighted them.
10.8.63 Closing upon men one after another, the son of Droṇa, skilled in the sword's arts, hewed them down with his blade.
10.8.64 A dark woman, red of mouth and eye, garlanded and anointed in red, robed in red, standing alone, noose in hand, her hair in a single braid —
10.8.65 they beheld her, the Night of Doom, standing there with a smile, binding men, horses, and elephants with her dreadful nooses and setting forth, dragging off sundry spirits, noose-bound and shorn of their hair.
10.8.66 Her, leading off the sleepers in their dreams, those foremost of fighters had seen on other nights too, O honored one, and the son of Droṇa ever slaying.
10.8.67 From the time the battle of the Kuru and Pāṇḍava hosts began, from then onward they had been seeing that fell apparition and the son of Droṇa as well.
10.8.68 Those already struck down by fate beforehand, the son of Droṇa afterward laid low, terrifying all beings, roaring his fearful roars.
10.8.69 Recalling that vision of former days, those heroes, pressed hard by fate, thought, "This is the very thing."
10.8.70 Then at that uproar the archers in the camp of the Pāṇḍavas awoke, by hundreds and by thousands.
10.8.71 Of one he cut off the feet, of another the loins; some he clove through the sides, like Death let loose by Time.
10.8.72 With men savagely mangled, with others crying out in extremity of pain, and with still others crushed by elephants and horses, the earth was strewn, O lord.
10.8.73 "What is this? Who is this? What is that noise? What — what has been done?" — as they cried thus, the son of Droṇa became their very Death.
10.8.74 The Pāṇḍavas and Sṛñjayas, stripped of weapons and armor yet frantic, the son of Droṇa, the best of smiters, sent forth to the world of the dead.
10.8.75 Then, terrified by his blade and starting up in panic, blind with sleep and bereft of their wits, they cowered here and there.
10.8.76 Their thighs grown stiff, their strength struck down by faintness, crying out, sorely affrighted, they trampled one another underfoot.
10.8.77 Then the son of Droṇa mounted again his fearfully-rumbling chariot, and bow in hand, with his arrows sent yet others to the realm of Yama.
10.8.78 Some of those noblest of men who started up again, even from afar, and other brave ones who rushed in, he made over to the Night of Doom.
10.8.79 And so, crushing them with the front of his chariot, he raced about, and rained down upon his enemies showers of arrows of every kind.
10.8.80 And again, with his richly-wrought hundred-mooned shield, sky-hued, and with that sword, he plied his work.
10.8.81 Thus the son of Droṇa, frenzied for battle, churned up their camp, O lord of kings, as an elephant churns a great lake.
10.8.82 At that din the fighters started up, O king, out of their senses, sick with sleep and stricken with fear, and ran this way and that.
10.8.83 Others screamed out in discordant voices and spoke much that was incoherent, and they could not find their weapons or their garments.
10.8.84 Others, their hair come loose, did not recognize one another; some, springing up in terror, wandered there in confusion; some voided their bowels, and some let flow their urine.
10.8.85 And, O lord of kings, snapping their tethers, horses and elephants and others careered about together, working a great tumult.
10.8.86 There some men, in fear, flung themselves flat upon the earth, and the elephants and horses crushed them as they lay fallen.
10.8.87 While all this was going on, O bull among men, the demons, glutted, roared aloud in their glee, O best of the Bhāratas.
10.8.88 That sound, O king, raised by the hosts of spirits in their joy, filled all the quarters and the very heavens, a mighty roar.
10.8.89 Hearing their cries of anguish, the elephants and horses, terror-struck and broken loose, careered about, O king, trampling the people in the camp.
10.8.90 The dust raised by their hooves as they raced about made the darkness in their camp twofold in the night.
10.8.91 When that darkness had fallen, the people were bewildered on every side: fathers knew not their sons, nor brothers their brothers.
10.8.92 Riderless elephants ran down elephants and horses ran down horses, striking, shattering, and trampling, O Bhārata.
10.8.93 Broken and falling and striking one another, they brought others down, and having felled them, trampled them flat.
10.8.94 Out of their senses, heavy with sleep, and wrapped in darkness, the men there slew their own, driven on by Time.
10.8.95 Abandoning the gates, the gatekeepers, and the sentries their pickets, fled with all their might, witless and seeking any way out.
10.8.96 Scattered and lost, O lord, they no longer recognized one another then; their wits struck down by fate, they cried out, "Father!" and "Son!"
10.8.97 As they fled in all directions, abandoning even their own kinsmen, the men wailed to one another by their clan-names and personal names.
10.8.98 Others, raising cries of woe, lay sprawled upon the ground; and that son of Droṇa, drunk with battle, marked them out and crushed them.
10.8.99 There still other kṣatriyas, struck down again and again and senseless, came rushing out from the camp, tormented by fear.
10.8.100 But as those terrified men, longing for their lives, came rushing from the camp, Kṛtavarman and Kṛpa slew them at the gateway.
10.8.101 Disarmed, stripped of their gear and armor, their hair unbound, their palms joined in supplication, trembling and frightened upon the ground—not one of them did the two let go.
10.8.102 Not one who came forth from the camp escaped the two, O great king—neither Kṛpa nor the malign-minded son of Hṛdika.
10.8.103 And wishing to do still further pleasure to the son of Droṇa, the two set fire to the camp in three places.
10.8.104 Then in the camp now lit bright, that delight of his father, Aśvatthāman, O great king, ranged about with his sword like a master of his craft.
10.8.105 Some heroes rushing upon him, others fleeing away—those men that best of the twice-born parted from their lives with his sword.
10.8.106 Cleaving some warriors clean through the middle with his sword, the valiant son of Droṇa, in his fury, felled them as one cuts down stalks of sesame.
10.8.107 With the finest of men, horses, and elephants—crying out, sorely afflicted, and fallen—the earth was strewn over, O bull of the Bhāratas.
10.8.108 As men were slain and fallen by the thousand, many headless trunks rose up, and having risen, fell again.
10.8.109 Arms still grasping weapons and bound with armlets he hewed off, and heads, and thighs like the trunks of elephants, and hands and feet, O Bhārata.
10.8.110 Some he made with their backs cleft, some with heads cleft, others with their sides cleft, did the son of Droṇa close in upon—and some he struck as they turned away.
10.8.111 Some men he cut through the middle of the body, others he cleft from the ear, and striking still others upon the shoulder, he drove the head down into the trunk.
10.8.112 As he ranged about thus, slaying very many men, the dread night, dark and fearful to behold, shone over all.
10.8.113 With men yet barely breathing and others slain by the thousand, and with a multitude of elephants and horses, the earth became terrible to look upon.
10.8.114 In that ground thronged with yakṣas and rākṣasas, made dreadful with chariots, horses, and elephants, men hewn down by the wrathful son of Droṇa fell to the earth.
10.8.115 Some cried out for their mothers, some for their fathers, some for their brothers; and some said, "This was not done in battle by the angered sons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra.
10.8.116 What has been wrought upon us as we slept was done by rākṣasas of cruel deeds; only because the Pārthas were not at hand has this slaughter been wrought upon us.
10.8.117 Not by gods, asuras, or gandharvas, not by yakṣas nor by rākṣasas, can the son of Kuntī be conquered, whose protector is Janārdana.
10.8.118 Devoted to the Brahmins, truthful of speech, self-controlled, compassionate to all beings—never does Pārtha Dhanaṃjaya slay one who is asleep or off his guard, who has laid down his weapon, or joined his palms, or who runs with hair unbound."
10.8.119 "This dreadful thing has been done to us by rākṣasas of cruel deeds"—thus lamenting, many men lay there dying.
10.8.120 Of men groaning and of others moaning faintly—in a little while that great tumultuous clamor died away.
10.8.121 And as the earth was drenched all over with blood, O lord of the land, that thick and dreadful dust vanished in an instant.
10.8.122 Men writhing, panic-stricken, drained of spirit, by the thousand the wrathful one struck down, as the Lord of Beasts strikes down beasts.
10.8.123 Some lying clasped in one another's arms, others fleeing, some cowering in hiding, and some still fighting—all of them the son of Droṇa crushed.
10.8.124 Burning in the fire and slain by him, those warriors then sent one another to the abode of Yama.
10.8.125 Within the half of that single night, O lord of kings, the son of Droṇa sent the great host of the Pāṇḍavas to the dwelling of Yama.
10.8.126 To the creatures that roam by night that night was a swelling of joy, but to men, elephants, and horses it was savage and brought utter ruin.
10.8.127 There were seen rākṣasas and piśācas of many kinds, devouring the flesh of men and drinking their blood.
10.8.128 Gaping-mouthed, tawny-eyed, fierce, with teeth like crags, befouled with dust, matted-haired and long-thighed, five-footed and huge-bellied;
10.8.129 with fingers turned backward, harsh, misshapen, of fearful voice, with knees like pots, some very short, blue-throated and terrifying;
10.8.130 with their wives and children, exceedingly cruel, hideous to behold and pitiless—forms of every kind among the rākṣasas were seen there.
10.8.131 Others, having drunk blood, danced in rejoicing bands, and cried, "This is choice, this is pure, this is sweet!"
10.8.132 Greedy for fat, marrow, bone, blood, and entrails, the eaters of carrion, who live upon flesh, gorged on the choicest meats.
10.8.133 Others, having drunk the marrow-grease, ran about with bellies swollen, those fierce, many-faced eaters of carrion and devourers of flesh.
10.8.134 By tens of thousands they were there, by hundreds of thousands and by tens of millions—rākṣasas of dreadful form, vast and cruel in their deeds.
10.8.135 Rejoicing and well sated in that great carnage, many such beings gathered there together, O ruler of men.
10.8.136 At the hour before dawn he wished to depart from the camp; and of the son of Droṇa, drenched in the blood of men, the hilt of his sword clung to his hand, become as one with it, O lord.
10.8.137 Having left not one foe remaining, he shone amid the slaughter of men, like the fire at the end of an age when it has reduced all beings to ashes.
10.8.138 Having done that deed according to his vow, O lord, and having trodden the path his father had walked, the son of Droṇa became freed of his fever.
10.8.139 Even as he had entered the camp by night while its folk lay asleep, so, having slain them in silence, that bull among men came forth again.
10.8.140 Coming forth from that camp and meeting with the two, the valiant one recounted all that deed in joy, gladdening them, O lord.
10.8.141 And the two, who had done him a kindness, told him in turn a welcome thing then—of Pāñcālas and Sṛñjayas cut down by the thousand—and in their delight they cried aloud and clapped their hands.
10.8.142 Such, then, was that night in the slaughter of the Somakas—for those who slept off their guard it was exceedingly terrible.
10.8.143 Beyond doubt the turning of Time is hard to overpass, since such men as these were slain there—they who had wrought the slaughter of our own host.
10.8.144 Dhṛtarāṣṭra said: Why did the son of Droṇa, that great chariot-warrior, not do this so mighty deed long before, bent as he was on my sons' victory?
10.8.145 And why was it only after the warrior class was destroyed that the son of Droṇa, that great archer, wrought this deed? This you must tell me.
10.8.146 Saṃjaya said: Surely it was for fear of them that he did not do it before, O delight of the Kurus—only in the absence of the Pārthas and of wise Keśava.
10.8.147 And of Sātyaki too: this deed was accomplished by the son of Droṇa only in their absence—for in their sight not even the lord of the Maruts could have slain them.
10.8.148 Such was the deed that befell while the folk lay asleep, O king, O lord; and having wrought this great destruction of the Pāṇḍavas, those great chariot-warriors met and said to one another, "By fortune! By fortune!"
10.8.149 Then the son of Droṇa embraced the two and was hailed by them in return, and out of his joy he spoke this lofty and excellent word:
10.8.150 "The Pāñcālas are all slain, and the sons of Draupadī every one; the Somakas, and what remained of the Matsyas—all have been struck down by me.
10.8.151 Now our task is accomplished. Let us go yonder without delay; if our king yet lives, we shall tell him this welcome news."
10.9.1 Saṃjaya said: Having slain all the Pāñcālas and the sons of Draupadī every one, they went together to where Duryodhana lay struck down.
10.9.2 And going there they saw that lord of men still barely breathing; then, leaping down from their chariots, they gathered round your son.
10.9.3 Him with thighs broken, O lord of kings, his breath labored and his senses gone, vomiting blood from his mouth, they beheld upon the ground.
10.9.4 Hemmed about on every side by many beasts of prey, dreadful to behold, and by packs of jackals drawing near to devour him.
10.9.5 With great difficulty warding off those beasts that strove to devour him, writhing upon the earth in deep and grievous pain.
10.9.6 That great-souled one lying upon the ground, bathed in his own blood, the three surviving heroes, stricken with grief, gathered round—Aśvatthāman, Kṛpa, and Kṛtavarman of the Sātvata line.
10.9.7 Encircled by those three great chariot-warriors, smeared with blood and sighing heavily, the king shone like an altar set about with three fires.
10.9.8 Beholding the king lying so, in a state he had never deserved, the three, in grief past all bearing, then wept aloud.
10.9.9 Then, wiping the blood from his face with their hands, they lamented piteously over the king who lay there upon the field.
10.9.10 Kṛpa said: For fate there is no burden too great, since this Duryodhana, lord of eleven armies, lies slain and bathed in blood.
10.9.11 Behold, beside him who shone like gold and was adorned with gold, his mace—the mace he loved—fallen here upon the ground close by.
10.9.12 This mace forsook not the hero in battle after battle, and now, as the renowned one passes even to heaven, it does not forsake him.
10.9.13 Behold it, adorned with gold from the Jambū river, lying beside the hero on the bed of righteousness, like a loving wife at his side.
10.9.14 He who, the scorcher of foes, marched at the head of anointed kings—he, now slain, swallows the dust. Behold the turning of Time!
10.9.15 He by whom in battle the foe were once struck down to lie upon the earth—this king of the Kurus, slain by his enemies, now himself lies upon the earth.
10.9.16 He before whom kings by the hundredfold bowed down in fear—he lies upon the hero's bed, ringed about by eaters of carrion.
10.9.17 That lord whom kings once attended for the sake of gain—alas! struck down in a moment he lies. Behold the turning of Time!
10.9.18 Saṃjaya said: Then, O best of the Bhāratas, looking upon that foremost of kings as he lay there, Aśvatthāman lamented piteously.
10.9.19 They called you, O tiger among kings, the foremost of all bowmen, in battle the peer of the Lord of Wealth, the pupil of Saṃkarṣaṇa himself.
10.9.20 How did Bhīmasena spy an opening in you, O blameless one—in you who were ever mighty and accomplished—that base-souled wretch, O king?
10.9.21 Surely, O great king, Time is the stronger power in this world, since we see you struck down by Bhīmasena in the fray.
10.9.22 How could the base, wicked, and sluggish Vṛkodara, by foul trickery, have slain you who knew all the laws of righteousness? Surely Time is past overcoming.
10.9.23 For in a fair fight, by unfair means, called out by him with force in the press of battle, your two thighs were shattered by Bhīmasena's mace.
10.9.24 And as your head, you slain by unfair means in battle, was being trampled under his foot—that the base one looked on and let it be: shame, then, upon that Yudhiṣṭhira!
10.9.25 In their battles warriors will surely speak ill of Vṛkodara for as long as living beings endure, for by foul treachery you were brought down.
10.9.26 Did not Rāma, the valiant scion of the Yadus, ever say of you, O king, that there is none equal to Duryodhana with the mace?
10.9.27 For the Vārṣṇeya praised you in the assemblies, O king, O Bhārata, saying, 'The Kaurava is my fine pupil in the fighting of maces,' O lord.
10.9.28 The destiny that the supreme sages declare blessed for a kṣatriya — that of one slain facing the foe in battle — that destiny you have attained.
10.9.29 Duryodhana, I do not grieve for you, O bull among men; but I grieve for Gāndhārī, bereft of her sons, and for your father — those two will wander this earth as beggars, mourning.
10.9.30 A curse upon Kṛṣṇa the Vārṣṇeya, and upon the wicked-minded Arjuna too — those two, who fancy themselves knowers of dharma, yet looked on while you were being struck down.
10.9.31 And what will all those Pāṇḍavas say to the kings — those shameless ones — about how Duryodhana was slain by us?
10.9.32 Fortunate are you, son of Gāndhārī, who were slain upon the field of battle, having gone forth to face your foes by the way of dharma, O bull among men.
10.9.33 For Gāndhārī, her sons slain, her kinsmen and kindred destroyed, and the unassailable one whose sight is wisdom — what destiny shall they meet?
10.9.34 A curse upon Kṛtavarman, upon me, and upon Kṛpa the great chariot-warrior — we who have not gone to heaven setting you, O king, before us.
10.9.35 You who gave us all our desires, who guarded us, who sought the welfare of your people — that we do not follow you, a curse upon us, basest of men.
10.9.36 By your might, O tiger among men, the houses of Kṛpa, of me, and of my father, together with our retainers, were filled with jewels.
10.9.37 By your grace, we with our friends and kinsmen performed many great sacrifices with lavish gifts to the priests.
10.9.38 And where shall we ever find such a companion, with whom set before you, you departed surpassing all the kings of the earth?
10.9.39 We three alone, O king, since we do not follow you as you go to the supreme destiny — for that we shall burn with remorse.
10.9.40 Bereft of your heaven, bereft of our purpose, remembering your good deeds — what deed could there be by which we might follow after you?
10.9.41 In sorrow, surely, O best of the Kurus, shall we roam this earth; for us bereft of you, O king, whence peace, whence happiness?
10.9.42 Having gone, O great king, and met those great chariot-warriors, you should honor them, each by his rank and seniority, in my name.
10.9.43 And having honored the teacher, the banner of all bowmen, you should tell him, O king, that Dhṛṣṭadyumna was slain by me this day.
10.9.44 You should embrace King Bāhlika, the mighty chariot-warrior, and the lord of Sindhu, and Somadatta, and Bhūriśravas too.
10.9.45 And so too the other best of kings who have gone before to heaven — embracing them in our name, you should ask after their well-being.
10.9.46 Having thus spoken to the king, his thighs shattered and his senses gone, Aśvatthāman, gazing upon him, spoke once more.
10.9.47 Duryodhana, if you yet live, hear words that will be sweet to your ears: of the Pāṇḍavas seven remain; of the sons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra's side, we three.
10.9.48 They are the five brothers, then Vāsudeva and Sātyaki; and on our side I, and Kṛtavarman, and Kṛpa the son of Śaradvat.
10.9.49 The sons of Draupadī are all slain, and the sons of Dhṛṣṭadyumna; the Pāñcālas are all destroyed, and what remained of the Matsyas, O Bhārata.
10.9.50 See the deed repaid with a deed: the Pāṇḍavas too are bereft of their sons; in the night-attack their camp was destroyed, with its men and mounts.
10.9.51 And that evildoer Dhṛṣṭadyumna, O lord of the earth, was killed by me — entering the camp by night, I slaughtered him like a beast.
10.9.52 But Duryodhana, hearing those words dear to his heart, and recovering his senses once again, spoke this speech.
10.9.53 What you, joined with Kṛpa and the Bhoja, have done for me this day, the son of Gaṅgā did not do for me, nor Karṇa, nor your father.
10.9.54 If that base commander has been slain together with Śikhaṇḍin, then I deem myself this day the equal of Maghavat himself.
10.9.55 Fare you well, blessings be upon you; in heaven shall be our meeting again. Having spoken thus, the high-minded king of the Kurus fell silent, and the hero gave up his life, leaving sorrow upon his friends.
10.9.56 Saying 'So be it,' those who had been embraced, embracing the king in turn and gazing upon him again and again, mounted their own chariots.
10.9.57 Having thus heard your son's piteous words, at the hour of dawn, stricken with grief, I sped toward the city.
10.9.58 When your son had gone to heaven, O blameless one, for me in my grief that gift of the sage, the power of divine sight, was this day lost.
10.9.59 Vaiśaṃpāyana said: Having heard thus of the slaughter of his sons and kinsmen, the king then drew a long, hot sigh and was lost in brooding thought.
10.10.1 Vaiśaṃpāyana said: When that night had passed, the charioteer of Dhṛṣṭadyumna reported to the King of Dharma the carnage that had been wrought in the night-attack.
10.10.2 The sons of Draupadī, O great king, together with the sons of Drupada — heedless, trusting, asleep in their own camp at night —
10.10.3 by the cruel Kṛtavarman, by Kṛpa of Gautama's line, and by the wicked Aśvatthāman — your camp was destroyed in the night.
10.10.4 By these men, hacking down thousands of warriors, elephants, and horses with javelins, spears, and battle-axes, your army was utterly annihilated.
10.10.5 Like a great forest being felled with axes, a tremendous din arose from your army, O Bhārata.
10.10.6 I alone am left of that host, O lord of the earth; somehow, O righteous one, I escaped while Kṛtavarman was distracted.
10.10.7 Hearing that grievous report, Yudhiṣṭhira the son of Kuntī, the unassailable, fell to the ground, overcome with grief for his sons.
10.10.8 As he fell, Sātyaki rushed forward and caught hold of him, as did Bhīmasena and Arjuna and the two sons of Mādrī, the Pāṇḍavas.
10.10.9 Regaining his senses, the son of Kuntī, in a voice broken with grief, having conquered his foes yet conquered after all, lamented in his anguish.
10.10.10 Hard to know is the course of events, even for those with divine sight: others, being defeated, prove victorious, while we, prevailing, are defeated.
10.10.11 Having slain brothers and companions, fathers, sons, and bands of friends, kinsmen, counselors, and grandsons — having conquered them all, we are conquered.
10.10.12 For ruin has the look of gain, and gain the appearance of ruin; this victory has the form of defeat — this victory, therefore, is a defeat.
10.10.13 When one, having conquered, afterward burns with remorse like a fool fallen into misfortune, how could he account it a victory? — he is rather the more thoroughly vanquished by his foes.
10.10.14 For the sake of whom — a curse upon this evil victory bought with the slaughter of friends! — those who seemed victorious have in truth been vanquished by the heedful ones they had defeated.
10.10.15 Of him whose fangs were barbed and shaftlike arrows, whose tongue was the sword, whose terrible jaws gaped wide as the bow in battle, who roared with the twang of the bowstring against the guard —
10.10.16 of that wrathful lion among men, Karṇa, who never fled from battles — those who escaped him have now, through heedlessness, been slain.
10.10.17 A lake whose chariots were its depths, whose waves were showers of arrows, studded with jewels and ranged with mounts; whose fish were lances and spears, whose crocodiles were elephants beneath the standards, whose whirlpools were bows and whose foam the mighty shafts —
10.10.18 that ocean of Droṇa, whose tide swelled with the moonrise of battle, roaring with the twang of bowstring, guard, and chariot-rim — those princes who crossed it in boats of high and low weapons have now been slain through heedlessness.
10.10.19 For there is no slayer of men in this world of the living greater than heedlessness; the heedless man fortune abandons on every side, and misfortunes crowd in upon him.
10.10.20 Whose smoke-bannered fire blazed high atop the topmost standards, whose flames were arrows and whose great wind was wrath, whose roar was of the mighty bow's string, guard, and rim, whose oblations were armor and weapons of every kind —
10.10.21 that great forest-fire of Bhīṣma in the mighty fray, fed upon the thicket of great armies — those princes who withstood its onrush of drawn and uplifted weapons have now been slain through heedlessness.
10.10.22 For by a heedless man no learning is won, nor austerity, nor splendor, nor wide renown; behold great Indra, who by heedfulness slew all his foes and now flourishes in happiness.
10.10.23 Behold the sons and grandsons of kings, the equals of Indra, slain alike through heedlessness — like prosperous merchants who, having crossed the sea, sink heedlessly in a wretched little stream. Those who lay sleeping and were slain by the wrathful ones have, without doubt, attained to heaven.
10.10.24 How should I not grieve for the virtuous Kṛṣṇā, who now will surely perish, sinking into an ocean of sorrow? Hearing that her brothers and sons are slain, and the aged king of the Pāñcālas, her father, she will surely fall senseless to the earth and lie there, her slender frame wasted with grief.
10.10.25 Unable to bear that grief-born anguish, how shall she fare, she who was accustomed to happiness — driven by the loss of her sons and the slaughter of her brothers, as though consumed by the fire that devours the oblations?
10.10.26 Thus, lamenting in his anguish, the king of the Kurus said to Nakula: 'Go and bring here that ill-fated princess, together with her mother's kin.'
10.10.27 Receiving that command of the king, who was dharma's very image, the son of Mādrī swiftly went by chariot to the queen's abode, where the wives of the Pāñcāla king dwelt.
10.10.28 Having sent off the son of Mādrī, the descendant of Ajamīḍha, tormented by grief and accompanied by his friends, set out, weeping aloud, for the battleground of his sons, thronged with crowds of spirits.
10.10.29 Entering that dreadful, fearsome place, he beheld his sons, his kinsmen, and his friends lying upon the ground, their limbs drenched in blood, their heads split, broken off, and carried away.
10.10.30 Beholding them, Yudhiṣṭhira, the foremost of dharma's upholders, deeply stricken, the chief of the Kurus, cried out aloud and fell to the earth senseless, together with his company.
10.11.1 Vaiśaṃpāyana said: Beholding his sons, brothers, and friends slain in battle, his soul was overwhelmed with great anguish, O Janamejaya.
10.11.2 Then a great grief arose in that high-souled one as he remembered his sons and grandsons, his brothers, and his own people.
10.11.3 His eyes brimming with tears, trembling and bereft of his senses, his deeply distressed friends then sought to console him.
10.11.4 Then at that morning hour, in a chariot bright as the sun, Nakula arrived together with Kṛṣṇā, who was utterly overcome with grief.
10.11.5 She, who had been at Upaplavya, on hearing that most grievous news — the destruction of all her sons — was then stricken with anguish.
10.11.6 Trembling like a plantain shaken by the wind, Kṛṣṇā, reaching the king and stricken with grief, fell to the ground.
10.11.7 The face of her whose eyes were like the petals of a full-blown lotus grew suddenly wasted with grief, like the sun overcast by darkness.
10.11.8 Then, seeing her fallen, the impetuous Vṛkodara of true valor came up and caught her in his arms.
10.11.9 Comforted by Bhīmasena, the beautiful Kṛṣṇā, weeping, spoke to the Pāṇḍava and his brothers.
10.11.10 By fortune, O king, you shall this day enjoy this whole earth, having delivered up your sons to Yama by the law of the kṣatriya.
10.11.11 By fortune, O Pārtha, you are safe and well; having gained the whole earth, you will not remember the son of Subhadrā, who walked with the gait of a rutting elephant.
10.11.12 Having heard that your valiant sons were struck down by that law of war, by fortune you will not remember them — those who dwelt with me at Upaplavya.
10.11.13 Hearing of the slaughter of the sleeping by the evil-deeded son of Droṇa, grief scorches me, O Pārtha, like fire consuming my heart.
10.11.14 If this day, in battle, you do not by your valor take the life of that wicked son of Droṇa, together with his followers,
10.11.15 then here and now I shall sit fasting unto death — mark this well, O Pāṇḍavas — unless the son of Droṇa reaps the fruit of his evil deed.
10.11.16 Having spoken thus, Kṛṣṇā, the daughter of Yajñasena, the illustrious one, seated herself before the Pāṇḍava Yudhiṣṭhira, the King of Righteousness.
10.11.17 Seeing his beloved queen seated thus, the royal sage, the righteous Pāṇḍava, replied to the fair-faced Draupadī.
10.11.18 O knower of duty, O auspicious one, by righteous means and in keeping with their duty your sons and your brothers have met their death; you ought not to grieve for them.
10.11.19 O gracious lady, the son of Droṇa has gone far away into the forest; O lovely one, how shall you ever know of his fall in battle?
10.11.20 Draupadī said: I have heard that the son of Droṇa bears a gem upon his head, born with him. When that wicked one is slain in battle, let me look upon that gem brought to me; my resolve, O king, is to live only after setting it upon your head.
10.11.21 Vaiśaṃpāyana said: Having spoken thus to the Pāṇḍava king, the fair-faced Kṛṣṇā then approached Bhīmasena and, in her wrath, addressed these words to him.
10.11.22 You must save me, Bhīma, remembering the duty of a warrior; slay that doer of evil as Maghavan slew Śambara. For there is no man here whose valor is the equal of yours.
10.11.23 It is known in all the worlds how, in their utmost distress, you were an island of refuge to the sons of Pṛthā in the city of Vāraṇāvata; and likewise, when Hiḍimba appeared, you became their deliverance.
10.11.24 So too in the city of Virāṭa, when I was sorely tormented by Kīcaka, you raised me up out of that peril, as Maghavan rescued Paulomī.
10.11.25 As you accomplished those great deeds of old, O son of Pṛthā, so now, O slayer of foes, strike down the son of Droṇa and find your peace.
10.11.26 Hearing her manifold lament born of grief, Bhīmasena, the mighty son of Kuntī, could not bear it.
10.11.27 He mounted his great chariot, its body wondrously wrought with gold, taking up his bright and splendid bow strung with its bowstring and furnished with arrows.
10.11.28 Making Nakula his charioteer, bent upon the slaying of Droṇa's son, he twanged his arrow-laden bow and swiftly urged on the horses.
10.11.29 O tiger among men, those horses, swift as the wind, urged on, sped away with great speed, those tawny coursers fleet of foot.
10.11.30 From his own camp the unshaken, valiant one picked up the track of the chariot and quickly followed the path of the chariot of Droṇa's son.
10.12.1 Vaiśaṃpāyana said: When that unassailable one had set forth, the bull of the Yadus, the lotus-eyed Kṛṣṇa, then spoke to Yudhiṣṭhira, the son of Kuntī.
10.12.2 O Pāṇḍava, O descendant of Bharata, this brother of yours, unable to endure his grief for the slain sons, goes forth with intent to kill, this scion of Bharata's line, into the fray.
10.12.3 O bull of the Bhāratas, Bhīma is dearer to you than all your brothers; why do you not now go to his aid when he is fallen into danger?
10.12.4 That weapon which Droṇa, conqueror of hostile cities, taught to his son, the weapon named Brahmaśiras, which could burn up even the earth—
10.12.5 that the great-souled, illustrious preceptor, the banner of all bowmen, also imparted to Dhanaṃjaya, in his fondness for him.
10.12.6 His son too, the impatient one, begged the same of him in like manner; and then, with no great gladness of heart, he spoke to his son.
10.12.7 For the rashness of his own son was known to that great soul; the preceptor, knower of all duty, did not always approve of his son.
10.12.8 "Even in the gravest peril, my child, this weapon must not be loosed by you in battle, and least of all against human beings."
10.12.9 Having so spoken to his son, the teacher Droṇa added afterward, O bull among men: "You will never abide in the path of the good."
10.12.10 Learning his father's unwelcome words, that wicked-souled one, despairing of all good fortune, wandered the earth in grief.
10.12.11 Then, O best of the Kurus, O descendant of Bharata, while you dwelt in the forest, he came to Dvārakā and lived there, highly honored by the Vṛṣṇis.
10.12.12 Once, while dwelling by the seashore near Dvāravatī, coming upon me alone and one to one, he said to me, as if smiling:
10.12.13 "That fierce austerity which my father, the teacher of the Bharatas, of truthful valor, performed, and through which he obtained from Agastya, O Kṛṣṇa—
10.12.14 the weapon named Brahmaśiras, honored by gods and gandharvas—that now resides in me, O scion of the Dāśārhas, even as it did in my father.
10.12.15 Taking from me that divine weapon, O best of the Yadus, give me in return your weapon, the discus that destroys foes in battle."
10.12.16 O king, as he begged earnestly of me with joined palms for the weapon, I too, well-pleased, said to him, O bull of the Bhāratas:
10.12.17 "Gods, demons, gandharvas, men, birds, and serpents, all together, are not equal to even a hundredth part of my strength.
10.12.18 Here is my bow, here my spear, here my discus, here my mace; whatever weapon you desire of me, that I shall give you.
10.12.19 Whatever you are able to lift up and to wield in battle, take that—without giving me a weapon in exchange, that which you wish to bestow on me."
10.12.20 O mighty-armed one, he chose the discus with its fair nave, its thousand spokes, its adamantine hub, wrought of iron, vying thus with me.
10.12.21 "Take the discus," I said; and thereupon, approaching, he suddenly seized the discus with his left hand, but he was unable, O unfailing one, to stir it from its place.
10.12.22 Then he set himself to grasp it with his right hand as well, and though seizing it with his whole effort, he could not make it move.
10.12.23 Then, when even with all his might the son of Droṇa could neither lift nor shift it, O descendant of Bharata, deeply downcast and wearied after his utmost striving, he gave up.
10.12.24 When Aśvatthāman had thus turned back from that purpose, bewildered, I called to him most tenderly and said:
10.12.25 "He who among gods and men has attained the highest measure, the wielder of Gāṇḍīva, of the white horses, bearing the banner of the chief of apes—
10.12.26 he who, victorious in single combat, gratified the very lord of the lords of gods, the blue-throated husband of Umā, Śaṃkara—
10.12.27 than whom there is no other man dearer to me on earth, to whom there is nothing of mine I would withhold—not my wife, not my sons—
10.12.28 even by that friend, O brāhmaṇa, the son of Pṛthā of untiring deeds, these words which you now speak to me have never before been uttered.
10.12.29 He who, having kept a great and terrible vow of celibacy for twelve years, was won by me through austerity upon the slopes of the Himālaya—
10.12.30 my radiant son named Pradyumna, who was born of Rukmiṇī, the partner of my equal vow, and who is Sanatkumāra himself—
10.12.31 even by him this great and matchless divine discus of mine was never asked for, O foolish one—that which you have asked of me.
10.12.32 Never before has this been asked by the exceedingly mighty Rāma, nor by Gada, nor by Sāmba—that which you have asked of me.
10.12.33 Nor by the other dwellers of Dvārakā, the great chariot-warriors of the Vṛṣṇis and the Andhakas, has this ever been asked—that which you have asked of me.
10.12.34 Being the son of the teacher of the Bharatas and honored by all the Yādavas, with this discus, O best of chariot-warriors, against whom, my child, do you wish to make war?"
10.12.35 Thus addressed by me, the son of Droṇa answered me in these words: "Having offered you homage, I shall fight with you, O Kṛṣṇa."
10.12.36 "It was therefore that I sought your discus, honored by gods and demons, thinking, 'May I become invincible.' This truth I tell you, O lord.
10.12.37 Without having gained from you this desire so hard to win, O Keśava, I shall depart; speak to me kindly, O Govinda.
10.12.38 This fair-naved discus, borne by you, the bull of the Vṛṣṇis, against whom no other discus can prevail—none other on earth may attain it."
10.12.39 Having said only this much to me, the youth, the son of Droṇa, took a team of horses, riches, and jewels of many kinds, and went away.
10.12.40 He is wrathful and evil-souled, fickle and cruel, and he knows the Brahmaśiras weapon; therefore Vṛkodara must be guarded.
10.13.1 Vaiśaṃpāyana said: Having spoken thus, the best of warriors, the delight of all the Yādavas, mounted his great chariot furnished with the finest of all weapons, yoked with splendid Kāmboja steeds adorned with golden garlands.
10.13.2 Of that excellent chariot, hued like the rising sun, Sainya bore the right side of the yoke and Sugrīva bore the left; and Meghapuṣpa and Balāhaka were its two flanking steeds at the rear.
10.13.3 The flagstaff, divine, wrought by Viśvakarman, adorned with jewels of many kinds, raised aloft upon the chariot, appeared like very magic.
10.13.4 Upon it stood the son of Vinatā, ringed with a halo of radiant beams; the foe of serpents appeared as the banner of that truthful one.
10.13.5 Hṛṣīkeśa mounted, and after him the banner of all bowmen, Arjuna of truthful deeds, and Yudhiṣṭhira, the king of the Kurus.
10.13.6 The two great souls, standing on either side of the scion of the Dāśārhas, shone forth beside the wielder of Śārṅga seated in the chariot, like the two Aśvins beside Vāsava.
10.13.7 Having taken the two up into the world-honored chariot, the scion of the Dāśārhas, with his goad, urged on the swift and excellent steeds.
10.13.8 Those horses suddenly sprang forward, bearing away that finest of chariots mounted by the two Pāṇḍavas and by the bull of the Yadus.
10.13.9 From the swift-going horses that bore the wielder of Śārṅga there arose a great sound, like that of birds in flight.
10.13.10 Those tigers among men, O bull of the Bhāratas, swiftly pursuing, overtook in a moment the great bowman Bhīmasena.
10.13.11 But the son of Kuntī, blazing with wrath and bent upon his enemy's destruction, even those great chariot-warriors, though they came up with him, could not turn back.
10.13.12 Before the very eyes of those illustrious and firm-bowed ones, he sped with his fleet horses to the bank of the Bhāgīrathī, where the son of Droṇa, slayer of the sons of the great-souled ones, was said to be.
10.13.13 He beheld the great and illustrious soul, Kṛṣṇadvaipāyana Vyāsa, seated at the water's edge together with the sages.
10.13.14 And nearby he saw that doer of cruel deeds, the son of Droṇa, smeared with ghee, clad in garments of kuśa grass, his hair-ends grimed with dust.
10.13.15 The mighty-armed Bhīmasena, son of Kuntī, rushed upon him, taking up his arrow-laden bow, and cried, "Stand! Stand!"
10.13.16 Seeing the terrible bowman with his bow drawn, and his two brothers standing behind him in Janārdana's chariot, the son of Droṇa grew troubled at heart and thought his hour had come.
10.13.17 Undaunted in spirit, he called to mind that divine, supreme weapon; and the son of Droṇa took up a blade of reed-grass in his left hand and, fallen into that extremity, charged it with the divine weapon.
10.13.18 Unable to endure those heroes standing armed with divine weapons, in his wrath he loosed the terrible utterance: "For the destruction of the Pāṇḍavas!"
10.13.19 Having so spoken, O tiger among kings, the valiant son of Droṇa loosed that weapon for the confounding of all the worlds.
10.13.20 Then from that reed-blade a fire arose, as if to consume the three worlds, like Yama who brings the end at the close of time.
10.14.1 Vaiśaṃpāyana said: Discerning from the outset, by his very gesture, the intent of the son of Droṇa, the mighty-armed scion of the Dāśārhas spoke to Arjuna.
10.14.2 "Arjuna, Arjuna! That divine weapon which abides in your heart, taught to you by Droṇa—now is its time, O Pāṇḍava.
10.14.3 For the deliverance of your brothers and of yourself, O descendant of Bharata, do you too loose in this fray that weapon which wards off weapons."
10.14.4 Thus addressed by Keśava, the Pāṇḍava, slayer of enemy heroes, swiftly descended from the chariot, taking up his arrow-laden bow.
10.14.5 First for the son of his teacher, then thereafter for himself and for all his brothers, the scorcher of foes uttered the words "May it be well."
10.14.6 Having made obeisance to the gods and to all his teachers, and meditating upon what was auspicious, he loosed the weapon, that it might be quelled by the other weapon.
10.14.7 Then that weapon, suddenly let loose by the wielder of Gāṇḍīva, blazed up with a vast flaming radiance, like the fire that consumes the world at the end of an age.
10.14.8 In like manner the weapon of Droṇa's son, fierce in its splendour, blazed forth with mighty flames, wrapped about by an orb of dazzling fire.
10.14.9 Many thunderclaps were heard, and meteors fell by the thousands; and a great terror arose among all living beings.
10.14.10 The sky grew loud with sound and was thickly aswarm with garlands of flame; and the whole earth trembled, with its mountains, forests, and trees.
10.14.11 As those two weapons stood poised, scorching the worlds with their fiery power, two great seers thereupon showed themselves together in that place.
10.14.12 They were Nārada and the righteous-souled grandsire of the Bharatas, come to pacify both those heroes, the son of Bharadvāja and Dhanaṃjaya.
10.14.13 Those two sages, knowers of all the laws of righteousness, devoted to the welfare of all beings and of surpassing splendour, took their stand between the two blazing weapons.
10.14.14 Drawing near into that space between, the two illustrious and irresistible seers stood there, like two flaming fires.
10.14.15 Unassailable by any breathing creature and honoured by gods and dānavas alike, they came to quell the fire of those weapons, out of their desire for the good of the worlds.
10.14.16 The two seers said: Even those great chariot-warriors of old, now departed, who were versed in weapons of every kind — never did any of them employ this weapon against men.
10.15.1 Vaiśaṃpāyana said: The very moment that tiger among men, Dhanaṃjaya, beheld those two whose splendour matched fire, he made haste and withdrew his celestial arrow.
10.15.2 Then that foremost of speakers said to the two seers, with joined palms: It was by me that this weapon was loosed, only that it might be quelled by the other weapon.
10.15.3 If I withdraw this supreme weapon, the evil-doer Droṇa's son will surely burn us all, every one, with the fire of his weapon.
10.15.4 In this matter, you two who are like the gods should by all means bring about whatever is for the good both of us and of the worlds.
10.15.5 Having spoken thus, Dhanaṃjaya again withdrew his weapon — though the withdrawing of it in battle is hard even for the gods.
10.15.6 To recall that supreme weapon once let loose in battle, none save the son of Pāṇḍu is able — not even the performer of a hundred sacrifices himself.
10.15.7 For that weapon, born of the power of Brahman and loosed by one of unperfected soul, cannot be turned back by any save him who keeps the vow of chastity.
10.15.8 Whoever, not having kept the vow of chastity, looses it and then would turn it back — that weapon severs his head, together with all his kin.
10.15.9 But Arjuna, being chaste and faithful to his vow, had gained that hard-won weapon; and even afflicted by the gravest peril, he did not let it fly.
10.15.10 Holding to the vow of truth, a hero, chaste, and obedient to his teacher — for these reasons the son of Pāṇḍu, Arjuna, again withdrew the weapon.
10.15.11 But Droṇa's son, beholding the two seers standing before him, was not able to withdraw again his dreadful weapon in the battle.
10.15.12 Unable to recall that supreme weapon in the fray, Droṇa's son, with downcast heart, O king, spoke thus to Dvaipāyana:
10.15.13 Afflicted by the direst peril and longing to save my life, it was by me, O sage, that this weapon was loosed, out of fear of Bhīmasena.
10.15.14 And a deed against righteousness was done by Bhīmasena, O blessed one, when through treacherous conduct in battle he sought to slay the son of Dhṛtarāṣṭra.
10.15.15 Therefore was this weapon loosed by me, O brāhmaṇa, by one of unperfected soul; and now I have no power here to bring about its withdrawal again.
10.15.16 For this celestial and irresistible weapon was loosed by me, O sage, with the spell pronounced upon its fiery power, that there be no son of Pāṇḍu left.
10.15.17 This weapon, then, aimed at the destruction of the descendants of Pāṇḍu, will this very day strip all the sons of Pāṇḍu of their lives.
10.15.18 This evil deed was done by me, O brāhmaṇa, with a mind possessed by rage, when, longing for the death of the sons of Pṛthā, I loosed the weapon in battle.
10.15.19 Vyāsa said: The son of Pṛthā, Dhanaṃjaya, in his knowledge, my son, loosed the weapon Brahmaśiras neither out of wrath nor to slay you in the battle.
10.15.20 It was loosed by Arjuna only that your weapon might be quelled in battle by another weapon; and again he has withdrawn it.
10.15.21 Though he had gained this very weapon of Brahman through the teaching of your father, the mighty-armed Dhanaṃjaya did not waver from the duty of a kṣatriya.
10.15.22 Why, then, do you seek the death of one so steadfast, so virtuous, so versed in all weapons, together with his brothers and kinsmen?
10.15.23 In whatever realm the weapon Brahmaśiras is met and overcome by another supreme weapon, for twelve years the rain-cloud sends no rain upon that land.
10.15.24 For this reason the mighty-armed son of Pāṇḍu, though he has the power, does not strike down this weapon of yours — out of his wish for the welfare of the people.
10.15.25 The Pāṇḍavas, and you, and the realm are ever to be protected by us; therefore, O mighty-armed one, withdraw this celestial weapon of yours.
10.15.26 Let your wrath be stilled, and let the sons of Pṛthā be unharmed; for the royal seer, the son of Pāṇḍu, does not wish to conquer by unrighteous means.
10.15.27 And give over to them this jewel that rests upon your head; taking it, the Pāṇḍavas will grant you back your life.
10.15.28 Droṇa's son said: Of all the gems won here by the Pāṇḍavas and whatever other wealth was won by the Kauravas, this jewel of mine is the surpassing one.
10.15.29 Bearing it bound upon oneself, there is no fear arising from weapon, disease, or hunger, none whatever from gods, dānavas, or nāgas.
10.15.30 Nor is there fear of the hosts of rākṣasas, nor any fear of thieves. Of such potency is this jewel; it is by no means to be given up by me.
10.15.31 But what the blessed one bids me — that must I forthwith do. Here is the jewel, and here am I; yet this blade of reed shall fall upon the unborn of the Pāṇḍavas, for once raised it does not fail.
10.15.32 Vyāsa said: Do thus, and let no other purpose ever be formed by you. Loose it upon the unborn of the Pāṇḍavas, and then desist.
10.15.33 Vaiśaṃpāyana said: Then Aśvatthāman, sorely afflicted, having heard the word of Dvaipāyana, loosed that supreme weapon upon the unborn children.
10.16.1 Vaiśaṃpāyana said: Perceiving that the weapon had been loosed by the doer of evil, Hṛṣīkeśa, well-pleased, then spoke this word in answer to Droṇa's son:
10.16.2 Long ago, beholding the daughter of Virāṭa, the daughter-in-law of the wielder of Gāṇḍīva, as she dwelt at Upaplavya, a brāhmaṇa faithful to his vows declared:
10.16.3 When the Kurus are wasted away, a son shall be born to you; and this — being thus born in a perished line — shall be his title of Parīkṣit, even while he lies in the womb.
10.16.4 That word of the virtuous one shall surely come to pass: Parīkṣit indeed shall be theirs, a son who once more shall carry on the line.
10.16.5 To Govinda, foremost of the Sātvatas, as he spoke thus, Droṇa's son, in utmost fury, then made this reply:
10.16.6 It is not as you say, out of partiality, O Keśava; not so is your word, O lotus-eyed one, nor shall my own word prove otherwise.
10.16.7 For this weapon, raised by me, shall fall upon the embryo of that daughter of Virāṭa, O Kṛṣṇa, whom you wish to protect.
10.16.8 Vāsudeva said: The fall of that supreme weapon shall indeed not fail; yet that embryo, though born dead, shall attain a long life.
10.16.9 But you all the wise know to be a coward and a sinner, again and again a worker of evil, a slayer of the lives of children.
10.16.10 Therefore receive the fruit of this evil deed: for three thousand years you shall wander over this earth, nowhere ever finding fellowship of speech with anyone.
10.16.11 Companionless, you shall roam through desolate lands; for there shall be no abiding for you, base one, in the midst of men.
10.16.12 Reeking of pus and blood, taking refuge in trackless wastes and wilderness, you shall wander, O evil-souled one, beset by every disease.
10.16.13 But Parīkṣit, attaining to manhood and gaining the vows of the Veda, that hero, shall obtain all weapons from Kṛpa, the son of Śaradvat.
10.16.14 Having mastered the supreme weapons and standing firm in the vow of a kṣatriya's duty, the righteous-souled one shall guard the earth for sixty years.
10.16.15 And from this time onward there shall be a mighty-armed king of the Kurus, a sovereign named Parīkṣit, before your very eyes, O most wicked one. Behold, O basest of men, the power of my austerity and of my truth.
10.16.16 Vyāsa said: Inasmuch as, disregarding us, you have wrought this dreadful deed, and inasmuch as such has been your conduct, even though you are a brāhmaṇa —
10.16.17 therefore that noble word which the son of Devakī has spoken shall without doubt come to pass for you, O doer of base deeds. Go hence at once.
10.16.18 Aśvatthāman said: Together with you, O brāhmaṇa, shall I dwell among men. Let this blessed one, this best of men, be one whose word is truth.
10.16.19 Vaiśaṃpāyana said: Then, having given over the jewel to the great-souled Pāṇḍavas, Droṇa's son, dejected in mind, departed into the forest while they all looked on.
10.16.20 And the Pāṇḍavas, their foes now slain, setting Govinda before them, and Kṛṣṇa Dvaipāyana, and the great sage Nārada —
10.16.21 taking up the jewel born with the son of Droṇa, they hastened in all speed toward the high-minded Draupadī, who had resolved to fast unto death.
10.16.22 Then those tigers among men, together with the one of the Dāśārha line, came once again to the encampment, borne by their fine steeds swift as the wind.
10.16.23 Descending in haste from their two chariots, those great chariot-warriors, themselves more stricken still, beheld Draupadī, the dark one, in her grief.
10.16.24 Drawing near to her, joyless and overwhelmed with sorrow and grief, the Pāṇḍavas, together with Keśava, stood gathered about her.
10.16.25 Then Bhīmasena of mighty strength, having been bidden by the king, presented the celestial jewel and spoke this word:
10.16.26 Here, gentle lady, is your jewel; the slayer of your sons has been overcome for you. Rise up, cast off your grief, and call to mind the duty of a kṣatriya.
10.16.27 When Vāsudeva set out to make peace, O dark-eyed lady, those words you spoke, O timid one, to the slayer of Madhu —
10.16.28 "I have no husbands left, nor sons, nor brothers; and not even you, O Govinda, desires peace with the king" —
10.16.29 resolute words you spoke then to that best of men, words befitting the duty of a kṣatriya — those you ought now to call to mind.
10.16.30 The wicked Duryodhana, who barred the way to the kingdom, is slain; and the blood of Duḥśāsana, as he quivered, was drunk by me.
10.16.31 The debt of our enmity is discharged; we shall not be reproached by those who would find fault. The son of Droṇa, though conquered, was set free, out of regard for his brahmanhood and his honour.
10.16.32 His glory has been cast down, O lady, though his body alone is left; he has been parted from his jewel and made to lay down his weapon upon the ground.
10.16.33 Draupadī said: I have attained release from my whole debt. The teacher's son is as a teacher to me. Let the king bind this jewel upon his head, O descendant of Bharata.
10.16.34 Vaiśaṃpāyana said: Then the king took it and set it upon his own head, holding it, at Draupadī's word, as a thing left by a teacher.
10.16.35 Then the lord, bearing upon his head that excellent celestial jewel, that great king shone resplendent, like a mountain crowned with the moon.
10.16.36 Then the high-minded Kṛṣṇā, stricken with grief for her sons, rose up; and the King of Righteousness questioned the mighty-armed Kṛṣṇa.
10.17.1 Vaiśaṃpāyana said: When all the troops had been slain in the night-massacre by those three warriors, King Yudhiṣṭhira, grieving, spoke thus to the descendant of the Dāśārhas:
10.17.2 How, O Kṛṣṇa, were all my sons, those mighty warriors, slain by the wicked, base, tireless-handed son of Droṇa?
10.17.3 Likewise those skilled in arms, valiant, each a match for a hundred thousand foes, and the sons of Drupada as well—how were they all struck down by Droṇa's son?
10.17.4 How did he slay Dhṛṣṭadyumna, foremost of chariot-warriors, before whom Droṇa, the great archer, would not show his face in battle?
10.17.5 What deed, so beyond his power, did the teacher's son perform, O bull among men, that single-handed he destroyed our whole camp?
10.17.6 Vāsudeva said: Surely the son of Droṇa took refuge with the imperishable Lord of lords, the God of gods; therefore alone he slew the many.
10.17.7 For when gracious, Mahādeva would grant even immortality, and the Mountain-dweller would grant such valor that one might lay even Indra low.
10.17.8 For I know Mahādeva in his very essence, O bull of the Bhāratas, and the many ancient deeds that are his.
10.17.9 For he is the beginning of all beings, their middle and their end, O Bhārata; and this whole world moves by his action alone.
10.17.10 Thus, desiring to create beings, the Lord first beheld him, and the Grandsire said to him: Create the beings without delay.
10.17.11 Saying "So be it," Harikeśa, foreseeing the flaws of beings, performed austerities for a long time, that great ascetic, sunk beneath the waters.
10.17.12 After waiting for him a very long while, the Grandsire created from his mind another to be the maker of all beings.
10.17.13 Seeing his father the Mountain-dweller sunk beneath the waters, this one said: If no other is born before me, then I shall create the creatures.
10.17.14 His father said to him: There is no other being born before you. This is Sthāṇu, sunk in the water; with confidence, do your work.
10.17.15 He created the seven beings, the lords of creatures beginning with Dakṣa, by whom he brought forth this whole fourfold host of beings.
10.17.16 No sooner were they created than all the creatures, famished and eager to devour, rushed at once upon the Lord of creatures, O king.
10.17.17 Being devoured, and seeking protection, he ran to the Grandsire: May the Blessed One save me from these; let some means of sustenance be ordained for them.
10.17.18 Then he gave them food: the herbs, the things that stand fixed, and the moving creatures—the weaker as nourishment for the stronger.
10.17.19 Their food thus appointed, those creatures went away contented as they had come, and then, well pleased, O king, they multiplied each in their own kind.
10.17.20 When the host of beings had grown and the teacher of the worlds was satisfied, the elder one rose up from the waters and beheld these creatures.
10.17.21 Seeing the creatures, of many forms, grown great by their own power, the blessed Rudra grew wroth and tore out his own emblem.
10.17.22 Cast upon the earth, it stood there fixed even so; and the imperishable Brahmā spoke to him, as if calming him with words:
10.17.23 What have you done, O Śarva, abiding so long in the water? And why have you torn out this emblem and flung it upon the earth?
10.17.24 Then the teacher of the worlds, his anger kindled, said to his elder: These creatures have been created by another; what now shall I do with this?
10.17.25 The food I won by austerity for the sake of the creatures, O Grandsire—let the herbs renew themselves perpetually, even as the creatures do.
10.17.26 Having spoken thus, Bhava, enraged and downcast, that great ascetic, went to the foot of Mount Muñjavat to perform his austerities.
10.18.1 Vāsudeva said: Then, when the age of the gods had passed, the gods made ready a sacrifice, desiring to offer it duly according to the measure of the Vedas.
10.18.2 Unhurried, they appointed the places fit for the sacrifice, the deities worthy of shares, and the materials of the offering as well.
10.18.3 But those deities, not knowing Rudra as he truly is, appointed no share for the god Sthāṇu, O lord of men.
10.18.4 And when no share was appointed for him by the immortals in the sacrifice, the One clad in hide, swiftly seeking his portion, first of all fashioned a bow.
10.18.5 The world-sacrifice, the rite-sacrifice, the eternal household-sacrifice, the sacrifice made of the five elements, and the man-sacrifice as the fifth—
10.18.6 of these, the matted-haired one, desiring the sacrifice, fashioned his bow from the world-sacrifice; and the bow he made measured five cubits.
10.18.7 The sacred utterance Vaṣaṭ became the bowstring of that bow, O Bhārata, and four limbs of the sacrifice became its frame.
10.18.8 Then, enraged, Mahādeva took up that bow and came to the very place where the gods were performing their sacrifice.
10.18.9 Seeing him, the imperishable celibate, with bow in hand, the goddess Earth trembled and the mountains quaked.
10.18.10 The wind ceased to blow, and the fire, though fed, would not blaze; and the circle of stars, in agitation, wandered confused in the sky.
10.18.11 The sun shone no more, and the moon's disk lost its splendor; and the whole sky, troubled, was veiled in darkness.
10.18.12 Overwhelmed, the gods could no longer perceive their objects; the sacrifice shone for them no more, and the Vedas slipped away from them then.
10.18.13 Then with a fierce winged arrow he pierced the Sacrifice through the heart, and the Sacrifice, becoming a deer together with the fire, fled away.
10.18.14 And in that very form it reached the sky and shone, pursued by Rudra across the vault of heaven, O Yudhiṣṭhira.
10.18.15 When the Sacrifice had fled, consciousness returned no more to the gods, and with the gods bereft of sense nothing could be discerned.
10.18.16 In his wrath the three-eyed one, with the tip of his bow, struck off the arms of Savitṛ, the eyes of Bhaga, and the teeth of Pūṣan.
10.18.17 Then the gods and the limbs of the sacrifice fled in every direction, and some, reeling on the spot, became as though their breath had left them.
10.18.18 And the blue-throated one, having scattered all that and laughing aloud, leaned upon the tip of his bow and held the gods at bay.
10.18.19 Then a voice uttered by the immortals cut the string of his bow; and at once, O king, its string severed, the bow sprang back quivering.
10.18.20 Then the gods, together with the Sacrifice, came for refuge to the foremost of gods, now bereft of his bow; and the Lord showed them his grace.
10.18.21 Then the gracious Lord cast his wrath into a body of water; and that wrath, becoming fire, dries up the water without ceasing, O lord.
10.18.22 And he gave back the eyes of Bhaga, the arms of Savitṛ, and the teeth of Pūṣan, and the Sacrifice once more, O son of Pāṇḍu.
10.18.23 Then all this became whole again, and the gods appointed for him all the oblations as his share.
10.18.24 When he was wroth, the whole world became unwell, O lord; and when he was gracious, it grew whole again—such is the power of him when his grace is won.
10.18.25 It was through his grace, then, that all your sons, those mighty warriors, were slain, and many other heroes too, and the Pāñcālas with their followers.
10.18.26 You must not take this to heart, for it was not the son of Droṇa who did it: that was the grace of Mahādeva. Now do the duty that comes next.