Mahabharata Drona Parva Chapter 30:3

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Mahabharata Drona Parva (Dronabhisheka Parva) Chapter 30:3


The twang of his bowstring and the slaps of his palms, were, O sire, heard on all sides. And they resembled the roar of thunder and struck fear into the hearts of all. Meanwhile, Jishnu, having vanquished large number of Samsaptakas, quickly came to that place where Drona was grinding the Pandava troops. Having crossed many large lakes whose waters were constituted by blood, and whose fierce billows and eddies were constituted by shafts, and having slain the Samsaptakas, Phalguni showed himself there. Possessed of great fame and endued as he was with the energy of the Sun himself, Arjuna's emblem, viz., his banner bearing the ape, was beheld by us to blaze with splendour.

Having dried up the Samsaptaka ocean by means of weapons that constituted his rays, the son of Pandu then blasted the Kurus also, as if he were the very Sun that arises at the end of the Yuga. Indeed, Arjuna scorched all the Kurus by the heat of his weapons, like the fire[1] that appears at the end of the Yuga, burning down all creatures. Struck by him with thousands of shafts, elephant warriors and horsemen and car-warriors fell down on the earth, with dishevelled hair, and exceedingly afflicted with those arrowy showers, some uttered cries of distress. Others set up loud shouts.

And some struck with the shafts of Partha, fell down deprived of life. Recollecting the practices of (good) warriors, Arjuna struck not those combatants among the foe that had fallen down, or those that were retreating, or those that were unwilling to fight. Deprived of their cars and filled with wonder, almost all the Kauravas, turning away from the field, uttered cries of Oh and Alas and called upon Karna (for protection). Hearing that din made by the Kurus, desirous of protection, Adhiratha's son (Karna), loudly assuring the troops with the words "Do not fear" proceeded to face Arjuna. Then (Karna) that foremost of Bharata car-warriors, that delighter of all the Bharatas, that first of all persons acquainted with weapons, invoked into existence the Agneya weapon. Dhananjaya, however, baffled by means of his own arrowy downpours the flights of arrows shot by Radha's son, that warrior of the blazing bow, that hero of bright shafts. And similarly, Adhiratha's son also baffled the shafts of Arjuna of supreme energy. Resisting Arjuna's weapons thus by his own, Karna uttered loud shouts and shot many shafts at his antagonist. Then Dhristadyumna and Bhima and the mighty car-warrior Satyaki, all approached Karna, and each of them pierced in with three straight shafts. The son of Radha, however, checking Arjuna's weapons by his own arrowy showers, cut off with three sharp shafts the bows of those three warriors.

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References

  1. The word in the original is dhumaketu. Elsewhere I have rendered it comet. It would seem, however, that is wrong. In such passages the word is used in its literal sense, viz., "(an article) having smoke for its mark," hence fire.