Srimad Bhagvata Mahapurana Book 11 Chapter 30:15-28

Book 11: Chapter 30

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Srimad Bhagvata Mahapurana: Book 11: Chapter 30: Verses 15-28

Closing with one another in chariots and on elephants etc., as well as on (the back of) donkeys, camels, bulls, buffaloes and mules and men, bearing ensigns that fluttered in the breeze, the highly intoxicated warriors hit one another with arrows even as elephants in a forest would strike one another with their tusks. Pradyumna closed on the battle-field with Samba, Akrura with Bhoja, Aniruddha with Satyaki, Subhadra with Sangramajit, Gada (Sri Krsna's brother) with Sri Krsna's son of the same name and Sumitra with Asurtha. All the pairs looked very fierce, their rancour having grown very, intense. Blinded by intoxication and utterly infatuated by (the enchanting potency of) Sri Krsna (the Bestower of Liberation), others too, viz., Nisatha, Ulmuka and so on, the chief of whom were Sahasrajit, Satajit and Bhanu, met and struck one another (at close quarters). Casting (all) affection to the winds, then, the Dasarhas, Vrsnis, Andhakas, Bhojas and Satvatas, the Madhus and the Arbudas, the Mathuras and the Surasenas, the Visarjanas, the Kukuras and the Kuntis - these contended with one another. Sons fought with their fathers and brothers with brothers; white maternal uncles, maternal grandfathers, nephews and sister's sons severally crossed their swords with their sister's sons, daughter's sons, uncles and maternal uncles. (Likewise) friends contended with friends, and relations with relations; while kinsmen killed kinsmen, deluded as they (all) were. When (the stocks of) arrows began to be exhausted, bows began to be broken (when used as cudgels) and (the stocks of) weapons began to be depleted, they tore up with their clenched hands blades of Eraka* grass. Held by the clenched hand they turned into (so many) clubs studded with iron, (which were) almost as hard as adamant. They (now) began to strike their ememies with them, and, being checked by Sri Krsna, they took Him as well as Balabhadra to be their adversary, deluded as they were. (Nay,) resolved to kill Them, the desperadoes came up (before Them), 0 king ! Highly irritated, They too took up handfuls of Eraka grass, (presently) converted into clubs, 0 delight of the Kurus, and struck them (in return with those clubs) moving (from one place to another). The fury, engendered by rivalry, of those warriors, who were possessed (as it were) by the curse of the Brahmanas and whose judgment had been obscured by the deluding potency of Sri Krsna, brought about their destruction (even) as fire (produced by the friction) of bamboos would consume a (whole) forest. All His own people as well as clans having thus perished, Sri Krsna (the Ruler even of Brahma and Siva) concluded that the remaining burden of the earth was (also) removed. Resorting at the seashore to Yoga in the form of concentration of mind on the Supreme Person, i.e., (in other words) identifying his self with the (Supreme) Spirit Balarama cast off the human semblance. Perceiving the ascent of Balarama (to His own realm Patala), Lord Sri Krsna (Son of Devaki) went up to a peepul (the sacred fig tree) and sat down quietly on the ground (resting His back against its trunk). He revealed His resplendent four-armed form and, like a smokeless fire, dispelled by His own effulgence the gloom of (all) the quarters.

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