Mahabharata Drona Parva Chapter 10

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Mahabharata Drona Parva (Dronabhisheka Parva) Chapter 10


Vaisampayana said, "Having addressed the Suta's son in this way, Dhritarashtra, afflicted with excessive grief of heart and hopeless of his son's victory, fell down on the ground. Beholding him deprived of his senses and fallen down, his attendants sprinkled him with perfumed and cold water, fanning him the while. Seeing him fallen, the Bharata ladies O king, surrounded him on all sides and gently rubbed him with their hands. And slowly raising the king from the ground, those royal ladies, their voices choked with tears, seated him on his seat. Seated, the King continued to be under the influence of that swoon. And he remained perfectly motionless, while they fanned him standing around. And a tremour then passed over the monarch's body and he slowly regained his senses. And once more he began to interrogate Gavalgana's son of the Suta caste about the incidents, as they occurred in the battle.

Dhritarashtra said, '[That Ajatasatru] who, like the risen sun, dispelleth darkness by his own light; who rusheth against a foe as a swift and angry elephant with rent temples, incapable of being vanquished by hostile leaders of herds, rusheth against a rival proceeding with cheerful face towards a female of the species in lust, O, what warriors (of my army) resisted that Ajatasatru as he came, for keeping him away from Drona?[1] That hero, that foremost of persons, who hath slain many brave warriors (of my army) in battle, that mighty-armed and intelligent and courageous prince of unbaffled prowess, who, unassisted by any one, can consume the entire host of Duryodhana by means of his terrible glances alone, that slayer by his sight, that one bent on winning victory, that bowman, that hero of unfading glory, that self-restrained monarch who is revered by the whole world, O, who were those heroes (of my army) that surrounded that warrior?[2] That invincible prince, that bowman of unfading glory, that tiger among men, that son of Kunti, who advancing with great celerity came upon Drona, that mighty warrior who always achieves grand feats against the foe, that hero of gigantic fame and great courage, who in strength is equal to ten thousand elephants, O, what brave combatants of my army surrounded that Bhimasena as he rushed upon my host? When that car-warrior of exceeding energy, viz., Vibhatsu, looking like a mass of clouds, came, emitting thunderbolts like the clouds themselves, shooting showers of arrows like Indra pouring rain, and making all the points of the compass resound with the slaps of his palms and the rattle of his car-wheels, when that hero whose bow was like the lightning's flash and whose car resembled a cloud having for its roars the rattle of its wheels (when that hero came) the whizz of whose arrows made him exceedingly fierce, whose wrath resembles an awful cloud, and who is fleet as the mind or the tempest, who always pierces the foe deep into his very vitals, who, armed with shafts, is terrible to look at, who like Death himself bathes all the points of the compass with human blood in profusion, and who, with fierce uproar and awful visage, wielding the bow Gandiva incessantly pours on my warriors headed by Duryodhana shafts whetted on stone and furnished with vultures' feathers, alas, when that hero of great intelligence came upon you, what became the state of your mind?


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References

  1. This sentence comprises 7, 8 and the first line of 9: I have followed the exact order of the original. The peculiarity of the Sanskrit construction is that the Nominative Pronoun is made to stand in apposition with a noun in the objective case. The whole of this Section contains many such sentences.
  2. 10 and 11 also refer to Ajatasatru.