|
Mahabharata Shalya Parva Chapter 12:3
For paying off the debt they owed to their masters on account of the sustenance granted by the latter, or firmly resolved to accomplish the objects of their friends and allies, the warriors, with hearts fixed on heaven, fought with one another on that occasion.
Shooting and hurling weapons of diverse kinds, great car-warriors roared at or smote one another. "Slay, pierce, seize, strike, cut off!" These were the words that were heard in that battle, uttered by the warriors and those of the foe. Then Shalya, O monarch, desirous of slaying him, pierced king Yudhishthira the just, that mighty car-warrior with many sharp arrows. Conversant with what are the vital limbs of the body, the son of Pritha, however, O monarch, with the greatest ease, struck the ruler of the Madras with four and ten cloth-yard shafts, aiming at the latter's vital limbs.
Resisting the son of Pandu with his shafts, Shalya of great fame, filled with rage and desirous of slaying his adversary, pierced him in that battle with innumerable arrows equipped with Kanka feathers. Once more, O monarch, he struck Yudhishthira with a straight shaft in the very sight of all the troops.
King Yudhishthira the just, possessed of great fame and filled with rage, pierced the ruler of the Madras with many keen arrows equipped with feathers of Kankas and peacocks. The mighty car-warrior then pierced Candrasena with seventy arrows and Shalya's driver with nine, and Drumasena with four and sixty. When the two protectors of his car-wheels were (thus) slain by the high-souled son of Pandu, Shalya, O king, slew five and twenty warriors among the Cedis. And he pierced Satyaki with five and twenty keen arrows, and Bhimasena with seven, and the two sons of Madri with a hundred, in that battle. While Shalya was thus careering in that battle, that best of kings, the son of Pritha, sped at him many shafts that resembled snakes of virulent poison. With a broad-headed arrow, Yudhishthira the son of Kunti then cut off from his car the standard top of his adversary as the latter stood in his front. We saw the standard of Shalya, which was thus cut off by the son of Pandu in that great battle, fall down like a riven mountain summit.
Seeing his standard fallen and observing the son of Pandu standing before him, the ruler of the Madras became filled with rage and shot showers of shafts. That bull amongst Kshatriyas, Shalya of immeasurable soul, poured over the Kshatriyas in that battle dense showers of arrows like the deity of the clouds pouring torrents of rain.
Piercing Satyaki and Bhimasena and the twin sons of Madri by Pandu, each with five arrows, he afflicted Yudhishthira greatly. We then, O monarch, beheld a net of arrows spread before the chest of Pandu's son like a mass of risen clouds. The mighty car-warrior Shalya, in that battle, filled with rage, shrouded Yudhishthira with straight shafts. At this, king Yudhishthira afflicted with those showers of shafts, felt himself deprived of his prowess, even as the Asura Jambha had become before the slayer of Vritra.'"
|
|
