Dronabhisheka Parva — The display of Drona's prowess

Drona said I am versed in the Vedas and in their six auxiliaries; and in the science of practical life concerning itself with men. I know the weapons of Tryambaka and various other weapons and mantras.

Those qualities, which, you, desirous of victory, have ascribed to me, bringing them to play, I will offer battle to the sons of Pandu.

But, O monarch, I shall never slay the son of Prisata in battle; O foremost of men, he has been created to kill me.

I shall encounter the hostile array and kill the Somakas. In battle, the Pandavas will not meet me with delightful hearts.

Sanjaya said O monarch, then your son, with the perinission of Drona, made him the commander of his troops, with ceremonies enjoined by the ordinances for such occasions.

As in days of yore, the gods with Indra at their head, invested Skanda with their leadership, so now did the monarchs headed by Duryodhana, invest Drona with the command of the troops.

thereupon on Drona's investiture with the command, the delight (of troops) was manifest by the sound of musical instruments and the deafening blare of the conchs.

Then honouring Drona with shouts the like of which fill the ear during a holy day, with sounds of benedictory utterances, with eulogies, songs and cries of bards, minstrels and panegyrists, with the cries of victory uttered by the foremost of regenerate ones and with the frolics of mimes, the Kauravas considered the sons of Pandu as already worsted in battle.

on Then having been installed the command of the army, that mighty car-warrior, the son of Bharadvaja, arranging the troops in battle-array, marched out, accompanied by your sons, from a desire of giving battle.

Donning their armours, the king of the Sindhus and the Kalingas and Vikarna, your son, stationed themselves in the right wing of Drona.

Then accompanied by a numerous and picked cavalry recruited from men belonging to the Gandhara tribe and armed with lustrous lances, Shakuni marched out as their support.

Then Kripa, Kritavarman, Chitrasena and Vivinsati, having Dushasana at their head, proceeded, covering the left wing.

Then riding on horses of great fleetness, the Kamvojas headed by Sudakshina and the Shakas with the Yavanas, marched forth, forming the support of the last mentioned party.

Then the Madras, the Trigartas, the Ambasthas, the warriors from the West and the North, the Malavas, the Shivis, the Surasenas, the Sudras with the Malavas, the Sauviras, the Kitavas, the warriors from the East and the South, all these with your son Duryodhana at son their head and the son of Suta at their rear, cheering the hearts of their own partisans, marched forth and increased the strength of the (advancing) troops. Karna, the of Vikartana, then marched at the head of all bowmen.

His mighty standard, huge and resplendent and marked with the device of the elephant's girth, imparting delight into the hearts of his own soldiers, burned with effulgence cqual to that of the sun.

All the kings and the Kurus, seeing Karna, did pay no heed to the calamity that had befallen them in the shape of Bhishma's death and they all were shorn of their sorrow.

Numerous warriors, highly delighted, forming into groups, thus began to talk, “Surely the Pandavas, seeing Karna in the field, will not stay a while in battle.

Truly, Karna is powerful enough to gain victory in battle over the celestials led by Vasava himself, not to speak of the sons of Pandu, who are devoid of prowess and energy alike.

The sons of Pritha were tenderly treated by the mighty-armed Bhishma in battle. But Karna shall slay them in the encounter with sharpened arrows.

O lord of people, thus talking to one another with joyful looks and honouring and eulogising the son of Radha, they marched along (in battle-array). Our own army, O monarch, was arrayed in the form of a Sakata (or car).

The army of our high-souled enemies was formed in the shape of a Krauncha (crane). O Bharata, by the very virtuous Yudhishthira with a delighted heart.

At the head of their array stood the two foremost of men, Vishvaksena (Vishnu) and Dhananjaya, with their banner, bearing the emblem of the ape, uplifted.

That banner of Partha of immeasurable prowess, the hump of the whole army and the refuge of all wielders of bow, that banner which reached the orbit of the sun, seemed to illumine the whole army of Yudhishthira of high soul.

That banner of the most intelligent Partha appeared like the burning sun when at the end of a Yuga, it rises to consume the earth.

Of all the warriors Arjuna is the foremost; of all the bows Gandiva is the best. Vasudeva is the foremost of all created beings and Sudarshana is the best of all kinds of discus.

The chariot, to which were harnessed white horses, carrying these four kinds of energy incarnate, stood at the head of the hostile array, like the discus of Kala raised (for being hurled). Thus those two high-souled heroes stood at the head of their armies. Karna stood at the head of your army and Dhananjaya at the head of the hostile troops.

Oking! in that battle, the Kauravas and the Pandavas, looked at each other possessed with ire and each desirous of slaying the other.

Thereafter when the mighty car-warrior, the son of Bharadvaja, flew suddenly to the fight, the earth began to shake with the sound of terrible wails.

Then thick clouds of dust, blown up by the storm and resembling heaps of tawny silk, intercepted from the view the welkin in and the sun. Though the sky was cloudless yet a shower of flesh bones and blood fell on the earth.

O king, vultures, hawks, cranes, kanakas and crows, by thousands swooped on your army, over and over again.

The jackals yelled forth and many dreadful and fierce rangers of the sky repeatedly placed your army to their right, being desirous of devouring flesh and thirsting for blood.

On the field of battle, illuminating the welkin, dropped many a burning meteor accompanied with thundering sounds and vibrating motions and covering with their tails large areas.

Then, O monarch, when the commander of the host (Drona) set out for battle, the wide circumference of the lustrous orb of day, emitted flashes of lightving and thundering sounds.

These and many other terrible portents appeared indicating a great loss of life of many heroes in the ensuing encounter.

Thereafter the fight between the Kurus and the Pandus, both desirous of killing one another, commenced; and the terrible din rising therefrom filled the whole world.

Then, burning with wrath, the Pandavas and the Kauravas, all first-class smiters, began to pierce one another with sharpened weapons, ardently longing for victory.

Then that mighty champion (Drona) of great effulgence, charged, with headlong speed, the army of the sons of Pandu, shooting hundreds of sharpened shafts.

Beholding Drona charge, the Pandavas along with the Srinjayas received him, o monarch, with showers of shafts in distinct sets.

That mighty host (of the Pandavas) along with the Panchalas agitated and routed by Drona, was shattered like rows of cranes by the wind.

In the encounter, invoking various celestial weapons Drona, in a moment, sorely oppressed the Pandavas and the Srinjayas.

The Panchalas having Dhrishtadyumna at their head being slaughtered by Drona, like the Danavas by Vasava, began to quake.

Thereupon that mighty car-warriors, the heroic Yajnaserma versed in the knowledge of the celestial weapons, produced by his showers of arrows many a breach, in the columns of Drona.

Then that powerful son of Prishata, checking the showers of Drona's arrows with those of his own, slew many a Kuru warrior.

Thereupon Drona of mighty arms, again rallying has soldiers and re-arranging them, charged the son of Prishata in battle.

Then towards the son of Prishata he directed a close shower of arrows, like Meghavat exceedingly enraged shooting his shafts towards the Danavas.

Thus, agitated by Drona with his arrows, the Pandavas and Srinjays, again and again, broke their lines, like a herd of inferior beasts attacked by a lion.

Then O monarch, like a circle of firebrands, the mighty Drona careered through the army of the Pandavas; and that was a wonderful sight.

Riding on his own excellent cars, that resembled a city careering through the skies; that was well supplied with the implements of war according to the military science, the banner of which was fluttering on the air, the rattle of which was resounding all round the field, the steeds of which were well-driven and the flagstaff of which was shining like a rod of crystal-riding on such a chariot. Drona inspired the hostile army with terror and massacred (right and left).