घोषयात्रा पर्व — कर्णको पराजय

Vaishampayana said : O great king, they then all came to Duryodhana and spoke to that Kuru prince all that they (the Gandharvas) had spoken to them.

O descendant of Bharata, finding that his soldiers had been opposed by the Gandharvas, the mighty son of Dhritarashtra was filled with great anger and thus spoke to the soldiers,

"Chastise these wicked witches who want to do what is not agreeable to me, even if he be Shatakratu (Indra) who is sporting here with all the celestials."

Having heard the words of Duryodhana, the greatly powerful sons of Dhritarashtra, thousands of warriors armed themselves for battle. Filling ten directions with loud leonine roars and crushing all they entered by force that forest.

O ruler of earth, the Gandharvas, again forbade the Kuru soldiers to advance. Though gently forbidden by the Gandharvas, disregarding all those Gandharvas, they entered that great forest. When the son of Dhritarashtra did not stop his soldiers, then those rangers of the sky went and spoke to Chitrasena.

The Gandharva king, when he heard it, was filled with anger and he thus commanded his followers "Punish and chastise these wicked wretches."

O descendant of Bharata, thus commanded by Chitrasena, the Gandharvas, rushed towards ihe Dhritarashtra people with weapons in hand.

Seeing the Gandharvas rushing towards them with great force and with uplifted weapons, the Dhritarashtra warriors fled in all directions.

Seeing that all the Dhritarashtra people were flying before the enemy. The heroic son of Radha (Karna) alone did not fiy.

Seeing that the the great army army of the Gandharvas was rushing towards him, the son of Radha stopped them with a very large shower of arrows.

That son of Suta by his great lightness of hands struck hundreds of Gandharvas with Khurupas and arrows and Bhallas and various other weapons made of bones and steel.

That great car-warrior cut off within a moment the heads of many Gandharvas and thus they made the army of Chitrasena yell in pain.

Although the Gandharvas were killed by the greatly intelligent son of Suta (Karna). They returned to the charge by hundreds and thousands; and in consequence of the hoards of Gandharvas rushing to battle, earth became covered over by the Gandharva army.

Then king Duryodhana and also the son of Subala (Shakuni), Duhshasana and Vikarna and the sons of Dhritarashtra, riding on cars, the clatter of the wheels of which resembled the roars of Garuda, followed the lead of Karna and returned to the charge and began to kill the (Gandharva) army.

With the desire of supporting Karna, the (Kuru) princes attacked the Gandharva army. With a very large number of cars and horses, the whole of the Gandharva army began to fight.

The battle that took place was fearful and hair-stirring. Then the Gandharvas, afflicted with thc arrows of the Kurus army, seemed to be exhausted. Having seen the Gandharvas afflicted, the Kurus sent up a loud roar.

Seeing the Gandharva army afflicted with fear, Chitrasena jumped up in great anger from his seat and resolved to exterminate the Kuru army.

That hero, learned in the various modes of warfare, fought with his weapons of illusion. The Kuru heroes were all deprived of their senses by the illusion of Chitrasena.

Then, O descendant of Bharata, it appeared that every Kuru warrior was attacked and surrounded by the Gandharvas.

Being thus attacked with great force the Kuru army was afflicted and it was with panic, O king, those that desired to live fled from the field (of battle).

O king, when the whole of the Kuru army broke and fled, the son of Surya (Karna) alone stood there as immoveable as a hill.

Duryodhana, Karna and Shakuni, the son of Subala, all fought with the Gandharvas though they were all severely wounded.

All the Gandharvas then with the desire of killing Karna rushed upon him in battle in hundreds and thousands.

Those greatly powerful heroes, with the desire of killing that Suta's son, surrounded him on all sides with swords, battle axes and spears.

Some cut down the yoke of his car, some its flag-staff, some its shafts, some its horses and some its charioteer.

Some cut down his umbrella, some the wooden fender round his car and some its joints. It was thus many thousands of Gandharvas attacked his car and broke it into many pieces. When his car was thus attacked, Karna leaped from it with sword and shield in his hands. He then jumped upon the car of Vikarna and whipped the horses (to leave the field and) save himself.