भीष्म-वध पर्व — भीष्म र अर्जुनको युद्ध

Dhritarashtra said When my troops and the troops of our foe were thus placed in battle array, how did then the foremost of warriors Bhishma begin to strike?

Sanjaya said When all the troops were thus placed in battle array, the warriors all clad in armours waited with their excellent standards upraised.

O king, seeing his army look like the infinite ocean, your son Duryodhana, who stood within it, spoke thus to all his troops “You are all clad in armour. Now begin the fight".

Then all the (Kuru) warriors, full of cruel intentions and devoid of the desire of living, rushed upon the Pandavas with their standards all upraised.

Then a fearful hair-stirring battle took place. The cars and elephants all go mixed up.

Arrows with beautiful feathers and with sharp points shot by the car-warriors fell on the elephants and the horses.

When the battle thus began, the venerable Kuru grandfather, the mighty-armed and terribly powerful Bhishma, clad in armour, took up his bow and rushed upon them. He poured a shower of arrows on the heroic son of Subhadra, on Bhimasena, on the great carwarrior Arjuna, on the ruler of the Kaikeyas, Virata, Prishata prince Dhrishtadyumna and also on the Chedi and the Matsya warriors.

The great (Pandava) Vyuha wavered at that great attack made by that (Kuru) hero. The battle that was then fought by the combatants was fearful.

Many horsemen and car warriors and best of horses fell in quick succession. Many carwarriors of the Pandava began to run away.

Then that lion among the men, Arjuna, seeing the great car-warrior Bhishma (destroying the Pandava troops) thus angrily spoke to the Vrishni prince (Krishna his charioteer) "Go to the place where the grandfather is".

O descendant of Vrishni, it is apparent that Bhishma, in anger, will annihilate our troops for the good of Duryodhana.

O Janardana, Drona, Kripa, Shalya, Vikarna with the sons of Dhritarashtra headed by Duryodhana and protected by this great bowman (Bhishma) will destroy the Panchalas. OJanardana, I shall, therefore, kill Bhishma for the good of my troops.

To him thus spoke Vamdeva, "O Dhananjaya, O hero, be careful, for I shall soon take you near the grandfather's car".

O king, having said this, Shaurin (Krishna) took that world-renowned chariot in front of Bhishma's car.

With countless banners flying, with horses as handsome as a flight of cranes, with the standard upraised; with the ape (on that standard) roaring fearfully, that son of Pandu (Arjuna) came slaughtering the Kurus and the Shurasenas on his large car as effulgent as the sun; the rattle of the car-wheel of which resembled that of the clouds.

That enhancer of the joy of his friends soon came to the fight. The son of Shantanu, Bhishma, protected the warriors headed by the Sindhu king and by the warriors of the east and also by the Kaikeyas impetuously met him who was rushing like a mad elephant, thus frightening the brave warriors and destroying the troops with his sharp arrows. Except the Kuru grandsire, and those car-warriors, Drona and Vikartana's son, who else was able to withstand in battle the wielder of Gandiva? O king of kings, Bhishma, the grandfather of the Kurus.

Struck Arjuna with seventy-seven arrows, Drona struck him with twenty-five, Kripa with fifty,

Duryodhana with sixty-four, Shalya with nine, Drona's son (Ashvathama) that foremost of men, with sixty, Vikarna with three, the Sindhu king with nine, and Shakuni with five; O king, Vikarna then struck the Pandava with ten broad-headed arrows. Though struck on all sides, with sharp arrows, that great bowman,

That mighty-armed one, stood unmoved as a mountain. Thereupon, that greatly powerful hero (Arjuna), of immeasurable strength, pierced Bhishma with twenty five, Kripa with nine, Drona with sixty, Vikarna with three, Artayani with three and also the king (Duryodhana) with five arrows. Then Satyaki, Virata, Prishata prince Dhrishtadyumna, the sons of Draupadi, and Abhimanyu all came there to help him. Then the Panchala prince, supported by the Somakas, rushed upon the great bowman Drona who was aiding the son of Ganga (Bhishma). Then Bhishma, that best of all car-warriors, soon wounded that son of Pandu.

With eighty sharp arrows, on seeing which your warriors were all very much delighted. Having heard the joyous shouts of the warriors, that foremost of car-warriors. O king, he sported with his bow aiming (with success) his arrows at those great car-warriors. Then, that ruler of men, Duryodhana, seeing his troops much afflicted by that son of Pandu, spoke thus to Bhishma, “O sire, O son of Ganga, this mighty Pandava, accompanied by Krishna, cuts down our roots by destroying our troops though you and that foremost of car-warriors, Drona, are alive.

O king, it is only for you that Karna has laid aside his weapons and does not fight with the son of Pritha, though he is a great friend of mine.

O son of Ganga, therefore do that by which this Phalguna (Arjuna) might be killed”. O king, having been thus addressed, your father Devavrata.

Said “Fie to Kshatriya usage” and then he went towards the car of Partha. O king, all the chiefs, then seeing both those two warriors face to face for fight with white horses yoked to their chariots, sent up a lion-like roar. They also blew their conchs. Then Drona's son and your son, Duryodhana and Vikarna.

All stood, O sire, surrounding Bhishma in that great battle. So did the Pandavas also stand surrounding Dhananjaya in that fearful battle. The fight then began. The son of Ganga wounded Partha with nine arrows.

Arjuna wounded him in return with ten arrows. Then with one thousand arrows wellshot, the Pandava Arjuna, ever celebrated for his skill in arms, covered Bhishma on all sides. That net of arrow of Partha, O king, was soon dispelled by another counter net of arrows shot by the son of Shantanu, Bhishma. Both being well pleased and both taking delight in battle fought with each other, none of them gaining any advantage over the other. The continuous downpour of arrows shot from Bhishma's bow were all baffled by those shot from the bow of Arjuna. So also the shower of arrows shot by Arjuna, was all cut down to the ground by the Ganga's son. Arjuna then wounded Bhishma with twenty five sharp arrows Bhishma also in that battle wounded Partha in return with very sharp arrows.

Those two great warriors, those two chastisers of foes, wounded each other's horses, and cut down each other's car-wheels and shafts. Then, O king, Bhishma, that best of heroes, struck Vasudeva on his breast with three arrows. O king, struck with three arrows the slayer of Madhu (Krishna) shone like a budded Kinshuka tree.

Then seeing Madhava thus pierced, Arjuna wounded the charioteer of the son of Ganga with three arrows. Trying to strike each other's charioteers, they could not take aim at each other in that fight. O king, for the great ability and dexterity of the charioteers of both those warriors, their cars made beautiful circle by advancing and retreating. O king, seeking opportunity to strike each other, they often changed their positions to take aim at each other. Both of them blew their conchs and often sent forth lion-like roars.

With the sound of their conchs and the rattle of their car-wheels, the very earth appeared to be rent asunder. She began to tremble. Subterranean noise was heard. O foremost of the Bharata race, none could detect any defect in any of them.

Both of them possessed great prowess and great courage in battle. Each was other's match. Seeing his (Bhishma's) standard alone, the Kurus could come near him.

So could the Pandavas also come to Partha by recognising his standard alone. O king, seeing the prowess thus displayed by those two foremost of men, O descendant of Bharata, all persons in that great battle were filled with wonder. None marked any difference between the two. Both of them were perfectly invisible by their continuous showers of arrows.

Soon again both of them became visible. Seeing their great prowess, the Gandharvas, the Charanas, the great Rishis and the celestials thus spoke to one another, “Those (two) great car-warriors, when angry, are incapable of being vanquished cven by all the worlds including the celestials, the Gandharvas and the Asuras. This exceedingly wonderful battle will be considered wonderful by all the worlds”.

Such a battle as this will never take place again. Bhishma is incapable of being vanquished in battle by the greatly wise Partha though he showers his arrows on the bow, car and steed of the forms. So also is that great bowman, the Pandava (Arjuna), incapable of being vanquished in battle by even the celestials. Bhishma is not competent to defeat him. As long as the world would last, so long would this battle be fought equally on both the sides.

O king, we heard these words full of praise of both the son of Ganga and the son of Pritha.

O descendant of Bharata, when these two were fighting with each other warriors of your side and of that of the Pandavas killed one another with sharp swords and polished battleaxes, with innumerable arrows and various kinds of other weapons.

So long that fearful battle continued, heroic warriors of both sides cut one another down. O king, the battle that was fought between Drona and the Panchala prince was also very fearful.