Chapter XLVII - Encounter of sindhu and viduratha

Vasishtha said:—

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As the war was waging thus furiously between the two armies, the two Lilas addressed the goddess of knowledge and said:—

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"Tell us, O goddess! what unknown cause prevents our husband to gain the victory in this war, notwithstanding your good grace to him, and his repelling the hostile elephants in the combat".

Sarasvati replied:—

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Know ye daughters, that I was ever solicited by Viduratha's enemy to confer him victory in battle, which your husband never craved of me.

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He lives and enjoys his life as it was desired by him, while his antagonist gains the conquest according to his aim and object.

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Knowledge is contained in the consciousness of every living being, and rewards every one according to the desire to which it is directed.

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My nature like that of all things is as unchangeable as the heat of fire (which never changes to cold). So the nature of Viduratha's knowledge of truth, and his desire of liberation lead him to the like result (and not to victory).

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The intelligent Lila also will be liberated with him, and not the unintelligent one, who by her nature is yet unprepared for that highest state of bliss.

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This enemy of Viduratha, the king of Sinde, has long worshipped me for his victory in war; whereby the bodies of Viduratha and his wife must fall into his hands.

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Thou girl wilt also have thy liberation like hers in course of time; but ere that, this enemy of yours,—the king of Sinde, will reign victorious in this earth.

Vasishtha said:—

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As the goddess was speaking in this manner, the sun appeared on his rising hill to behold the wondrous sight of the forces in fighting.

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The thick mists of night disappeared like the hosts of the enemy (Sinde); and left the forces of Viduratha to glitter as stars at the approach of night.

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The hills and dales and the land and water gradually appeared to sight, and the world seemed to reappear to view from amidst the dark ocean of the (deluge).

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The bright rays of the rising sun radiated on all sides like the streams of liquid gold, and made the hills appear as the bodies of warriors besmeared with (blood).

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The sky seemed as an immense field of battle, stretched over by the radiant rays of the sun (Karas), likening the shining arms (Karas) of the warriors, shaking in their serpentine mood.

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The helmets on their heads raised their lotus-like tops on high, and the rings about their ears blazed with their gemming glare below.

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The pointed weapons were as fixed as the snouts of unicorns, and the flying darts fled about as butterflies in the air. The bloody field presented a picture of the ruddy dawn and dusk, and the dead bodies on the ground, represented the figures of motionless saints in their Yoga.

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Necklaces like snakes overhung their breasts, and the armours like sloughs of serpents covered their bodies. The flags were flying like crests of creepers on high, and the legs of the warriors stood as pillars in the field.

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Their long arms were as branches of trees, and the arrows formed a bush of reeds; the flash of weapons spread as a verdant meadow all around, while their blades blazed with the lustre of the long-leaved ketaka flowers.

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The long lines of weapons formed as rows of bamboos and bushes of brambles, and their mutual clashing emitted sparks of fire like clusters of the red asoka flowers.

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The bands of Siddhas were flying away with their leaders from the air, to avert the weapons which were blazing there with the radiance of the rising sun, and forming as it were, a city of gold on high.

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The sky re-echoed to the clashing of darts and discuses, of swords and spears and of mallets and clubs in the field;and the ground was overflown by streams of blood, bearing away the dead bodies of the slain.

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The land was strewn with crowbars, lances and spears, and with tridents and stones on all sides; and headless bodies were falling hideously, pierced by poles and pikes and other instruments of death.

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The ghosts and goblins of death were making horrible noise above, and the shining cars of Sindhu and Viduratha, moved with a loud rumbling below.

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They appeared as the two luminaries of the sun and moon in heaven, and equipped with their various weapons of disks and rods, of crowbars and spears, and other missiles besides.

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They were both surrounded by thousands of soldiers, and turned about as thy liked, with loud shouts of their retinues.

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Crushed under heavy disks, many fell dead and wounded with loud cries; and big elephants were floating lightly on the currents of blood.

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The hairs on the heads of dead bodies, floated like weeds in the stream of blood, and the floating discuses glided like the disks of the moon, reflected in the purple streamlet.

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The jingling (jhanat) of gemming ornaments, and the tinkling (ranat) bells of war carriages, with the flapping (patat) of flags by the wind, filled the field with a confused noise.

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Numbers of valiant as well as dastardly soldiers followed their respective princes, some bleeding under the spears of Kuntas and others pierced by the arrows of bowyers.

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Then the two princes turned round their chariots in circling rings over the ground, and amidst phalanxes armed with all sorts of destructive weapons.

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Each confronted the other with his arms, and having met one another face to face, commenced showering forth his arrows with the pattering sound of hailstones.

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They both threatened one another with the roaring of loud surges and clouds, and the two lions among men, darted their arrows upon one another in their rage.

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They flung their missiles in the air in the form of stones and malls, and some faced like swords, and others headed as mallets.

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Some were as sharp edged disks, and some as curved as battle axes;some were as pointed as pikes and spears, and others as bars and rods in their forms, and some were of the shape of tridents, and others as bulky as blocks of stones.

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These missives were falling as fully and as fast as blocks of stones, which are hurled down from high and huge rocks, by gusts of blustering hurricanes. And the meeting of the two armigerent powers, was as the confluence of the Indus and the sea, with tremendous roaring, and mutual collision and clashing.