The Slaying of Śiśupāla 18
English (machine translation) 18
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- English
18.1
Those two oceans of armies, heedless of retreat and roaring deeply, / rushed together with speed, / as if they were the Vindhya and Sahya mountains wishing to unite in one place / before the clipping of their wings.
18.2
Foot-soldier went against foot-soldier, horseman against horse, / elephant against elephant, and charioteer against chariot-warrior: / thus one army joined limb to limb with the opposing army, / as a passionate woman joins limb to limb with her beloved.
18.3
Blending with the rumblings of chariots, the trumpeting of elephants, / and the neighing of horses, / the continuous, indistinct roar of the kettledrums / pervading the sky was like their sovereign.
18.4
As they advanced against the foe in a fury of wrath, / their thick arm-banners lifted high, / the long, slanted sword-blades of the foot-soldiers / shone like victory pennants.
18.5
Bound with leather straps, rising high / with the trotting of the advancing cavalry, / the golden badges shone like the embodiments / of pride that completely pervaded their bodies.
18.6
With thick hides, their girths fastened with housing-pads, / attaining the fourth stage of beauty, / the elephants moved furiously like boulders / propelled by the wind at the end of an aeon.
18.7
Rearing up at the spoke by the urge of the quickened horse / and raised onto its forebody, / the playing axle-tree of the rushing chariots / greeted the driver's cry of alarm.
18.8
Waved high to sweep away by death / the dust of the earth that caused an obstacle to battle, / the fluttered pennants on the standards / truly appeared like brooms.
18.9
Sending forth loud sounds, harsh, / thick, and bent into high circles, / the bows were struck by archers at will, / just as elephant-riders strike the heads of elephants.
18.10
The ringing of bells, the roar of drums, / the noise of neck-chains, and trumpeting screams / answered the driver's voice encouraging the elephants, / as if saying, “Yes!”
18.11
Striking with both thrown and held weapons, / divided into four kinds such as missile-weapons, / untroubled through grace and agility, / the warriors displayed their skill and strength.
18.12
Approaching each other with fury, face to face, / each seizing the other's hand with speed, / two warriors discarded their weapons and, striking with fists like wrestlers, / engaged in close combat, arm against arm.
18.13
Pure, meeting with no obstacle anywhere, / discharged from afar, showing swiftness, / entering the enemy's army, / the arrows of the skilled archers performed what was proper.
18.14
Mounting the high front-line of the battle, / and fearlessly stepping onto the vanguard-head, / sporting with ease and taking a superhuman path, / the proud warriors joyfully ascended to heaven.
18.15
Filling the mid-space between heaven and earth with those [parts of the body] that remained stationary, being gladdened within by parts [of the body] shaking,
some, entering upon the vast seat of combat, purchased glories at the price of their lives.
18.16
Having performed an exploit praiseworthy for courage and vigour in the vanguard of battle, bards loudly proclaimed the illustrious names
of proud men who were abashed, though unknown to their enemies.
18.17
Charging forward against sharp swords held out by others,
blinded by wrath, other [warriors] rushed with their chest-plates right up to the hilts.
18.18
Even when both armies were intermingled there, this distinction was, for the most part, clear:
those turning their backs were one's own men ahead, while the enemy turned his face toward one in assault.
18.19
Having made it cling to his body because of its good cane [lineage], held dearly with high esteem,
someone's own sword, snatched by another slipping it into his hand, committed betrayal.
18.20
When a cloud-dark [armour] was split by the enemy with the blow of a polished blade,
a bloody track, lit up like lightning, was seen along the armor made by the sharp path.
18.21
When his arm was pinned from tip to root by a long arrow, his fist clasping the shield,
the shield did not slip from the hand of another man, even though he suffered unbearable agony through his shattered courage.
18.22
Pierced in the chest with a vulture-feathered iron arrow that cleaved through his nose, the beast of burden [a horse],
as if tied tightly with a rope for training, could not turn away his face, sullen though he was.
18.23
The thoroughbred steed did not shrink from elephants whom the rider wished to strike high up with his spear;
or do noble souls ever shame masters who desire to perform a magnificent deed for renown?
18.24
The victorious [warriors] mounted on elephants, raining showers of arrows and looking down on the world beneath,
free of dread, resorting to mobile fortresses as though to mountain strongholds, could not be conquered by the enemy hosts.
18.25
Cleaving through the surging waves of the army all around, wishing to find a cherished comrade who had advanced far away into the battle,
one man wandered about, like the Primeval Boar seeking the sphere of the earth deep within the ocean.
18.26
Before the elephant-driver, who knew the signs of arousal, could apply the collyrium to arouse the rut,
thick rivulets of rut-fluid immediately poured forth from the elephants simply at the roar of the army.
18.27
Enraged from afar at the scent of an enemy bull elephant, tossing his head and defying his rider,
the elephant cast off his own saddle-cloth amid a vast expanse echoing with terrible roars.
18.28
Even though the driver pulled off his face-cover when the opposing tusker approached,
the elephant, overpowered by fury, with fiercely rolled-up eyes and blinded by rut, noticed nothing at all.
18.29
Before the driver could quickly remove the cloth covering the elephant's eyes,
the warrior mounted on the other elephant stitched him with flights of broad-pointed arrows shot in a single volley.
18.30
The negligent mahout left the eye-covering on the elephant marching against the hostile bull elephant;
and in an instant, its eyes were covered by the heavy weight of the fallen banner pole.
18.31
Carefully guarding it because of its stability and realizing with a refined mind that it would not be destroyed,
another clung to his desired passion or his wealth in adversity, a resource fit for the final hour.
18.32
Touching each other's trickling streams of rut with their trunks, their tails raised high and curved,
the elephants, rushing together with uplifted heads and resounding clashes of tusks, fought with the tips of their bodies.
18.33
Very long, dense, endowed with solidity, elegantly pointing upward and not losing their sharpness,
tusks struck by the tusks of elephants broke, yet the elephants themselves did not give way.
18.34
Born from the clash of the tuskers' teeth, flickered fire with tip like the brilliance of cut gold;
though it caught on the madder-dyed fly-whisks, it was not clearly noticed by the troops.
18.35
From the friction of tusk-trees caught in the tempest-gust of fury during the burning season [of combat],
or like the fires of cosmic dissolution, there arose high in the sky of the elephants' heads a garland of sparks like constellations.
18.36
Reddened with blood amid the herd of elephants dark as dense clouds,
the tusks attained the splendour of coral sprouts rising in the waters of the ocean.
18.37
Advancing to the collision with their banner-tops trembling and deep bells jangling at their collars,
the elephants, with difficulty, wrenched out their tusks that were deeply sunk into the bodies of the other tuskers.
18.38
Lifting up with both tusks an enemy elephant that was writhing high above between them,
[the bull elephant] clearly attained the resemblance of a mountain carrying a rain-cloud pierced on its peak.
18.39
Even when his elephant was broken, the warrior turned his body around and shot arrows without shame;
and the elephant, repeatedly restrained, suffered alongside the mahout who accompanied him with fierce fury.
18.40
Coming with fury into the immense center of the host crowded with troops from which escape was difficult,
the resolute elephant plunged in, just as the Supreme Spirit entered the interior of the primordial deity.
18.41
His body pierced without a gap by swarms of iron arrows having the dark luster of rows of bees,
the elephant, his spirit unbroken in battle through fearlessness, shone exultant as if with bristling hairs.
18.42
When the arrow was swiftly pulled out by the rider from the edge of the elephant king's furious temple,
a stream, copper-coloured and trickling down, burst forth—was it rut or blood?
18.43
Stepping recklessly onto the two tusks of the elephant, which were the twin poles of the bed of death,
another warrior was at once thought by the troops to have ascended halfway along the road to heaven.
18.44
Resembling drops of moonlight and making the sky look like a mass of shining stars,
a spray of pearls burst forth brilliantly from an elephant's temple cleaved by sword blows.
18.45
His own trunk severed by a swift discus hurled from afar,
the enraged lord of elephants, in wrath, trampled with his foot his own terrible trunk writhing on the ground, crushing it into a mire of blood.
18.46
When an elephant whose limbs were shattered to the carriage plummeted without support, face turned down toward the ground,
his pair of long tusks served as a prop for his body.
18.47
Having attained contact with the ground, standing fearlessly for a moment between the two tusks,
another hero instantly rose up after conquering the elephant, having sliced off the elephant's trunk with the upper half of his sword.
18.48
Seizing with his trunk a fearless man in front, the rogue elephant hurled him high into the air,
as if delivering him to the celestial nymphs seated in the heavens for his sake alone.
18.49
Pierced inside by a long, exceedingly sturdy barbed spear / whose shaft held from afar,
an elephant lost the power even to seize with the tip of his trunk / a warrior arrived before him.
18.50
From the body of a man shattered by an elephant, / as though from the infant girl of Nanda the cowherd smashed by Kaṃsa,
a divine form, ascending into the sky, was beheld with astonishment / by the sky-dwellers, like Caṇḍikā herself.
18.51
Trampling one thigh with a forefoot / and seizing the other high up with his trunk,
a cruel-hearted tusker split a warrior right down the middle / like a piece of wood, while his scream was cut short.
18.52
Grieving at first when two servants met their death, / the master did not feel inward burning from affection for his favourite / as much as from remorse, / having formerly bestowed his favour on that one, and not on the other.
18.53
When a warrior's head, teeth biting the lip in rage, / was lopped off close by a leaping crescent-head arrow,
the troops took fright anew at the headless trunk, / dancing about with sword in hand, clinging to the severing of its neck.
18.54
With musical instruments sounding and setting a swift tempo, / and women with horns blowing shrill notes,
the trunk, dancing and brandishing arms without eyes, / was mocked by the roaring conch with a loud laugh.
18.55
When his own army broke, a certain hero turned back / and faced the enemies: they showered him with a volley of gold-shafted arrows / released simultaneously, / while the perfected beings covered him with garlands and cries of 'Bravo!'—both together.
18.56
Unseated from their riders struck down by arrows, / surrounded by hostile troops who set about to capture them, / the agitated elephants wandering on the battlefield / were recalled into an enclosure by riders in succession.
18.57
Maddened repeatedly by the smell of blood, / crushing people in fury across the battle-ground,
a lordly elephant pulled away an entrail clinging to his foot, / long as a garland, resembling a noose.
18.58
A certain warrior, fallen into a faint from a deep wound, / was sprinkled with the cool spray of an elephant; / breathing again, he revived, while a heavenly woman, / wishing to seize him, her desire thwarted, swooned in despair.
18.59
From another’s neck severed by an arrow, / the head, wishing to fly up high into the sky / with a frightful form resembling Rāhu, / terrified the moon-like faces of the bewildered apsarases.
18.60
Embracing a hero fallen in battle, / a certain heavenly woman went swiftly to a bower on Mount Meru to make love, / before his wife, unable to bear separation from him, / had even surrendered her body to the fire and arrived.
18.61
Seeing her husband dead in the fight, a matron seated on a cow-elephant / gave up her breath that very instant out of love; / attaining unimpaired godhead through her wifely fidelity, / she embraced him herself [in heaven].
18.62
A certain warrior in the other world was welcomed by a celestial woman / who gave him an abode in heaven for a long time / and bore ever-fresh charm day after day, / while here below, his fame delighted the world.
18.63
Surely the inner soul of those who fainted / went to the charming abode of the gods and returned: / for once they regained consciousness, verified by direct experience, / they set their minds even more eagerly upon battle.
18.64
Bewildered by the impact of weapons, a warrior was carried away by a comrade; / regaining consciousness, he turned back to the fight / despite his friend calling out loudly to him: / for life was renounced, and what care is there for the ways of the world?
18.65
With their chests pierced together by an arrow drawn from afar by an enemy / because they were in close contact, / two warriors, by virtue of the support they lent each other, / remained standing upright even as they departed to heaven.
18.66
Checking their own troops who were eager to slaughter / noble foes pierced by missiles and fallen into a stupor, / other warriors took them captive alive: / for with worthy persons, what purpose would not be achieved?
18.67
Parasols with broken shafts scattered upon the earth, / shining with the lustre of the full moon, / looked as though silver platters were set down / for the feast of the King of the Dead.
18.68
Fallen from chests and smeared with saffron, / the pearl necklaces of lifeless kings shone— / methinks the teeth of Death, revealed in laughter / once his desire was fulfilled, having drunk the wine of blood.
18.69
The blood of those wounded by missiles, / which collected in low-lying places on the ground and gleamed— / was it not the saffron-dyed water prepared / for the red robes of the inner apartments of the god of death?
18.70
It was a wonder that Rāma, with the blood of kṣatriyas, / filled only a pentad of lakes three times seven times; / for in that battle, countless rivers with islands / flowed instantly with waters of blood.
18.71
Severed below the fetlocks by sharp weapons, / the legs of elephants pierced by archers skilled with missiles / assumed the likeness of turtles, it is said, / within these rivers of blood.
18.72
With the faces of warriors resembling lotuses, / and the chowries fallen from the ears of elephants resembling swans, / the rivers of blood-water flowed well-furnished, / floating high on the waves.
18.73
Flocks of winged scavengers circled in the sky above / for the carrion of those who had departed: / surely these were the vital breaths made visible, / having been driven from the bodies by cruel missiles, gazing back upon them even now.
18.74
Spreading a whirring noise with their feather tips throughout the directions, / having arrived swiftly from afar with sharp points, / the blood of the soldiers was drunk first by the lifeless arrows / and afterwards by the living birds of prey.
18.75
Surely, because the jackal-pack had swallowed the fierce energy / together with the bodies of the valorous fallen in battle, / each jackal howled with blazing tongues, / spitting out that inner fire under the pretext of flames.
18.76
Singed by the flaming breath of the jackal-pack, / the warrior’s flesh, densely pierced through and through / with barbed arrows and otherwise hard to devour, / was eaten by the female jackals, tasting a newly cooked flavour.
18.77
Drinking the tonic of blood to remove fatigue and kindle hunger, / which dried up the remains of indigestion, / and relishing the liver as a tasty side-dish, / a jackal made a loud din and howled aloud.
18.78
The faces of drums torn open by hosts of carnivorous beasts / in the expectation of finding fat / looked dreadful, as though Time itself had opened its mouths / while devouring all living beings.
18.79
Strewn all around with the lifeless limbs of living beings, / the battle-ground shone / like the Creator's workshop, / filled with forms of diverse beginnings or half-put-together.
18.80
Between the forces of the kings advancing with ceaseless speed / and the vast, surging armies of the Lord of Śrī, / there arose a fluctuating contest producing an immense roar, / like the clash of rivers with the billows of the ocean in all their fury.
Commentaries (2)
- Sarvaṅkaṣā — Mallinātha Sūri, Sanskrit
- Śiśupālavadhaṭīkā — Mallinātha, Sanskrit
Linked texts (1)
- Śiśupālavadha — Māgha, Sanskrit