Bhagavatapurana 10.76
English (machine translation) 10.76
- Language
- English
10.76.1
Śrī Śuka said: / Now hear another marvelous deed of Kṛṣṇa, O king, / who assumed a human body for his divine play, how the lord of Saubha was slain.
10.76.2
Śālva, the friend of Śiśupāla, who had come to Rukmiṇī's wedding, / was defeated in battle by the Yadus, as were Jarāsandha and the others.
10.76.3
Śālva made a vow in the hearing of all the kings: / "I shall rid the earth of the Yadavas; behold my manly power!"
10.76.4
Having made this vow, the foolish king worshiped the Lord, / the divine Paśupati, swallowing only a handful of dust once [a day].
10.76.5
At the end of a year, the Lord, the husband of Umā, who is easily pleased, / invited Śālva, who had taken refuge in him, to choose a boon.
10.76.6
He chose an aerial vehicle that could go at will, indestructible to gods, demons, / humans, Gandharvas, serpents, and Rakṣasas, and terrifying to the Vṛṣṇis.
10.76.7
Saying "So be it," commanded by Giriśa, Maya, the conqueror of enemy cities, / constructed an iron vehicle named Saubha and gave it to Śālva.
10.76.8
Having obtained that vehicle which could go at will, an impenetrable abode of darkness, / Śālva went to Dvāravatī, brooding upon his enmity toward the Vṛṣṇis.
10.76.9
Surrounding the city with a vast army, O best of the Bharatas, / Śālva smashed the parks and pleasure gardens on every side.
10.76.10
Upon the gates with their archways, the palaces, towers, balconies, / and resting-halls, showers of weapons rained down from that foremost of aerial vehicles.
10.76.11
Rocks, trees, thunderbolts, snakes, and downpours of gravel [rained down]; / a fierce whirlwind arose, and the directions were obscured with dust.
10.76.12
Being thus exceedingly afflicted by the Saubha [craft], Kṛṣṇa's city / found no peace, O King, just as the earth [found none] when beset by the three cities [of the asuras].
10.76.13
Seeing his own subjects being harassed, the lordly Pradyumna, / a heroic warrior of great renown, mounted his chariot and said, 'Do not fear!'
10.76.14
Sātyaki, Cārudeṣṇa, Sāmba, and Akrūra with his younger brother, / Hārdikya [Kṛtavarman], Bhānuvinda, Gada, Śuka, and Sāraṇa,
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and other great archers, commanders among the chariot-brigade chiefs, / rode forth in armor, protected by chariots, elephants, cavalry, and infantry.
10.76.16
Then a battle broke out between the Śālvas and the Yadus, / tumultuous and hair-raising, like that of the asuras with the gods.
10.76.17
And the illusions of the lord of the Saubha [craft], the son of Rukmiṇī / destroyed in an instant with celestial missiles, as the hot-rayed sun dispels the night’s darkness.
10.76.18
With twenty-five iron-tipped arrows tipped with golden feathers / and curved joints, he pierced the commander of Śālva's army.
10.76.19
He struck Śālva with a hundred [arrows], his soldiers each with one, / the troop leaders with ten each, and the mounts with three each.
10.76.20
Beholding that great and wondrous deed of the magnanimous Pradyumna, / all the warriors, both his own and the enemy's, honored him.
10.76.21
Assuming many forms, appearing as one, now seen and now unseen, / that [vehicle] made of illusion, fashioned by Maya, was incomprehensible to the adversaries.
10.76.22
Now on the ground, now in the sky, now on a mountain peak, now in water, / whirling like a firebrand circle, that Saubha [craft] never remained stationary.
10.76.23
Wherever Śālva with his Saubha and his soldiers came into view, / right there the Sātvata troop-commanders discharged their arrows.
10.76.24
By arrows touching like fire and the sun, deadly as poisonous serpents, / discharged by the foes, Śālva was bewildered as his city and army were tormented.
10.76.25
Though heavily tormented by the flood of weapons from Śālva’s commanders, / the Vṛṣṇi heroes did not abandon their respective battle stations, desirous of winning both worlds.
10.76.26
Śālva's minister, named Dyumān, who had been afflicted earlier, / advanced upon Pradyumna, struck him with an iron-bound club, and let out a mighty roar.
10.76.27
His chest crushed by the club, the tamer of foes, Pradyumna, / was carried away from the battlefield by his charioteer, the son of Dāruka, who knew dharma.
10.76.28
Regaining consciousness in a short while, the son of Kṛṣṇa said to his charioteer: / 'Alas, this was not right, O driver, that I was carried off from the battle!
10.76.29
No one born in the race of the Yadus is heard to have retreated from battle, / except me, whose fault was brought about by an unmanly-minded charioteer!
10.76.30
What shall I say when I meet my two fathers, Rāma and Keśava, / having thoroughly fled the fight, when questioned about my duty?'
10.76.31
'Clearly my sisters-in-law will laugh and say to me: / "O hero, tell us: how could such cowardice be attributed to you by others in combat?"'
10.76.32
The charioteer said: / 'Knowing dharma, O long-lived one, this was done by me, O lord; / a charioteer must protect a chariot-warrior in distress, and a chariot-warrior his charioteer.
10.76.33
Knowing this, you were borne away from the battle by me, / as you were assailed by the enemy, struck by a club, and fallen into a swoon.'
Translations (1)
- The Srimad Bhagavatam — S. Subba Rau 1928, English
Linked texts (1)
- Bhāgavatapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit