Garudapurana 1.145

Śrī Garuḍa Mahāpurāṇa — [Chapter] 145
Brahmā said:
I shall relate the Bhārata, the relieving of the burden of the earth,
which Kṛṣṇa accomplished by fighting on account of the Pāṇḍavas and others.

From the navel-lotus of Viṣṇu arose Brahmā; Brahmā's son was Atri; from Atri
arose Soma; from him Budha; and from him, upon Ilā, Purūravas.

His [son] was Āyus; in that lineage arose Yayāti, Bharata, and Kuru.
In his lineage arose Śantanu; and the son of Śantanu upon Gaṅgā was

Bhīṣma, endowed with all virtues, who had mastered the Brahmavaivarta.

And from Śantanu upon Satyavatī two sons were born.
The gandharva Citrāṅgada killed the son Citrāṅgada.

The other was Vicitravīrya, the husband of the daughters of the king of Kāśī.
When Vicitravīrya had gone to heaven, there were born from his field through Vyāsa:

Dhṛtarāṣṭra, the son of Ambikā, and Pāṇḍu, the son of Ambālikā,
and Vidura upon a maidservant; and from Dhṛtarāṣṭra upon Gāndhārī,

a hundred of great strength, foremost among whom was Duryodhana.
From Pāṇḍu, upon Kuntī and Mādrī, five sons were born:

Yudhiṣṭhira, Bhīmasena, Arjuna, Nakula,
and Sahadeva — these five endowed with great strength and valor.

Enmity arose between the Kurus and the Pāṇḍavas through the workings of fate.
The Pāṇḍavas were harassed by the restless Duryodhana.

The heroes, [plotted] to be burned in the house of lac, escaped unharmed through their own intelligence.

Then, having slain the rākṣasa Baka, those great-souled ones
entered the dwelling of a brāhmaṇa in Ekacakrā.

Then, having learned of the svayaṃvara of Draupadī in the land of the Pañcālas,
the Pāṇḍavas married her whose bride-price was valor.

With the approval of Droṇa and Bhīṣma, Dhṛtarāṣṭra brought them back.
They then obtained half the kingdom in the supreme city of Indraprastha.

Having constructed an assembly hall, those of steadfast vows performed the Rājasūya sacrifice.
In Dvāravatī, Arjuna obtained his beloved Subhadrā,
the sister of Vāsudeva, with the consent of the foe of Mura;

and [he received] the divine chariot Nandighoṣa, the unsurpassed bow of Agni
called Gāṇḍīva, famed throughout the three worlds,
inexhaustible arrows, and impenetrable armor.

With that bow, that heroic Pāṇḍava, the valorous Bībhatsu,
accompanied by Kṛṣṇa as his second, gratified Agni.

Having conquered kings during his world conquest and gathered jewels, he joyfully gave them
to his eldest brother Yudhiṣṭhira, who was learned in statecraft.

Yet the righteous Yudhiṣṭhira, surrounded by his brothers,
was defeated at deceitful dice by the sinful Duryodhana,
who followed the counsel of Karṇa and Duḥśāsana and stood by the counsel of Śakuni.

Then for twelve years they performed severe austerities in the forest,
accompanied by Dhaumya, with Draupadī as the sixth, and surrounded by hosts of sages.

Taking refuge in the city of Virāṭa in disguise,
those exceedingly wise ones protected it from the seizure of cattle for one year.

Having returned from there, the heroes respectfully requested their own territory,
five villages out of half the kingdom, from King Duryodhana.

Not receiving them, they joined battle at Kurukṣetra, endowed with might
and surrounded by seven splendid akṣauhiṇīs.

Duryodhana and his allies were arrayed with eleven [akṣauhiṇīs].
There took place a tumultuous battle resembling the war between the gods and asuras.

Bhīṣma was the general at first in the army of Duryodhana,
and Śikhaṇḍin among the Pāṇḍavas; and between the two there was combat,
a hand-to-hand fight with weapons, exceedingly terrible, an exchange of arrows for ten days and nights.

Pierced by hundreds of arrows from Śikhaṇḍin and Arjuna, Bhīṣma,
awaiting the northern solstice of the sun and meditating on the mace-bearing God,

expounding dharmas of many kinds and propitiating many ancestors,
became absorbed in the spotless, blissful state, freed from sin.

Then the valorous Droṇa went forth to fight with Dhṛṣṭadyumna;
that battle was exceedingly terrible for five days.

When those rulers of the earth were slain in battle by Arjuna,
Droṇa too, overcome by an ocean of sorrow, attained heaven.

Then Karṇa went forth to fight with the great-souled Arjuna.
Having fought a great battle for two days, submerged in the ocean of Pārtha's weapons,
that valorous one then attained the realm of the Sun.

Then Śalya went forth to fight with the wise King of Dharma;
in half a day Śalya was slain by arrows resembling blazing fire.

Then the valorous Duryodhana, taking up his mace with speed,
rushed against Bhīma like Yama, the Antaka at the end of time.

Then he was struck down with the mace by the heroic Bhīma.
Thereupon Aśvatthāman, the son of Droṇa, approached the sleeping army by night.

he killed with the strength of his arms, remembering the slaying of his father. / Then the valiant [Aśvatthāman] killed Dhṛṣṭadyumna and the sons of Draupadī.

While Draupadī was weeping, Arjuna, having defeated Aśvatthāman / with the reed weapon, took his excellent crest jewel.

Yudhiṣṭhira, having consoled the women afflicted with grief, / having bathed and offered libations to the gods, the fathers, and the grandfathers,

and having been consoled by Bhīṣma, ruled the great kingdom. / He worshipped Viṣṇu with an Aśvamedha sacrifice according to rule, provided with generous sacrificial fees.

Having established Parīkṣit on the throne, and having heard / of the destruction of the Yādavas in the club battle, the king, having recited the Thousand Names [of Viṣṇu],

went to heaven accompanied by Bhīma and his other brothers. / Again, Vāsudeva became the Buddha to delude the enemies of the gods;

and Viṣṇu will also become Kalkin in the village of Śambhala; / mounted on a horse, he will then reduce all the worlds to ashes.

For the protection of the gods and others, for the removal of unrighteousness, / and for the destruction of the wicked, he takes incarnation;

just as he was born in the lineage as Dhanvantari at the churning of the milk ocean, / and spoke the Āyurveda for the survival of the gods and others,

to the son of Viśvāmitra, the great-souled Suśruta. / Having heard the Bhārata and the incarnations, a man goes to heaven.

Thus ends the one hundred and forty-fifth chapter, entitled 'Description of the Bhārata and other events', in the Ācārakāṇḍa, which is called the first part in the First Section of the glorious and great Garuḍapurāṇa.