Matsyapurana 173

English (machine translation) 173

Language: English

173.1

Matsya said: / Then, hearing the reassuring word of Viṣṇu, the Daityas and Dānavas / made vast preparations for war and for victory.

173.2

Maya, however, [mounted] an imperishable [chariot] made of gold, three nalvas long, / four-wheeled, very vast, with a great well-fashioned yoke,

173.3

resounding with a network of tinkling bells, draped in leopard skins, / splendid, adorned with networks of jewels and networks of gold,

173.4

crowded with figures of chimeric beasts, radiant with rows of birds, / bearing quivers of divine weapons, rumbling like a raincloud,

173.5

having a good axle, a noble and excellent chariot, with a fine seat, sky-like, / filled with clubs and iron bludgeons, like an embodied ocean,

173.6

with golden armlets and rings, with poles adorned with golden orbs, / endowed with banners and flags, like Mount Mandara with the sun,

173.7

having the bulk of a lordly elephant's body, here and there the brilliance of a lion, / yoked to a thousand bears, rumbling like a swelling raincloud,

173.8

blazing, moving in the sky, divine, a chariot that crushes enemy chariots; / eager for battle, he stood upon it like the blazing sun on Meru.

173.9

Tāra [mounted] an all-golden chariot, spacious as a loud shout, / mountain-shaped, unobstructed, resembling a heap of blue collyrium,

173.10

divine, made of black iron, with its pole bound to an iron yoke-pin, / shooting rays that spew darkness, roaring like a raincloud,

173.11

mail-clad with a great network of iron fitted with latticed windows, / filled with iron bludgeons and throwing clubs,

173.12

with barbed darts, outstretched nooses, and detached spikes, / adorned with terrifying javelins and battleaxes,

173.13

arising for the sake of [destroying] enemies like a second Mandara, / yoked to a thousand donkeys; he mounted that best of chariots.

173.14

Virocana, highly enraged, club in hand, took his stand / at the front of that army, like a mountain with a blazing peak.

173.15

The Dānava Hayagrīva, crusher of rival armies, / drove a chariot yoked to a thousand chariots.

173.16

Stretching a great bow a thousand cubits long, / Varāha stood in the forefront like a mountain with its shoots.

173.17

Khara, spilling water born of fury from his eyes out of arrogance, / with lips, teeth, and eyes twitching, longed for battle.

173.18

Mounting a terrible chariot drawn by eight elephants, the mighty Dānava Tvaṣṭṛ / marched forth to arrange the array of the Dānavas.

173.19

Śveta, the son of Vipracitti, adorned with white ear-rings, / resembling a white mountain, stood facing [the enemy] for battle.

173.20

Ariṣṭa, the foremost son of Bali, armed with mountain boulders, / stood facing [the enemy] for battle, shaking the mountains.

173.21

Kiśora was indeed called 'Kiśora' because of his intense exuberance. / Accompanied by their forces, the Dānavas armed themselves in due order.

173.22

In the midst of the Daitya army arose, like the risen sun, / Lamba, dark as a fresh cloud, adorned with garments hanging low.

173.23

Standing within the Daitya array, he shone like the ray-bearing sun through mist. / But Svarbhānu, fighting with his mouth, armed with teeth, lips, and eyes,

173.24

stood laughing at the head of the Daityas, that great planet. / Others there rode on horses, others mounted the shoulders of elephants,

173.25

others rode lions and tigers, and others boars and bears; / some were riders of donkeys and camels, some had predatory beasts for mounts.

173.26

Other Daityas were foot-soldiers, terrifying, with distorted faces; / one-legged and half-legged, they danced, eager for battle.

173.27

Many were slapping their arms, others were roaring; / the bull-like Dānavas bellowed with the cries of joyful tigers.

173.28

Bearing formidable maces and iron-bound clubs, holding rocks and pestles in their hands, / with arms resembling iron bars, they threatened the gods.

173.29

With nooses, lances, and iron-bound clubs, with javelins, goads, and axes, / with śataghnīs and hundred-edged mallets, they made sport.

173.30

With massive boulders, with crags, with superior iron-bound clubs / and with discs, the foremost Daityas gladdened their army.

173.31

That entire army of the Dānavas, wildly intoxicated with battle, / stood facing the gods like a fierce mass of clouds.

Dense with thousands of Daityas, resembling wind, fire, mountains, clouds, and waters, / that wondrous army, arisen at the onset of the river of battle, shone forth as if mad with the desire to fight.

Translations (1)

The Matsya Puranam — A Taluqdar of Oudh 1916, English

Linked texts (1)

Matsyapurāṇa — Vyāsa, Sanskrit