Sexual Life in Ancient India: A Study in the Comparative History of Indian Culture v1.c5.259

v1.c5.259

They now close in on Drupadā, with arms in their hands. But Arjuna and Bhīma turn back and come into the lists on his behalf. Bhīma tears up a tree, and uses it as a club, while Arjuna makes his bow spit out arrows and destruction. The Brahmans wave their garments applaudingly, and their water-jugs, and promise Arjuna to fight by his side. But he only laughs and tells them to look on in comfort; he will drive back all his foes. Soon a deadly fight with the bow blazes up between Arjuna and Karṇa. The latter, greatly wondering, at last asks his opponent who he may be. He answers: “A Brahman.” And the sun’s son withdraws. In another part of the forest, meanwhile, Bhīma and Çalya, the king of the Madras, engaged in a raging fight with one another, wrestling and boxing, till Bhīma lifts his adversary up in his arms and flings him to the ground, but with his great soul spares his life. The two hero-brothers get away through the throng, while the band of princes sets out on the way home, and the princess follows the two into the potter’s workshop to the mother of the Pāṇḍavas, who is hovering amidst a thousand anxieties as to what has become of her sons.