Vaisampayana said, “Jayadratha flying for his life upon beholding those
two brothers with upraised arms, was sorely grieved and bolted off with
speed and coolness. But the mighty and indignant Bhimasena, descending
from his chariot, ran after him thus fleeing, and seized him by the hair
of his head. And holding him high up in the air, Bhima thrust him on the
ground with violence. And seizing the prince by the head, he knocked him
about. And when the wretch recovered consciousness, he groaned aloud and
wanted to get up on his legs. But that hero endued with mighty arms
kicked him on the head. And Bhima pressed him on the breast with his
knees as well as with his fists. And the prince thus belaboured, soon
became insensible. Then Falguna dissuaded the wrathful Bhimasena from
inflicting further chastisement on the prince, by reminding him of what
Yudhishthira had said regarding (their sister) Dussala. But Bhima
replied, saying, ‘This sinful wretch hath done a cruel injury to Krishna,
who never can bear such treatment. He, therefore, deserveth to die at
hands! But what can I do? The king is always overflowing with mercy, and
thou, too, art constantly putting obstacles in my way from a childish
sense of virtue!’ Having said these words, Vrikodara, with his
crescent-shaped arrow, shaved the hair of the prince’s head, heaving five
tufts in as many places. Jayadratha uttered not a word at this. Then
Vrikodara, addressing the foe said, ‘If thou wishest to live, listen to
me. O fool! I shall tell thee the means to attain that wish! In public
assemblies and in open courts thou must say,--I am the slave of the
Pandavas.--on this condition alone, I will pardon thee thy life! This is
the customary rule of conquest on the field of battle.’ Thus addressed
and treated, king Jayadratha said to the mighty and fierce warrior who
always looked awful, ‘Be it so!’ And he was trembling and senseless and
begrimed with dust. Then Arjuna and Vrikodara, securing him with chains,
thrust him into a chariot. And Bhima, himself mounting that chariot, and
accompanied by Arjuna, drove towards the hermitage. And approaching
Yudhishthira seated there, he placed Jayadratha in that condition before
the king. And the king, smiling, told him to set the Sindhu prince at
liberty. Then Bhima said unto the king, ‘Do thou tell Draupadi that this
wretch hath become the slave of the Pandavas.’ Then his eldest brother
said unto him affectionately, ‘If thou hast any regard for us, do thou
set this wretch at liberty!’ And Draupadi too, reading the king’s mind,
said, ‘Let him off! He hath become a slave of the king’s and thou, too,
hast disfigured him by leaving five tufts of hair on his head.’ Then that
crest-fallen prince, having obtained his liberty, approached king
Yudhishthira and bowed down unto him. And seeing those Munis there, he
saluted them also. Then the kind-hearted king Yudhishthira, the son of
Dharma, beholding Jayadratha in that condition, almost supported by
Arjuna, said unto him, ‘Thou art a free man now; I emancipate thee! Now
go away and be careful not to do such thing again; shame to thee! Thou
hadst intended to take away a lady by violence, even though thou art so
mean and powerless! What other wretch save thee would think of acting
thus?” Then that foremost king of Bharata’s race eyed with pity that
perpetrator of wicked deeds, and believing that he had lost his senses,
said, ‘Mayst thy heart grow in virtue! Never set thy heart again on
immoral deeds! Thou mayst depart in peace now with thy charioteers,
cavalry and infantry.’ Thus addressed by Yudhishthira, the prince, O
Bharata, was overpowered with shame, and bending down his head, he
silently and sorrowfully wended his way to the place where the Ganga
debouches on the plains. And imploring the protection of the god of three
eyes, the consort of Uma, he did severe penance at that place. And the
three-eyed god, pleased with his austerities deigned to accept his
offerings in person. And he also granted him a boon! Do thou listen, O
monarch, how the prince received that boon! Jayadratha, addressing that
god, asked the boon, ‘May I be able to defeat in battle all the five sons
of Pandu on their chariots!’ The god, however, told him ‘This cannot be.’
And Maheswara said, ‘None can slay or conquer them in battle. Save
Arjuna, however, thou shall be able to only check them (once) on the
field of battle! The heroic Arjuna, with mighty arms, is the god
incarnate styled Nara. He practised austerities of old in the Vadari
forest. The God Narayana is his friend. Therefore, he is unconquerable of
the very gods. I myself have given him the celestial weapon called
Pasupata. From the regents also of all the ten cardinal points, he has
acquired the thunder-bolt and other mighty weapons. And the great god
Vishnu who is the Infinite Spirit, the Lord Preceptor of all the gods, is
the Supreme Being without attributes, and the Soul of the Universe, and
existeth pervading the whole creation. At the termination of a cycle of
ages, assuming the shape of the all-consuming fire, he consumed the whole
Universe with mountains and seas and islands and hills and woods and
forests. And after the destruction of the Naga world also in the
subterranean regions in the same way, vast masses of many-coloured and
loud-pealing clouds, with streaks of lightning, spreading along the
entire welkin, had appeared on high. Then pouring down water in torrents
thick as axles of cars, and filling the space everywhere, these
extinguishing that all-consuming fire! When at the close of four thousand
Yugas the Earth thus became flooded with water, like one vast sea, and
all mobile creatures were hushed in death, and the sun and the moon and
the winds were all destroyed, and the Universe was devoid of planets and
stars, the Supreme Being called Narayana, unknowable by the senses,
adorned with a thousand heads and as many eyes and legs, became desirous
of rest. And the serpent Sesha, looking terrible with his thousand hoods,
and shining with the splendour of ten thousand suns, and white as the
Kunda flower or the moon or a string of pearls, or the white lotus, or
milk, or the fibres of a lotus stalk, served for his conch. And that
adorable and omnipotent God thus slept on the bosom of the deep,
enveloping all space with nocturnal gloom. And when his creative faculty
was excited, he awoke and found the Universe denuded of everything. In
this connection, the following sloka is recited respecting the meaning of
Narayana. “Water was created by (the Rishi) Nara, and it formed his
corpus; therefore do we hear it styled as Nara. And because it formed his
Ayana (resting-place) therefore is he known as Narayana.” As soon as that
everlasting Being was engaged in meditation for the re-creation of the
Universe, a lotus flower instantaneously came into existence from his
navel, and the four-faced Brahma came out of that navel-lotus. And then
the Grandsire of all creatures, seating himself on that flower and
finding that the whole Universe was a blank, created in his own likeness,
and from his will, the (nine) great Rishis, Marichi and others. And these
in their turn observing the same thing, completed the creation, by
creating Yakshas, Rakshas, Pisachas, reptiles, men, and all mobile and
immobile creatures. The Supreme Spirit hath three conditions. In the form
of Brahma, he is the Creator, and in the form of Vishnu he is the
Preserver, and in his form as Rudra, he is the Destroyer of the Universe!
O king of Sindhu, hast thou not heard of the wonderful achievements of
Vishnu, described to thee by the Munis and the Brahmanas learned in the
Vedas? When the world was thus reduced to one vast sea of water, with
only the heavens above, the Lord, like a fire-fly at night-time during
the rainy season, moved about hither and thither in search of stable
ground, with the view of rehabilitating his creation, and became desirous
of raising the Earth submerged in water. What shape shall I take to
rescue the Earth from this flood?--So thinking and contemplating with
divine insight, he bethought himself of the shape of a wild boar fond of
sporting in water. And assuming the shape of a sacrificial boar shining
with effulgence and instinct with the Vedas and ten Yojanas in length,
with pointed tusks and a complexion like dark clouds, and with a body
huge as a mountain, and roaring like a conglomeration of clouds, the Lord
plunged into the waters, and lifted up the Earth with one of his tusks,
and replaced it in its proper sphere. At another time, the mighty Lord,
assuming a wonderful form with a body half lion, half man, and squeezing
his hands, repaired to the court of the ruler of the Daityas. That
progenitor of the Daityas, the son of Diti, who was the enemy of the
(gods), beholding the Lord’s peculiar form, burst out into passion and
his eyes became inflamed with rage. And Hiranya-Kasipu, the war-like son
of Diti and the enemy of the gods, adorned with garlands and looking like
a mass of dark clouds, taking up his trident in hand and roaring like the
clouds, rushed on that being half lion, half man. Then that powerful king
of wild beasts, half man, half lion, taking a leap in the air, instantly
rent the Daitya in twain by means of his sharp claws. And the adorable
lotus-eyed Lord of great effulgence, having thus slain the Daitya king
for the well-being of all creatures, again took his birth in the womb of
Aditi as son of Kasyapa. And at the expiration of a thousand years she
was delivered of that superhuman conception. And then was born that
Being, of the hue of rain-charged clouds with bright eyes and of dwarfish
stature. He had the ascetic’s staff and water-pot in hand, and was marked
with the emblem of a curl of hair on the breast. And that adorable Being
wore matted locks and the sacrificial thread, and he was stout and
handsome and resplendent with lustre. And that Being, arriving at the
sacrificial enclosure of Vali, king of the Danavas, entered the
sacrificial assembly with the aid of Vrihaspati. And beholding that
dwarf-bodied Being, Vali was well-pleased and said unto him, ‘I am glad
to see thee, O Brahmana! Say what is it that thou wantest from me!’ Thus
addressed by Vali, the dwarf-god replied with a smile, saying, ‘So be it!
Do thou, lord of the Danavas, give me three paces of ground!’ And Vali
contented to give what that Brahmana of infinite power had asked. And
while measuring with his paces the space he sought. Hari assumed a
wonderful and extraordinary form. And with only three paces he instantly
covered this illimitable world. And then that everlasting God, Vishnu,
gave it away unto Indra. This history which has just been related to
thee, is celebrated as the ‘Incarnation of the Dwarf’, And from him, all
the gods had their being, and after him the world is said to be
Vaishnava, or pervaded by Vishnu. And for the destruction of the wicked
and the preservation of religion, even He hath taken his birth among men
in the race of the Yadus. And the adorable Vishnu is styled Krishna.
These, O king of Sindhu, are the achievements of the Lord whom all the
worlds worship and whom the learned describe as without beginning and
without end, unborn and Divine! They call Him, the unconquerable Krishna
with conchshell, discus and mace, and adorned with the emblem of a curl
of hair, Divine, clad in silken robes of yellow hue, and the best of
those versed in the art of war. Arjuna is protected by Krishna the
possessor of these attributes. That glorious and lotus-eyed Being of
infinite power, that slayer of hostile heroes, riding in the same chariot
with Pritha’s son, protecteth him! He is, therefore, invincible; the very
gods cannot resist his power, still less can one with human attributes
vanquish the son of Pritha in battle! Therefore, O king, thou must let
him alone! Thou shalt, however, be able to vanquish for a single day
only, the rest of Yudhishthira’s forces along with thine enemies--the
four sons of Pandu!”
Vaisampayana continued, “Having said these words unto that prince, the
adorable Hara of three eyes, the destroyer of all sins, the consort of
Uma, and lord of wild beasts, the destroyer of (Daksha’s) sacrifice, the
slayer of Tripura and He that had plucked out the eyes of Bhaga,
surrounded by his dwarfish and hunch-backed and terrible followers having
frightful eyes and ears and uplifted arms, vanished, O tiger among kings,
from that place with his consort Uma! And the wicked Jayadratha also
returned home, and the sons of Pandu continued to dwell in the forest of
Kamyaka.”