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 Phalguna 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 my 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."