“‘Yudhishthira said,--“O mighty-armed one, after thou hadst gone towards
the army of the Samsaptakas, the preceptor Drona made fierce endeavours
for seizing me. We succeeded, however, in resisting Drona at the head of
the array at all points, having in that battle, disposed our vigorously
contending car-divisions in counter-array. Held in check by a large
number of warriors, and myself also having been well protected, Drona
began to smite us with great activity, afflicting us with his whetted
shafts. Thus afflicted by him, we could not then even gaze at his army,
far less face it in battle. All of us then, addressing thy son by
Subhadra, who was equal to thyself, O lord, in prowess said unto him, [O
son, pierce this array of Drona!]--That valorous hero thus urged by us,
then sought, like a good horse, to take that burden on himself, however
unbearable it might have been for him. Endued as he was with thy energy,
aided by that knowledge of weapons which he derived from thee, that child
then penetrated unto that array, like Garuda penetrating into the ocean.
As regards ourselves, we followed that hero, that son of Subhadra,
desirous in that battle, of penetrating (into the Dhritarashtra army) by
the same path by which Abhimanyu had entered it. Then, O sire, the
wretched king of the Sindhus, viz., Jayadratha, in consequence of the
boon granted to him by Rudra, checked all of us! Then Drona, Kripa and
Karna and Drona’s son, and the king of the Kosalas, and Kritavarman,
these six car-warriors surrounded the son of Subhadra. Having surrounded
that child all those great car-warriors--too many for him although he was
contending to the utmost of his power, deprived him of his car. After he
had been deprived of his car, Dussasana’s son, though he himself had a
hair-breadth escape, succeeded, as chance would have it, in making
Abhimanyu, meet with his end. As regards Abhimanyu, he, having slain many
thousands of men and steeds and elephants, and eight thousand cars, and
once more nine hundred elephants, two thousand princes, and a large
number of heroic warriors unknown to fame, and despatching in that battle
king Vrihadvala also to heaven, at last, through ill luck, met with his
own death. Thus hath occurred this event that so enhances our grief! That
tiger among men hath even thus ascended to heaven!” Hearing these words
uttered by king Yudhishthira, Arjuna, saying--Oh son!--and breathing a
deep sigh, fell down on the earth in great pain. Then all the warriors of
the Pandavas, surrounding Dhananjaya with cheerless faces began, filled
with grief, to look at one another with winkless eyes. Recovering
consciousness then, Vasava’s son became furious with rage. He seemed to
be in a feverish tremor, and sighed frequently. Squeezing his hands,
drawing deep breaths, with eyes bathed in tears, and casting his glances
like a mad man, he said these words.’
“‘Arjuna said,--“Truly do I swear that tomorrow I will slay Jayadratha!
If from fear of death, he doth not forsake the Dhritarashtras, or implore
our protection, or the protection of Krishna that foremost of men or of
thine, O king, I shall assuredly slay him tomorrow! Forgetting his
friendship for me, engaged in doing what is agreeable to Dhritarashtra’s
son, that wretch is the cause of the child’s slaughter! Tomorrow I will
slay him! Whoever they may be that will encounter me in battle tomorrow
for protecting him, be it Drona, or Kripa, O king, I will cover them all
with my arrow! Ye bulls among men, if I do not achieve even this in
(tomorrow’s) battle, let me not attain the region reserved for the
righteous, ye foremost of heroes! Those regions that are for them that
slay their mothers, or for them that slay their fathers, or them that
violate their preceptor’s beds, or them that are vile and wicked, or them
that cherish envy against the righteous, or them that speak ill of others
or them that appropriate the wealth confidingly deposited with them by
others, or them that are betrayers of trusts, or them that speak ill of
wives enjoyed by them before, or them that have slain Brahmanas, or them
that have killed kine, or them that eat sugared milk and rice, or food
prepared of barley, or pot-herbs, or dishes prepared of milk, sesamum,
and rice, or thin cakes of powdered barley fried in clarified butter or
other kinds of cakes, or meat, without having dedicated the same to the
gods,--even those regions shall speedily be mine if I do not slay
Jayadratha!--Those regions to which they go that offer insults to
Brahmanas devoted to the study of the Vedas, or otherwise worthy of
respect, or to those that are their preceptors, (those regions shall
speedily be mine if I do not slay Jayadratha!) That end which becomes
theirs who touch Brahmanas or fire with the feet, that end which becomes
theirs who throw phlegm and excreta and eject urine into water, even that
miserable end shall be mine, if I do not slay Jayadratha! That end which
is his who bathes (in water) in a state of nudity, or his who does not
hospitably entertain a guest, that end which is theirs who receive
bribes, speak falsehood, and deceive and cheat others, that end which is
theirs who offend against their own souls, or who falsely utter praises
(of others), or of those low wretches who eat sweetmeats in the sight of
servants and sons and wives and dependents without sharing the same with
those, that awful end shall be mine if I do not slay Jayadratha! That end
which overtakes the wretch of ruthless soul who without supporting a
righteous and obedient protege casts him off, or him who, without giving
unto a deserving neighbour the offerings in Sraddhas, giveth them away
unto those that deserve them not, that end which is his who drinks wine,
or his who insults those that are worthy of respect, or his who is
ungrateful, or his who speaketh ill of his brothers, that end shall soon
be mine if I do not stay Jayadratha! The end of all those sinful persons
whom I have not mentioned, as also of those whom I have mentioned, shall
soon be attained by me, if after this night passes away, I do not slay
Jayadratha tomorrow!
“’”--Listen now to another oath of mine! If tomorrow’s sun set without my
slaying that wretch, then even here I shall enter the blazing fire! Ye
Asuras and gods and men, ye birds and snakes, ye Pitris and all wanderers
of the night, ye regenerate Rishis and celestial Rishis, ye mobile and
immobile creatures, ye all that I have not mentioned, ye will not succeed
in protecting my foe from me! If he enters the abode of the nether
region, or ascends the firmament, or repairs to the celestials, or the
realms of the Daityas, I shall still, with a hundred arrows, assuredly
cut off, on the expiration of this night, the head of Abhimanyu’s foe!--“’
“Sanjaya continued,--‘Having uttered these words, Arjuna began to stretch
Gandiva with both his arms. Transcending Arjuna’s voice the sound of that
bow rose and touched the very heavens. After Arjuna had taken that oath,
Janardana, filled with wrath, blew his conch, Panchajanya. And Phalguna
blew Devadatta. The great conch Panchajanya, well filled with the wind
from Krishna’s mouth, produced a loud blare. And that blare made the
regents of the cardinal and the subsidiary points, the nether regions,
and the whole universe, to shake, as it happens at the end of the Yuga.
Indeed after the high-souled Arjuna had taken the oath, the sound of
thousands of musical instruments and loud leonine roars arose from the
Pandava camp.’”