(Swayamvara Parva continued)
"Vaisampayana said, 'Then those youthful princes adorned with ear-rings,
vying with one another and each regarding himself accomplished in arms and
gifted with might, stood up brandishing their weapons. And intoxicated
with pride of beauty, prowess, lineage, knowledge, wealth, and youth, they
were like Himalayan elephants in the season of rut with crowns split from
excess of temporal juice. And beholding each other with jealousy and
influenced by the god of desire, they suddenly rose up from their royal
seats, exclaiming "Krishna shall be mine." And the Kshatriyas assembled in
that amphitheatre, each desirous of winning the daughter of Drupada,
looked like the celestial (of old) standing round Uma, the daughter of the
King of mountains. Afflicted with the shafts of the god of the flowery bow
and with hearts utterly lost in the contemplation of Krishna, those
princes descended into the amphitheatre for winning the Panchala maiden
and began to regard even their best friends with jealousy. And there came
also the celestials on their cars, with the Rudras and the Adityas, the
Vasus and the twin Aswins, the Swadhas and all the Marutas, and Kuvera
with Yama walking ahead. And there came also the Daityas and the Suparnas,
the great Nagas and the celestial Rishis, the Guhyakas and the Charanas
and Viswavasu and Narada and Parvata, and the principal Gandharvas with
Apsaras. And Halayudha (Valadeva) and Janardana (Krishna) and the chief of
the Vrishni, Andhaka, and Yadava tribes who obeyed the leadership of
Krishna were also there, viewing the scene. And beholding those elephants
in rut--the five (Pandavas)--attracted towards Draupadi like mighty
elephants towards a lake overgrown with lotuses, or like fire covered with
ashes, Krishna the foremost of Yadu heroes began to reflect. And he said
unto Rama (Valadeva), "That is Yudhishthira; that is Bhima with Jishnu
(Arjuna); and those are the twin heroes." And Rama surveying them slowly
cast a glance of satisfaction at Krishna. Biting their nether lips in
wrath, the other heroes there--sons and grandsons of kings--with their
eyes and hearts and thoughts set on Krishna, looked with expanded eyes on
Draupadi alone without noticing the Pandavas. And the sons of Pritha also,
of mighty arms, and the illustrious twin heroes, beholding Draupadi, were
all likewise struck by the shafts of Kama. And crowded with celestial
Rishis and Gandharvas and Suparnas and Nagas and Asuras and Siddhas, and
filled with celestial perfumes and scattered over with celestial flowers,
and resounding with the kettle-drum and the deep hum of infinite voices,
and echoing with the softer music of the flute, the Vina, and the tabor,
the cars of the celestials could scarcely find a passage through the
firmament. Then those princes--Karna, Duryodhana, Salwa, Salya,
Aswatthaman, Kratha, Sunitha, Vakra, the ruler of Kalinga and Banga,
Pandya, Paundra, the ruler of Videha, the chief of the Yavanas, and many
other sons and grandsons of kings,--sovereigns of territories with eyes
like lotus-petals,--one after another began to exhibit prowess for
(winning) that maiden of unrivalled beauty. Adorned with crowns, garlands,
bracelets, and other ornaments, endued with mighty arms, possessed of
prowess and vigour and bursting with strength and energy, those princes
could not, even in imagination, string that bow of extraordinary
stiffness.
"'And (some amongst) those kings in exerting with swelling lips each
according to his strength, education, skill, and energy,--to string that
bow, were tossed on the ground and lay perfectly motionless for some time.
Their strength spent and their crowns and garlands loosened from their
persons, they began to pant for breath and their ambition of winning that
fair maiden was cooled. Tossed by that tough bow, and their garlands and
bracelets and other ornaments disordered, they began to utter exclamations
of woe. And that assemblage of monarchs, their hope of obtaining Krishna
gone, looked sad and woeful. And beholding the plight of those monarchs,
Karna that foremost of all wielders of the bow went to where the bow was,
and quickly raising it strung it and placed the arrows on the string. And
beholding the son of Surya--Karna of the Suta tribe--like unto fire, or
Soma, or Surya himself, resolved to shoot the mark, those foremost of
bowmen--the sons of Pandu--regarded the mark as already shot and brought
down upon the ground. But seeing Karna, Draupadi loudly said, "I will not
select a Suta for my lord." Then Karna, laughing in vexation and casting
glance at the Sun, threw aside the bow already drawn to a circle.
"'Then when all those Kshatriyas gave up the task, the heroic king of the
Chedis--mighty as Yama (Pluto) himself--the illustrious and determined
Sisupala, the son of Damaghosa, in endeavouring to string the bow, himself
fell upon his knees on the ground. Then king Jarasandha endued with great
strength and powers, approaching the bow stood there for some moment,
fixed and motionless like a mountain. Tossed by the bow, he too fell upon
his knees on the ground, and rising up, the monarch left the amphitheatre
for (returning to) his kingdom. Then the great hero Salya, the king of
Madra, endued with great strength, in endeavouring to string the bow fell
upon his knees on the ground. At last when in that assemblage consisting
of highly respectable people, all the monarchs had become subjects of
derisive talk that foremost of heroes--Jishnu, the son of Kunti--desired
to string the bow and placed the arrows on the bow-string.'"