Dedicated to poojasharmabooks Dhrtarastra said: O Sanjaya, gathered on the sacred soil of Kurukshetra, eager to fight, what did my sons and the sons of Pandu do?
Sanjaya said: At that time seeing the army of Pandavas drawn up for battle, King Duryodhana went to his teacher and spoke the following words
O my teacher, behold the mighty army of the sons of Pandu arrayed for battle by your talented pupil, dhrstadyumna, the son of Drupada.
There are in this army heroes wielding mighty bows and equal in military prowess to Bhima and Arjuna: great fighters like Satyaki, Virata, Dhrstaketu, Cekitana, Kasiraja, Purujit, Kuntibhoja, Saibya the best of men, mighty Yudhamanyu, the very powerful Uttamauja, the son of Subhadra and the sons of Draupadi. All of them.
For your information, O best of the brahmanas, let me tell you about the principal warriors on our side-the generals of my army
Yourself and Bhisma and Karna and Krpa who are ever victorious in battle; and even so Asvatthama, Vikarna and the son of Somadatta, Bhurisrava,
There are many other heroes who are prepared to lay down their lives for my sake. All of them are skilled in warfare equipped with different kinds of weapons and missiles.
The army of ours, fully protected by Bhishma is unconquerable; while the army of theirs, guarded every way by Bhima, is easy to conquer.
All of you must now give full support to Grandfather Bhisma, as you stand at your respective strategic points of entrance into the phalanx of the army.
Then Bhisma, the great valiant grandsire of the Kuru dynasty, their glorious grand uncle blew his conchshell very loudly, making a sound like the roar of a lion, giving Duryodhana joy
After that, the conchshells, drums, bugles, trumpets and horns suddenly blared forth and the noise was tumultuous.
Then seated in a glorious chariot drawn by white horses, Sri Krsna as well as Arjuna blew their celestial conches.
Lord Krsna blew His conchshell, called Pancajanya; Arjuna blew his, the Devadatta; and Bhima, the voracious eater and performer of herculean tasks, blew his great conch Paundra.
King Yudhisthira, the son of Kunti, blew his conch, the Ananta-vijaya, and Nakula and Sahadeva blew the Sughosa and Manipuspaka.
And the excellent archer, the King of Kasi, the great warrior Sikhandi, Dhrstadyumna, Virata, the unconquerable Satyaki, Drupada, the sons of Draupadi, and the valiant Abhimanyu, the son of Subhadra, all of them, O King, blew their respective conches from all sides.
And the terrible sound, echoing through heaven and earth, shattered the hearts of the Dhrtarastra's army.
At that time Arjuna, the son of Pandu, seated in the chariot bearing the flag marked with Hanuman, took up his bow and addressed the following words to Sri Krshna, "krsna, placed my chariot between the two armies.
To be continued.... next chapter Arjuna's moral dilemma will be updated today.
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Picture credit : Radhakerani English translation credit : Gita press, Gorakhpur, India.
