82. THE SINDHU KING :

NEWS of Arjuna's oath reached the
enemy. The spies informed Duryodhana's
friends that Arjuna, having learnt that
Jayadratha was the cause of Abhimanyu's
death, had vowed to kill the Sindhu king
before sunset next day.


Vriddhakshatra, the illustrious king of the
Sindhus, was blessed with a son, who was
named Jayadratha. At the time of the birth
of the prince, a voice was heard to say:


"This prince will attain great glory and he
will attain the happy regions above, slain
in battle. One who, among the warriors of
all ages, ranks among the most illustrious
will, in the field of battle, sever his head
from the body."


All living beings must die but hardly any,
however wise or brave, welcome it.
Vriddhakshatra was grieved to hear the
voice declare his son's end.


In his disturbed state of mind, he uttered a
curse: "He, who shall cause my son's head
to roll down on the ground, shall have his
head burst at that very moment into
fragments."


Jayadratha grew up and, when he reached
manhood, Vriddhakshatra handed over the
care of the State to the prince. He retired
to the forest, where he spent the evening
of his days in austerities in an ashrama
near the plain, which afterwards became
the Kurukshetra field of battle.


When Jayadratha came to know about
Arjuna's vow, he remembered the
prediction about his death and feared his
end was near.


"I do not want to be in this battle any
longer. Let me go back to my country," he
said to Duryodhana.


"Do not fear, Saindhava," replied
Duryodhana. "Here are all these veterans
and warriors who will stand between you
and danger. Karna, Chitrasena, Vivimsati,
Bhurisravas, Salya, Vrishasena,
Purumitra, Jaya, Bhoja, Kamboja,
Sudakshina, Satyavrata, Vikarna,
Durmukha, Duhsasana, Subahu, Kalinga,
the Avanti princes, Drona, Drona's
illustrious son and Sakuni all these
warriors and I myself are here and you
cannot be in danger. The whole of my
army will have but one task today, to
defend you against Arjuna. You should
not leave us now." Jayadratha agreed to
remain. He went to Drona and said to him:
"Master, you taught me and Arjuna and
you know us both well. What is your
appraisal of us two?"


"Son, I discharged my duties as teacher
and dealt with you both impartially. The
instruction was the same to you and to
Arjuna, but Arjuna excels because of his
superior discipline and his own practice.


But, you need not be discouraged by this.
You will be placed behind a strong force
that Arjuna cannot easily pierce. Fight
according to the tradition of your
ancestors. Death comes to us all, cowards
as well as brave men. And the warrior
dying in battle attains with ease the happy
regions which others only attain with
great difficulty. Discard fear and fight."


Drona, having spoken thus to Jayadratha,
proceeded to marshal the forces for the
next day. Twelve miles to the rear of the
main army Jayadratha and his detachment
were placed in a strongly guarded
position.


Bhurisravas, Karna, Aswatthama, Salya,
Vrishasena and Kripa were there with all
their forces. Between them and the
Pandava army, Dronacharya arrayed the
main Kaurava forces in circular
formation.


Durmarshana's army was beaten. Like
clouds driven about by a gale, the
Kaurava forces were scattered and fled in
all directions. When Duhsasana saw this,
his anger rose.


Leading a huge force of elephants he
surrounded Arjuna. Duhsasana was a very
wicked man but he was brave also. He
fought Arjuna fiercely and the field was
strewn with the dead. Finally, he
withdrew defeated and went back to join
Drona's forces.


Savyasachi's car swiftly proceeded
forward and passed Drona. "Illustrious
one, grieving for my son, I have come to
wreak vengeance on the Sindhu king. I
crave your blessings for the fulfilment of
my vow," said Arjuna to the acharya.


The acharya smiled and said: "Arjuna, you
must first fight and defeat me before you
can reach Jayadratha." Saying this Drona
discharged a shower of arrows on Arjuna's
car. Partha also replied with his arrows
but these the acharya parried with ease
and sent flaming shafts that hit Krishna
and Arjuna.


The Pandava then decided to cut Drona's
bow and bent his Gandiva for that
purpose. Even as he was pulling his
bowstring Drona's shaft came and cut the
string.


The acharya, still retaining the smile on
his face, rained a shower of arrows on
Arjuna and his horses and chariot. Arjuna
fought back, but the acharya showered his
arrows that covered Arjuna and his chariot
in darkness.


Krishna saw things were not going at all
well and said: "Partha, no more waste of
time. Let us proceed. It is no use fighting
this brahmana, who seems to know no
fatigue." Saying this, Krishna drove
Arjuna's chariot to the left of the acharya
and proceeded forward.


"Stop, surely you will not proceed without
defeating your enemy," said Drona.
"You are my guru, not my enemy, O
acharya. I am in the position of a son to
you. There is no one in the wide world
that can defeat you," said Arjuna and they
proceeded forward at a swift pace
bypassing Drona.


Then Arjuna pierced the Bhoja army.
Kritavarma and Sudakshina who opposed
his passage were defeated. Srutayudha
also tried to stop Arjuna's progress. There
was a fierce battle in which Srutayudha
lost his horses and he hurled his mace at
Krishna.


His mother had obtained this mace as a
result of her offering but the condition
attached to the boon operated and it came
back and struck Srutayudha himself dead.
This is the story of the mace.


Parnasa went through penances that
pleased Varuna and obtained from that
god a boon that her son Srutayudha may
not be killed by any enemy.


"I shall give your son a divine weapon.
Let him use it in all his battles. No enemy
will be able to defeat him or kill him. But
he should not use the weapon against one
who does not fight. If he does, the weapon
will recoil and kill him. Saying this, god
Varuna gave a mace. Srutayudha, when
fighting Arjuna, disregarding the
injunction, hurled the mace at Krishna
who was not fighting but was only driving
Arjuna's chariot.


The missile hit Janardana's chest and
immediately rebounded fiercely back to
Srutayudha. And like a demon recoiling
fatally on the magician, that commits an
error in uttering the spell of power that
holds it in thrall, it slew Srutayudha and
laid him dead on the field, like a great
forest tree blown down by a storm.


Then the king of Kamboja led his forces
against Arjuna. After a fierce fight, he lay
stretched dead on the field like a great
flagstaff after the festival is over.
When they saw the strong warriors,
Srutayudha and the king of Kamboja,
slain, the Kaurava force was in great
confusion.


Srutayu and his brother Asrutayu then
attacked Partha on both sides trying to
save the situation, and greatly harassed
him. At one stage of this battle, Arjuna
leaned on the flagstaff, dazed with the
wounds he received.


But Krishna spoke to him encouragingly
and Arjuna recovered and resumed the
fight, slaying the two brothers as well as
their two sons who continued the struggle.
Arjuna marched on and, killing many
more warriors successfully made his way
to Jayadratha.


NEXT : 83. BORROWED ARMOR


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