The Kathá Sarit Ságara; or, Ocean of the Streams of Story
us." When Sumeru said this, the ambassador returned to his master as
he came.
Then Súryaprabha and the others, established upon an elevated place,
surveyed their armies encamped separately. Then Sunítha said to his
father-in-law the Asura Maya: "Explain to me the arrangement of the
warriors in our army." Then that all-knowing prince of the Dánavas
said, "I will do so, listen;" and pointing them out with his finger,
he began to say--"These kings Subáhu, Nirgháta, Mushtika, and Gohara,
and Pralamba, and Pramátha, and Kankata, and Pingala, and Vasudatta
and others, are considered half-power warriors. [666] And Ankurin,
and Suvisála, and Dandin, and Bhúshana, and Somila, and Unmattaka,
and Devasarman, and Pitrisarman, and Kumáraka, and Haridatta and
others are all full-power warriors. And Prakampana, and Darpita,
and Kumbhíra, and Mátripálita, and Mahábhata, and Vírasvámin,
and Surádhara, and Bhándíra, and Sinhadatta and Gunavarman, with
Kítaka and Bhíma and Bhayankara, these are all warriors of double
power. And Virochana, and Vírasena, and Yajnasena, and Khujjara,
and Indravarman, and Sevaraka, and Krúrakarman, and Nirásaka, these
princes are of triple power, my son. And Susarman, and Báhusálin,
and Visákha, and Krodhana, and Prachanda,--these princes are warriors
of fourfold power. And Junjarin, and Vírasarman, and Pravíravara, and
Supratijna and Maráráma, and Chandadanta, and Jálika, and the three,
Sinhabhata, Vyághrabhata, and Satrubhata, these kings and princes are
warriors of fivefold power. But this prince Ugravarman is a warrior
of sixfold power. And the prince Visoka, and Sutantu, and Sugama, and
Narendrasarman are considered warriors of sevenfold power. And this
king Sahasráyu is a great warrior. But this Satáníka is lord of a host
of great warriors. And Subhása, Harsha, and Vimala, the companions of
Súryaprabha, Mahábuddhi and Achalabuddhi, Priyankara and Subhankara are
great warriors, as also Yajnaruchi and Dharmaruchi. But Visvaruchi,
and Bhása, and Siddhártha, these three ministers of Súryaprabha,
are chiefs of hosts of great warriors. And his ministers Prahasta and
Mahártha are leaders of hosts of transcendent warriors. And Prajnádhya
and Sthirabuddhi are leaders of hosts of hosts of warriors; and the
Dánava Sarvadamana, and Pramathana here, and Dhúmaketu, and Pravahana,
and Vajrapanjara, and Kálachakra, and Marudvega are leaders of warriors
and transcendent warriors. Prakampana and Sinhanáda are leaders of
hosts of leaders of hosts of warriors. And Mahámáya, and Kámbalika,
and Kálakampana here, and Prahrishtaroman, these four lords of the
Asuras, are kings over chiefs of hosts of transcendent warriors. And
this Prabhása, the general of the army, who is equal to Súryaprabha,
and this son of Sumeru, Kunjarakumára, these two are leaders of hosts
of chiefs of hosts of great warriors. Such heroes are there in our
army, and others besides, girt with their followers. There are more
in the hostile army, but Siva being well disposed towards us, they
will not be able to resist our host.
While the Asura Maya was saying this to Sunítha, another ambassador
came from the father of Srutasarman, and said thus to him; "The king
of Trikúta sends this message to you; 'This is a great feast for
heroes--the feast, which goes by the name of battle. This ground
is narrow for it, therefore let us leave it, and go to a place
named Kalápagráma, where there is a wide space.'" When Sunítha and
the other chiefs with their soldiers heard this, they agreed, and
all of them went with Súryaprabha to Kalápagráma. And Srutasarman
and his partizans also, eager for battle, went to that same place,
surrounded with the hosts of the Vidyádharas. When Súryaprabha and his
chiefs saw elephants in the army of Srutasarman, they summoned their
contingent of elephants, which was conveyed in the chariot that flew
through the air. Then Dámodara, that excellent Vidyádhara, drew up his
army in the form of a large needle; Srutasarman himself took up his
position on the flank with his ministers, and Dámodara was in front,
and other great warriors in other places. And Prabhása, the leader of
Súryaprabha's army, arranged it in the form of a crescent; he himself
was in the centre, and Kunjarakumára and Prahasta at the two horns;
and Súryaprabha, and Sunítha and the other chiefs, all remained in
the rear. And Sumeru with Suvásakumára stood near him. Thereupon the
war-drums were beaten in both armies.
And in the meanwhile the heaven was filled with the gods, come
to see the battle, together with Indra, and the Lokapálas, and
the Apsarases. And Siva, the lord of all, came there with Párvatí,
followed by deities, and the Ganas, and demons, and the mothers. [667]
And holy Brahmá came accompanied by the Vedas incarnate in bodily
form, beginning with the Gáyatrí, and the Sástras and all the
great Rishis. And the god Vishnu came, riding on the king of birds,
bearing his weapon the discus, accompanied by goddesses, of whom the
goddesses of Fortune, Glory, and Victory were the chief. And Kasyapa
came with his wives, and the Ádityas and the Vasus, and the chiefs of
the Yakshas, Rákshasas and snakes, and also the Asuras with Prahláda
at their head. The sky was obscured with them, and the battle of those
two armies began, terrible with the clashing of weapons, accompanied
with loud shouts. The whole heaven was darkened by the dense cloud of
arrows, through which the flashes, made by the arrows striking against
one another, played like lightning, and rivers of blood flowed, swollen
with the gore of many elephants and horses wounded with weapons, in
which the bodies of heroes moved like alligators. That battle gave
great delight to heroes, jackals, and goblins, that danced, waded,
and shouted in blood.
When the confused mêlée, in which countless soldiers fell, had abated,
Súryaprabha, and the other chiefs, gradually began to perceive the
distinction between their own army and that of the enemy, and heard in
order from Sumeru the names and lineage of the chiefs fighting in front
of the enemies' host. Then first took place a single combat between
king Subáhu and a chief of the Vidyádharas, named Attahása. Subáhu
fought a long time, until Attahása, after riddling him with arrows,
cut off his head with a crescent-headed shaft. When Mushtika saw that
Subáhu was slain, he rushed forward in wrath; he too fell smitten
by Attahása with an arrow in the heart. When Mushtika was slain,
a king named Pralamba in wrath rushed on, and attacked Attahása with
showers of arrows, but Attahása slew his retainers, and striking the
hero Pralamba with an arrow in a mortal place, laid him low on the
seat of his chariot. A king named Mohana, when he saw Pralamba dead,
engaged with Attahása and smote him with arrows. Then Attahása cut his
bow and slew his charioteer, and laid him low, slain with a terrific
blow. When the host of Srutasarman saw that the dexterous Attahása
had slain those four warriors, expecting the victory, they shouted
for joy. When Harsha, the companion of Súryaprabha, saw that, he was
wroth, and with his followers attacked Attahása and his followers;
and with shafts he repelled his shafts, and he slew his followers,
and killed his charioteer, and two or three times cut his bow and
his banner, and at last he cleft asunder his head with his arrows,
so that he fell from his chariot on the earth, pouring forth a stream
of blood. When Attahása was slain, there was such a panic in the
battle, that in a moment only half the two armies remained. Horses,
elephants and footmen fell down there slain, and only the trunks of
slaughtered men remained standing in the van of battle.
Then a chief of the Vidyádharas, named Vikritadanshtra, angry at
the slaughter of Attahása, showered arrows upon Harsha. But Harsha
repelled his arrows, struck down his chariot-horses, and his banner and
his charioteer, and cut off his head with its trembling earrings. But
when Vikritadanshtra was killed, a Vidyádhara king, named Chakravála,
in wrath attacked Harsha; he slew Harsha still fighting on, though
fatigued with combat, after his bow had been frequently cut asunder,
and his other weapons damaged. Angry at that, king Pramátha attacked
him, and he too was slain by that Chakravála in fight. In the same
way four other distinguished kings, who attacked him one by one,
were slain one after another by that Chakravála, namely, Kankata,
and Visála, and Prachanda and Ankurin. When king Nirgháta saw that,
he was wroth, and attacked Chakravála, and those two, Chakravála
and Nirgháta, fought for a long time, and at last they broke one
another's chariots to pieces, and so became infantry soldiers, and
the two, rushing furiously together, armed with sword and discus,
cleft with sword-strokes one another's heads, and fell dead on
the earth. Then the two armies were dispirited, seeing those two
warriors dead, but nevertheless a king of the Vidyádharas, named
Kálakampana, stepped forward to the front of the fight. And a prince,
named Prakampana, attacked him, but he was in a moment struck down
by that Kálakampana. When he was struck down, five other warriors
attacked Kálakampana, namely Jálika, and Chandadatta, and Gopaka,
and Somila, and Pitrisarman; all these let fly arrows at him at the
same time. But Kálakampana deprived all five of their chariots, and
slew them at the same time, piercing the five with five arrows in
the heart. That made the Vidyádharas shout for joy, and the men and
Asuras despond. Then four other warriors rushed upon him at the same
time, Unmattaka and Prasasta, Vilambaka and Dhurandhara; Kálakampana
slew them all easily, in the same way he killed six other warriors
that ran towards him, Tejika, and Geyika, and Vegila, and Sákhila,
and Bhadrankara and Dandin, great warriors with many followers. And
again he slew five others that met him in fight, Bhíma, Bhíshana,
Kumbhíra, Vikata, and Vilochana. And a king, named Sugana, when he
saw the havoc that Kálakampana had made in the battle, ran to meet
him. Kálakampana fought with him until both had their horses and
charioteers killed, and were compelled to abandon their chariots;
then Kálakampana, reduced to fight on foot, laid Sugana, who was
also fighting on foot, low on the earth with a sword-cut. Then the
sun, having beheld that surprising struggle of Vidyádharas with men,
went grieved to rest. [668] Not only did the field of battle become
red, filled with streaming blood, but the heaven also became red,
when evening set her foot-prints there. Then the corpses and demons
began their evening dance, and both armies, stopping the battle,
went to their camps. In the army of Srutasarman were slain that day
three heroes, but thirty-three distinguished heroes were slain in
the army of Súryaprabha.
Then Súryaprabha, grieved at the slaughter of his kinsmen and friends,
spent that night apart from his wives. And eager for the fight, he
passed that night in various military discussions with his ministers,
without going to sleep. And his wives, grieved on account of the
slaughter of their relations, met together in one place that night,
having come for the sake of mutual condolence. But even on that
melancholy occasion they indulged in miscellaneous conversation;
there is no occasion on which women are not irrelevant in their
talk. In the course of this conversation, one princess said--"It is
wonderful! How comes it that to-night our husband has gone to sleep
without any of his wives?" Hearing that, another said--"Our husband
is to-day grieved on account of the slaughter of his followers in
battle, so how can he take any pleasure in the society of women?" Then
another said, "If he were to obtain a new beauty, he would that instant
forget his grief." Then another said--"Do not say so; although he is