would contradict him not. It is for this that the time is come for that
excellent work, which is the best of all tasks and difficult to perform.
I shall baffle Duryodhana's volleys of arms by my own excellent weapons.
I shall overpower all in the field of battle. I shall in my wrath cut off
his head with my excellent shafts, little inferior to snakes and poison
and fire. And with the keen edge of my sword, I shall forcibly sever his
head from the trunk, in the field of battle; then I shall kill his
followers, and Duryodhana, and all of Kuru's race. O son of Rohini! let
the followers of Bhima look at me with joy at their heart, when I shall
keep up the weapons of war in the field of battle, and when I shall go on
slaying all the best fighting men on the side of the Kurus, as at the end
of time fire will burn vast heaps of straw. Kripa and Drona and Vikarna
and Kama are not able to bear the keen arrows shot by Pradyumna. I know
the power of Arjuna's son--he conducts himself like the son of Krishna in
the field of battle. Let Samva chastise by the force of his arms
Dussasana; let him destroy by force Dussasana and his charioteer and his
car. In the field of battle when the son of Jamvavati becomes
irresistible in fight, there is nothing which can withstand his force.
The army of the demon Samvara was speedily routed by him when only a boy.
By him was killed in fight Asvachakra, whose thighs were round, and whose
muscular arms were of exceeding length. Who is there that would be able
to go forward to the car of Samva, who is great in fight, when mounted on
a car? As a mortal coming under the clutches of death can never escape;
so who is there that once coming under his clutches in the field of
battle, is able to return with his life? The son of Vasudeva will burn
down by the volleys of his fiery shafts all the hostile troops, and those
two warriors, Bhishma and Drona,--who are great on a car, and Somadatta
surrounded by all his sons. What is there in all the world including the
gods, which Krishna cannot encounter on an equal footing, when he takes
up the weapons of war, wields in his hands excellent arrows, arms himself
with his dice, and thus becomes unrivalled in fight? Then let Aniruddha
also take up in his hand his buckler and sword, and let him cover the
surface of the earth with Dhritarashtra's sons, their heads separated
from their trunks, their bodies devoid of all consciousness as in a
sacrificial rite the altar is