SECTION CLXXXIX
(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.'"
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