Canto Ten - Chapter 77

Śrī Śuka said: After sipping water, putting on his armor, and taking up his bow, Pradyumna told his charioteer, 'Take me to the side of the heroic Dyumān.'

Rukmiṇī's son confronted Dyumān, who was scattering his troops, and smilingly pierced him in return with eight nārāca arrows.

With four arrows he struck the four horses and with one the charioteer; with two he severed the bow and banner, and with another arrow he cut off Dyumān's head.

Gada, Sātyaki, Sāmba, and the others struck down the forces of Saubha's lord. The warriors of Saubha, their necks severed, all fell into the sea.

Thus the Yadus and Śālva's men continued killing one another. Their fierce and tumultuous battle lasted twenty-seven nights.

Kṛṣṇa had gone to Indraprastha at the invitation of Dharma's son. When the Rājasūya was concluded and Śiśupāla had been killed,

He took leave of the Kuru elders, the sages, Pṛthā, and her sons. Then, observing exceedingly ominous portents, He departed for Dvāravatī.

He said, 'I have come here accompanied by our honored elders. The kings allied with the Cedi must surely have attacked My city.'

Seeing the devastation of His people and arranging for the city's defense, Keśava spoke to Dāruka about Saubha and King Śālva.

'Charioteer, quickly bring My chariot near Śālva. Do not become confused, for this lord of Saubha is a master of illusion.'

Thus commanded, Dāruka mounted the chariot and urged it forward. As it entered the battle, everyone on both sides saw Aruṇa's younger brother, Garuḍa, upon its banner.

Seeing Kṛṣṇa, Śālva, whose army and commanders had nearly been destroyed, hurled a spear with a terrifying roar at Kṛṣṇa's charioteer in the midst of battle.

As the spear sped through the sky like a great meteor, illuminating every direction, Śauri cut it into a hundred pieces with His arrows.

He pierced Śālva with sixteen arrows and struck Saubha as it roamed the sky with volleys of shafts, just as the sun fills the heavens with its rays.

Śālva pierced the left arm of Śauri, the wielder of Śārṅga, and the bow fell from the Lord's hand. Those who witnessed it were astonished.

A mighty cry of anguish arose among all the beings watching. Then the lord of Saubha roared loudly and addressed Janārdana.

'Fool! Before our very eyes you abducted the bride of our friend, who was like a brother to us. Then you killed that unsuspecting friend in the midst of the assembly.

'Today, with my sharp arrows, I shall send you, who imagine yourself unconquerable, to the place of no return, if only you remain before me.'

The Supreme Lord said: Fool, you boast in vain, failing to see that death is close beside you. Heroes display their prowess; they do not speak at length.

Having spoken, the enraged Lord struck Śālva upon the collarbone with His tremendously forceful mace. Śālva trembled and vomited blood.

When the mace returned, Śālva disappeared. A moment later a man approached, bowed his head to Acyuta, and, weeping, said, 'Devakī has sent me.'

'Kṛṣṇa! Kṛṣṇa! Mighty-armed and affectionate son, Śālva has bound and carried away Your father like an animal seized by a butcher.'

Hearing this painful news, Kṛṣṇa appeared to assume ordinary human nature. Distraught and compassionate because of affection, He spoke like a common man.

'How could the insignificant Śālva defeat the unperturbed Rāma, who cannot be conquered by gods or demons, and carry away My father? Fate is indeed powerful.'

As Govinda spoke in this way, the lord of Saubha appeared before Him, seeming to bring Vasudeva with him, and addressed Kṛṣṇa.

'Here is your father and begetter, for whose sake you remain alive. I shall kill him before your eyes. If you are his lord, then save him, you fool!'

After taunting Him thus, the sorcerer cut off the head of the illusory Ānakadundubhi with his sword, took it with him, and entered Saubha in the sky.

For a moment the Lord's natural self-awareness, joined to His affection for His own people, appeared overwhelmed. Then the greatly powerful Lord recognized the demonic illusion projected by Śālva and taught to him by Maya.

Fully alert on the battlefield, Acyuta saw neither the messenger nor His father's body, just as upon awakening one sees that a dream was unreal. Seeing His enemy aloft within Saubha, He prepared to kill him.

Some sages speak in this way, O royal sage, but their account is not logically consistent, for it contradicts their own words. Surely they fail to remember what they have said.

Where in Him could there be grief, delusion, mundane attachment, or fear, all of which arise from ignorance? And where is He, whose direct awareness, knowledge, and sovereignty are unbroken and unlimited?

Through the powerful self-knowledge attained by serving His feet, people cast off their beginningless grasp upon false identification and attain His eternal, divine state. How, then, could bewilderment touch the Supreme Lord, the ultimate refuge of the saintly?

As Śālva fiercely attacked Him with volleys of weapons, Śauri, whose prowess never fails, pierced him with arrows, cut apart his armor, bow, and crest jewel, and smashed His enemy's Saubha with His mace.

Shattered into thousands of pieces by the mace hurled from Kṛṣṇa's hand, Saubha fell into the water. Abandoning it, Śālva came swiftly onto the ground, raised his mace, and rushed at Acyuta.

As Śālva charged with mace in hand, the Lord severed his arm with a broad-headed arrow. Then He raised His wondrous disc, which resembled the sun at cosmic dissolution, and shone like the eastern mountain bearing the rising sun.

With that very disc, Hari cut off the master sorcerer's head, crowned and adorned with earrings, just as Purandara had severed Vṛtra's head with his thunderbolt. A cry of 'Alas!' arose among the people.

When that sinner fell and Saubha had been destroyed by the mace, kettledrums sounded in heaven, played by hosts of gods, O King. Then Dantavakra approached in fury to avenge his friends.