Arjuna, the foremost among warriors, spoke gently to Prince Uttara, whose mind was shaken by the sight of the sacred Gandeeva and the splendour of the weapons hanging upon the mighty tree. He began to reveal the lineage of symbols borne upon the bows of the Pandavas, for each hero had adorned his weapon with…
Prince Uttara Kumara trembled at the sight of the vast and terrible host drawn against him. His limbs shook, his mind wandered without direction, and he cried to Brihannala that the chariot rushed forward beyond his command and beyond his courage. “Turn back the reins,” he said, “for I cannot stand before these innumerable warriors….
According to the design contrived by Duryodhana, his hosts, joined by seasoned elders of the Kuru line and led by the revered grandsire, advanced toward the realm of the Matsyas. Reaching its borders, they fell upon the outlying hamlets where rich cattle-herds were bred and tended by trained keepers. That land was famed for the…
The clash between King Susarma and the hosts of Virata reached its utmost fury, a contest so evenly matched that neither victory nor defeat nor even stalemate could claim it, for the warriors were bound in a struggle intricate and unyielding. Sataneeka, Virata’s brother, shone in the forefront; his gem-studded armour glittered like the bursting…
According to the resolve of the Kuru assembly, Prince Duryodhana shaped his design to seize the cattle of the Matsya king. He commanded that before word of this enterprise reached the agents of Virata, the Kuru forces must advance; on the waning moon’s eighth day, Susarma would overpower the cowherds, and on the ninth day…
The Kuru grandsire Bhīṣma, firm in his wisdom and serene in judgment, resolved to offer counsel of the highest clarity, hoping that Duryodhana might be softened by his words and guided toward a course that could yet alter the destiny of the Kuru race. For he foresaw that this moment would become the seed of…
Sairandhri paused for a moment at the turning to the queen’s chambers, her heart wavering with hesitation. She conveyed the king’s veiled request that she should leave the realm, and though the message was gently phrased, she perceived its hidden weight and consequences. Resolving to meet the matter with composure and quiet grace, she addressed…
The warrior-soul in Bhīma lay restless, for he foresaw strange turns in the palace once the fate of the proud tyrant had reached his kin. Every whisper of wind, every tremor beneath the eaves, he weighed with vigilance. Then came the cry of Sairandhrī—thin, distressed, unmistakably echoing the desperation of the fallen chieftain’s brethren. “What…
Though he had been warned that he would scarcely live after laying his hand upon my form, the rash chieftain, still uttering disordered and wandering words, moved as one whose reason had deserted him and whose dreams bore him toward his own doom. While he drifted in this cloud of delusion, Bhīma released a sudden,…
The braggart Keechaka, shaken by the turmoil born of craving, moved between desire and dread, between lust and shame, between the hope of fulfilment and the fear of failure. Anxiously, he sought to bind his longing with the fear that Sairandhri might escape to the place she had hinted at, yet he remained utterly unaware…
