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"Sanjaya said, 'Meanwhile Karna also began, with his arrowy showers, to afflict the mighty car-warriors of the Kaikayas, viz., those great bowmen that stood before him. Indeed, the son of Radha despatched to Yama's abode full five hundred of those warriors that were employed in checking him in that battle.
"Karna said, 'I am Karna, son of Radha and Adhiratha. For what, O lady, hast thou come here? Tell me what I am to do for thee? "Kunti said, 'Thou art Kunti's son, and not Radha's. Nor is Adhiratha thy father. Thou, O Karna, art not born in the Suta order. Believe what I say. Thou wert brought forth by me while a maiden. I held thee first in my womb.
He is a hero. He is, again, the foremost of heroes. He is exceedingly handsome. Possessed of every accomplishment of a warrior, he is a dispeller of the fears of friends. Engaged in the good of Dhritarashtra's son, he always hates the sons of Pandu. No one, not even the gods with Vasava at their head, can slay the son of Radha, save thee, as I think. Slay, therefore, the Suta's son today.
Indeed, that slayer of foes quickly shot showers of arrows at Radha's son. Those arrows, sped in that encounter by Bhimasena, fell on every limb of Karna like cooing birds. Those arrows equipped with golden wings and keen points, shot from Bhimasena's bow, covered the son of Radha like a flight of insects covering a blazing fire.
The princess being of the complexion of burnished gold and Arjuna dark as a mass of clouds, the comparison is exceedingly appropriate. The Vaishnava poets of Bengal never tire of this simile in speaking of Radha and Krishna in the groves of Vrindavana.
Thus struck in that battle by that mighty warrior accomplished in weapons, Nakula, O king, fled away precipitately in great affliction. Laughing repeatedly, the son of Radha pursued him and placed his stringed bow, O Bharata, around the neck of the retreating Nakula.
He arrogantly looked around him, he smiled at his followers and then put the question again: "Who is Krishna, the lover, and who is Radha, the beloved?" Then he began to analyse the roots of those names, and various interpretations of their meanings. He brought before the bewildered audience all the intricacies of the different schools of metaphysics with consummate skill.
The Suta's son, endued with great strength, swallowed, by means of the power of his own weapons, all those showers of arrows shot by that hero, possessed of the tread of an infuriated elephant. The wrathful son of Radha, smiling the while, seemed to mock Bhimasena as the latter was battling with great fury.
That feat of his, O king, seemed highly wonderful. Then the valiant son of Radha, taking up a mace, hurled it at Bhima's car. Bhima, however, broke it with the mace of his own. Then taking up a heavy mace, once more, Bhima hurled it at Adhiratha's son. Karna struck that mace with numerous shafts of beautiful wings, sped with great force, and once again with other shafts.
The theme was Krishna, the lover god, and Radha, the beloved, the Eternal Man and the Eternal Woman, the sorrow that comes from the beginning of time, and the joy without end. The truth of these songs was tested in his inmost heart by everybody from the beggar to the king himself. The poet's songs were on the lips of all.
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