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Updated: May 16, 2025
Difficult is the task that hath been performed by the Pandavas: by them hath a kingdom been recovered without a rival. 'Alas! I have heard that the war hath left only ten alive: three of our side, and the Pandavas, seven, in that dreadful conflict eighteen Akshauhinis of Kshatriyas have been slain!
That hero who had under his sway ten kingdoms, having Sindhu for their chief, him who was ever obedient to thee, Jayadratha of mighty energy, O king, Arjuna hath slain after vanquishing eleven Akshauhinis of troops with his keen arrows.
And the Panchalas setting out to invade the whole earth with their four kinds of troops soon brought the whole earth under their sway. And with their ten Akshauhinis the king of the Panchalas defeated the Bharata prince. Samvarana then with his wife and ministers, sons and relatives, fled in fear, and took shelter in the forest on the banks of the Sindhu extending to the foot of the mountains.
In the interval between the Dwapara and the Kali Yugas there happened at Samanta-panchaka the encounter between the armies of the Kauravas and the Pandavas. In that holy region, without ruggedness of any kind, were assembled eighteen Akshauhinis of soldiers eager for battle. And, O Brahmanas, having come thereto, they were all slain on the spot.
These, O Brahmanas, as fully explained by me, are the numbers of an Akshauhini as said by those acquainted with the principles of numbers. O best of Brahmanas, according to this calculation were composed the eighteen Akshauhinis of the Kaurava and the Pandava army. Time, whose acts are wonderful assembled them on that spot and having made the Kauravas the cause, destroyed them all.
All of them, cased in black deer-skins, endued with great strength, accomplished in battle, and cheerfully prepared, for Duryodhana's sake, to ascend to the region of Brahma, stood there commanding ten efficient Akshauhinis. The eleventh great division of the Kauravas, consisting of the Dhartarashtra troops, stood in advance of the whole army. There in the van of that division was Santanu's son.
First comes the installation in the command of the army of the great instructor in arms, Drona: then the vow made by that great master of weapons of seizing the wise Yudhishthira in battle to please Duryodhana; then the retreat of Arjuna from the field before the Sansaptakas, then the overthrow of Bhagadatta like to a second Indra in the field, with the elephant Supritika, by Arjuna; then the death of the hero Abhimanyu in his teens, alone and unsupported, at the hands of many Maharathas including Jayadratha; then after the death of Abhimanyu, the destruction by Arjuna, in battle of seven Akshauhinis of troops and then of Jayadratha; then the entry, by Bhima of mighty arms and by that foremost of warriors-in-chariot, Satyaki, into the Kaurava ranks impenetrable even to the gods, in search of Arjuna in obedience to the orders of Yudhishthira, and the destruction of the remnant of the Sansaptakas.
After the fall of Karna, the Kauravas became dispirited and lost all energy. Numbering three Akshauhinis, they gathered round the ruler of the Madras. The king Yudhishthira, in the battle that ensued, achieved the most difficult feats and slew, before half the day was over, the king of the Madras.
In the interval between the Dwapara and the Kali Yugas there happened at Samanta-panchaka the encounter between the armies of the Kauravas and the Pandavas. In that holy region, without ruggedness of any kind, were assembled eighteen Akshauhinis of soldiers eager for battle. And, O Brahmanas, having come thereto, they were all slain on the spot.
Difficult is the task that hath been performed by the Pandavas: by them hath a kingdom been recovered without a rival. 'Alas! I have heard that the war hath left only ten alive: three of our side, and the Pandavas, seven, in that dreadful conflict eighteen Akshauhinis of Kshatriyas have been slain!
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