of Oh! and Alas! And then, O monarch, my friends
filled with sorrow and grief began to weep and wail
with heavy hearts! And delight filled the hearts
of the enemies. And O thou who never waverest,
I heard of this after I had defeated the foe!
And then wielding the thunderbolt, that favourite
(weapon) of Indra, capable of riving stones, I destroyed
that entire mass of crags! But my steeds, afflicted
with the weight of the stones and almost on the point
of death began to tremble. And beholding me, all
my friends rejoiced again even as men rejoice on seeing
the sun rise in the sky, dispersing the clouds.
And seeing my horses almost in their last gasp for
breath, afflicted with that load of stones, my charioteer
said unto me in words suitable to the occasion, ’O
thou of the Vrishni race, behold Salwa the owner of
the car of precious metals sitting (yonder). Do
not disregard him! Do thou exert thyself!
Do thou abandon thy mildness and consideration for
Salwa. Slay Salwa, O thou of mighty arms!
O Kesava, do not let him live! O hero, O thou
destroyer of those that are not thy friends (enemies),
an enemy should be slain with every exertion!
Even a weak enemy who is under the feet of a man endued
with strength, should not be disregarded by the latter:
that (shall I say) of one that dareth us to the fight?
Therefore, O thou tiger among men, putting forth every
exertion, slay him, O lord, O thou foremost of the
Vrishni race! Do thou not delay again! This
one is not capable of being vanquished by milder measures.
And he cannot in my opinion be thy friend who is fighting
thee and who devastated Dwaraka!’ O Kaunteya,
hearing such words of my charioteer, and knowing that
what he said was true, I directed my attention to
the fight (afresh), with the view of slaying Salwa
and destroying the car of costly metals! And,
O hero, saying unto Daruka, ‘Stay a moment’
I fixed on my bow-string my favourite weapon of fire,
blazing and of celestial origin, of irresistible force,
and incapable of being baffled, bursting with energy,
capable of penetrating into everything, and of great
splendour! And saying, ’Destroy the car
of precious metals together with all those enemies
that are in it.’ I launched with the might
of my arms and in wrath with mantras, the great powerful
discus Sudarsana which reduceth to ashes in battle
Yakshas and Rakshasas and Danavas and kings born in
impure tribes, sharp-edged like the razor, and without
stain, like unto Yama the destroyer, and incomparable,
and which killeth enemies. And rising into the
sky, it seemed like a second sun of exceeding effulgence
at the end of the Yuga. And approaching the town
of Saubha whose splendour had disappeared, the discus
went right through it, even as a saw divideth a tall
tree. And cut in twain by the energy of the Sudarsana
it fell like the city of Tripura shaken by the shafts
of Maheswara. And after the town of Saubha had
fallen, the discus came back into my hands, And taking
it up I once more hurled it with force saying, ‘Go