Reading section 93

12. The goddess answered saying:—Know O excellent lady! that I have no power to do anything; but every thing happens to pass according to the desire of the living being.

13. Know me only as the presiding divinity of wisdom, and I reveal everything according to my knowledge of it. It is by virtue of the intellectual powers as exhibited in every being, that it attains its particular end.

14. It is according to the development of the mental powers of living beings in every state, that it obtains its object in the manner and in the same state as it aims at.

15. You had attained the powers of your understanding by your devotedness to my service, and have always desired of me for being liberated from flesh.

16. I have accordingly awakened your understanding in that way, whereby you have been able to arrive at your present state of purity.

17. It was by cause of your constant desire of liberation, that you have gained the same state, by enlargement (of the powers) of your intellect.

18. Whoever exerts his bodily powers according to the dictates of his understanding, is sure to succeed in gaining his object sooner or later.

19. Performance of austerities and adoration of gods, are as vain without cultivation of the intellect, as to expect the falling of fruits from the sky.

20. Without cultivation of the intellect and exertion of manly powers, there is no way to success; do therefore as you may choose for yourself.

21. It is verily the state of one’s mind, that leads his internal soul to that state which it thinks upon, and to that prosperity which it attempts to obtain. 22. Now distinguish between what is desirable or disagreeable to you, and choose that which is holy and perfect, and you will certainly arrive to it.

CHAPTER XLVI.

ONSLAUGHT OF VIDÚRATHA.

Ráma said:—Relate to me the acts of Vidúratha, after he went out enraged from the camp, and left the ladies and the goddess talking in that manner.

2. Vasishtha said:—Vidúratha left his camp in company with a large body of his companions like the bright moon beset by a host of stars.

3. He was in armour and girt by laces and girdles, and thus attired in his martial habit, he went forth amidst the loud war cry of _vae victis_, like the god Indra going to battle.

4. He gave orders to the soldiers and was informed of the battle array; and having given directions to his captains, he mounted his chariot.

5. It was adorned with mountings resembling the pinnacles of mountains and beset by five flags fringed with strings of pearls and gems, resembling a celestial car.

6. The iron hoops of its wheels flashed with their golden pegs, and the long and beautiful shaft of the car, rang with the tinkling of pearls which were suspended to it.

7. It was drawn by long necked, swift and slender horses of the best breed and auspicious marks; that seemed to fly in the air by their swiftness and bearing aloft a heavenly car with some god in it.

8. Being impatient of the swiftness of the winds, they spurred them with their hinder heels and left them behind, and sped the forepart of their bodies as if to devour the air, impeding their course.

9. The car was drawn by eight coursers with their manes hanging down their necks like flappers, and white spots or circlets resembling the disks of moon on their foreheads, and filling the eight sides around with their hoarse neighing. 10. At this time there rose a loud noise of the elephants, resounding like drums from the hollows of the distant hills.

11. Loud clamours (kala-kalas) were raised by the infuriate soldiers, and the tinkling of their belted trinkets (kinkini), and clashing of their weapons, rang afar in the open air.

12. The crackling (chatachata) of the bows, and the wheezing (shitkara) of the arrows, joined with the jangle (jhanjhana) of armours, by their clashing against one another, raised a confused hubbub all around.

13. The sparkling (kanatkara) of blazing fire, and the mutual challenge of the champions; the painful shrieks of the wounded and the piteous cry of captives, were seen and heard on all sides.

14. The mingled sounds thickened in the air, and filled its cavity and its sides as with solid stones and capable of being clutched in the hands.

15. Clouds of dust flew as fast and thick into the air, that they seemed to be the crust or strata of the earth, rising upward to block the path of the sun in the sky.

16. The great city was hid in the dark womb of the overspreading dust (rajas), as the ignorant state of man is covered in darkness by the rising passion (rajas) of juvenescence.

17. The burning lights became as dim, as the fading stars of heaven by day light, and the darkness of night became as thick, as the devils of darkness gather their strength at night.

18. The two Lílás saw the great battle with the virgin daughter of the minister from the tent; and they had their eyes enlightened with farsightedness by favour of the goddess.

19. Now there was an end of the flashing and clashing of the hostile arms in the city, as the flash and crash of submarine fires were put to an end by the all-submerging floods of the universal deluge.

20. Vidúratha collected his forces and without considering the superiority of the hostile power pressed himself forward amidst them, as the great Meru rushed into the waters of the great deluge.

21. Now the twanging of the bow strings emitted a clattering (Chatachata) sound; and the forces of the enemy advanced in battle array, like bodies of clouds with rainbows amidst them.

22. Many kinds of missiles flew as falcons in the air; and the black steel waved with a dark glare owing to the massacres they made.

23. The clashing swords flashed with living flames of fire by their striking against one another; and showers of arrows whistled like hissing rainfalls in the air.

24. Two edged saws pierced the bodies of the warriors; and the flinging weapons hurtled in the air by their clashing at and crashing of each other.

25. The darkness of the night was put to flight by the blaze of the weapons; and the whole army was pierced by arrows, sticking as the hairs on their bodies.

26. Headless trunks moved about as players in the horrid solemnity of the god of death (Yama); and the furies fled about at the dint of war, like the raving lasses at Bacchanal revelries.

27. Elephants fighting with their tusks, sent a clattering noise in the air; and the stones flung from the slings, flew as a flowing stream in the sky.

28. Bodies of men were falling dead on the ground, like the dried leaves of forests blown away by blasts; and streams of blood were running in the field of battle, as if the heights of war were pouring down the floods of death below.

29. The dust of the earth was set down by the floods of blood, and the darkness was dispelled by the blaze of weapons; all clamour ceased in intense fighting, and the fear for life, was lost under the stern resolution of death.

30. The fighting was stern without a cry or noise, like the pouring of rain in the breezeless sky, and with the glitter of swords in the darkened air, like the flashes of forky lightnings amidst the murky clouds.

31. The darts were flying about with a hissing noise (khad-khada); and the crow-bars hit one another with a harsh (taktaka) sound; large weapons were struck upon one another with a jarring noise (jhanjhana), and the dreadful war raged direfully in the dim darkness (timitimi) of the night.

CHAPTER XLVII.

ENCOUNTER OF SINDHU AND VIDÚRATHA.

Vasishtha said:—As the war was waging thus furiously between the two armies, the two Lílás addressed the goddess of knowledge and said:—

2. “Tell us, O goddess! what unknown cause prevents our husband to gain the victory in this war, notwithstanding your good grace to him, and his repelling the hostile elephants in the combat”.

3. Sarasvatí replied:—Know ye daughters, that I was ever solicited by Vidúratha’s enemy to confer him victory in battle, which your husband never craved of me.

4. He lives and enjoys his life as it was desired by him, while his antagonist gains the conquest according to his aim and object.

5. Knowledge is contained in the consciousness of every living being, and rewards every one according to the desire to which it is directed.

6. My nature like that of all things is as unchangeable as the heat of fire (which never changes to cold). So the nature of Vidúratha’s knowledge of truth, and his desire of liberation lead him to the like result (and not to victory).

7. The intelligent Lílá also will be liberated with him, and not the unintelligent one, who by her nature is yet unprepared for that highest state of bliss.

8. This enemy of Vidúratha, the king of Sinde, has long worshipped me for his victory in war; whereby the bodies of Vidúratha and his wife must fall into his hands.

9. Thou girl wilt also have thy liberation like hers in course of time; but ere that, this enemy of yours,—the king of Sinde, will reign victorious in this earth.

10. Vasishtha said:—As the goddess was speaking in this manner, the sun appeared on his rising hill to behold the wondrous sight of the forces in fighting.

11. The thick mists of night disappeared like the hosts of the enemy (Sinde); and left the forces of Vidúratha to glitter as stars at the approach of night.

12. The hills and dales and the land and water gradually appeared to sight, and the world seemed to reappear to view from amidst the dark ocean of the (deluge).

13. The bright rays of the rising sun radiated on all sides like the streams of liquid gold, and made the hills appear as the bodies of warriors besmeared with (blood).

14. The sky seemed as an immense field of battle, stretched over by the radiant rays of the sun (Karas), likening the shining arms (Karas) of the warriors, shaking in their serpentine mood.

15. The helmets on their heads raised their lotus-like tops on high, and the rings about their ears blazed with their gemming glare below.

16. The pointed weapons were as fixed as the snouts of unicorns, and the flying darts fled about as butterflies in the air. The bloody field presented a picture of the ruddy dawn and dusk, and the dead bodies on the ground, represented the figures of motionless saints in their Yoga.