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SETUBANDHA
143 47. The battle raged, the blows bringing pleasure 22 and the joy of fighting interrupted by momentary swoon; while nymphs were won at the cost of one's life,23 and heads bartered for fame.
48. They laughed in the face of mortal danger, took delight in daring deeds, and rejoiced in peril; paused only during swoon, and deemed their task fulfilled only when they died.
49. A cloud of dust that rose from the movements of the troops gave rise to the strange notion of a solar eclipse, and evoked the night all of a sudden, having brought the day to a premature end.
50. The dust, thickly accumulated on the ground, and sparse as it spread out in mid air, became dense and pervasive in the sky, and being heavy, descended on all sides.
51. Did the dust, with the starting point unseen, leave or fill the earth? Did it issue from the regions of the sky, or envelop the horizon? Did it fall from the sky, or rise to the firmament?
52. The army of the demons along with the fighting apes confronting it was covered with thick dust. Bereft of Iristre, it seemed to stand in front of a jewel mountain enshrouded in mist.24
53. A mass of fine dust spread in the sky like a somber cloud: it turned the banners grey, discoloured the foam in the horses' mouth, and obscured the sunlight.
54. The dim rays of the sun, lengthening in the wake of the mountains, swiftly hurled by the apes, and dropping from the sky, descended like a torrent of water from a conduit.
55. Resembling a dense bee-hive, the dust settled on the gory blades of the swords that were partly broken25 as the infuriated demons brought them down on the tough shoulders of the apes.
22. Lit. with pleasure obtained through blows. 23. i.e., by going to heaven after death on the battlefield.
24. The red-haired apes are compared to a jewel mountain, and the dust covering them to mist.
Extracts 25. Cf. Kulanātha in Extracts.
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