Trishasti Shalaka Purusa Caritra Part 1

Author(s): Hemchandracharya, Helen M Johnson
Publisher: Oriental Research Institute Vadodra

Page 331

310
what are we to do? Did any one escape from us in the fighting-business with the kings of six-part Bharatakşetra, that we are restrained from battle? When the soldiers have fled, been conquered, or killed, it is fitting for the lord to fight, not otherwise. For the course of battle is varied. Certainly we do not fear any risk to the master in battle with any adversary except Bahubali alone. There is doubt about victory even for Pākaśāsana, to say nothing of others, in battle with long-armed Bāhubali. It is not fitting for the lord to battle in the beginning with him whose violence is hard to endure like that of a great river's flood. After we have fought first, then battle is suitable for the lord, like mounting a horse first broken by horse-trainers."
When the Cakrabhrt had seen the soldiers calling out to each other these remarks, knowing (their) nature, he summoned them by gestures and said, “ Just as the rays precede the sun in destroying darkness, so you precede me in fighting with an enemy. No enemy has approached me, when you were fighting, just as an elephant does not approach the bank of a rampart in a deep moat. Since you have not seen me in such a battle before, you are needlessly afraid. For devotion sees fear even in the wrong place. All together, see the strength of my arm, so your fear will disappear instantly, like sickness as a result of medicine."
Immediately after this speech, the Cakrin had a very wide and deep ditch dug by his diggers. The Lord of Bharata sat on the bank of the ditch, like Mt. Sahya on the bank of the southern ocean. On his left arm he tied chains and small attached chains close together, like the hanging roots of the banyan tree. With a thousand of these the Cakrabhrt looked like the 'thousand-rayed' (sun) with its rays; like a big tree with creepers. Then he said to the kings, “ You with your army and transport animals, pull me fearlessly, like oxen pulling great carts. All of you, pulling with all your strength, make me fall