The Order Yudhishthira Gave

"Tell me how Yuyudhana rushed against the son of Bharadwaja," Dhritarashtra said. "I have a great curiosity to hear it."

"Then listen, king, and it will make your hair stand on end."

Satyaki had been cutting the Kuru army apart in front of Drona's own position, and Drona came for him himself. Satyaki opened with five and twenty small arrows. Drona took deliberate aim and answered with five, whetted, equipped with wings of gold, and those five went through the armour, drank the blood underneath it and went on into the earth on the far side like hissing snakes. Satyaki, inflamed like an elephant struck with the hook, put fifty long arrows into him that looked like flames of fire.

And then it stopped being an exchange.

"He was shooting countless keen arrows, king, and Yuyudhana knew not what to do. That is the phrase the men used afterwards and I will not improve on it. His face went cheerless. He had crossed half a war to get where he was and now a Brahmana of eighty-five was taking him apart in front of everybody, and your sons saw it, and became exceedingly cheerful, and began to roar."

Yudhishthira heard the roaring and understood what it meant.

"That foremost one among the Vrishnis," he said to his troops, "of prowess incapable of being baffled, is about to be devoured by Drona, like the sun by Rahu. Go, all of you, and rush to the spot where Satyaki is battling."

Then he turned to Prishata's son.

"Rush at Drona with speed. Why do you tarry? Do you not see the danger to ourselves that has already arisen from him? He is a great bowman and he is sporting with Yuyudhana in battle like a boy with a bird bound in a string. Go, all of you, headed by Bhimasena. Behind you I will follow with my troops."

So the whole of the Pandava center went at one old man, and the Srinjayas with them, and they covered him with showers of keen arrows feathered with the plumes of Kankas and peacocks.

"He received them smiling, king. That is the other phrase I will not improve on. Drona received all those heroes smilingly, like a householder receiving guests who have arrived of their own will, with seats and water. And they were gratified with the shafts of his bow as guests are gratified with the hospitality they get in the houses of good hosts."

None of them could look at him. He stood in the middle of that rush like the thousand-rayed sun at midday and scorched them. Five and twenty warriors among the Panchalas went down in that one encounter, every one of them a Maharatha, every one of them approved as such by Dhrishtadyumna himself. He killed a hundred among the Kekayas and routed the rest on every side and then stood there with his mouth open like the Destroyer.

"Your Majesty's warriors were saying that he was old."

"They were saying it before the war."

"They stopped saying it that afternoon. The Pandavas and the Srinjayas beheld no protector at all. They were like elephants sunk in a morass. The gods and the Gandharvas and the Pitris in the sky said to one another, 'Behold, the Panchalas and the Pandavas with all their troops are flying away.'"

And it was exactly then, with the line bending and nobody able to stand in front of Drona, that king Yudhishthira the just heard a sound come out of the far distance that changed the subject entirely.

It was Panchajanya. Vasudeva was blowing it, and blowing it hard, out where Arjuna had gone in the morning after the Sindhu king.

That by itself was not the problem. The problem was what did not come with it.

"He could hear the conch, king, and he could not hear Gandiva. The protectors of the ruler of the Sindhus were fighting out there and your sons were roaring in front of Arjuna's car, and through all of that, the twang of the Gandiva could not be heard."

The royal son of Pandu swooned where he stood, and came up out of it, and swooned again.

All is not well with Partha. That was the thought and it went round and round. Without doubt all is not well with Partha, since that prince of conchs is giving such blasts and since the Kauravas, filled with joy, are shouting like that.

He was stupefied, king. But I have watched that man for eighteen days now and I will say this for him: even repeatedly stupefied, he did not once lose sight of what was to be done next. He came out of the second swoon, turned his car, and went looking for the one man on the field he had already decided he was going to send.

And when he found him his voice was choked with tears, which is a thing a commander should never let his officers hear, and which he did not trouble to hide.

"Grandson of Sini. The time has come for that eternal duty which the righteous ones of old laid down for friends towards friends in seasons of distress.

"I have reflected within myself and I do not see, among all my warriors, one who is a greater well-wisher to us than you are. The man who is always well affected, the man who is always obedient, I think he is the one who should be appointed to a grave commission in times of distress. As Kesava is the refuge of even the Pandavas, so are you, of the Vrishni race, who are like Kesava in prowess. I will therefore lay a burthen on you, and it does not behove you to frustrate my purpose.

"Arjuna is your brother, your friend and your preceptor. In this battle, render him aid in his time of distress.

"He who casts away his body while fighting in battle for the sake of friends is equal to the man who gives away the whole earth to Brahmanas. We have heard of kings who went to heaven for having given away this entire earth with due rites. I beg of you with joined hands, attain that fruit, or something higher than it, by incurring danger to your own life for the sake of Arjuna.

"There is one, Krishna, who is ever willing to cast away his life in battle for a friend. You, Satyaki, are the second. There is no third.

"Once, in the Dwaita woods, when you were not there, Arjuna described you to me in an assembly of righteous persons and gave me great pleasure by it. He said you were endued with extreme lightness of hand. He said you were conversant with all modes of warfare and never stupefied in battle. He said, 'Satyaki is my disciple and my friend. I am dear to him and he is dear to me.' He said that even if Kesava and Rama and Aniruddha and Pradyumna and Gada and Sarana and Samva, with all the Vrishnis, cased themselves in mail to assist us, he would still appoint you for our aid, because there is none equal to you.

"Suyodhana, cased in armour by Drona himself, has suddenly gone after Arjuna. The other great car-warriors of the Kauravas went before him. Loud uproars are being heard against Arjuna's car. Before him is the division of Jayadratha and behind him is the division of Drona. He went into that host at sunrise. The day is about to end. I do not know whether he lives or not.

"Go. Bhimasena and I, well equipped and with all our forces, will resist Drona if he advances against you."

Satyaki heard the whole of it out, and did not refuse, and did not agree either.

"O king of unfading glory, I have heard everything you have said, and it is just, and it is delightful, and it is conducive to fame, and it is said for Phalguna's sake. At such a time, seeing one devoted to you as I am, it behoves you to command him as freely as you would command Partha himself. I am prepared to cast away my life for Dhananjaya. Urged by you I am prepared to battle with the three worlds including the gods, the Asuras and men.

"But I must inform you of the words of Vasudeva, and of the words of the intelligent Arjuna.

"I was solicited by Arjuna, strongly and repeatedly, in the midst of all our warriors and in the hearing of Vasudeva, in these words: 'Today, Madhava, nobly resolved in battle, protect the king carefully until I have slain Jayadratha. Making over the monarch to you, or to that great car-warrior Pradyumna, I can go with an easy heart towards Jayadratha. You know Drona in battle, that warrior who is regarded as the foremost among the Kurus. You know also the vow he made in the presence of all. The son of Bharadwaja is always eager to seize the king, and he is competent to afflict him. Charging you with the protection of king Yudhishthira the just, I will proceed today for the destruction of the ruler of the Sindhus. See that Drona does not succeed in forcibly seizing the king in battle. If Yudhishthira be seized by Bharadwaja's son, I shall not succeed in slaying Jayadratha, and great will be my grief. If that best of men be seized, it is evident that we shall have to go into the woods again. My success over Jayadratha will be productive of no benefit whatever if Drona, inflamed with rage, succeeds in seizing Yudhishthira in battle.'

"You see, then, O king. You were made over to me as a trust by Savyasachin, in consequence of his constant fear of Bharadwaja's son.

"There is nobody, save Rukmini's son, who can be a match for Drona in battle. I am also regarded to be a match for him. I cannot falsify the reputation I have, or disregard the commands of my preceptor, or leave you. The preceptor, cased in impenetrable mail as he is, and light of hand as he is, will obtain you in battle and will sport with you as a child sports with a little bird.

"Who will protect you when I am gone? Who is it, confiding in whom, I may go towards Phalguna? I tell you truly, great king, that without making you over to somebody in this great battle, I will not go towards Arjuna. Reflect on this from every point of view with the aid of your intelligence, and ascertain what is for your highest good, and then command me."

"It is even so, mighty-armed one, as you say," Yudhishthira said. "For all that, my heart does not become easy on Arjuna's account."

And that, king, is the whole of the argument on the other side. There was nothing else in it. He had been given a correct answer and he had no correct answer of his own, and what he had instead was a noise coming from three yojanas away and the fact that he could not bear it.

"I shall take the greatest precaution in protecting myself. Commanded by me, go where Dhananjaya has gone. Weighing, with my judgment, my own protection in battle against the necessity of your going towards Arjuna, the latter seems to me preferable. Make yourself ready.

"The mighty Bhima will protect me. Prishata's son with all his uterine brothers, and all the mighty kings, and the sons of Draupadi, will without doubt protect me. The five Kekaya brothers, and the Rakshasa Ghatotkacha, and Virata, and Drupada, and the mighty car-warrior Sikhandin, and Dhrishtaketu of great strength, and Kuntibhoja, and Nakula, and Sahadeva, and the Panchalas, and the Srinjayas, all these will very carefully protect me. Drona at the head of his troops, and Kritavarman also, will not succeed in afflicting me.

"Dhrishtadyumna, displaying his prowess, will resist the angry Drona like the continent resisting the sea. There where Prishata's son will remain, Drona will never be able to forcibly transgress our troops. This Dhrishtadyumna sprang from the fire for the destruction of Drona, clad in mail, armed with bow and arrows and sword, and decked with costly ornaments.

"Go, grandson of Sini, with an easy heart. Do not be anxious on my account."

And Satyaki, standing in front of him, had already told him, in plain words and in Arjuna's, what Drona was going to do about that.

He obeyed. But I want you to understand, king, exactly what he weighed, because it was not what you would think.

Hearing those words of the king, that bull among the Sinis feared the censure of Arjuna if he left the king. He had been given a charge in front of witnesses by the man he calls his preceptor, and he was now being ordered off it by the man he calls his king, and either way somebody was going to say that he had failed.

And then he saw the second thing, which was that if he went on refusing, people would put a different name to it.

Let not people say that I am afraid of proceeding towards Arjuna.

That is what he said to himself. He reflected on it repeatedly, and then he answered.

"If you think these arrangements will suffice for your protection, monarch, then I will do your bidding and follow Vibhatsu. I tell you truly, there is none in the three worlds dearer to me than Phalguna. I will follow in his track at your command. There is nothing I will not do for your sake. The commands of my preceptor are always of weight with me. But your commands are still weightier, my lord.

"Taking your command on my head, I will proceed, piercing through this impenetrable host. Darting wrathfully through this force of Drona like a fish through the sea, I will go where king Jayadratha stays, depending on his troops, in fear of the son of Pandu, protected by Drona's son and Karna and Kripa.

"The distance from here to where Partha stands is three yojanas. Though he is three yojanas distant I shall follow in his track with a stout heart, and stay with him until Jayadratha's slaughter.

"What man goes to battle without the commands of his superiors? And when one is commanded, as I have been by you, who is there like me that would not fight?"

Then he told his king what was between him and Arjuna, in order, pointing at each of it, so that nobody afterwards could say the risk had not been stated.

"That elephant division you see, of a thousand elephants, all of the breed known as Anjana, mounted by a large number of Mlecchas who delight in battle and are accomplished at smiting. Those beasts are shedding their juice like rain-pouring clouds. They never retreat if they are urged forward from their backs. They cannot be vanquished unless they are slaughtered.

"Those car-warriors beyond them, numbering thousands, are all of royal lineage and all Maharathas. They are called the Rukmarathas. They are masters of the science of weapons and accomplished at fighting from cars and from elephant-back, and at fists, and at maces, and at close work with sword and shield. Every day they vanquish a vast number of men in battle. Even Vasudeva applauds them as great car-warriors. They are commanded by Karna and devoted to Duhsasana, and it is at Karna's command that they turned back from pursuing Arjuna, so that they are unfatigued and unworn, and they are waiting for me.

"Those other elephants, seven hundred of them, cased in armour and ridden by Kiratas." He paused there. "The king of the Kiratas presented those to Savyasachin, once, when he wanted to keep his life, and sent servants with them. They used to be employed in doing your business, O king. Behold the vicissitudes that time brings about. They are waiting for me now under the orders of Duryodhana.

"Those car-warriors with the golden standards, difficult of being resisted, are Kamvojas. They are brave, and accomplished, and firmly devoted to the science of weapons, and, desiring one another's welfare, they are all firmly united. They constitute a full akshauhini of wrathful men and they are on the alert with their eyes on me.

"Therefore let those who equip cars place quivers and all necessaries on mine in their proper places, and let the car be equipped five times more than what the professors of military science direct. In such a battle diverse kinds of weapons must be taken. And let well-known steeds of the best breed, graced with auspicious marks, be yoked, after their thirst is slaked and after they are groomed."

So Yudhishthira had the quivers filled and the weapons and every necessary placed on Satyaki's car with his own orders.

They took the four horses out of the yoke first and let them drink, and walked them, and bathed them, and fed them, and plucked the arrows out of them, and adorned them with golden chains, and then yoked them again: golden in hue, well trained, endued with great speed, cheerful, exceedingly docile. They set up a tall standard on the car bearing a lion of golden maces, with banners the colour of white clouds attached round it.

Then the younger brother of Daruka, who was Satyaki's charioteer and his dear friend, came and reported that the car was duly equipped, the way Matali reports the equipment of the car to Vasava.

And Satyaki, who was about to ride three yojanas into an army, did every single one of the small things first, in order.

He bathed and purified himself and underwent the auspicious ceremonies. He gave nishkas of gold to a thousand Snataka Brahmanas, who uttered benedictions on him. He drank kairata honey, and his eyes reddened and rolled a little, and his energy doubled, and he touched a brazen mirror and looked like a blazing fire. He took his bow and arrows on his shoulder. The regenerate ones performed the rites of propitiation for him. Fair maidens honoured him with fried paddy and perfumes and floral garlands.

And then, with joined hands, he worshipped the feet of Yudhishthira, and the king bent down and smelt his head.

Bhimasena, honoured by the king, set out with him. And Satyaki, seeing Bhima cased in mail and following, saluted him and said the thing he had been arguing for all afternoon, one last time, to the only other man who could do it.

"Protect the king, Bhima. Even this is your duty above all things. I will proceed and pierce through this host whose hour has come. Whether now or later, the protection of the king is your highest duty. You know my prowess and you desire my good. Return."

"Go then," said Bhima, "for the success of your object. I will protect the king."

They embraced, and Satyaki said that his victory was assured, since Bhima had been won over by his merits and was obeying him, and that when the sinful ruler of the Sindhus had been slain by the son of Pandu he would come back and embrace king Yudhishthira of virtuous soul.

Then he turned and looked at your army the way a tiger looks at a herd of deer, and your troops, seeing him look at them, became stupefied and began to tremble violently.

He went through your host, king, and it broke into a hundred struggling bodies. He crushed seven great bowmen in the front rank. Sometimes he pierced a hundred warriors with one shaft and sometimes one warrior with a hundred.

And then Drona came and stood in the road.

They exchanged shafts for a while, seven and six and ten and eight and ten again, and then Drona spoke, and he spoke to wound.

"Your preceptor has gone away like a coward, leaving the battle, avoiding me who was fighting with him, proceeding by my flank. O you of Madhu's race, if you too do not quickly avoid me in this battle, like your preceptor, you shall not escape me today with your life."

Satyaki did not take it.

"At the command of king Yudhishthira the just, I shall follow in the track of Dhananjaya. Blessed be you, O Brahmana. I would lose time. A disciple should always tread in the way trodden by his preceptor. I shall therefore follow in the track that has been trodden by mine."

And he told his driver where to go: past the host of the Avantis, past the Southerners, past the Valhikas, into the gap between two divisions and on towards Karna's own force, and to take the horses at a tolerable speed and not a headlong one.

Drona pursued him from behind, shooting countless shafts, and could not stop him. Kritavarman came across and lost his charioteer and had to hold his own horses. And then, king, Drona did the thing that Satyaki had named aloud in front of the king an hour before.

He placed his troops in a proper position. He made over the burthen of protecting them to the ruler of the Bhojas. And then, firmly resolved, he turned his own car and went after Yuyudhana.

Which left the son of Dharma standing on that field with everything Satyaki had listed for him, and without the one thing Arjuna had left behind on purpose.