Arjuna, the Saindhavas and Duḥśalā

While guarding the Aśvamedha horse on its digvijaya (its journey over the earth to win the directions), Arjuna came to Sindhu, the kingdom once ruled by Jayadratha. The Saindhava princes, who were kinsmen of Jayadratha, fought him there. This was his third battle on the journey. In the first two, at the Trigartas (Chapter 74) and against Vajradatta (Chapters 75–76), Arjuna spared the defeated kings and named Yudhishṭhira’s order as his reason.

In this battle the sky itself showed fearful omens, and Arjuna was for a short time overcome. It ended when Duḥśalā, the widow of Jayadratha, came to the field with her infant grandson and begged him for peace.

The Saindhavas rise against Arjuna

Arjuna had defeated Vajradatta at Prāgjyotishapura and left him at peace. The Aśvamedha horse then turned toward Sindhu. The Saindhava princes, kinsmen of Jayadratha, remembered that Jayadratha had died at Kurukshetra at Arjuna’s hand, as Arjuna’s own terrible oath had promised. When they learned that Arjuna himself had entered their land, they could not bear it. They were fierce and unyielding by nature. They surrounded him on foot, calling out their own names, families and deeds, and loosed volley after volley of arrows. They were set at last on carrying the old quarrel through to its end. (Mahābhārata, Aśvamedhika Parva, Chapter 77)

The battle and the omens

The Saindhava warriors fought on foot, but a thousand chariots and ten thousand horses stood behind them. They pressed Arjuna as if he were shut in a small boat. They remembered that this same Arjuna had killed Jayadratha in the earlier war, so they fought with special resolve. They were sure they had caught him at a disadvantage.

Arjuna was surrounded on every side by arrow-fire, but he shone among them like the sun among clouds. As the volleys thickened, strange omens broke out across the world. The sun’s light dimmed. The wind blew with fearful force. Rāhu seemed to swallow the sun and the moon together. Scattered meteors struck the sun. Mount Kailāsa trembled. The saptaṛshis (the seven seers) and the devaṛshis (the seers among the devas) were full of grief and fear, and they sighed with the heat of their distress. Meteors broke the very disc of the moon, and a hare fell out of it. Clouds streaked with the colours of dawn and of donkey-hide rained flesh and blood across the sky.

Arjuna was overwhelmed in this storm of arrows. His grip faltered, and the Gāṇḍīva slipped from his hand and arced through the air like a rainbow. He fell into a brief mohā (swoon), his strength spent. The devas were alarmed to see him overcome and moved at once to comfort and revive him. The devaṛshis, saptaṛshis and brahmaṛshis themselves offered japa (repeated prayer) for his victory.

Arjuna was restored and blazed with new tejas (radiance). He stood again as unshakeable as a mountain, drew his divine bow to its fullest, and answered with a storm of his own arrows. They broke the Saindhava ranks as locusts scatter from struck trees. The Saindhava warriors were deafened and struck with terror, and they broke and scattered, weeping in grief. Arjuna gathered his full strength once more and cut them down with a wheel of arrows, until the whole Saindhava host lay stricken and unconscious on the field. In defeat they shone, in the words of the text, “like the autumn sun.” (Mahābhārata, Aśvamedhika Parva, Chapter 77)

Duḥśalā’s plea

Arjuna stood his ground, as unmoved as the Himālaya, while the Saindhava warriors gathered again and pressed him with fresh vigour. Arjuna laughed and warned them plainly. In keeping with Yudhishṭhira’s own instruction, he would not kill any warrior who admitted defeat and submitted. But those who kept on fighting would meet only further ruin. He fought on, breaking their weapons and felling their leaders with curved-notch arrows, until their ranks were so spent that they could hardly stand.

At that moment Duḥśalā came onto the field herself. She was the daughter of Dhṛtarāshṭra and the widow of Jayadratha. She brought with her the infant son of Suratha, her own grandson. She came to seek peace for the worn-out warriors and safety for the child’s line. She went straight to Arjuna and said:

“Bharataśreshṭha (best of the Bharatas)! This is your nephew’s son, a mere child. He offers you praṇāma (a bow of respect). Look upon my child, this grandson of mine, and upon me, your sister. Uplifter of the Kuru line! Forget King Duryodhana and foolish Jayadratha, and show compassion. This child is your own sister’s grandson, just as Parīkshit was born to Abhimanyu. He has done no wrong.”

Arjuna remembered Gāndhārī and Dhṛtarāshṭra. Inwardly he reproached the whole kshatriya-dharma (the duty of a warrior) that had led him to send so many kinsmen to Yama’s realm. He set his weapon aside and was moved to compassion. He gave safety to the child and peace to all the surviving Saindhava warriors.

Duḥśalā had won what she came for. She turned the warriors back from further battle, honoured Arjuna greatly, and went home with a joyful face. Arjuna had subdued the Saindhavas. He went on after the freely wandering Aśvamedha horse, following it as Śiva follows his prey with bow in hand, until in due course it reached the kingdom of Maṇipura. (Mahābhārata, Aśvamedhika Parva, Chapter 78)

Sources

• Mahābhārata, Aśvamedhika Parva, Chapter 77 (the Saindhavas rise, the omens, Arjuna’s swoon and recovery)
• Mahābhārata, Aśvamedhika Parva, Chapter 78 (Duḥśalā’s plea and the peace)
• Mahābhārata, Aśvamedhika Parva, Chapters 74 and 75–76 (the earlier battles, named in the opening)