Parva 1 Chapter 43: daitya sena varṇanam - about the army of daityās

Thereupon, hearing of the Vishnu-laden-fear, the indomitable demons and ogres began to make preparations for a great scale war... mayaḥ tu kāṣchana-mayaṁ tri-nalva-antaram avyayam | chatuḥ cakraṁ vikramantaṁ su-kalpita mahā-āyudham || 1-43-2 Demon maya getting into a four-wheeled chariot entirely made with gold; as broad as twelve hundred cubits; voyages through divers and difficult routes in space, water, or earth; well-equipped with outrageous weaponry... kiṁkinī jāla nirghoṣaṁ dvīpi-charma-pariṣkṛtam | khachitaṁ ratna-jālaiḥ ca hema-jālaiḥ ca bhūṣitam || 1-43-3 Furnished with jangling swags of tinkling-bells; upholstered with tiger skins; adorned with latticed jewel and gold drapes... svakṣaṁ ratha-vara-udagraṁ sūpa-sthānam aga upamam | īhāmṛga gaṇa ākīrṇaṁ pakṣibhiḥ ca virājitam | divya astra tūṇīra dharaṁ payo-dhara nināditam -|| 1-43-4 Stands high among all the best chariots; rider’s cabin - sūpa-sthānam - merits comparison with a mountain; assorted with numerous– īhāmṛga gaṇa = kṛtrima sattva samūha - artificial beings, say androids, pongoids etc robots inclusive of avinoids; stockpiles many celestial missiles and quivers; peals like thundering cloud... gadā parigha saṁpūrṇaṁ mūrti-mantam iva arṇavam | With the maces and clubs jutting out from its scaffold that chariot is picturing itself as an ocean replete with such stuff and brandishing them... hema keyūra valayaṁ svarṇa maṇḍala kūbaram || 1-43-5 sa patāka dhvaja udagraṁ sa ādityam iva mandaram | gajendra ambhoda sadṛśaṁ lamba kesara varchasam || 1-43-6 yuktam ṛkṣa sahasreṇa sahasra ambuda nāditam | Its beadings and the chassis-to yoke-beam are golden; when its flags and flag staffs are skyrocketing to touch the sun, it glittered like the sun itself against the backdrop of Mt. mandara; comparable to a huge elephant and a vast ocean, it looks bearish and in plunge, it is lionish; it is fraught with a thousand bears, say ursine creatures, say ursoidal robos; its clangouring is like the clang from a mass of thousand clouds... dīptam ākāśa-gaṁ divyaṁ rathaṁ para-ratha arujam || 1-43-7 adhyatiṣṭhat raṇa ākāṅkṣī meruṁ dīptam iva aṁśumān | Encharioted on such an effulgent and breathtaking chariot that can trounce enemy chariots, demon maya, the warmonger, shone forth like the sun on his ascension to the top of loftiest Mt. meru... tāraḥ tu krosha vistāram āyasaṁ vāyasa dhvajam || 1-43-8 shaila-utkara samākīrṇaṁ nīla aṣjana chaya upamam | kāla loha aṣṭa charaṇaṁ loheṣāyuga kūbaram | timira aṅgāra kiraṇaṁ garjantam iva toyadam || 1-43-9 Demon tāra on his part enmcharioted on a chariot that is widthwise some two miles, hoisting a flag with crow symbol; its structure resemblant of a huge collection of mountains, or a heap of mascara; its eight wheels, chassis-yoke coupler etc are all made of cast-iron; aglow with sable and cindery flashes; thundering like black clouds... loha jālena mahatā sa gavākṣeṇa daṁśitam | āyasaiḥ parighaiḥ kīrṇaṁ kṣepaṇīyaiḥ tatha aśmabhiḥ || 1-43-10 prāsaiḥ pāśaiḥ ca vitataiḥ avasaktaiḥ ca mudgaraiḥ | śobhitaṁ trāsanīyaiḥ ca tomaraiḥ sa paraśvadhaiḥ || 1-43-11 Its windows are covered with iron nets; loaded with metallic spears, clubs, shots and balls; also equipped with weapons called prāsā-s = barbed missiles; broad and massive mudgarā-s = mallets, tomarā-s = javelins; and it is burnishing with scarring nooses and hatchets... udyantaṁ dviṣatāṁ hetoḥ dvitīyam iva mandaram | yuktaṁ khara sahasreṇa saḥ adhyārohaya rathottamam || 1-43-12 And demon tāra encharioted such a best chariot that is surging by reason of its enemies, looking next only to Mt, mandara, and yoked with a thousand donkeys... virochanaḥ tu saṁkruddho gadā pāṇiḥ avasthitaḥ | pramukhe tasya sainyasya dīpta śṛṅga iva achalaḥ || 1-43-13 The highly enraged demon virochana taking up a club stood in the van of army like a mountain with outstanding summits... yuktaṁ haya sahasreṇa hayagrīvaḥ tu dānavaḥ | syandanaṁ vāhayāmāsa sapatna-ānīka-mardanaḥ || 1-43-14 Demon haya-grīva, who is the repressor of the armies of his co-brothers - sapatna-ānīkam - namely gods, embarked on a chariot drawn by a thousand steeds... vyāyataṁ bahu sāhasraṁ dhanuḥ visphārayan mahat | varāhaḥ pramukhe tasthau sāvaroha iva achalaḥ || 1-43-15 Stretching his huge bow of many thousand cubits in dimension, the demon named varāha also stood in the van of army with saggy matted hair – sa avaroha - like a fig tree covered with slouching branches... kharaḥ tu vikṣaran darpāt netrābhyāṁ roṣa jaṁ jalam | sphurat danta oṣṭha vadanaḥ saṁgrāmaṁ so'bhyakāṅkṣata || 1-43-16 Shedding tears of anger out of haughtiness the demon khara stood hankering for the battle while his lips quivered, teeth gnashed and face trembled... tvaṣṭā tu aṣṭā-daśa hayaṁ yānam āsthāya dānavaḥ | vyūhito dānavaiḥ vyūhaiḥ paricakrāma vīryavān || 1-43-17 Another mighty demon named tvaṣṭa encharioted on a chariot drawn by eighteen steeds embarked on planning demon-side war tactics... viprachittiḥ utaḥ śvetaḥ śveta kuṇḍala bhūṣaṇaḥ | śveta shaila pratīkāśaḥ yuddhāya abhimukhaḥ sthitaḥ || 1-43-18 The demon śveta, the son of viprachitti, wearing white ear-hangings, stood in the van of war reminding a white mountain... ariṣṭo bali putraḥ tu variṣṭha adri shila āyudhaiḥ | yuddhāya ātiṣṭhat Ayasto dharā-dhara iva aparaḥ || 1-43-19 Demon ariṣṭa, the son of bali, stood there wielding huge boulder-shots, and though looked tired he is something like an iron mountain... kiśoraḥ tu ati-saṁharṣāt kishora iva choditaḥ | abhavat daitya sainyasya madhye raviḥ iva uditaḥ || 1-43-20 A young dānava by name kishora, resembling a young charger in pride, appeared like the sun arisen in the midst of daitya army... lambaḥ tu lamba-megha-ābhaḥ pra-lamba ambara būṣaṇaḥ | daitya-vyūha-gato bhāti sa-nīhāra iva aṁśumān || 1-43-21 dānava lamba who looks like an overlong cloud, now wearing further overlong dress and ornaments and moving in the midst of the daitya formations has shone forth like the sun whose disc is just caught for eclipsing by the demon-planet rāhu– kankaṇa grasta arka vat – at which time the sun will be a little more reddish... svarbhānuḥ vakra-yodhī ca daśana oṣṭha īkṣaṇa āyudhaḥ | hasan tiṣṭhati daityānāṁ pramukhe sa mahā-grahaḥ || 1-43-22 dānava svarbhānu who undertakes gorilla-tactics wielding his own teeth, lips and eyes as weapons, stood laughing in the van of army like a massive alligator... anye haya gatā bhānti nāga skandha gatāḥ pare | siṁha vyāghra gatāḥ ca anye varāha rkṣa gatāḥ pare || 1-43-23 kechit khara uṣṭra yātāraḥ kechit toyada-vāhanāḥ | nānā pakṣi gatāḥ ca anye kechit pavana vāhanāḥ || 1-43-24 Some dānavā-s participating in that war shone forth riding on horses while others on the elephants; some came riding on the lions and tigers while others on boars and bears; some rode asses and camels; some came riding on clouds, some on various birds, while some more fought just walking on the wind... pattayaḥ cāpare daityā bhīṣaṇā vikṛtānanāḥ | eka-pādā dvi-pādāḥ ca nardanto yuddha-kāṣkṣiṇaḥ || 1-43-25 prakṣveḍamānā bahavaḥ sphoṭayantaḥ ca te bhujān | dṛpta śārdūla nirghoṣā nedur dānava puṅgavāḥ || 1-43-26 te gadā parighaiḥ ugraiḥ dhanuḥ vyāyāma śālinaḥ | bāhubhiḥ parighākāraiḥ tarjayanti sma devatāḥ || 1-43-27 Other daityā-s proceeded on foot. Some daityā-s are with dreadful faces, while some others are with one foot, and some more with two feet... some warmongers are war whooping, while others are waggling their arms, while some more are slapping their own biceps as wrestlers do... all the leading dānavā-s roared with the roar of proud tigers... and those demons with fierce clubs, maces and their mace-like arms and with their expertise in the use of bows frightened the gods... prāsaiḥ pāśaiḥ ca khadgaiḥ ca tomara aṅkuśa paṭṭiśaiḥ | chikrīḍuḥ te śata-ghnībhiḥ śata-dhāraiḥ ca mudgaraiḥ || 1-43-28 gaṇḍa-śailaiḥ ca śailaiḥ ca parighaiḥ ca uttama-āyudhaiḥ | cakraiḥ ca daitya-pravarāḥ cakruḥ ānanditaṁ balaṁ || 1-43-29 While the top ranking daityā-s inspirited their own demon forces that wield darts, nooses, swords, shots, goads, blades; and them that play with cannonball launchers where each launch can kill a hundred enemies at a time – shata-ghni; them who handle hundred-bladed-shots – mudgara-s; and them with best weapons like stone-shots, boulder-shots, discs and the like... evaṁ tat dānavaṁ sainyaṁ sarvaṁ yuddha bala utkaṭam | devata abhimukhaṁ tasthau megha ānīkam iva utthitam || 1-43-30 tat abhutaṁ daitya sahasra gāḍhaṁ vāyu agni toya ambuda shaila kalpam | balaṁ raṇa ogha abhyudaya avakīrṇaṁ yuyutsayo unmattam iva ababhāse || 1-43-31 In this way that army of dānavā-s rigged up with all the apparatus of war, thick with thousands of demons whose surge itself is like the whirls of wind, flares of fire, torrents of water, blinding of clouds, bumps of boulders, and which army is now in efflux like mad streams of battle-water, has confronted the hosts of gods, as if theirs is an army of clouds ready for the weapon-burst on gods... --o)0(o-- iti śrīmanmahābhārate kileṣu harivaṁśe harivaṁśaparvaṇi - daitya sena varṇanam nāma - tricatvāriṁśo'dhyāyaḥ Thus, this is the forty-third chapter of first canto called harivamsha-parva, in harivamśa-purāṇa, the sequel of mahābhārata, narrating the army of daityās. --o)0(o--