Page:The Katha Sarit Sagara.djvu/475

 panied by the Vedas incarnate in bodily form, beginning with the Gáyatrí, and the Śástras and all the great Rishis. And the god Vishnu came, riding on the king of birds, bearing his weapon the discus, accompanied by goddesses, of whom the goddesses of Fortune, Glory, and Victory were the chief. And Kaśyapa came with his wives, and the Ádityas and the Vasus, and the chiefs of the Yakshas, Rákshasas and snakes, and also the Asuras with Prahláda at their head. The sky was obscured with them, and the battle of those two armies began, terrible with the clashing of weapons, accompanied with loud shouts. The whole heaven was darkened by the dense cloud of arrows, through which the flashes, made by the arrows striking against one another, played like lightning, and rivers of blood flowed, swollen with the gore of many elephants and horses wounded with weapons, in which the bodies of heroes moved like alligators. That battle gave great delight to heroes, jackals, and goblins, that danced, waded, and shouted in blood.

When the confused mélée, in which countless soldiers fell, had abated, Súryaprabha, and the other chiefs, gradually began to perceive the distinction between their own army and that of the enemy, and heard in order from Sumeru the names and lineage of the chiefs fighting in front of the enemies' host. Then first took place a single combat between king Subáhu and a chief of the Vidyádharas, named Attahása. Subáhu fought a long time, until Attahása, after riddling him with arrows, cut off his head with a crescent-headed shaft. When Mushtika saw that Subáhu was slain, he rushed forward in wrath; he too fell smitten by Attahása with an arrow in the heart. When Mushtika was slain, a king named Pralamba in wrath rushed on, and attacked Attahása with showers of arrows, but Attahása slew his retainers, and striking the hero Pralamba with an arrow in a mortal place, laid him low on the seat of his chariot. A king named Mohana, when he saw Pralamba dead, engaged with Attahása and smote him with arrows. Then Attahása cut his bow and slew his charioteer, and laid him low, slain with a terrific blow. When the host of Śrutaśarman saw that the dexterous Attahása had slain those four warriors, expecting the victory, they shouted for joy. When Harsha, the companion of Súryaprabha, saw that, he was wroth, and with his followers attacked Attahása and his followers; and with shafts he repelled his shafts, and he slew his followers, and killed his charioteer, and two or three times cut his bow and his banner, and at last he cleft asunder his head with his arrows, so that he fell from his chariot on the earth, pouring forth a stream of blood. When Attahása was slain, there was such a panic in the battle, that in a moment