The Mahabharata/Book 1: Adi Parva/Section XIX
Section XIX.
( Astika Parva continued. )
Sauti said, "Then the Daityas and the Danavas with first class armours and various weapons pursued the gods. In the meantime the valiant Lord Vishnu accompanied by Nara took away the nectar in his hands from those mighty Danavas.
"And then all the tribes of the gods during that time of great fright drank the nectar receiving it from Vishnu. And while the gods were drinking that nectar after which they had so much hankered, a Danava named Rahu was drinking it in the guise of a god. And when the nectar had only reached Rahu's throat, the Sun and the Moon (discovered him and) communicated the fact to the gods. And Narayana instantly cut off with his discus the well-adorned head of the Danava who was drinking the nectar without permission. And the huge head of the Danava cut off by the discus and resembling a mountain-peak then rose to the sky and began to utter dreadful cries. And the Danava's headless trunk falling upon the ground and rolling thereon made the Earth tremble with her mountains, forests, and islands. And from that time hath arisen a long-standing quarrel between Rahu's head and the Sun and the Moon. And to this day it swalloweth the Sun and the Moon, (causing the eclipses.)
And Narayana quitting his ravishing female form, and hurling many terrible weapons at them, made the Danavas tremble. And thus on the shores of the sea of salt-water, commenced the dreadful battle of the gods and the Asuras. And sharp-pointed javelins and lances and various weapons by thousands began to be discharged on all sides. And mangled with the discus and wounded with swords, saktis, and maces, the Asuras in large numbers vomitted blood and lay prostrate on the earth. Cut off from the trunks with sharp double edged swords, heads adorned with bright gold fell continually on the field of battle. Their bodies drenched in gore, the great Asuras lay dead everywhere. It seemed as if red-dyed mountain peaks lay scattered all around. And when the sun rose in his splendour, thousands of warriors striking one another with their weapons, the sounds 'Alas!' and 'Oh!' were heard everywhere. The warriors fighting at a distance from one another brought one another down by sharp iron missiles, and those fighting at close quarters slew one another by blows of the fist. And the air was filled with shrieks of distress. Everywhere were heard the alarming sounds, 'cut off,' 'pierce,' 'after,' 'hurl down,' 'advance.'
"And when the battle was raging fiercely, Nara and Narayana entered the field. And Narayana seeing the heavenly bow in the hand of Nara, called to his mind his own weapon—the Danava-destroying discus. And lo! the discus, Sudarshana, destroyer of enemies, like to Agni in effulgence, and dreadful in battle, came from the sky as soon as thought of. And when it came, Achyuta of fierce energy, of arms like the trunk of an elephant, hurled with great force the weapon, effulgent as flaming fire, dreadful, and of extraordinary lustre, and capable of destroying hostile towns. And that discus blazing like the fire that burneth all things at the end of time, hurled with force from the hands of Narayana, falling constantly everywhere destroyed the Daityas and the Danavas by thousands. Sometimes it flamed like fire and consumed them all, sometimes it struck them down as it coursed through the sky; and sometimes, falling on earth, like a goblin it drank their life blood.
"And on their side, the Danavas, white as the clouds from which the rain hath been extracted, possessing great strength and bold hearts, ascended the sky and hurling down thousands of mountains continually harassed the gods. And those dreadful mountains, like masses of clouds, with their trees and flat tops, falling from the sky, collided with one another and produced a tremendous roar. And when thousands of warriors shouted without intermission on the field of battle and the mountains with the woods thereon began to fall around, the Earth with her forests trembled. Then the divine Nara coming to that dreadful conflict of the Asuras and the Ganas (the followers of Rudra), reducing to dust those rocks by means of his gold-headed arrows covered the heavens with the dust. And discomfitted by the gods, and seeing the furious discus scouring the fields of heaven like a blazing flame, the mighty Danavas entered the bowels of the Earth, while others plunged into the sea of salt waters.
"And having gained the victory, the gods offering due respect to Mandara placed him on his own base. And the nectar-bearing gods making the heavens resound with their shouts, went to their own abodes. And the gods returning to the heavens rejoiced greatly, and the vessel of nectar Indra and the other gods made over to Nara for careful keep."
And so ends the nineteenth Section in the Astika of the Adi Parva.