The Mahabharata/Book 1: Adi Parva/Section XXXII
Section XXXII.
( Astika Parva continued. )
Sauti said, "O thou foremost of Brahmanas, upon the gods having stood prepared for war in that way, Gadura the king of birds soon came upon those wise ones. And the gods beholding him of excessive strength began to quake with fear, and strike one another with all their weapons. And amongst those that guarded the Shoma was Bhaumana (the celestial architect), of measureless might, effulgent as the electric fire, and of great energy. And after a terrific encounter of only a moment, mangled by the lord of birds with his talons, beak, and wings, he lay as dead on the field. And that ranger of the skies darkening the worlds by the dust raised by the hurricane of his wings, overwhelmed the celestials with it. And the celestials overwhelmed by that dust swooned away. And lo, the immortals who guarded the amrita, blinded by that dust, could not see Gadura! And Gadura thus agitated the region of the heavens. And he mangled the gods thus with the wounds inflicted by his wings and beaks.
"And then the god of thousand eyes commanded Vayu (the god of wind), saying, 'dispell thou this shower of dust soon. O Maruta, this is, indeed, thy work!' And then the mighty Vayu soon dispelled that dust. And when the darkness had disappeared, the celestials attacked Gadura. And as he of great might was attacked by the gods, he began to roar loudly, like the great cloud that appeareth in the sky at the end of the Yuga, frightening every creature. And that king of birds of great energy and slayer of hostile heroes, then rose on his wings. And him staying in the skies over the heads of the gods, all the wise ones (the celestials) with Indra amongst them covered with double-edged broad-swords, iron-maces furnished with sharp spikes, pointed lances, maces, bright kshurapras, and many a discus of the form of the sun. And the king of birds, attacked on all sides with showers of various weapons, fought exceeding hard without wavering for a moment. And the son of Vinata, of great prowess, blazing in the sky, attacked the gods on all sides with his wings and breast. And blood began to flow copiously from the bodies of the gods mangled by the talons and the beak of Gadura. And overcome by the lord of birds, the Sadhyas with the Gandharvas fled eastwards, the Vasus with the Rudras towards the south, the Adityas towards the west, and the twin Aswinas towards the north. And gifted with great energy, they retreated fighting, looking back every moment on their enemy.
"And Gadura had encounters with (the Yakshas) Aswakranda of great courage, with Rainuka, with the bold Krathanaka, with Tapana, with Uluka and Shasanaka, with Nimisha, with Puruja, and with Pulina. And the son of Vinata mangled them with his wings, talons, and beak, like that oppressor of enemies—the holder of the Pinaka himself in anger at the end of the yuga. And those Yakhas of great might and courage, mangled all over by that ranger of the skies, looked like masses of black clouds dropping thick showers of blood.
"And Gadura depriving them of life then went to where the amrita was. And he saw that it was surrounded on all sides with fire. And the terrible flames of that fire covered the entire sky. And moved by violent winds, they seemed bent on burning the Sun himself. And the illustrious Gadura then assumed ninety times ninety (eight thousand and one hundred) mouths. And soon drinking in many rivers with those mouths and returning with great speed, that oppressor of enemies, having wings for his vehicle, extinguished that fire with those rivers. And extinguishing that fire, he assumed another small form, desirous of entering into (where the Soma was.)
And so ends the thirty-second Section in the Astika of the Adi Parva.