Thou shalt not succeed in terrifying me with thy words only. He will slay me in battle who will succeed in disarming me. He that will slay me in battle will slay (foes) for all time to come.[167] What is the use of such idle and long-winded boast in words? Accomplish in deed what thou sayest. Thy words seem to be as fruitless as the roar of autumnal clouds. Hearing, O hero, these roars of thine, I cannot restrain my laughter. Let that encounter, O thou of Kuru’s race, which has been desired by thee so long, take place today. My heart, O sire, inspired as it is with the desire of an encounter with thee, cannot brook any delay. Before slaying thee, I shall not abstain from the fight, O wretch.” Rebuking each other in such words, those two bulls among men, both excited with great wrath, struck each other in battle, each being desirous of taking the other’s life. Those great bowmen both endued with great might, encountered each other in battle, each challenging the other, like two wrathful elephants in rut for the sake of a she-elephant in her season. And those two chastisers of foes, viz., Bhurisravas and Satyaki, poured upon each other dense showers of arrows like two masses of clouds. Then Somadatta’s son, having shrouded the grandson of Sini with swift coursing shafts, once more pierced the latter, O chief of the Bharatas, with many keen shafts, from desire of slaying him. Having pierced Satyaki with ten shafts, Somadatta’s son sped many other keen shafts at that bull amongst the Sinis, from a desire of compassing his destruction. Satyaki, however, O lord, cut off, with the power of his weapons, all those keen shafts of Bhurisravas, O king, in the welkin, before, in fact, any of them could reach him. Those two heroes, those two warriors that enhanced the fame of the Kurus and the Vrishnis respectively, both of noble lineage, thus poured upon each other their arrowy showers.Mbh 7.141.1b · Mahabharata · DRONA PARVA
Mbh 7.141.1b
Mahabharata · translated by Kisari Mohan Ganguli
Themes in this passage
WarSpeechDesireAngerChildrenSelf-ControlStrengthThe Divine
War in other traditions
The same theme, as Christianity, Taoism, Islam and Hellenism address it.
For Israel and the Philistines had put the battle in array, army against army.1 Samuel 17:21 · Bible · 1 Samuel
A master of the art of war has said, 'I do not dare to be the host (to commence the war); I prefer to be the guest (to act on the defensive). I do not dare to advance an inch; I prefer to retire a foot.' This is called marshalling the ranks where there are no ranks; baring the arms (to fight) where there are no arms to bare; grasping the weapon where there is no weapon to grasp; advancing against the enemy where there is no enemy.Tao Te Ching 69.1 · Tao Te Ching
Those who believe do battle for the cause of Allah; and those who disbelieve do battle for the cause of idols. So fight the minions of the devil. Lo! the devil's strategy is ever weak.Quran 4:76 · Quran · Women
He spoke, then rush’d amid the warrior crew, And sent his voice before him as he flew, Loud, as the shout encountering armies yield When twice ten thousand shake the labouring field; Such was the voice, and such the thundering sound Of him whose trident rends the solid ground. Each Argive bosom beats to meet the fight, And grisly war appears a pleasing sight.Iliad 14.15 · Iliad · 14
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