The battlefield was a scene of wild tumult and awe-inspiring chaos. Horses plunged through swirling waters while birds scattered and elephants collapsed along the muddy riverbanks. Herds of frightened deer darted in all directions, and the very air trembled with the deafening roars of battle. Rows of arrows and spears crisscrossed in the sky, making the ground itself seem unstable beneath the thunderous charge of horses and the relentless downpour of missiles. The cries of valiant heroes echoed like the trumpeting of mighty elephants, drums resounded from hidden recesses, and the vast army surged forward like a storm cloud, with warrior-chiefs rolling and tumbling amidst the fray. Dust rose in great clouds, veiling the field, as the foremost warriors fell like toppled peaks. Splendid chariots were shattered, their parts flying through the air, while circles of swords descended in deadly arcs. Amidst this devastation, a heroic figure rose, adorned with shining cloth and flower garlands, banners and umbrellas billowing over him like clouds. As he advanced, he brought with him a flood of crimson rivers, scattering shields before his path. He moved like the force at the end of a great war, engulfing the world in tumult. All around lay fallen standards, umbrellas, banners, shattered chariots, and the bodies of infantry scattered without order. Weapons rained down, pure and bright, their brilliance like many suns, bringing intense suffering to all who faced them. Whirlpools of bows and lotus-shaped arrows flowed without ceasing, while streaks of swords and hurled stones flashed like lightning across the sky. Mountains of warriors fell into the ocean of blood that spread across the field, and machines and stones flew through the heavens, shining like stars. Clouds of arrows swirled above, resembling wheels within wheels, and the armies were scorched by the heat of weapons as if burned by fire itself, tearing open gaps as if between worlds. Thunderous showers of weapons split the earth and mountains, and crowds of warriors were crushed beneath the weight of falling elephants and tumbling hills. Lines of arrows gathered above the army, forming dark clouds that covered both earth and sky, while the clash of mighty forces stirred the battlefield like a roaring, storm-tossed ocean. Fierce winds swept through, waters churned, serpents writhed, flames leapt, and mountains trembled—each side wholly absorbed in the destruction of the other, the calamities of war swirling from every direction. Spears, swords, discs, arrows, darts, maces, clubs, and javelins struck and resounded as they collided, blazing and whirling by the hundreds in all ten directions. It was as if the drama of the world’s end was playing out, the storm of dissolution sweeping all before it. Amidst the slain, whose bodies rose like mountain peaks, rivers of blood began to flow, broad and red as the sacred Ganges. Headless bodies danced in wild abandon, their arms flailing, while the dead lay scattered among men, elephants, horses, and chariots, all submerged in the blood-filled waters. As the armies thinned and scattered, the fearful fled in all directions, broken and desperate. On the heaps of elephant corpses, beneath resting clouds, strange beings—yakshas, rakshasas, and pisachas—played and reveled in the ocean of blood. Yet among the fallen, there stood great ones devoted to righteousness, endowed with virtue, strength, and purity—heroes born of noble families, who never turned their backs in battle. Duels arose between these mighty warriors, thundering like storm clouds, each eager for the destruction of his foe, surging together like the meeting of vast oceans. The battle raged with relentless force: cages of birds were shaken by rampaging elephants, as if mountains themselves collided. Troops of horses crashed into one another with deafening uproar, like fierce waves clashing in the ocean. Battalions of men fought their equals, armed alike, colliding like masses of reeds or gusts of wind. Chariots crashed against chariots, obliterating all forms, like cities colliding or the sky itself hurled by fate. Armies of archers, their banners flying, filled the heavens with an unprecedented cloud of arrows, so dense it seemed the sky had changed its very nature. In battles where weapons were mismatched, some warriors, their hearts failing, fled by cunning when the fire of combat burned too hot. Yet those who bore discs joined with other disc-bearers; bowmen faced bowmen; sword-fighters met sword-fighters; slingers opposed slingers. Mace-wielders clashed with their kind, as did spearmen and javelin-throwers, each seeking an equal foe. Some shone with maces and clubs, others with axes, staffs, or stones. Some excelled with nooses, others with spikes. Dagger-wielders fought with dagger-wielders; sling-bearers with sling-bearers; some stood with fists like thunderbolts, others brandished goads. There were those skilled in ploughing who fought with ploughs, others wielded tridents, some were adorned with chains and nets, while others wore garlands of gentle creepers. Spearmen and lancers, each skilled in their art, pressed the attack, agitated like the ocean’s waves at the end of an age. The sky was disturbed by the whirling eddies of discus-weapons and the wind of arrow-showers, appearing as a single, boundless ocean filled with spinning missiles like crocodiles. With surging waves of weapons and the waters crowded with armies, the battlefield itself became a river-ocean, so perilous that even immortals would hesitate to cross. The hosts of kings stood arrayed on both sides, each occupying half the field, like the two wings of a mighty army, facing each other in grim determination. Look now to the eastern regions, to the peoples dwelling there, and hear of the lands on the side of the lotus of Lila’s Lord. In the east were the Kāśis, Magadhas, Kosalas, Mithilas, Utkalas, Mekalas, Kavaṭas, Puṇḍras, as well as the Auṇḍras and the united Gauḍakas. There too were the Drimayas, Madras, Suhmas, and the Tāmraliptas; the Prāgjyotiṣas, Vājimukhas, Ambaṣṭhas, and Puruṣādas. Among them were the Karṇākṣas, Aviśrotras, those who eat raw fish, the Vyāghravaktras, Kirātas, Śavaras, and the Ekapādas—all assembled in that great and terrible field of battle.