From the land of the Abhisāras, Jadārvākas, and Pallolukas, past the Ciroḍunas and the Kirātas, through the settlements of cowherds and the distant Cīnas, the journey extended even to the fabled land of gold. Along the way lay sacred groves, devasthalas, and the regions once described by Viśvāvasu. There stood the temple of supreme prosperity, the heights of Kailāsa, the dense Muñja forest, and towering mountains, the mystical realm of the Vidyādharas, and the radiant celestial palaces of the gods. Amidst these lands, a terrible and fierce battle erupted. Men and elephants clashed with brutal force, each warrior vying to go forth first, only to fall in heaps, their courage swallowed by the chaos. Countless others, drawn into the fray, perished and turned to ashes, like moths consumed by a blazing flame. Yet, I have not even begun to recount the peoples of the central regions. Hear now of those allied with Lila’s husband, the king—the Uddehikas, Shurasenas, Gudas, Ashvatthanipakas, Uttamajyotikadras, Padamadhyamikas, and more. There were also the Salvakas, Ketakas, Matsyas, Dauleyakas, Kapishtalas, Mandavyapandunagaras, Sauragrivas, and Gurugrahas. The ranks included Pariyatras, Kuradhyas, Yamunodumbaras, Gajahvas, Ujjihanas, Kalakotikas, and Mathuras; Kapolas, Dharmaranyas, the northern and southern peoples, Panchalas, Kurukshetras, and the Sarasvata people. The Avantis, Syandanas, Shrenis, Kuntas, and those from the five rivers all fled in streaming lines, only to be dashed against the great mountain. On that field, the Kashas and Brahmavasatas were cut down by the fierce Sambavati, their bodies trampled beneath the feet of maddened elephants. The brave men of Dashapura suffered grievous wounds—their abdomens and necks severed by the Tarakshatis and their bodies cast into a vast lake, a yojana wide. Warriors of the Ṛṣyaka, Kārūruka, and Kaccha clans, marked with the emblems of Śaivya and Śaṅku, were ground into the mud, crushed by the advancing armies. Desperate for shelter, survivors scattered across the forested slopes and hills, only to tumble into the waters of the Yamunā. Night fell, and the battlefield was strewn with corpses—bellies torn open, entrails exposed—gnawed upon by ghouls in the darkness. Some, struck down by the noble Bhadragiri warriors, were thrown into the earth’s pits, like lotus stalks discarded into a pond. Blood flowed freely, melting away as the great charioteers were routed and swept aside by the wild winds of Daṇḍaka, just as the Hehayas were once scattered by Hari. The tusks of elephants split apart their foes, crushing and breaking them, and the vanquished were carried away in a river of blood, like tender shoots swept downstream. The Cīna warriors, battered by arrows, their lives spent, relinquished their bodies—burdens to the earth—casting them into the ocean. The valiant Ābhīra heroes, their mountain caves pierced by the spears of the mighty Karṇāṭa and Oḍḍīna warriors, perished in the sky like clusters of stars vanishing at dawn. The Śaka warriors, who had set forth with the strength of elephants and crocodiles, found their cause overwhelmed; their hair became entangled with that of their foes as they bowed in defeat. From Daśārṇa, the thunderbolt, having broken its chains and terrifying as the net of Bhairava, vanished into the red clouds, just as the Vaitastā river disappears into the sea. The destruction of the Gurjara army was so complete that the hair of Gurjara women was shorn by the sharp, towering spears of the Taṅgaṇa warriors. Weapons, shining like lightning, rained from the sky, streaming down like arrows from a storm-cloud, wreaking havoc among the armies as fish are struck by a torrent. Among the Ābhīras, terrorized by the dark flight of the ominous Bhusuṇḍī birds, the enemy fell like herds of cows collapsing on green pastures. The Taṅgaṇa river, lined with women whose golden bodies shone and who were left naked in the chaos, was ravaged by the Gauḍa soldiers, their nails and hair torn in the struggle. The Taṅgaṇa warriors themselves were shredded by the whirling, razor-sharp disks flying through the tumultuous sky, and vultures and kites, fierce as Rudras, descended to devour them. The loud, rumbling uproar of the club-wielding, leaping Gauḍa warriors sent the Gandhāra cows fleeing in terror, as if counted and measured in their panic. A mass of spinning weapons, vast as the sky and ocean, descended, casting a darkness as deep as night upon the Persians. Weapons, beautiful as the churning of the ocean by Mandara mountain, were scattered like a garland of trees across snowy slopes, forming a line of missiles. As clouds rise and fill the heavens, so did the multitude of weapons; the sight was like the restless, circling waves of the leaping ocean. In this sky-forest, white parasols floated like a hundred moons, arrows swarmed as locusts, and spears pierced through the air like crows darting into their holes. The Kekaya warriors, their crests tossed skyward by flocks of herons, wailed as their garlands were torn by the cries of the birds. The tumultuous roars, fierce as wild beings, stirred the daughters of the Himalaya into states of passion, their bodies overwhelmed by the clamor. The reeds, shaken by invisible birds of mercy, lost their feathers like dust swept up by agitated winds. Driven mad by the relentless assault of weapons, the joyous denizens of Nandana abandoned their armor and golden garments, dancing, laughing, and singing in wild abandon. The clamor of jingling bells rose as a shower of weapons fell; swept by the wind of arrows, it became a swirling cloud of dust. The Kauravas, shattered by Shaiva weapons and struck by spinning spears, became as corpses, carried skyward as if they were celestial beings. Even the steadfast city of the Pandavas, firm as the earth, was thrown into turmoil by the heroic army, shaken only by their vigor and movement. Finally, the warriors of Uddehaka were crushed by the intoxicated Kashi soldiers, whose lances, sharp as tusks, tore through them like wild elephants rending lotus blooms. In this way, the great battle raged, a tapestry of valor and devastation woven across the sacred lands.