Headless bodies rose up amid the tumult of the dance procession, while demon maidens sang out, their voices echoing the treacheries of battle. The great army of elephants, maddened and colliding, trumpeted furiously, their cries mingling with the roar of intoxicated rivers that hurled stones across the sky. Chariots crashed to the earth like dry leaves falling from a forest, and red rivers poured forth from the mountain of battle, raining the dead upon the ground. Dust clouds, darkened with blood, were subdued only by the blazing fires of weapons. The sounds of battle, focused solely on destruction, struck terror into the hearts of all, for they carried the certainty of death. Only a tumultuous, discordant clamor arose, resounding with confusion, churned by the ceaseless waves of swords—yet above, the clouds remained untroubled, untouched by the chaos below. The clash of armies was like the rattling of funeral biers; arrows crackled and fell like a torrential downpour, and the meeting of mighty weapons rang sharply through the air. Yet, as night descended, all seemed veiled and silent, as if the world itself had slipped into uneasy sleep. While this dreadful and tumultuous battle raged on, the goddess of Knowledge turned playfully to her own manifestation standing before her. She spoke: “Goddess, why is it that our lord neither wins nor loses in this battle? Tell me, even though you are pleased, in this war where elephants flee in fear.” The goddess replied, “For a long time, I have been worshipped by this king Viduratha, but not by the ruler Viduratha for the sake of victory. Therefore, only he is victorious; Viduratha does not prevail. This awareness, this inner consciousness, is what determines all outcomes, as and when it arises. Whatever he prompts me to do, I swiftly accomplish. However one invokes me, I grant the fruit accordingly. I do not act on my own, just as fire does not possess heat by itself; I am honored by him with the thought, ‘May I have victory in battle.’ By taking on the form of an image, he attains the result in that way; Viduratha, without considering this matter, was instructed by me. And so, I resolved that I would be liberated; therefore, Viduratha, having obtained that body together with his wife—by you, in due time, the young one will be liberated. This one’s enemy is the king named Sindhu; after slaying him upon the throne of the earth, he will become victorious and rule the kingdom.” As darkness gathered, masses of shadow moved across the field, resembling armies in the form of Bali. Lifeless bodies were cast aside, and in the twilight, stars appeared in the sky. Gradually, the battlefield’s mountainous terrain became grim and foreboding, and the world shone as if it had been lifted from an ocean of black ink. The sun’s rays, beautiful as streams of gold, fell upon the mountains and noble warriors, shining like the glow of blood in battle. The sky and the battlefield appeared adorned with arms like wandering serpents, and with scattered radiance like gold. Earrings and gems were strewn across the ground, heads lay like aged lotuses in a pond, the sky was pierced by weapons, and arrows filled it like a herd of deer. A red glow, dense with twilight, filled the field—accomplished beings and corpses mingled together, garlands and serpent sloughs were scattered, and cloths tangled with the last rays of light. Creeper banners fluttered, forming arches from thighs; hands and feet were strewn about, resembling thickets of arrows. The field was dark, like a grassy plain gleaming with weapons, mingled with sand and shattered blades, and chains of arms lay wild and terrifying, as if possessed by madness. It resembled a grove of blooming ashoka trees, blazing with the fires of clashing weapons, resounding with such loud noises that even the leader of the siddhas fled. The ground was shaped with golden craftsmanship, adorned with weapons shining like the young sun, filled with spears, swords, discs, javelins, clubs, and the clangor of battle. Meanwhile, all the armies were destroyed; the battlefield became empty, with only a few soldiers remaining on either side. Broken, shattered, dead, ruined, scattered, and fleeing men were everywhere, heaps of fallen corpses and mud flowing with rivers of blood. The field bore the burden of this river of blood, heaps of corpses being swept away, crowded with arrows, spears, swords, and large stones. Headless trunks, severed by heroic weapons, were strewn about, and the clamor of Vetala hordes echoed, wild as the dance of palm trees in a storm. In the empty, blazing battlefield, the two—like the sun and moon in the sky—were seen moving upon their lotus-red chariots, shining as celestial signs. Surrounded on all sides by thousands upon thousands of warriors, they were equipped with discus, spear, club, dart, and many other weapons. They roamed freely across the wide expanse of the field, amid the cries of warriors and the grinding of great wheels, amidst the slain and the survivors. With playful ease, like intoxicated elephants, they crossed rivers of blood, their chariot wheels soaked with red water and tangled with hair and entrails. Their chariots, shaking and toppling maddened elephants by the force of their wheels, echoed with the jingling of gems and the clatter of ornamented yokes. Banners flapped loudly in the wind, and they were followed by many great heroes and countless frightened soldiers. They bore heavy loads of spears, arrows, bows, lances, darts, spikes, and the shining brilliance of whirling discs. There, for a moment, the two, surrounded by vast circles, stood face to face like clouds of weapons, each confronting the other. With hands thick from hurling volleys of arrows, each roared at the other like maddened, stormy clouds. As the two lion-like warriors fought, their arrows became as stones and maces, spreading wide through the sky. Some were shaped like sword-blades, others like hammers and clubs; some had sharp disc-edges, and some had axe-like mouths. Thus, the great battle raged on, fierce and unyielding, beneath the gaze of the gods and the trembling earth.