And Arjuna of immeasurable soul soon covered
the forest of Khandava with innumerable arrows like the moon covering the
atmosphere with a thick fog. When the sky above that forest was thus
covered with the arrows of Arjuna no living creature could then escape
from below. And it so happened that while that forest was burning,
Takshaka, the chief of the Nagas, was not there, having gone at that time
to the field of Kurukshetra. But Aswasena, the mighty son of Takshaka, was
there. He made great efforts to escape from that fire; but confined by
Arjuna's shafts he succeeded not in finding a way. It was then that his
mother, the daughter of a snake, determined to save him by swallowing him
first. His mother first swallowed his head and then was swallowing his
tail. And desirous of saving her son, the sea-snake rose (up from the
earth) while still employed in swallowing her son's tail. But Arjuna as
soon as he beheld her escaping, severed her head from her body by means of
a sharp and keen-edged arrow. Indra saw all this, and desiring to save his
friend's son, the wielder of the thunderbolt, by raising a violent wind,
deprived Arjuna of consciousness. During those few moments, Aswasena
succeeded in effecting his escape. Beholding that manifestation of the
power of illusion, and deceived by that snake, Arjuna was much enraged. He
forthwith cut every animal seeking to escape by the skies, into two, three,
or more pieces. And Vibhatsu in anger, and Agni, and Vasudeva also, cursed
the snake that had escaped so deceitfully, saying, 'Never shalt thou be
famous!' And Jishnu remembering the deception practised upon him, became
angry, and covering the firmament with a cloud of arrows, sought to fight
with him of a thousand eyes.
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