Sridharāya namah

Dhruva blew his conch so loudly that it reverberated in all directions. The wives of the Yakshas trembled and panicked. Fear could be seen in their eyes. Powerful Yaksha men, who could not withstand this loud sound, took up weapons and rushed towards Dhruva who was stationed outside their city.

Dhruva, the expert in warfare, was famous as an unsurpassed, unbeatable warrior. Merely seeing his face and his bow was enough to create fear in the hearts of the opponents. This expert warrior began to shower three simultaneous arrows upon the Yakshas, killing them.

As the arrows struck them powerfully on their foreheads, the Yakshas, unable to withstand this onslaught concluded that they had met defeat in Dhruva’s hands. They applauded Dhruva’s heroism and valour. Yet at the same moment the injured warriors recovered from this attack and like serpents that hiss angrily when their tails have been trodden, vehemently took up arms again.

The Yaksha army consisted of 130,000 warriors. Seeking revenge each of them dispatched six simultaneous arrows upon Dhruva. In addition, they attacked Dhruva and his charioteer with innumerable coloured arrows, bludgeons, maces, tridents, swords, pikes, spears and many more varieties of weapons.

They buried Dhruva totally under the weapons, so much so that even from a near distance, he could not be spotted. Just like a mountain covered with torrential rainfall ceases to be spotted, Dhruva stuck amidst the mountain of weapons could not be seen.

Siddhas who witnessed this attack from the skies trembled with fear and began to scream, “The Sun called Dhruva who was born in the Manu lineage has sunk into the ocean of Yakshas”. Such was the magnitude of the weapons showered upon Dhruva!

The Yakshas began to shout victory slogans and dance with joy. Just like the Sun cuts through the thick layer of clouds and emerges, all of a sudden Dhruva’s chariot emerged, cutting through the mountain of weapons.

He twanged his bow once which filled his enemies with deep fear. Using arrows, he destroyed their weapons completely. His powerful sharp arrows cut through their protective shields and pierced their hearts.

The entire battlefield was covered with dead heroes who had succumbed to the powerful half-moon shaped arrows dispatched by King Dhruva. Across the battlefield were heads that were decorated with beautiful earrings, thighs that resembled huge palm trees and powerful arms decorated with golden bracelets. Dazzling valuable crowns, pearl chains and golden armlets lay scattered everywhere. The scene at that moment there was such that it would rob the mind of even the most powerful emperor.

Those warriors who were alive were grievously injured with limbs broken. Just as an elephant runs upon sighting an approaching lion, these warriors fled in all directions.

Emperor Dhruva, the descendent of Manu, could not spot a single warrior in the battlefield with whom he could fight. He desired to visit Alakāpuri, the city of Yakshas, but yet as a precautionary measure he did not enter the city. Addressing his charioteer he said, “These Yakshas have illusory powers. Their actions are unpredictable.”

In this way, emperor Dhruva, who was seated on his multi-coloured chariot, expressed his concern and readied himself for battle.

As he was saying this, he heard terrible noises that resembled violent ocean waves. He could see a huge dust storm that was covering all directions approaching him. All of a sudden the skies were filled with thick dark clouds and were accompanied by severe thunder and lightning. These were the illusory clouds created by the Yakshas. It began to rain mucus, blood, stools, urine, pus and bone marrow. From the skies, many dead bodies began to fall around him.

There appeared a huge mountain in the skies which began to rain stones, goads, swords, bludgeons and lances from all directions upon him.

Many terrible serpents hissed loudly and attacked him. They vomited fire from their breath and spit sparks from their eyes. Intoxicated elephants, lions and tigers rushed towards him.

The violent ocean created many huge fearful tsunami waves and was made thunderous noises. These waves were devouring the earth as they rushed towards him.

Yakshas thus using their illusory power created many different types of illusion to frighten Dhruva. However the truth is that only mentally weak persons succumb to fears. Upon a valiant warrior like Dhruva, they failed to have any impact.

The Maharishis who witnessed this prayed for the victory and well-being of Dhruva. The sages said, “O Son of Uttānapāda! O Dhruva! Holding the might bow called Śārngadhanva, Srihari dispels the distress of those who offer obeisance to him. May He destroy your enemies! The person who thinks of Him or who chants His name easily crosses over death, which otherwise is impossible to conquer”.

With this the tenth chapter of the fourth canto comes to an end.