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Mahābhārata The History of the Great India
<< 106 The kidnapping of the princess Subhadra >>
 |  | [After some days had passed,] Arjuna and Krsna made up their minds: "Let us do it!" They dispatched speedy men to go at once to deliver their proposal to Dharmaraja Yudhisthira, who was staying at Indraprastha. As soon as Yudhisthira, the mighty-armed Pandava king, heard the plan, he gave his approval.
| | | When Arjuna learned that Subhadra had gone to Raivataka Mountain, he met with Krsna, and the Lord said, "Let it be done."
| | | Abiding by Krsna's decision, Arjuna departed in a golden chariot built to scriptural code, yoked with the horses Sainya and Sugriva, delicately adorned with a garland of bells, and equipped with a full assortment of weapons. The chariot rumbled like a rain cloud, shone like blazing fire, and struck dead the hopes of the hostile. Arjuna, tightly fitted with armor and wielding a sword, set out at once on the pretext of a hunting expedition, his finger- and wrist-guards fastened.
| | | Subhadra offered reverence to Raivata, the great stone mountain, to all the deities who resided there, and to the brahmanas, having them invoke good fortune with their chants.
| | | After respectfully walking around the mountain, Subhadra was about to depart for Dvaraka when Arjuna, son of Kunti, rushed up to her and forcibly placed her in his chariot. Taking the girl, who was smiling innocently, the tigerlike Arjuna departed for his city in the chariot, which could travel in the sky.
| | | When Subhadra's military escort saw that she was being stolen away, they cried out and then hurried back to Dvaraka to sound the alarm. They went at once to Sudharma, the royal assembly hall, and fully explained Arjuna's bold act to the assembly leader. Hearing this, the leader repeatedly struck the gold-encircled battle drum, and it reverberated throughout the city.
| | | Stirred by the sound, the Bhojas, Vrsnis, and Andhakas put aside their eating and drinking and rushed to the assembly hall. Then, as fires blaze on the sacred altars, so those tigerlike men of the Vrsnis and Andhakas—maharatha warriors who shone like swirling fire—took their seats by the hundreds on royal thrones wrought in gold, upholstered with costly cushions, and colorfully studded with gems and coral. When all were seated like the gods in session, the assembly chief and his assistants told what Arjuna had done.
| | | When the Vrsni heroes heard this, their eyes turned red with rage, for they could not tolerate Arjuna's deed, and they proudly rose up together and sent forth a war cry: "Yoke the chariots at once! Bring the lances, the full armor, and the most prized bows!"
| | | Some warriors cried out to their chariot drivers, "Yoke the chariots!" while other warriors brought their own swift horses, adorned in gold. As the chariots, armor, and flags were being brought forward, and as the heroic men roared instructions, a great crowd and commotion arose about them.
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