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मुक्ताफलैर्वीरकृपाणलेखा-
विभिन्नगन्धद्विपकुम्भमुक्तैः ।
रक्तारुणैस्तत्क्षणघट्टनोत्थ-
स्फुलिङ्गसङ्घातमतिर्वितेने ।।

The blood-stained pearls flooding forth
as warriors sliced open rutting elephants’ temples
with sharp swords
seemed to be a shower of sparks
as iron struck bone. 1

निशाचराः केचन कुञ्जराणां
कुम्भस्थलान्निःसृतमास्रपूरम् ।
निष्ठ्यूतमुक्तामणयः सहर्षं
चुचूषुरुत्पुष्करनालदण्डैः ॥

A rabble of night-roaming rākṣasas,
inverting elephant trunks to make straws,
slurped with satisfied burps
the blood streaming from the beasts’ temples,
spitting out the pearls. 2

जिघत्सयान्तः पतगैः प्रविष्टैः
प्रस्पन्दमानं कुणपं द्विपस्य ।
समीपमासाद्य सजीवबुद्ध्या
व्यसुं सतृष्णोऽपि जहौ सृगालः ॥

A jackal came up to the corpse of an elephant,
but bolted,
though it was dead and he was ravenous –
for the birds that had entered it searching for spoils
were setting it ashudder
as if with new life. 3

द्विषा सरोषेण पृषत्कवर्षै-
र्निषूदितः कोऽप्यमरत्वमेत्य ।
चकार तस्योपरि पुष्पवर्षं
सहर्षमुद्घोषितचाटुवादः ॥

One man –
slain by an enemy soldier
showering arrows upon him in seething anger –
now become immortal,
showered flowers upon his assassin
singing his praises ecstatically. 4

कुम्भेषु भिन्दन् नृपतिर्द्विपेन्द्रान्
मुक्ताफलैः शर्करिलान्तराभिः ।
प्रावर्तयद्रक्ततरङ्गिणीभिः
परःशताः संयति ताम्रपर्णीः ॥

The King,
tearing apart the temples of the mightiest of elephants,
made hundreds of Tāmraparṇī rivers flow
all over the battlefield
as streams of blood gushed forth
pebbled with pearls. 5

तेन द्विपास्तोमरिणा विभिन्नाः
कुम्भस्थलैरुज्झितमौक्तिकौघैः ।
क्रौञ्चस्य जह्रुर्गुहशक्तिघात-
प्रकीर्णहंसप्रकरस्य शोभाम् ॥

As his javelin rent each elephant’s temples,
letting loose a flood of pearls,
the beasts came to resemble Mount Krauñca
when Kumāra’s spear pierced it clean through
setting forth a stream of haṃsas.¹ 6

शूरस्तथा प्राहृत मुद्गरेण
शिरस्त्रवन्ति द्विषतां शिरांसि ।
यथा विनिर्यन्नयनानि तानि
मङ्क्षु न्यमाङ्क्षुः स्वशरीर एव ॥

With such force did the warrior
hurl his hammer upon the helmets of his foes
that their heads,
eyes bulging out,
sunk with a plunk into their necks. 7

ततस्तुलुष्कान् युधि कान्दिशीका-
नालोक्य विष्फारितघोरशार्ङ्गः ।
कम्पक्षितीन्द्रं यवनाधिराजः
प्रत्यग्रहीद्वृत्र इवामरेन्द्रम् ॥

At that moment,
seeing his men running helter-skelter across the battlefield,
the Yavana king,
twanging his fearsome bow,
attacked King Kampa
as Vṛtra did Indra, king of the gods. 8

आस्फाल्यमानस्य च तेन गाढं
शार्ङ्गस्य मौर्वीनिनदश्चकार ।
चिरात् परित्यज्य तमुच्चलन्त्या
जयश्रियो नूपुरघोषशङ्काम् ॥

The sound from the Sultan’s bowstring
as he twanged it forcefully
seemed to be the sudden trill of anklets
as his goddess of victory
after so many years
started from his side,
abandoning him. 9

बाणा निरस्ता यवनेन तस्मि-
न्नपाङ्गपाता इव वीरलक्ष्म्याः ।
कम्पेश्वरेणाप्यभिपारसीकं
शराः कटाक्षा इव कालरात्रेः ॥

The Yavana lord’s arrows accosted the King
like the come-hither glances of Victory herself;
but those fired by Kampa assailed the Persian
like the menacing leer of dusky Death. 10

स केरलप्राणमरुद्भुजङ्गान्
वन्यावनीन्द्रद्रुमदाववह्नीन् ।
अन्ध्रान्धकारक्षयतिग्मभासो
बाणानमुञ्चद्यवने नरेन्द्रः ।।

Arrows that had served as
snakes to the vital air of the Kerala king,
wildfires to the flourishing tree
that was the forest chief, Campa,
suns destroying the grand dragoons of darkness,
the Andhras –
such arrows did the King let loose upon the Sultan. 11

क्षतानि यान्यस्य शरैः शरीरे
चकार वीरस्य तुलुष्कवीरः ।
वितेनिरे तानि नखाङ्कशङ्कां
जयश्रियो भोगसमुत्सुकायाः ॥

The wounds wrought
by the Tuluṣka warrior’s arrows
upon that warrior’s limbs
made it seem as though
the goddess of victory
ardently awaiting their lovemaking
had pricked him with her sharp-tipped nails. 12

उदग्रमग्रे यवनाधिभर्तुः
साक्षात् कलेर्मौलिमिवाशुगेन ।
स मङ्क्षु सार्धं जयकाङ्क्षितेन
ध्वाङ्क्षध्वजं ध्वंसयति स्म धन्वी ॥

In a split second
with a single shaft
did the bowman break the crow-blazoned banner
flying high before the Yavana emperor
as though it were the very head of Kali –
and with it all his hopes of victory. 13

अमर्षितस्याथ पृषत्कवर्षं
विमुञ्चतो विद्विषतः शरेण ।
स कार्मुकज्यामलुनात् तुलुष्क-
राज्यश्रियो मङ्गलसूत्रकल्पाम् ॥

As his rival rained arrows upon him
in feverish fury,
the King severed with his own arrow
the Turk’s bow string,
as though it were the sacred marital chord
worn by the goddess of his reign.² 14

विहाय शार्ङ्गं धनुरिद्धरोष-
स्तुलुष्कवीरस्तरवारिमुग्रम् ।
तुरङ्गपर्याणनिबद्धवर्ध्रा-
विलम्बिनं सत्वरमुज्जहार ॥

The stouthearted Sultan,
incandescent with ire,
flung aside his horn-carved bow
and at once seized a fearsome sword
hanging by a strap from his saddle. 15

अथाग्रहीत् कम्पनृपस्तमेव
कौक्षेयकं कालकरालरूपम् ।
व्यापादनार्थं यवनेश्वरस्य
यः प्रेषितः प्राक् कलशोद्भवेन ॥

King Kampa in turn took hold of that sword
sent to him afore by Agastya
to vanquish the Yavana king,
a blade dreadful as the dark lord of death. 16

स वञ्चयंस्तत्तरवारिधारां
धाराविशेषप्रवणोपवाह्यः ।
अशातयत् तस्य शिरो निमेषा-
दनेन कर्णाटकुलप्रदीपः ॥

The light of the Karṇāṭas, Kampa,
riding his horse at a great gallop,
lopped off the Sultan’s head with his sword,
dodging his foe’s whetted blade. 17

अज्ञातसेवोचितचाटुवादं
तुलुष्कसाम्राज्यकृताभिषेकम् ।
दिवौकसामप्यकृतप्रणामं
भूमौ सुरत्राणशिरः पपात ॥

Never had the Sultan’s head sunk to sycophancy.
Gracing the imperial crown of the Tuluṣka Empire,
not once had it bowed, even before the gods.
Down
to the ground
it fell. 18

च्युतेऽपि शीर्षे चलिताश्ववल्गा-
नियन्त्रणव्यापृतवामपाणिम् ।
प्रतिप्रहारप्रसृतान्यहस्तं
वीरः कबन्धं द्विषतोऽभ्यनन्दीत् ॥

The courageous king cheered his rival:
though the corpse’s head was rolling in the dust,
the left hand continued to restrain his speeding steed,
while the right stretched forth to settle the score. 19

प्रशान्तदावेव वनान्तलक्ष्मी-
र्गतोपरागा गगनस्थलीव ।
कलिन्दजा मर्दितकालियेव
दिग्दक्षिणासीत् क्षतपारसीका ॥

Like a beautiful grove after a wildfire has finally tired,
like the expanse of the sky when an eclipse has passed,
like Yamunā, Kalinda’s daughter, once Kāliya was killed³ –
thus shone the South now that the Persian lay slain. 20