Yudhishthira Asks Krishna About Soubha's Destruction

Yudhishthira said: "O Vasudeva! O mighty-armed one! O immensely intelligent one! Tell me in detail about the destruction of Soubha, because I am not satisfied with what you have said." Vasudeva replied: "O best of the Bharata lineage! When he heard that the mighty-armed King Shroutashrava had been killed by me, Shalva marched on the city of Dvaravati." He paused, then continued. "The evil-minded Shalva laid siege to the city from every side, arranged his battle formations, and stationed himself in the air. That lord of the earth fought with the city from there. He attacked from everywhere, and the battle began." Krishna described what Yudhishthira wanted to hear: how the city prepared. The flags, the gates, the troops, the fences, the machines, the miners, the barricaded streets, the turrets and towers, the hair-graspers, the catapults that hurled flaming missiles, the water vessels, the kettledrums and army drums, the kindling and straw and grass, the shataghnis and ploughs and bhushundis, the rocks and clubs and battleaxes, the iron shields and machines that hurled fire and iron. Everything in accordance with the sacred texts. He told Yudhishthira about Gada, Samba, Uddhava — men capable of repulsing attacks. About Ugrasena announcing that no one should drink. About the actors and dancers driven out, the bridges destroyed, the boats forbidden, the moats fortified with spikes, the reservoirs destroyed, the ground made uneven for a krosha on every side. "At the time when Soubha advanced," Krishna said, "the city of the Vrishnis and the Andhakas was such that nothing could come out or go in without a seal." The soldiers had been paid. The weapons had been distributed. No one's valour was untested. "Thus Dvaraka was prepared well," Krishna concluded. "It was defended by King Ahuka."