Arjuna Battles the Nivatakavachas with Matali
Arjuna and Matali, Indra's charioteer, are surrounded by the nivatakavacha asuras, who rain down lances, clubs, and arrows from every direction. Arjuna drives them back with the Gandiva, Matali tramples them under the horses' hooves, and when the asuras press the attack, Arjuna deploys the brahmastra and the madhava weapon — slicing their weapons to pieces and piercing each asura with ten arrows.
The nivatakavachas — the "unpierceable-armored" asuras who lived in the depths of the ocean — had been given a boon by Brahma: they could not be killed by any god or asura. Only a mortal could destroy them. And so Indra had brought Arjuna to his celestial city, armed him with divine weapons, and sent him down into the asuras' stronghold with Matali as his charioteer.
Now they came.
Grasping every weapon they had, the nivatakavachas rushed at Arjuna with angry yells. They were maharathas — great warriors — and they surrounded his chariot from every side, enveloping him in a shower of arrows. Others raised lances and spears. Catapults and javelins flew. A great storm of clubs and lances descended on the chariot, continuous and terrible.
Arjuna drew the Gandiva. He released swift, straight arrows — sharpened on stone — and sliced through the asuras' ranks, piercing each one with ten shafts. The arrows drove them back.
Matali handled the horses. They were tawny, hundreds of them yoked to Indra's great chariot, fleet as the wind. Under Matali's hands they seemed to move as one — wheeling, trampling, crushing Diti's sons beneath their hooves. The noise of the chariot, the bowstring, and the horses' hooves became a single terrible sound, and hundreds of asuras fell.
Others kept coming. Even dead, some still grasped their bows. Their charioteers killed, they were carried away by their horses. They covered every direction. Arjuna's mind was distressed by the sheer weight of weapons pressing in.
But Matali's valour was extraordinary. He guided the swift horses lightly, and Arjuna, with light hands, cut down hundreds and thousands of asuras together with their weapons. Matali — Shakra's own charioteer — was pleased to see Arjuna roam through the battle like this.
Some asuras were crushed by the horses. Others by the chariot. Some died. Others gave up fighting.
Then the nivatakavachas regrouped. They challenged Arjuna again, attacking from all sides with great showers of arrows. Arjuna invoked the brahmastra — the supreme weapon of Brahma — and with arrows charged by its power, he consumed them in hundreds and thousands. The gigantic asuras, angry and wounded, pressed back with arrows, spears, and swords.
Arjuna picked up another weapon — the madhava, beloved of Indra, possessed of supreme energy. Through its power, he sliced into a hundred pieces the swords, tridents, and javelins the asuras hurled at him in their thousands. Having shattered their weapons, he pierced each asura with ten arrows. The great shafts unleashed from the Gandiva flew like swarms of bees, and Matali praised them.
The asuras covered him with arrows as innumerable as locusts. Arjuna repulsed them powerfully.
Blood began to flow from the nivatakavachas' mangled bodies — like water draining from a mountain peak during the rainy season. Pierced by arrows that struck with the force of Indra's vajra (thunderbolt), the danavas became extremely anxious. Their bodies were cut into a hundred pieces. Their weapons lost their energy.
The nivatakavachas could not kill Arjuna. But they could not be killed by him either — not yet. They had one thing left.
They began to fight with the powers of maya — illusion, sorcery, the ancient magic of the asuras. Aranyaka Parva, Chapter 464