Yoga Vāsiṣṭha 3.33.47

Translation

With headless trunks dancing like peacocks in the play of drunken clouds that were the floods of heroes showering a good rain of arrows, and ringed by the mountains of elephants whirling at speed, the turmoil of the battle became like the time of the world's end.

Word by word

nārāca

of arrows

varṣa

showering a rain

vara

good

vārida

clouds

vīra

of heroes

pūra

the floods

matta

drunken

abhra

of clouds

sambhrama

in the play

sa

with

nṛtta

dancing

kabandha

headless trunks

barhī

like peacocks

kalpa

of the world

anta

end

kāla

the time

iva

like

vēga

at speed

vivartamāna

whirling

mātaṅga

of elephants

śaila

by the mountains

valitō

(valitaḥ) ringed

raṇa

of the battle

sambhramō

(sambhramaḥ) the turmoil

abhūt

became

Meaning

The closing verse, in vasantatilakā. Peacocks dance when the rain-clouds come; here the clouds are the heroes raining arrows, and the dancers are headless bodies still moving. The elephants whirl like mountains loosed at the end of an age. The first commentary: the battle became like the dissolution. So the world Vidūratha has made for himself in thought ends, for now, in an image of the world's end; and above it, Līlā watches from a chariot of thought, untouched.