English
Section 8: The Battle of the Two Armies
When the sun raised its head from the sign of Taurus, the lark's cry rose from the plain.
War drums thundered from both camps, along with the wail of horns and trumpets.
Jahn led thirty thousand sword-wielding warriors out to the field of battle.
When Khosrow saw them arranged like this, he commanded Qaran, bearer of the Kavian banner,
to charge from the heart of the army like a moving mountain; before him the brave Jahn was worn down.
On the right, Gostaham son of Nozar came storming forward like dust, carrying the war banner.
The world turned dark from the horsemen's dust, the earth filled with soldiers and the sky with banners.
Khosrow surged forth from the center of his army, and so did Afrasiab on that battlefield.
Such a fight broke out that the boldest champions had never witnessed its like.
So many of the Turanian troops were slain that the battlefield became a sea of blood.
It went on until the sky grew dark, and the eyes of the warriors were dazzled.
When Qaran the fighter triumphed, defeat fell upon the brave Jahn.
When the moon settled on the mountain's skirt, the heroes withdrew from the battlefield.
The king rejoiced over the Iranians, for they had prevailed in that struggle.
All night long they prepared for war, giving no time to sleep or food.
When the sun raised its head from the claw of Cancer, the world filled with battle, clamor, and frenzy.
The two armies drew up their ranks, every soldier foaming at the lips for the fight.
The commander of Iran moved away from behind his troops, taking with him a loyal, well-meaning attendant.
When he had gone a little way, he dismounted and praised the Creator of the world at length.
He pressed his face to the dark earth and said: O just and pure Judge,
you know that I have suffered his cruelty, and endured many an evil day.
Repay the wrongdoer with blood; be the guide of the one who has been wronged.
From there, with a heart full of grief and a head full of vengeance against the line of Zadsham,
he came roaring to the center of his army and placed the blessed crown upon his head.
A din arose, the wail of the ox-horn, the blast of the brass pipe and the curved brass trumpet.
From the other side the army, like a mountain, advanced seething, group after group.
An army like a rolling sea of water, with Jahn and Afrasiab at its heart.
When both armies moved from their places, you would think the plains and gates had grown feet.
The sun turned black from the army's dust, from diamond arrowheads and eagle feathers.
From the endless wail of horns and the dust of the army, and from the shouts of the horsemen on that field,
Iron, mountain, and stone turned to water; a crocodile churned the sea, a leopard raged across the plain.
The earth was all uproar, the air all shouting; the din split the ears of the furious lion.
You would say the whole world was made of iron, or that the sky had become the enemy of the earth.
Everywhere the dead lay piled like mountains, warriors of Iran and Turan heaped together.
The sands were strewn with heads and hands and feet; the very heart of the earth was torn from its place.
The whole ground beneath the hooves became like linen dipped and starched in blood.
After that the champions of Afrasiab moved forward like a ship upon the water.
They turned toward the armored towers on the elephants, where the archers were stationed.
The elephants formed a fortress before the army, raised at the center and blocking the way.
From the towers on the elephants arrows rained down, and the cry of seize them and hold rose up.
The lancer champions charged, a heavy force straight from the army's center.
From two leagues away Afrasiab watched that army and the fight around the towers and elephants.
He drove forward all his mighty elephants and his host; the world grew dark and no light remained.
He roared: 'Famous warriors, why do you keep your bodies penned in such a narrow space?'
'Do not stay facing the towers and the elephants; the army stands idle over several leagues.'
'Push out toward the right wing and the left; move up beyond the center and the towers.'
He ordered the battle-tested Jahn to move from his place with Tegin and his troops.
He led two thousand seasoned riders, all lancers ready for combat.
To the left wing went Tabard, a lion in war, moving swiftly with his famous champions.
When Kaykhosrow saw that battle of the Turks, and how the sun had vanished from the world,
he turned toward Aveh and Samkanan, who were lions eager for the fray,
and ordered them to wheel upon the enemy's left wing like the sun blazing out of Aries.
Ten thousand renowned men rode out, mailed, with mace-heads shaped like an ox's skull.
The king commanded Shammakh of Sur, one of the noted men of Iran's army,
to choose ten thousand fighters, brave horsemen fit for combat,
and to draw their swords between the two lines, letting no one duck his head away.
The two armies clashed in such a way that you would say they had merged into one.
The clash of blades rose from both sides; from the fighting, blood ran in streams.
When the dust rose on the left and the right, the king called for his Roman armor.
They drew the elephant towers off to one side, and the world became like the river Nile.
Rustam charged forward from the center;
Manushan of Khuzan stood as shelter for the troops.
The blare of trumpets and war drums rose up.
On one flank stood Khosrow with the commander Tus.
The banner of Kaveh was raised high,
and all the champions wore golden boots.
With aching hearts they rose to their feet
and arrayed the army on the king's left.
To his right stood Rustam, hungry for revenge,
and his brother Zavareh took up his place.
The world-worn Gudarz, son of Keshvad,
with many great nobles and free-born men.
They stood ready at Rustam's side:
Zarasp and Manushan of blessed counsel.
From the field rose the roar of the clash;
no one had ever seen such warfare.
The whole sand was covered with the wounded and the dead,
wherever fate had turned its back on a man.
So many lay slain across the battlefield
that they drove their horses over the corpses.
The plain ran like the Oxus with blood:
one man headless, another thrown down face-first.
The cries of riders and horses on the field
rose higher than the beating of the drums.
You would think the mountain's heart was splitting,
and the earth itself was taking flight with the riders.
Headless bodies and bodiless heads,
and the clanging of heavy maces.
The flashing of daggers and sharp swords;
the sun itself sought a way to flee.
On the right wing, by Manuchehr's hand,
fell Kahila, who alone was worth a hundred lions.
On the left wing Jaranjash was destroyed
by the hand of Fariborz, son of Kavus the king.
A wind and a cloud rose from the south
and darkened the face of the world-lighting sun.
You would say a black cloud had risen
and rained down blood upon the battlefield.
It veiled the earth and the ground turned dark;
eyes were blinded by the gloom.
When the sun sank toward the horizon,
the heart of the king of Turks leapt with dread.
From the surge of riders of every land,
from every border, every region, every chief,
thirty thousand sword-wielding horsemen,
chosen riders skilled with the dagger.
Each with a different armor, a different banner,
the world turned red and yellow and violet.
Garsivaz looked out from behind the king
and brought the whole army into the fight.
He sent a force to the right wing,
prized men, of one heart and one purpose.
Likewise an army toward the left,
with a chief spread out on every side.
Thirty thousand warrior horsemen,
all chosen and fit for battle.
When Garsivaz moved from the rear of the army,
he hurried swiftly to his brother's side.
When the brother saw his brother's face,
he gained new strength and pressed the army forward.
A great uproar rose from the army,
and arrows darkened the whole sky.
As the sun's back was bent toward setting,
the bright day turned dark with the coming of night.
The scheming warrior Garsivaz
came trembling before his brother.
He said: who among the heroes would still seek battle now,
when the earth is full of blood and the sky full of dust?
Pull the troops back, do not fight now that night has fallen,
for the Turks are about to break into a cry of defeat.
You keep on fighting while the army flees;
do not wage such a war against your own life.
But the heart of the king of the Turks was full of rage and fury,
and in his temper he would not listen to the advice.
He spurred his horse out from the midst of the host
and charged forward, roaring, under the black banner.
He killed several noted men of Iran;
and when Khosrow saw this, he came in behind him.
The two kings of two lands, so filled with hatred,
rode out with only a handful of horsemen.
Garsivaz and Jahn could not bear to see
that he would go out to fight Khosrow face to face.
They seized his reins and turned him away,
rushing him off toward the sands of the Amu.
When he had turned back, Estaqila came like dust on the wind,
advancing to seek battle with the king.
King Ila, roaring, before the whole army,
drove a lance straight at the king's waist.
But the lance had no effect on his armor,
nor did any fear enter his shining heart.
When Khosrow saw the man's courage and strength,
he swiftly drew his sharp sword from his belt.
He struck him across the middle and cut him in two,
and filled Borz Ila's heart with terror.
When Borz Ila saw that stroke of the king,
that courage, that strength, and that mastery,
he fled into the darkness in flight,
as though the very skin was splitting on his body.
When the army saw his mighty hand at work,
not a single warrior remained on the battlefield.
For Afrasiab those words were as good as death,
seeing how his men had turned their backs and fled.
When he learned this about the men of Turan,
you would think the day had grown short upon him.
When they had left the battlefield with disgrace,
he ordered them to raise a cry aloud:
This lion-hearted man's valor comes from the dark of night;
it is the pressing of night that makes me withdraw.
If it so happens that today, for once, the wind
favored you and joy opened its door to you,
when the day makes the face of the earth bright,
you shall see our heart-cheering banner rise.
We will turn the whole land of Iran into a sea,
and lift its dust as high as the Pleiades from the shining sun.
The two kings of two lands, so ready for war,
returned, each to his own encampment.