Verse 6

¹So, king, wanting to be done with his body in the fight, and holding death better than victory, he took up his trident and fell upon the lord of the gods, as Kaitabha fell upon the great Person in the waters. ²Then the lord of the demons swung the trident, whose tongue was harsh as the fire at the end of an age, and hurled it with force at great Indra, and the hero roared and said in anger: You are a dead man, you wretch. ³Seeing it come down through the sky, too bright to look at, like a planet shaken loose or a falling star, the bolt-bearer, in whom no dismay was born, cut it through with his hundred-jointed bolt, and Vrtra's arm with it, thick as the serpent king's coil.

⁴With one arm gone, Vrtra came on in fury at him who held the bolt and struck Indra on the jaw with an iron club, and the elephant of the gods as well; and the bolt fell out of Maghavan's hand. ⁵That deed of Vrtra's was a very great wonder, and gods and antigods and the companies of caranas and siddhas honoured it. But seeing the straits of him whom many call upon, they cried out again and again, Alas, alas. ⁶Ashamed, Indra did not pick up again the bolt that had dropped from his hand in front of his enemy. Vrtra said to him: Take up the bolt, Indra, and kill the one who is against you. This is no time to sink down.