Chapter 83

Sanjaya said, “And when the battle was thus raging and after Susarman hadceased fighting, and the (other) heroic warriors (of the Kuru army) hadbeen routed by the high-souled son of Pandu; after, indeed, thy army,resembling the very ocean, had become quickly agitated and the son ofGanga had speedily proceeded against the car of Vijaya, king Duryodhana,beholding the prowess of Partha in battle, quickly proceeded towardsthose kings, and addressing them as also the heroic and mighty Susarmanstationed in their van, said in their midst these words, gladdening themall, ‘This Bhishma, the son of Santanu, this foremost one among theKurus, reckless of his very life, is desirous of fighting with his wholesoul against Dhananjaya. Exerting your best, ye all, united together, andaccompanied by your troops, protect in battle the grandsire, of Bharata’srace, who is proceeding against the hostile army.’ Saying, ‘Yes,’ allthose divisions, belonging to those kings, O monarch, proceeded,following the grandsire. Then the mighty Bhishma, the son of Santanu,(thus rushing to battle), speedily came upon Arjuna of Bharata’s race whoalso had been coming towards him, on his exceedingly resplendent andlarge car unto which were yoked white steeds and upon which was set uphis standard bearing the fierce ape, and whose rattle resembled the deeproll of the clouds. And thy entire army, beholding the diadem-deckedDhananjaya, thus coming to battle, uttered, from fear, many loudexclamations. And beholding Krishna, reins in hand, and looking like themid-day sun in splendour, thy troops could not gaze at him. And so alsothe Pandavas were incapable of looking at Santanu’s son Bhishma of whitesteeds and white bow and resembling the planet Sukra risen in thefirmament. And the latter was surrounded on all sides by the high-souledwarriors of the Trigartas headed by their king with his brothers andsons, and by many other mighty car-warriors.

“Meanwhile, Bharadwaja’s son pierced with his winged arrows the king ofthe Matsyas in battle. And in that combat he cut off the latter’sstandard with one shaft, and his bow also with another. Then Virata, thecommander of a large division, leaving aside that bow thus cut off,quickly took up another that was strong and capable of bearing a greatstrain. And he also took up a number of blazing arrows that resembledsnakes of virulent poison. And he pierced Drona in return with three (ofthese) and his (four) steeds with four. And then he pierced Drona’sstandard with one arrow, and his charioteer with five. And he alsopierced Drona’s bow with one arrow, and (at all this) that bull amongBrahmanas became highly angry. Then Drona slew Virata’s steeds with eightstraight shafts, and then his charioteer, O chief of the Bharatas, withone shaft. His charioteer having been slain, Virata jumped down from hiscar whose steeds also had been killed. And then that foremost ofcar-warriors speedily mounted upon the car of (his son) Sankha. Then sireand son, staying on the same car, began with great might to resist theson of Bharadwaja with a thick shower of arrows. Then the mighty son ofBharadwaja, excited with wrath, quickly shot at Sankha in that encounter,an arrow resembling a snake of virulent poison. And that arrow, piercingthrough Sankha’s breast and drinking his blood, fell upon the earth, wetand smeared with gore. Struck with that arrow of Bharadwaja’s son, Sankhaspeedily fell down from his car, his bow and arrows loosened from hisgrasp in the very presence of his sire. And beholding his son slain,Virata fled from fear, avoiding Drona in battle, who resembled Death’sself with gasping mouth. The son of Bharadwaja then, without losing amoment, checked the mighty host of the Pandavas resisting combatants byhundreds and thousands.

“Sikhandin also, O king, getting at Drona’s son in that battle, struckthe latter between his brows with three swiftly coursing shafts. And thattiger among men, viz., Aswatthaman, pierced with those shafts lookedbeautiful like the mountain Meru with its three tall golden crests. Then,O king, Aswatthaman excited with rage, and within half the time taken upby a wink of the eye, overthrew in that battle Sikhandin’s charioteer andstandard and steeds and weapons, covering them with myriads of shafts.Then that foremost of car-warriors, viz., Sikhandin, that scorcher offoes, jumping down from that car whose steeds had been slain, and takingup a sharp and polished scimitar and a shield, excited with rage, movedon the field with great activity like a hawk. And while moving with greatactivity, O king, on the field sword in hand, the son of Drona failed tofind an opportunity (for striking him). And all this seemed highlywonderful. And then, O bull of Bharata’s race, the highly wrathful son ofDrona sent after Sikhandin in that battle many thousands of shafts. ButSikhandin, that foremost of mighty men, with his sharp sword cut thatfierce shower of arrows coming towards him. Then the son of Drona cutinto pieces that resplendent and beautiful shield decked with a hundredmoons and then that sword also of Sikhandin. And he pierced the latter’sperson also, O king, with a large number of winged arrows. ThenSikhandin, whirling the fragment (in his hand) of that sword of his whichhad been cut off by Aswatthaman with his arrows and which resembled ablazing snake, quickly hurled it at him. The son of Drona however,displaying in that battle the lightness of his arms, cut off that (brokenblade) coming impetuously towards him and resembling in splendour thefire that blazeth forth at the end of the Yuga. And he pierced Sikhandinhimself with innumerable arrows made of iron. Then Sikhandin, O King,exceedingly afflicted with those whetted arrows, speedily mounted on thecar of (Satyaki) that high-souled scion of Madhu’s race. Then Satyaki,excited with rage, pierced in that battle, with his terrible shafts thecruel Rakshasa Alamvusha on all sides. That prince of Rakshasas then, OBharata, cut off in that combat Satyaki’s bow with a crescent-shapedarrow and pierced Satyaki also with many shafts. And creating by hisRakshasa powers an illusion, he covered Satyaki with showers of arrows.But wonderful was the prowess that we then beheld of the grandson ofSini, inasmuch as struck with those whetted shafts he betrayed no fear.On the other hand, O Bharata, that son of Vrishni’s race applied (withMantras) the Aindra weapon, which that illustrious hero of Madhu’s racehad obtained from Vijaya.[413] That weapon, consuming into ashes thatDemoniac illusion, covered Alamvusha all over with terrible shafts, likea mass of clouds covering the mountain-breast with torrents of rain inthe rainy season. Thereupon the Rakshasa, thus afflicted by that hero ofMadhu’s race, fled away in fear, avoiding Satyaki in battle. Then thegrandson of Sini, having vanquished that prince of Rakshasas who wasincapable of being vanquished by Maghavat himself, uttered a loud roar inthe very sight of all thy troops. And Satyaki, of prowess incapable ofbeing baffled, then began to slay thy troops with innumerable shaftswhereupon the latter fled away in fear.

“Meanwhile, O monarch, Dhrishtadyumna, the mighty son of Drupada, coveredthy royal son in battle with innumerable straight shafts. While, however,O Bharata, Dhrishtadyumna was thus shrouding him with his shafts, thyroyal son was neither agitated nor struck with fear. On the other hand,he speedily pierced Dhrishtadyumna in that battle (first) with sixty and(then) with thirty shafts. And all these seemed highly wonderful. Thenthe commander of the Pandava army, O Bharata, excited with wrath cut offhis bow. And that mighty car-warrior then slew in that combat the foursteeds of thy son, and also pierced him with seven shafts of the keenestpoints. Thereupon (thy son), that mighty-armed warrior endued with greatstrength, jumping down from that car whose steeds had been slain, ran onfoot, with an upraised sabre, towards the son of Prishata. Then themighty Sakuni, devoted to the king, quickly coming to that spot, causedthy royal son to mount on his own car in the very sight of all. Then thatslayer of foes, the son of Prishata, having vanquished the king, began toslaughter thy troops like the wielder of the thunder-bolt slaughteringthe Asuras.

“Kritavarman, in that battle, covered with his arrows that mightycar-warrior Bhima. Indeed, he overwhelmed the latter entirely, like amighty mass of clouds shrouding the sun. Then that chastiser of foesviz., Bhimasena, excited with wrath, and laughing the while, sped someshafts at Kritavarman. Struck therewith, that Atiratha of the Satwatarace, excelling all in might, trembled not, O king, but (instead) piercedBhima (in return) with many sharp arrows. Then the mighty Bhimasena,slaying the four steeds of Kritavarman, felled the latter’s charioteer,and then his beautiful standard. And that slayer of hostile heroes (viz.,Bhima) then pierced Kritavarman himself with many shafts of diversekinds. And Kritavarman, pierced all over, seemed to be excessivelymangled in every limb. Then from that car whose steeds had been slain,Kritavarman quickly went to the car of Vrishaka, in the very sight, Oking, of both Salya and thy son. And Bhimasena. excited with rage, beganto afflict thy troops. Goaded to fury, he began to slay them, like thedestroyer himself armed with his club.”