Chapter 158

“Sanjaya said, ‘Then king Yudhishthira, and Bhimasena, the son of Pandu,O monarch, encompassed Drona’s son on all sides. Seeing this, kingDuryodhana, aided by Bharadwaja’s son, rushed against the Pandavas inthat encounter. Then commenced a battle that was fierce and terrific,enhancing the fears of the timid. Yudhishthira, in wrath began todespatch vast numbers of Amvashthas, Malavas, Vangas, Sivis, andTrigartas, to the domain of the dead. Bhima also, mangling theAbhishahas, the Surasenas, and other Kshatriyas difficult to defeat inbattle, made the earth miry with blood. The diademdecked (Arjuna) ofwhite steeds despatched, O king, the Yaudheyas, the Mountaineers, theMadrakas, and the Malavas also, to the regions of the dead. Forciblystruck with swiftly-coursing shafts, elephants began to fall down on theearth like double-crested hills. Strewn with the lopped-off trunkselephants that still moved in convulsions, the earth seemed as if coveredwith moving snakes. Covered with the fallen umbrellas of kings that wereadorned with gold, the field of battle looked resplendent like thefirmament at the end of the Yuga bespangled with suns, moons and stars.About this time a fierce uproar arose near Drona’s car, in the midst ofwhich could be heard the words, ‘Slay’, ‘Strike fearlessly’, ‘Pierce’,’cut in pieces’. Drona, however, filled with rage, began to destroy bymeans of the Vayavya weapon the foes about him, like a mighty tempestdestroying gathering masses of clouds. Thus treated by Drona, thePanchalas fled away, from fear, in the very sight to Bhimasena and thehigh-souled Partha. Then the diadem-decked (Arjuna) and Bhimasena soonchecked the flight of their troops and accompanied by a large car-forceattacked the vast force of Drona. Vibhatsu attacking the right andVrikodara the left, they both poured on Bharadwaja’s son two denseshowers of arrows. The mighty car-warriors among the Srinjayas and thePanchalas, with the Matsyas and the Somakas, O king, followed the twobrothers thus engaged (in that encounter with Drona). Similarly, manyforemost of car-warriors, skilled in smiting, belonging to thy son,accompanied by a large force, proceeded towards Drona’s car (forsupporting the latter). Then the Bharata host, slaughtered by thediadem-decked (Arjuna) and overcome with and afflicted by the darkness,began to break. Thy son himself, and Drona, both endevoured to rallythem. Thy troops, however, O king, could not be checked in their flight.Indeed, that vast host, slaughtered by the shafts of Pandu’s son, beganto fly away in all directions in that hour when the world was envelopedwith gloom. Many kings, abandoning the animals and vehicles they rode,fled away on all sides, O monarch, overwhelmed with fear’.”