Chapter 135
“Dhritarashtra said, ‘O Suta, O Sanjaya, this grievous result that hasnow overtaken us is, I think, certainly due to my evil policy. I hadhitherto thought that what is past. But, O Sanjaya, what measures shouldI now adopt? I am now once more calm, O Sanjaya, therefore, tell me howthis slaughter of heroes is going on, having my evil policy for itscause.’
“Sanjaya said, ‘Indeed, O king, Karna and Bhima, both endued with greatprowess, continued in that battle to pour their arrowy showers like tworain-charged clouds. The arrows, winged with gold and whetted on stoneand marked with Bhima’s name, approaching Karna, penetrated into hisbody, as if piercing into his very life. Similarly, Bhima also, in thatbattle was shrouded with the shafts of Karna in hundreds and thousands,resembling snakes of virulent poison. With their arrows, O king, failingon all sides, an agitation was produced among the troops resembling thatof the very ocean. Many were the combatants, O chastiser of foes, in thyhost that were deprived of life by arrows, resembling snakes of virulentpoison shot from Bhima’s bow. Strewn with fallen elephants and steedsmixed with the bodies of men, the field of battle looked like one coveredwith trees broken by a tempest. Slaughtered in battle with the arrowsfrom Bhima’s bow, thy warriors fled away, ‘saying, What is this?’ Indeed,that host of the Sindhus, the Sauviras, and the Kauravas, afflicted withthe impetuous shafts of both Karna and Bhima, was removed to a greatdistance. The remnant of those brave soldiers, with their steeds andelephants killed, leaving the vicinity of both Karna and Bhima, fled awayin all directions. (And they cried out), ‘Verily, for the sake of theParthas, the gods are stupefying us, since those arrows shot by bothBhima and Karna are slaying our forces. Saying those words, these troopsof thine afflicted with fear avoiding the range of (Karna’s and Bhima’s)arrows, stood at a distance for witnessing that combat. Then, on thefield of battle there began to flow a terrible river enhancing the joy ofthe heroes and the fears of the timid. And it was caused by the blood ofelephants and steeds and men. And covered with the lifeless forms of menand elephants and steeds, with flagstaffs and the bottoms of cars, withthe adornments of cars and elephants and steeds with broken cars andwheels and Akshas and Kuveras, with loud-twanged bows decked with gold,and gold-winged arrows and shafts in thousands, shot by Karna and Bhima,resembling snakes just freed from their sloughs, with countless lancesand spears and scimitars and battleaxes, with maces and clubs and axes,all adorned with gold, with standards of diverse shapes, and darts andspiked clubs, and with beautiful Sataghnis, the earth, O Bharata, lookedresplendent. And strewn all over with earrings and necklaces of gold andbracelets loosened (from wrists), and rings, and precious gems worn ondiadems and crowns, and head-gears, and golden ornaments of diversekinds, O sire, and coats of mail, and leathern fences, and elephants’ropes, and umbrellas displaced (from their places) and Yak-tails, andfans with the pierced bodies of elephants and steeds and men, withblood-dyed arrows, and with diverse other objects, lying about andloosened from their places, the field of battle looked resplendent likethe firmament bespangled with stars. Beholding the wonderful,inconceivable, and superhuman feats of those two warriors, the Charanasand the Siddhas were exceedingly amazed. As a blazing conflagration,having the wind for its ally, courses through an (extended) heap of drygrass, even so, Adhiratha’s son, engaged with Bhima, coursed fiercely inthat battle.[161] Both of them felled countless standards and cars andslew steeds and men and elephants, like a pair of elephants crushing aforest of reeds while engaged in battle with other. Thy host looked likea mass of clouds, O king, of men, and great was the carnage caused inthat battle by Karna and Bhima.'”[162]
