Chapter 36

“Dhritarashtra said, ‘While Arjuna’s son was thus grinding, by means ofhis straight arrows, our foremost bowmen, what warriors of my armyendeavoured to check him?’

“Sanjaya said, ‘Hear, O king, of the splendid prowess in battle ofyouthful Abhimanyu while engaged in breaking the car-ranks (of theKauravas), protected by the son of Bharadwaja himself.’

“Beholding the ruler of the Madras disabled in battle by Subhadra’s sonwith his shafts, the younger brother of Salya, filled with wrath,advanced against Abhimanyu, scattering his shafts. Arjuna’s son however.endued with great lightness of hand, cut off his antagonist’s head andcharioteer, his triple bamboo-pole, his bed (on the car), his car-wheels,his yoke, and shafts and quiver, and car-bottom, by means of his arrows,as also his banner and every other implements of battle with which hiscar was equipped. So quick were his movements that none could obtain asight of his person. Deprived of life, that foremost and chief of allornaments of battle fell down on the earth, like a huge hill uprooted bya mighty tempest. His followers then, struck with fear, fled away in alldirections. Beholding that feat of the son of Arjuna, all creatures werehighly gratified, and cheered him, O Bharata, with loud shouts of’Excellent, Excellent!’

“After Salya’s brother had thus been slain, many followers of his, loudlyproclaiming their families, places of residence, and names, rushedagainst Arjuna’s son, filled with rage and armed With diverse weapons.Some of them were on cars, some on steeds and some on elephants; andothers advanced on foot. And all of them were endued with fierce might.And they rushed frightening the son of Arjuna with the loud whiz of theirarrows, the deep roar of their car-wheels, their fierce whoops and shoutsand cries, their leonine roars, the loud twang of their bow-string, andthe slaps of their palms. And they said, ‘Thou shalt not escape us withlife today!’ Hearing them say so, the son of Subhadra, smiling the while,pierced with his shafts those amongst them that had pierced him first.Displaying diverse weapons of beautiful look and of great celerity, theheroic son of Arjuna battled mildly with them. Those weapons that he hadreceived from Vasudeva and those that he had received from Dhananjaya,Abhimanyu displayed in the very same way as Vasudeva and Dhananjaya.Disregarding the heavy burthen he had taken upon himself and casting offall fear, he repeatedly shot his arrows. No interval, again, could benoticed between his aiming and letting off an arrow. Only his tremblingbow drawn to a circle could be seen on every side, looking like theblazing disc of the autumnal sun. And the twang of his bow, and the slapof his palms, O Bharata, were heard to resound like the roaring of cloudscharged with thunder. Modest, wrathful, reverential to superiors, andexceedingly handsome, the son of Subhadra, out of regard for the hostileheroes, fought with them mildly. Commencing gently, O king, he graduallybecame fierce, like the illustrious maker of the day when autumn comesafter the season of the rains is over. Like the Sun himself shedding hisrays, Abhimanyu, filled with wrath, shot hundreds and thousands ofwhetted arrows, furnished with golden wings. In the very sight ofBharadwaja’s son, that celebrated warrior covered the car-division of theKaurava army with diverse kinds of arrows.[66] Thereupon, that army thusafflicted by Abhimanyu with his shafts, turned its back on the field.'”