Chapter 8

“Sanjaya said, ‘Beholding Drona thus slaying steeds and drivers andcar-warriors and elephants, the Pandavas, without being troubled,encompassed him on all sides. Then king Yudhishthira, addressingDhrishtadyumna and Dhananjaya, said unto them, ‘Let the pot-born (Drona)be checked, our men surrounding him on all sides with care.’ Thusaddressed those mighty car-warriors, viz., Arjuna and Prishata’s son,along with their followers, all received Drona as the latter came. Andthe Kekaya princes, and Bhimasena, and Subhadra’s son and Ghatotkacha andYudhishthira, and the twins (Nakula and Sahadeva), and the ruler of theMatsyas, and the son of Drupada, and the (five) sons of Draupadi, allfilled with joy, and Dhrishtaketu, and Satyaki, and the wrathfulChitrasena, and the mighty car-warrior, Yuyutsu, and many other kings, Omonarch, who followed the sons of Pandu, all achieved diverse feats inkeeping with their lineage and prowess. Beholding then that hostprotected in that battle by those Pandava warriors, Bharadwaja’s son,turning his eyes in wrath, cast his looks upon it. Inflamed with rage,that warrior, invincible in battle, consumed, as he stood upon his car,the Pandava host like the tempest destroying vast masses of clouds.Rushing on all sides at car-warriors and steeds and foot-soldiers andelephants, Drona furiously careered over the field like a young man,though bearing the weight of years. His red steeds, fleet as the wind,and of excellent breed, covered with blood, O king, assumed a beautifulappearance. Beholding that hero of regulated vows, felling them like Yamahimself inflamed with wrath, the soldiers of Yudhishthira fled away onall sides. And as some fled away and other rallied, as some looked at himand others stayed on the field, the noise they made was fierce andterrible. And that noise causing delight to heroes and enhancing thefears of the timid, filled the whole sky and the earth. And once moreDrona, uttering his own name in battle, made himself exceedingly fierce,scattering hundreds of arrows among the foes. Indeed, the mighty Drona,though old, yet acting like a young man, careered like Death himself, Osire, amid the divisions of Pandu’s son. That fierce warrior cutting offheads and arms decked with ornaments, made the terraces of many carsempty and uttered leonine roars. And in consequence of those joyousshouts of his, as also of the force of his shafts, the warriors, O lord,(of the hostile army) trembled like a herd of cows afflicted by cold. Andin consequence of the rattle of his car and the stretching of hisbow-string and the twang of his bow, the whole welkin resounded with aloud noise. And the shaft., of that hero, coursing in thousands from hisbow, and enveloping all the points of the compass, fell upon theelephants and steeds and cars and foot-soldiers (of the enemy). Then thePanchalas and the Pandavas boldly approached Drona, who, armed with hisbow of great force, resembled a fire having weapons for its flames. Thenwith their elephants and foot-soldiers and steeds he began to despatchthem unto the abode of Yama. And Drona made the earth miry with blood.Scattering his mighty weapons and shooting his shafts thick on everyside, Drona soon so covered all the points of the compass, that nothingcould be seen except his showers of arrows. And among foot-soldiers andcars and steeds and elephants nothing could be seen save Drona’s arrows.The standard of his car was all that could be seen, moving like flashesof lightning amid the cars.[12] Of soul incapable of being depressed,Drona then, armed with bow and arrows, afflicted the five princes ofKekaya and the ruler of the Panchalas and then rushed against thedivision of Yudhishthira. Then Bhimasena and Dhananjaya and the grandsonof Sini, and the sons of Drupada, and the ruler of Kasi, viz., the son ofSaivya, and Sivi himself, cheerfully and with loud roars covered him withtheir arrows. Shafts in thousands, decked with wings of gold, shot fromDrona’s bow, piercing through the bodies of the elephants and the younghorses of those warriors, entered the earth, their feathers dyed withblood. The field of battle, strewn with cars and the prostrate forms oflarge bands of warriors, and of elephants and steeds mangled with shafts,looked like the welkin covered with masses of black clouds. Then Drona,desirous of the prosperity of thy sons, having thus crushed the divisionsof Satyaki, and Bhima, and Dhananjaya and Subhadra’s son and Drupada, andthe ruler of the Kasi, and having ground many other heroes in battle,indeed, that high-souled warrior, having achieved these and many otherfeats, and having, O chief of the Kurus, scorched the world like the Sunhimself as he rises at the end of the Yuga, proceeded hence, O monarch,to heaven. That hero possessed of golden car, that grinder of hostilehosts, having achieved mighty feats and slain in thousands the warriorsof the Pandava host in battle, hath at last been himself slain byDhrishtadyumna. Having, in fact, slain more than two Akshauhinis of braveand unreturning warriors, that hero endued with intelligence, at last,attained to the highest state. Indeed, O king, having achieved the mostdifficult feats, he hath, at last, been slain by the Pandavas and thePanchalas of cruel deeds. When the preceptor was slain in battle, therearose in the welkin, O monarch, a loud uproar of all creatures, as alsoof all the troops. Resounding through heaven and earth and theintermediate space and through the cardinal and the subsidiarydirections, the loud cry ‘O Fie!’–of creatures; was heard. And the gods,the Pitris, and they that were his friends, all beheld that mightycar-warrior, viz., the son of Bharadwaja, thus slain. The Pandavas,having won the victory, uttered leonine shouts. And the earth trembledwith those loud shouts of theirs.'”