Chapter 87
“Dhritarashtra said, ‘When the van of my army thus slaughtered by thediadem-decked (Arjuna) broke and fled, who were those heroes thatadvanced against Arjuna? (Did any of them actually fight with Arjuna, or)did all, abandoning their determination enter the Sakata array, gettingbehind the fearless Drona, resembling a solid wall?’
“Sanjaya said, ‘When Indra’s son Arjuna, O sinless one, began, with hisexcellent arrows, to break and incessantly slay that force of ours manyheroes were either slain, or becoming dispirited, fled away. None in thatbattle, was capable of even looking at Arjuna. Then, thy son Duhsasana,
O king, beholding that state of the troops, became filled with wrath andrushed against Arjuna for battle. That hero of fierce prowess, cased in abeautiful coat of mail, made of gold, and his head covered with a turbandecked with gold, caused Arjuna to be surrounded by a largeelephant-force which seemed capable of devouring the whole earth. Withsound of the elephants’ bells, the blare of conchs, the twang ofbow-strings, and the grunts of the tuskers, the earth, the points ofcompass, and the welkin, seemed to be entirely filled. That period oftime became fierce and awful. Beholding those huge beasts with extendedtrunks filled with wrath and rushing quickly towards him, like wingedmountains urged on with hooks, Dhananjaya, that lion among men, utteringa leonine shout, began to pierce and slay that elephant-force with hisshafts. And like a Makara penetrating into the vast deep, surging intomountain waves when agitated by the tempest, the diadem-decked (Arjuna)penetrated into that elephant-host. Indeed, Partha, that subjugator ofhostile cities, was then seen by all on every side to resemble thescorching sun that rises, transgressing the rule about direction andhour, on the day of the universal destruction. And in consequence of thesound of horses’ hoofs, rattle of car-wheels, the shouts of combatants,the twang of bow-strings, the noise of diverse musical instruments, theblare of Panchajanya and Devadatta, and roar of Gandiva, men andelephants were dispirited and deprived of their senses. And men andelephants were riven by Savyasachin with his shafts whose touch resembledthat of snakes of virulent poison. And those elephants, in that battle,were pierced all over their bodies with shafts, numbering thousands uponthousands shot from Gandiva. While thus mangled by the diadem-decked(Arjuna), they uttered loud noises and incessantly fell down on the earthlike mountains shorn of their wings. Others struck at the jaw, or frontalglobes, or temples with long shafts, uttered cries resembling those ofcranes. The diadem-decked (Arjuna) began to cut off, with his straightarrows the heads of warriors standing on the necks of elephants. Thoseheads decked with ear-rings, constantly falling on the earth, resembled amultitude of lotuses that Partha was calling for an offer to his gods.And while the elephants wandered on the field, many warriors were seen tohang from their bodies, divested of armour, afflicted with wounds,covered with blood, and looking like painted pictures. In some instances,two or three warriors, pierced by one arrow winged with beautifulfeathers and well-shot (from Gandiva), fell down on the earth. Manyelephants deeply pierced with long shafts, fell down, vomiting blood fromtheir mouths, with the riders on their backs, like hills overgrown withforests tumbling down through some convulsion of nature. Partha, by meansof his straight shafts, cut into fragments the bow-strings, standards,bows, yokes, and shafts of the car-warriors opposed to him. None couldnotice when Arjuna took up his arrows, when he fixed them on thebow-string, when he drew the string, and when he let them off. All thatcould be seen was that Partha seemed to dance on his car with his bowincessantly drawn to a circle. Elephants, deeply pierced with long shaftsand vomiting blood from their mouths, fell down, as soon as they werestruck, on the earth. And in the midst of that great carnage, O monarch,innumerable headless trunks were seen to stand up. Arms, with bows ingrasp, or whose fingers were cased in leathern gloves, holding swords, ordecked with Angadas and other ornaments of gold, cut off from trunks,were seen lying about. And the field of battle was strewn withinnumerable Upashkaras and Adhishthanas, and shafts, and crowns, crushedcar-wheels, and broken Akshas, and yokes, and warriors armed with shieldsand bows, and floral garlands, and ornaments and robes and fallenstandards. And in consequence of those slain elephants and steeds, andthe fallen bodies of Kshatriyas, the earth there assumed an awful aspect.Duhsasana’s forces, thus slaughtered, O king, by the diadem-decked(Arjuna), fled away. Their leader himself was in great pain, forDuhsasana, greatly afflicted by those shafts, overcome by fear enteredwith his division the Sakata array, seeking Drona as his deliverer.'”
