Chapter 61

“Dhritarashtra said, ‘When Bhima and Pandu’s son Yudhishthira wereengaged in battle, when my troops were being slaughtered by the Pandusand the Srinjayas, when, indeed, my vast army being broken and routedrepeatedly became cheerless, tell me, O Sanjaya, what the Kauravas did.’

“Sanjaya said, ‘Beholding the mighty-armed Bhima, the Suta’s son of greatvalour, with eyes red in wrath, O king, rushed towards him. Seeing thyarmy fly away from Bhimasena, the mighty Karna, O king, rallied it withgreat efforts. The mighty-armed Karna, having rallied thy son’s host,proceeded against the Pandavas, those heroes difficult of defeat inbattle. The great car-warriors of the Pandavas also, shaking their bowsand shooting their shafts, proceeded against the son of Radha. Bhimasena,and the grandson of Sini, and Shikhandi and Janamejaya, andDhrishtadyumna of great strength, and all the Prabhadrakas, and thosetigers among men, the Pancalas, filled with rage and inspired with desireof victory, rushed in that battle from every side against thy army.Similarly, the great car-warriors of thy army, O king, quickly proceededagainst the Pandava host, desirous of slaughtering it. Teeming with carsand elephants and horses, and abounding with foot-soldiers and standards,the two armies then, O tiger among men, assumed a wonderful aspect.Shikhandi proceeded against Karna, and Dhrishtadyumna proceeded againstthy son Duhshasana, accompanied by a large force. Nakula proceededagainst Vrishasena, while Yudhishthira against Citrasena. Sahadeva, Oking, in that battle, proceeded against Uluka. Satyaki proceeded againstShakuni, and the sons of Draupadi against the other Kauravas. The mightycar-warrior Ashvatthama proceeded, with great care, against Arjuna.Sharadvata’s son Kripa proceeded against the mighty bowman Yudhamanyu,while Kritavarma of great strength proceeded against Uttamauja. Themighty-armed Bhimasena, O sire, alone and unsupported, resisted all theKurus and thy sons at the head of their division. The slayer of Bhishma,Shikhandi, then, O monarch, with his winged arrows, resisted Karna,careering fearlessly in that battle. Held in check, Karna then, his lipstrembling in rage, assailed Shikhandi with three arrows in the midst ofhis eyebrows. With those three arrows sticking on his forehead, Shikhandilooked highly beautiful like a silver mountain with three elevatedcrests. Deeply pierced by the Suta’s son in that encounter, the mightybowman Shikhandi pierced Karna, in return, with ninety keen shafts. Themighty car-warrior Karna then, slaying Shikhandi’s steeds and next hisdriver with three arrows, cut off his standard with a razor-faced arrow.That mighty car-warrior then, that scorcher of foes, filled with rage,jumped down from his steedless car and hurled a dart at Karna. Cuttingoff that dart with three shafts in that encounter, Karna then, O Bharata,pierced Shikhandi with nine keen arrows. Avoiding then the shafts spedfrom Karna’s bow, that best of men, Shikhandi, exceedingly mangled,retreated speedily from that spot. Then Karna, O monarch, began toscatter the troops of the Pandavas, like a mighty wind scattering a heapof cotton. Meanwhile Dhrishtadyumna, O monarch, afflicted by thy son,pierced Duhshasana, in return, with three arrows in the centre of thechest. Then Duhshasana, O sire, pierced his assailant’s left arm with abroad-headed shaft, sharp and straight and equipped with wings of gold.Thus pierced, Dhrishtadyumna, filled with wrath and the desire toretaliate, sped a terrible shaft, O Bharata, at Duhshasana. Thy son,however, O king, with three shafts of his, cut off that impetuous arrowsped by Dhrishtadyumna as it coursed towards him. ApproachingDhrishtadyumna then, he struck him in the arms and the chest withseventeen other broad-headed shafts adorned with gold. Thereat Prishata’sson, filled with rage, cut off Duhshasana’s bow, O sire, with a sharprazor-headed arrow, at which all the troops there uttered a loud shout.Taking up then another bow, thy son, as if smiling, held Dhrishtadyumnain check with showers of arrows from every side. Beholding the prowess ofthat high-souled son of thine, the combatants, as also the siddhas andthe apsaras, became all filled with wonder. We then saw the mightyDhrishtadyumna thus assailed by Duhshasana to resemble a huge elephant,held in check by a lion. Then many Pancala car-warriors and elephants andhorses, O elder brother of Pandu, desirous of rescuing the commander (ofthe Pandava army) encompassed thy son. The battle that commenced, Oscorcher of foes, between thy warriors and the enemy, presented asfrightful a sight as that which may be seen at the destruction of allcreatures at the end of the Yuga.

“‘Vrishasena, staying by the side of his father, having pierced Nakulawith five arrows made wholly of iron, pierced him once again with threeother arrows. The heroic Nakula then, as if smiling, deeply piercedVrishasena in the chest with a cloth-yard shaft of great keenness. Thuspierced by his mighty foe, that scorcher of foes, viz., Vrishasena,pierced his assailant with twenty arrows and was himself pierced by himwith five. Then those two bulls among men shrouded each other withthousands of arrows, at which the divisions that supported them broke.Beholding the troops of Dhritarashtra’s son flying away, the Suta’s son,following them, O king, began to forcibly stop them. After Karna had goneaway, Nakula proceeded against the Kauravas. Karna’s son also, avoidingNakula, proceeded quickly, O sire, to where his father, the son of Radha,was for protecting his car-wheel.

“‘The angry Uluka was held in check by Sahadeva. Having slain his foursteeds, the valiant Sahadeva then despatched his foe’s driver to theabode of Yama. Uluka then, that delighter of his father, jumping downfrom his car, O king, quickly proceeded and entered the division of theTrigartas. Satyaki, having pierced Shakuni with twenty keen arrows,easily cut off the standard of Subala’s son with a broad-headed arrow.The valiant son of Subala, filled with rage, O king, in that encounter,pierced Satyaki’s armour and then cut off his golden standard. ThenSatyaki pierced him in return with many keen arrows, and struck hisdriver, O monarch, with three arrows. With great speed then, hedespatched with other shafts the steeds of Shakuni to Yama’s abode.Speedily alighting then, O bull among men, from his car, Shakuni, thatmighty car-warrior, quickly ascended the car of Uluka. The latter thenbore away with great speed his father from Sini’s grandson, that warriorskilled in battle. Then Satyaki, O king, rushed in that battle againstthy army with great impetuosity, at which that army broke. Shrouded withthe arrows of Sini’s grandson, thy army, O monarch, fled away on allsides with great speed, and fell down deprived of life.

“‘Thy son resisted Bhimasena in that battle, in a trice Bhima made thatruler of men steedless and driverless and carless and standardless, atwhich the (Pandava) troops became highly glad. Then thy son, O king, wentaway from Bhimasena’s presence. The whole Kuru army, at this, rushedagainst Bhimasena. Tremendous became the din made by those combatantsinspired with the desire of slaying Bhimasena. Yudhamanyu, piercingKripa, quickly cut off his bow. Then Kripa, that foremost of all wieldersof weapons, taking up another bow, felled Yudhamanyu’s standard anddriver and umbrella on the Earth. At this, the mighty car-warriorYudhamanyu retreated on his car, driving it himself. Uttamauja coveredthe terrible son of Hridika, endued with terrible prowess, with a thickshower of arrows like a cloud pouring torrents of rain on a mountain. Thebattle between them, O scorcher of foes, became so awful that its like, Omonarch, I had never seen before. Then Kritavarma, O king, in thatencounter, suddenly pierced Uttamauja in the chest, at which the lattersat down on the terrace of his car. His driver then bore away thatforemost of car-warriors. Then the whole Kuru army rushed at Bhimasena.Duhshasana and Subala’s son, encompassing the son of Pandu with a largeelephant force, began to strike him with small arrows. Then Bhima,causing the wrathful Duryodhana to turn his back on the field by means ofhundreds of arrows, quickly rushed towards that elephant force. Beholdingthat elephant-force advance impetuously against him, Vrikodara becamefilled with great rage and invoked his celestial weapons. And he began tostrike elephants with elephants like Indra striking the Asuras. Whileengaged in slaughtering those elephants, Vrikodara, in that battle,covered the welkin with his shafts like myriads of insects covering afire. Like the wind scattering masses of clouds, Bhima quickly scatteredand destroyed crowds of elephants united together in thousands. Coveredall over with networks of gold, as also with many gems, the elephantslooked exceedingly beautiful in that battle like clouds charged withlightning. Slaughtered by Bhima, those elephants, O king, began to flyaway. Some amongst them, with their hearts pierced, fell down on theEarth. With those fallen and failing elephants adorned with gold, theEarth looked beautiful there, as if strewn with broken mountains. Withthe fallen elephant-warriors of blazing resplendence and adorned withgems, the Earth looked beautiful as if strewn with planets of exhaustedmerit. Then elephants, with their temples, frontal globes, and trunksdeeply pierced, fled in hundreds in that battle, afflicted with theshafts of Bhimasena. Some amongst them, huge as hills, afflicted withfear and vomiting blood, ran away, their limbs mangled with arrows, andlooked on that account, like mountains with liquid metals running downtheir sides. People then beheld the two arms of Bhima, resembling twomighty snakes, smeared with sandal-paste and other pounded unguents,continually employed in drawing the bow. Hearing the sound of hisbow-string and palms that resembled the peal of thunder, those elephants,ejecting urine and excreta, ran away in fear. The feats of thesingle-handed Bhima of great intelligence, on that occasion, shone likethose of Rudra, himself, while engaged in destroying all creatures.'”