Chapter 81

“Sanjaya said, ‘Meanwhile ninety Kaurava car-warriors rushed for battleagainst the ape-bannered Arjuna who was advancing, borne by his steeds ofexceeding fleetness. Those tigers among men, having sworn a terrible oathabout the other world, encompassed that tiger among men, Arjuna. Krishna,however, (without minding those warriors), urged the white steeds ofArjuna, endued with great speed and adorned with ornaments of gold andcovered with networks of pearls, towards Karna’s car. Those ninetySamsaptaka cars pursued Dhananjaya, that slayer of foes, pouring upon himshowers of shafts, as he proceeded towards Karna’s car. Then Arjuna, withhis keen shafts, cut off those ninety assailants endued with greatactivity, along with their drivers and bows and standards. Slain by thediadem-decked Arjuna with diverse kinds of shafts, they fell down likeSiddhas falling down, with their cars, from heaven upon the exhaustion oftheir merits. After this, many Kauravas, with cars and elephants andsteeds, fearlessly advanced against that foremost one of Kuru’s race,that chief of the Bharatas, Phalguna. That large force of thy sons,teeming with struggling men and steeds, and swelling with foremost ofelephants, then encompassed Dhananjaya, checking his further progress.The mighty Kaurava bowmen shrouded that descendant of Kuru’s race withdarts and swords and lances and spears and maces and scimitars andarrows. Like the Sun destroying the darkness with his rays, the son ofPandu destroyed with his own shafts that shower of weapons over-spread inthe welkin. Then a force of Mlecchas riding thirteen hundredever-infuriated elephants, at the command of thy son, assailed Partha inthe flank. With barbed arrows and Nalikas and cloth-yard shafts andlances and spears and darts and Kampanas and short arrows, they afflictedPartha on his car. That matchless shower of weapons, some of which werehurled by the elephants with their tusks, Phalguna cut off with hisbroad-headed shafts and crescent-shaped arrows of great keenness. Withexcellent arrows of diverse kinds, he struck all those elephants andtheir standards and banners and riders, like Indra striking mountainswith thunderbolts. Afflicted with gold-winged shafts, those hugeelephants decked with necklaces of gold fell down deprived of life, likemountains ablaze with volcanic fires. Amid that roaring and shouting andwailing army of men and elephants and steeds, the twang of Gandiva, Omonarch, rose high. Elephants, O king, struck (with shafts), fled away onall sides. Steeds also, their riders slain, wandered in all directions.Cars, O monarch, looking like the changeful forms of vapour in the sky,deprived of riders and steeds, were seen in thousands. Horsemen, Omonarch, wandering hither and thither, were seen to fall down deprived oflife by the shafts of Partha. At that time the might of Arjuna’s arms wasseen. (So great was that might) that alone, in that battle, he vanquishedhorsemen and elephants and car-warriors (that had been assailing him fromevery side). Then Bhimasena, beholding the diadem-decked Phalgunaencompassed, O bull of Bharata’s race, by a large (Kaurava) hostconsisting of three kinds of forces, abandoned the small unslaughteredremnant of the Kaurava car-warriors with whom he had been engaged, andrushed impetuously, O king, to the spot where Dhananjaya’s car was.Meanwhile the Kaurava force that still remained after heavy slaughter,exceedingly weakened, fled away, Bhima (as already said) beholdingArjuna, proceeded towards his brother. The unfatigued Bhima, armed with amace, destroyed, in that battle, the portion that still remained afterthe greater part had been slaughtered by Arjuna, of the Kaurava hostpossessed of great might. Fierce as the death-night, subsisting upon menand elephants and steeds as its food, and capable of crushing walls andmansions and gates of cities, that exceedingly terrible mace of Bhimaincessantly descended on men and elephants and steeds around him. Thatmace, O sire, slew numberless steeds and riders. With that mace the sonof Pandu crushed men and steeds cased in steel armour. Struck therewith,they fell down with great noise. Biting the earth with their teeth, andbathed in blood, these, with the crowns of their heads and bows and lowerlimbs crushed, laid themselves down on the field, supplying allcarnivorous creatures with food. Satiated with blood and flesh andmarrow, and eating bones as well, that mace (of Bhimasena) became, likethe death-night, difficult of being gazed at. Having slain 10,000 horsesand numerous foot-soldiers, Bhima ran hither and thither in rage, armedwith his mace. Then, O Bharata, thy troops, beholding Bhima mace in hand,thought that Yama himself, armed with his fatal bludgeon, was in theirmidst. The son of Pandu then, excited with rage, and resembling aninfuriated elephant, penetrated into the elephant division (of theKauravas), like a Makara entering the ocean. Having, with his formidablemace, penetrated into that elephant division, the enraged Bhima, within avery short time, despatched it to Yama’s abode. We then beheld thoseinfuriated elephants with spiked plates on their bodies falling on everyside, with their riders and standards, like winged mountains. Havingdestroyed that elephant division, the mighty Bhimasena, once more ridingon his car, followed Arjuna at his rear. That great host, thusslaughtered, filled with cheerlessness and about to fly away, stoodalmost inactive, O monarch, assailed on all sides with weapons. Beholdingthat host looking humble and standing inactive and almost motionless,Arjuna covered it with life-scorching shafts. Men and steeds andelephants, pierced in that battle with showers of shafts by the wielderof Gandiva, looked beautiful like Kadamva flowers with their filaments.Thus struck with Arjuna’s shafts that quickly slew men and steeds andcars and elephants, loud wails, O king, arose from the Kuru army. Withcries of “Oh” and “Alas,” and exceedingly frightened, and huddling closeto one another, thy army began to turn round with great speed. Thebattle, however, continued between the Kurus and the Pandavas of greatmight. There was not a single car-warrior or horseman or elephant-warrioror steed or elephant that was unwounded. Their coats of mail pierced withshafts and themselves bathed in blood, the troops looked blazing like aforest of flowering Asokas. Beholding Savyasaci putting forth his valouron that occasion, the Kauravas became hopeless of Karna’s life. Regardingthe touch of Arjuna’s shafts to be unbearable, the Kauravas, vanquishedby the wielder of Gandiva, fled from the field. Deserting Karna in thatbattle as they were being thus struck with Arjuna’s shafts, they fledaway in fear on all sides, loudly calling upon the Suta’s son (to rescuethem). Partha, however, pursued them, shooting hundreds of shafts andgladdening the Pandava warriors headed by Bhimasena. Thy sons then, Omonarch, proceeded towards the car of Karna. Sinking, as they seemed tobe, in a fathomless ocean, Karna then became an island unto them. TheKauravas, O monarch, like snakes without poison, took Karna’s shelter,moved by the fear of the wielder of Gandiva. Indeed, even as creatures, Osire, endued with actions, from fear of death, take the shelter ofvirtue, thy sons, O ruler of men, from fear of the high-souled son ofPandu, took shelter with the mighty bowman Karna. Then, Karna, uninspiredwith fear, addressed those distressed warriors afflicted with arrows andbathed in blood, saying, ‘Do not fear! Come to me!” Beholding thy armyvigorously broken by Partha, Karna, stretching his bow, stood desirous ofslaughtering the foe. Seeing that the Kurus had left the field, Karna,that foremost of all wielders of weapons, reflecting a little, set hisheart upon the slaughter of Partha and began to draw deep breaths.Bending his formidable bow, Adhiratha’s son Vrisha once more rushedagainst the Pancalas, in the very sight of Savyasaci. Soon, however, manylords of the earth, with eyes red as blood, poured their arrowy downpourson him like clouds pouring rain upon a mountain. Then thousands ofarrows, O foremost of living creatures, shot by Karna, O sire, deprivedmany Pancalas of their lives. Loud sounds of wailing were uttered by thePancalas, O thou of great intelligence, while they were being thussmitten by the Suta’s son, that rescuer of friends, for the sake of hisfriends.'”