Chapter 26

“Sanjaya said, ‘After that elephant-division had been destroyed, OBharata, by the son of Pandu, and while thy army was being thusslaughtered by Bhimasena in battle, beholding the latter, that chastiserof foes, careering like the all-killing Destroyer himself in rage armedwith his club, the remnant of thy unslaughtered sons, those uterinebrothers, O king, united together at that time when he of Kuru’s race,thy son Duryodhana, could not be seen, and rushed against Bhimasena. Theywere Durmarshana and Srutanta and Jaitra and Bhurivala and Ravi, andJayatsena and Sujata and that slayer of foes, Durvishaha, and he calledDurvimochana, and Dushpradharsha and the mighty-armed Srutarvan. All ofthem were accomplished in battle. Those sons of thine, uniting together,rushed against Bhimasena and shut him up on all sides. Then Bhima, Omonarch, once more mounting on his own car, began to shoot keen shafts atthe vital limbs of thy sons. Those sons of thine, covered with arrows byBhimasena in that dreadful battle, began to drag that warrior like mendragging an elephant from off a cross-way. Excited with rage, Bhimasena,quickly cutting off the head of Durmarshana with a razor-headed arrow,felled it on the Earth. With another broad-headed arrow capable ofpenetrating every armour, Bhima next slew that mighty car-warrior, thyson Srutanta. Then with the greatest ease, piercing Jayatsena with acloth-yard shaft, that chastiser of foes, the son of Pandu, felled thatscion of Kuru’s race from his car. The prince, O king, fell down andimmediately expired. At this, thy son Srutarvan, excited with rage,pierced Bhima with a hundred straight arrows winged with vulturinefeathers. Then Bhima, inflamed with rage, pierced Jaitra and Ravi andBhurivala, those three, with three shafts resembling poison or fire.Those mighty car-warriors, thus struck, fell down from their cars, likeKinsukas variegated with flowers in the season of spring cut down (by theaxe-man). Then that scorcher of foes, with another broad-headed arrow ofgreat keenness, struck Durvimochana and despatched him to Yama’s abode.Thus struck, that foremost of carwarriors fell down on the ground fromhis car, like a tree growing on the summit of a mountain when broken bythe wind. The son of Pandu next struck thy other two sons at the head oftheir forces, Dushpradharsha and Sujata, each with a couple of arrows inthat battle. Those two foremost of car-warriors, pierced with thoseshafts, fell down. Beholding next another son of thine, Durvishaha,rushing at him, Bhima pierced him with a broad-headed arrow in thatbattle. That prince fell down from his car in the very sight of all thebowmen. Beholding so many of his brothers slain by the singlehanded Bhimain that battle, Srutarvan, under the influence of rage, rushed at Bhima,stretching his formidable bow decked with gold and shooting a largenumber of arrows that resembled poison or fire in energy. Cutting off thebow of Pandu’s son in that dreadful battle, the Kuru prince pierced thebowless Bhima with twenty arrows. Then Bhimasena, that mightycar-warrior, taking up another bow, shrouded thy son with arrows andaddressing him, said, “Wait, Wait!’ The battle that took place betweenthe two was beautiful and fierce, like that which had occurred in days ofyore between Vasava and the Asura Jambha, O lord! With the keen shafts,resembling the fatal rods of Yama, sped by those two warriors, the Earth,the sky, and all the points of the compass, became shrouded. ThenSrutarvan, filled with rage, took up his bow and struck Bhimasena in thatbattle, O king, with many arrows on his arms and chest. Deeply pierced, Omonarch, by thy son armed with the bow, Bhima became exceedingly agitatedlike the ocean at the full or the new moon. Filled with wrath, Bhimathen, O sire, despatched with his arrows the driver and the four steedsof thy son to Yama’s abode. Beholding him carless, Pandu’s son ofimmeasurable soul, displaying the lightness of his hands, covered himwith winged arrows. The carless Srutarvan then, O king, took up a swordand shield. As the prince, however, careered with his sword and brightshield decked with a hundred moons, the son of Pandu struck off his headfrom his trunk with a razor-headed arrow and felled it on the Earth. Thetrunk of that illustrious warrior, rendered headless by means of thatrazor-headed arrow, fell down from his car, filling the Earth with a loudnoise. Upon the fall of that hero, thy troops, though terrified, rushedin that battle against Bhimasena from desire of fighting with him. Thevaliant Bhimasena, clad in mail, received those warriors rushing quicklyat him from among the unslain remnant of that ocean of troops.Approaching him, those warriors encompassed that hero on all sides. Thussurrounded by those warriors of thine, Bhima began to afflict them allwith keen shafts like him of a 1,000 eyes afflicting the Asuras. Havingdestroyed five hundred great cars with their fences, he once more slewseven hundred elephants in that battle. Slaying next 10,000 foot-soldierswith his mighty shafts, as also 800 steeds, the son of Pandu lookedresplendent. Indeed, Bhimasena, the son of Kunti, having slain thy sonsin battle, regarded his object achieved, O lord, and the purpose of hisbirth accomplished. Thy troops, at that time, O Bharata, ventured to evengaze at that warrior who was battling in that fashion and slaying thy menin that way. Routing all the Kurus and slaying those followers of theirs,Bhima then slapped his armpits, terrifying the huge elephants with thenoise he produced. Then thy army, O monarch, which had lost a very largenumber of men, and which then consisted of a very few soldiers, becameexceedingly cheerless, O king!'”