Behind Duryodhana proceeded Kripa the son of Saradwat.  It was thus that that mighty array, resembling the very ocean, advanced (to battle).  And standards and white umbrellas, O lord, and beautiful bracelets and costly bows shed their effulgence there.  And beholding that mighty array of thy forces, that great car-warrior Yudhishthira, speedily addressed the generalissimo (of his forces), viz., Prishata’s son saying, ’Behold, O great bowman, that array, already formed, resembling the ocean.  Do thou also, O son of Prishata, form without delay thy counter-array. (Thus addressed), the heroic son of Prishata, O great king, formed that terrible array called Sringataka that is destructive of all hostile arrays.  At the horns were Bhimasena and that mighty car-warrior, viz., Satyaki, with many thousands of cars as also of horse and infantry.  Next to them was that foremost of men, (viz., Arjuna) of white steeds and having Krishna for his charioteer.[427] In the centre were king Yudhishthira and the twin sons of Pandu by Madri.  Other royal bowmen, conversant with the science of arrays, with their troops, filled up that array.  In the rear were ordered Abhimanyu, and that mighty car-warrior, Virata, and the sons of Draupadi and the Rakshasa Ghatotkacha.  Thus, O Bharata, having formed their mighty array, the heroic Pandavas waited on the field, longing for battle and desirous of victory.  And the loud noise of drums mingling with the blare of conches and leonine roars and shouts (of the combatants) and the slapping of their armpits, became terrible and filled all the points of the compass.  Then those brave warriors, approaching one another for battle, looked at one another, O king, with winkless eyes.  Then O ruler of men, the warriors, first challenging each other by name, engaged with each other.[428] Then commenced a fierce and terrible battle between thy troops and those of the foe striking one another.  And in that battle, O Bharata, whetted shafts fell in showers like terrible snakes with mouths wide open.  And polished darts of impetuous force, washed with oil, O king, shone like the effulgent flashes of lightning from the clouds.  And maces decked with gold and attached to bright slings were seen to fall all over the field, resembling beautiful crests of hills.  And sabres of the colour of the clear (blue) sky, O Bharata, and shields of bull’s hides and decked with a hundred moons, as they fell everywhere over the field, O king, looked beautiful.  And as the two armies, O king, were engaged in battle with each other, they looked resplendent like the celestial and the demoniac hosts battling with each other.  All around they rushed against one another in battle.  Foremost of royal car-warriors, impetuously dashing against car-warriors in that dreadful battle, fought on, with the yokes of their cars entangled with those of their adversaries.  And, O bull of Bharata’s race, all over the field flashes of fire mixed with smoke were generated, in consequence