approached Bhima who had been fighting with those
great car-warriors and fell upon those fierce combatants,
numbering ten, of thy army, O Bharata. Then Vibhatsu,
desirous of doing what was agreeable to Bhima, pierced
all those warriors, O king, who had been battling
with Bhima. Then king Duryodhana urged Susarman,
for the destruction of both Arjuna and Bhimasena, saying,
’O Susarman, go thou quickly supported by a large
force. Slay those two sons of Pandu,
viz.,
Dhananjaya and Vrikodara.’ Hearing these
words of his, the Trigarta king who ruled the country
called Prasthala, quickly rushed in battle upon those
two bowmen,
viz., Bhima and Dhananjaya, and surrounded
them both by many thousands of cars. Then commenced
a fierce battle between Arjuna and the foe.”
Sanjaya said, “Arjuna covered with his straight
shafts the mighty car-warrior Salya who was struggling
vigorously in battle. And he pierced Susarman
and Kripa with three arrows each. And in that
battle the Atiratha Arjuna, afflicting thy host, struck
the ruler of the Pragjyotishas, and Jayadratha the
king of the Sindhus, and Chitrasena, and Vikarna,
and Kritavarman, and Durmarshana, O monarch, and those
two mighty car-warriors, viz., the princes of
Avanti, each with three arrows winged with the feathers
of the Kanka and the peacock. Jayadratha, staying
on the car of Chitrasena, pierced Partha (in return),
O Bharata, and then, without loss of time, Bhima also,
with his shafts. And Salya, and that foremost
of car-warriors, viz., Kripa, both pierced Jishnu,
O monarch, with diverse arrows capable of penetrating
into the very vitals. Thy sons headed by Chitrasena,
O king, each quickly pierced Arjuna and Bhimasena
in that battle, O sire, with five sharp shafts.
Those two foremost of car-warriors however, viz.,
those sons of Kunti, those bulls of Bharata’s
race, began in that battle to afflict the mighty host
of the Trigartas. Susarman (in return) pierced
Partha with nine swift arrows, and uttered a loud
shout frightening the vast host (of the Pandavas).
And other heroic car-warriors pierced Bhimasena and
Dhananjaya with many straight-going arrows of keen
points and golden wings. Amid these car-warriors,
however, those two bulls of Bharata’s race, viz.,
the two sons of Kunti, those great car-warriors, looked
exceedingly beautiful. And they seemed to sport
amid them like two furious lions amid a herd of kine.
Cutting off in various ways the bows and arrows of
many brave warriors in that battle, those two heroes
felled the heads of combatants by hundreds upon hundreds.
Innumerable cars were broken, and steeds by hundreds
were slain, and many elephants, along with their riders,
were laid low on the field in that dreadful battle.
And car-warriors and horsemen and elephant-riders
in large numbers, O king, deprived of life were seen
moving in convulsions all over the field. And
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