son in battle, the divisions of thy army and of the
foe, O Bharata, became mingled with one another.
Tremendous was the din, O Bharata, that arose there
of those warriors burning with rage and rushing against
each other. And it was heard on all sides, O king.
With the blare of conchs and the leonine shouts of
the soldiers, the uproar became awful. The splendour,
equal to that of either the Sun or the Moon, of bracelets
and diadems of all the heroic kings, became dimmed.
And the dust that rose looked like a cloud, the flash
of bright weapons constituting its lightning.
And the twang of bows, the whiz of arrows, the blare
of conchs, the loud beat of drums, and the rattle of
cars, of both the armies, constituted the fierce roar
of those clouds. And the welkin, over the field
of battle, in consequence of the bearded darts, the
javelins, the swords and showers of arrows of both
armies, was darkened. And car-warriors, and horsemen
felled horsemen, in that dreadful battle. And
elephants killed elephants, and foot-soldiers slew
foot-soldiers. And the battle that took place
there for Bhishma’s sake, between the Kurus
and the Pandavas, O tiger among men, was fierce in
the extreme, like that between two hawks for a piece
of flesh. Engaged in battle, that encounter between
those combatants desirous of slaughtering and vanquishing
one another, was extremely dreadful.”
Sanjaya said, “Abhimanyu, O king, displaying
his prowess for the sake of Bhishma, fought with thy
son who was supported by a large force. Then
Duryodhana, excited with wrath, struck Abhimanyu in
the chest with rune straight arrows, and once more
with three. Then in that battle, Arjuna’s
son, inflamed with wrath, hurled at Duryodhana’s
car a terrible dart resembling the rod of Death himself.
Thy son, however, that mighty car-warrior, O king,
with a broad-headed arrow of great sharpness, cut
off in twain that dart of terrible force coursing towards
him with great speed. Beholding that dart of
his drop down on the earth, Arjuna’s wrathful
son pierced Duryodhana with three shafts in his arms
and chest. And once more, O Chief of the Bharatas,
that mighty car-warrior of Bharata’s race struck
the Kuru king with ten fierce shafts in the centre
of his chest. And the battle, O Bharata, that
took place between those two heroes, viz., Subhadra’s
son, and that bull of Kuru’s race, the former
fighting for compassing Bhishma’s death and the
latter for Arjuna’s defeat, was fierce and interesting
to behold, and gratifying to the senses, and was applauded
by all the kings. That bull among Brahmanas and
chastiser of foes, viz., the son of Drona, excited
with wrath in that battle, forcibly struck Satyaki
in the chest with fierce arrow. The grandson
of Sini also, that hero of immeasurable soul, struck
the preceptor’s son in every vital limbs with
nine shafts winged with the feathers of the Kanka
bird. Aswatthaman then, in that battle, struck
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