Those Dhartarashtra combatants, filled with rage and
invincible in battle, having approached Bhimasena,
uttered furious shouts. They then spoke not to
one another. Encompassing Bhima in that battle,
they began to strike him from all sides. Surrounded
by that large body of warriors on foot and struck
by them in that battle, Bhima did not stir from where
he stood fixed like Mainaka mountain. His assailants,
meanwhile, filled with rage, O monarch, endeavoured
to afflict that mighty car-warrior of the Pandavas
and checked other combatants (that tried to rescue
him). Encountered by those warriors, Bhima became
filled with fury. Quickly alighting from his
car, he proceeded on foot against them. Taking
up his massive mace adorned with gold, he began to
slay thy troops like the Destroyer himself armed with
his club. The mighty Bhima, with his mace, crushed
those 21,000 foot-soldiers who were without cars and
steeds and elephants. Having slain that strong
division, Bhima, of prowess incapable of being baffled,
showed himself with Dhrishtadyumna in his front.
The Dhartarashtra foot-soldiers, thus slain, lay down
on the ground, bathed in blood, like Karnikaras with
their flowery burthens laid low by a tempest.
Adorned with garlands made of diverse kinds of flowers,
and decked with diverse kinds of earrings, those combatants
of diverse races, who had hailed from diverse realms,
lay down on the field, deprived of life. Covered
with banners and standards, that large host of foot-soldiers,
thus cut down, looked fierce and terrible and awful
as they lay down on the field. The mighty car-warriors,
with their followers, that fought under Yudhishthira’s
lead, all pursued thy illustrious son Duryodhana.
Those great bowmen, beholding thy troops turn away
from the battle, proceeded against Duryodhana, but
they could not transgress him even as the ocean cannot
transgress its continents. The prowess that we
then beheld of thy son was exceedingly wonderful, since
all the Parthas, united together, could not transgress
his single self. Then Duryodhana, addressing
his own army which had not fled far but which, mangled
with arrows, had set its heart on flight, said these
words, “I do not see the spot on plain or mountain,
whither, if ye fly, the Pandavas will not pursue and
slay ye! What is the use then of flight?
The army of the Pandavas hath been reduced in numbers.
The two Krishnas are exceedingly mangled. If
all of us make a stand, victory will be certainly
ours! If you fly away, losing all order, the sinful
Pandavas, pursuing you will slay you all! If,
on the other hand, we make a stand, good will result
to us! Listen, all you Kshatriyas that are assailed
here! When the Destroyer always slays heroes and
cowards, what man is there so stupid that, calling
himself a Kshatriya, will not fight? Good will
result to us if we stay in the front of the angry Bhimasena!
Death in battle, while struggling according to Kshatriya
practices, is fraught with happiness! Winning


