with the shafts of that illustrious warrior, even as a host is covered with the dust it raises while marching or rushing to battle.  The Earth then, O lord of Earth, seemed to me to be made one entire expanse of arrows by thy son Duryodhana, that bowman possessed of great lightness of hands.  Amongst those thousands upon thousands of warriors on the field, belonging to thy side or that of the enemy, it seemed to me that Duryodhana was then the only man.  The prowess that we then beheld of thy son seemed to be exceedingly wonderful, since the Parthas, even uniting together, could not approach his single self.  He pierced Yudhishthira, O bull of Bharata’s race, with a hundred arrows, and Bhimasena with seventy, and Sahadeva with seven.  And he pierced Nakula with four and sixty, and Dhrishtadyumna with five, and the sons of Draupadi with seven, and Satyaki with three arrows.  With a broad-headed arrow, he then, O sire, cut off the bow of Sahadeva.  Laying aside that broken bow, the valiant son of Madri, took up another formidable bow, and rushing against king Duryodhana, pierced him with ten shafts in that battle.  The great bowman Nakula, possessed of courage, then pierced the king with nine terrible arrows and uttered a loud roar.  Satyaki struck the king with a single straight shaft; the sons of Draupadi struck him with three and seventy and king Yudhishthira struck him with five.  And Bhimasena afflicted the king with eighty shafts.  Though pierced thus from every side with numerous arrows by these illustrious warriors, Duryodhana still, O monarch, did not waver, in the presence of all the troops who stood there as spectators.  The quickness, the skill, and the prowess of that illustrious warrior were seen by all the men there to exceed those of every creature.  Meanwhile the Dhartarashtras, O monarch, who had not fled far from that spot, beholding the king, rallied and returned there, clad in mail.  The noise made by them when they came back became exceedingly awful, like the roar of the surging ocean in the season of rains.  Approaching their unvanquished king in that battle, those great bowmen proceeded against the Pandavas for fight.  The son of Drona resisted in that battle the angry Bhimasena.  With the arrows, O monarch, that were shot in that battle, all the points of the compass became completely shrouded, so that the brave combatants could not distinguish the cardinal from the subsidiary points of the compass.  As regards Ashvatthama and Bhimasena, O Bharata, both of them were achievers of cruel feats.  Both of them were irresistible in battle.  The arms of both contained many cicatrices in consequence of both having repeatedly drawn the bow-string.  Counteracting each other’s feats, they continued to fight with each other, frightening the whole Universe.  The heroic Shakuni assailed Yudhishthira in that battle.  The mighty son of Subala, having slain the four steeds of the king, uttered a loud roar, causing all the troops to tremble with fear.  Meanwhile, the valiant