of thy son, thy army suffered a great loss.  The Earth, O monarch, became strewn with the bodies of men and steeds, and covered with streams of blood that inspired the timid with terror.  Struck and mangled repeatedly with swords and battle axes and lances, thy warriors, as also the Pandavas, O Bharata, ceased to approach one another.  Striking one another according to the measure of their strength, and fighting to the last drop of their blood, the combatants fell down vomiting blood from their wounds.  Headless forms were seen, seizing the hair of their heads (with one hand) and with uplifted swords dyed with blood (in the other).  When many headless forms, O king, had thus risen up, when the scent of blood had made the combatants nearly senseless, and when the loud noise had somewhat subsided, Subala’s son (once more) approached the large host of the Pandavas, with the small remnant of his horse.  At this, the Pandavas, inspired with desires of victory and endued with foot-soldiers and elephants and cavalry, all with uplifted weapons, desirous of reaching the end of the hostilities, the Pandavas, forming a wall, encompassed Shakuni on all sides, and began to strike him with diverse kinds of weapons.  Beholding those troops of thine assailed from every side, the Kauravas, with horsemen, foot-soldiers, elephants, and cars, rushed towards the Pandavas.  Some foot-soldiers of great courage, destitute of weapons, attacked their foes in that battle, with feet and fists, and brought them down.  Car-warriors fell down from cars, and elephant-men from elephants, like meritorious persons falling down from their celestial vehicles upon the exhaustion of their merits.  Thus the combatants, engaged with one another in that great battle, slew sires and friends and sons.  Thus occurred that battle, O best of the Bharatas, in which no consideration was shown by anybody for anyone, and in which lances and swords and arrows fell fast, on every side and made the scene exceedingly terrible to behold.’”

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“Sanjaya said, ’When the loud noise of battle had somewhat subsided and the Pandavas had slain large numbers of their foes, Subala’s son (once more) came for fight with the remnant of his horsemen numbering seven hundred.  Quickly approaching his own soldiers and urging them to battle, he repeatedly said, “You chastisers of foes, fight cheerfully!” And he asked the Kshatriyas present there, saying, “Where is the king, that great car-warrior?” Hearing these words of Shakuni, O bull of Bharata’s race, they answered saying, “Yonder stayeth that great car-warrior, the Kuru king, there where that large umbrella of splendour equal to that of the full moon, is visible—­there where those car-warriors, clad in mail, are staying—­there where that loud noise, deep as the roar of clouds, is being heard!  Proceed quickly thither, O king, and thou wilt then see the Kuru monarch!” Thus addressed by those brave warriors, Subala’s son Shakuni, O king, proceeded to that spot where thy son was staying,