ling all the firmament, those sounds produced echoes. Thereat mighty
beings were terrified and they hid (themselves). And then, O Bharata,
all of them adorned with ornaments, those offsprings of _Diti_--the
_Nivata-Kavachas_--made their appearance by thousands, donning diverse
mail and taking in their hands various weapons and equipped with mighty
iron javelins and maces and clubs and hatchets and sabres and discs and
_sataghnis_ and _bhusundis_ and variegated and ornamented swords. Then,
after deliberating much as to the course of the car, Matali began to
guide the steeds on a (piece of) level ground, O foremost of the
Bharatas. And owing to the swiftness of those fleet coursers conducted
by him, I could see nothing--and this was strange. Then the _Danavas_
there began to sound thousands of musical instruments, dissonant and of
odd shapes. And at those sounds, fishes by hundreds and by thousands,
like unto hills, having their senses bewildered by that noise, fled
suddenly. And mighty force flew at me, the demons discharging sharpened
shafts by hundreds and by thousands. And then, O Bharata, there ensued a
dreadful conflict between me and the demons, calculated to extinguish
the _Nivata Kavachas_. And there came to the mighty battle the
_Devarshis_ and the _Danavarshis_ and the _Brahmarshis_ and the
_Siddhas_. And desirous of victory, the _Munis eulogised_ me with the
same sweet-speeches that (they had eulogised) Indra with, at the war,
(which took place) for the sake of _Tara_.'"

SECTION CLXIX

"Arjuna continued, 'Then, O Bharata, vehemently rushed at me in battle
in a body the _Nivata-Kavachas_, equipped with arms. And obstructing the
course of the car, and shouting loudly, those mighty charioteers,
hemming me in on all sides, covered me with showers of shafts. Then
other demons of mighty prowess, with darts and hatchets in their hands,
began to throw at me spears and axes. And that mighty discharge of
darts, with numerous maces and clubs incessantly hurled fell upon my
car. And other dreadful and grim-visaged smiters among the
_Nivata-Kavachas_, furnished with bows and sharpened weapons, ran at me
in fight. And in the conflict, shooting from the _Gandiva_ sundry swift
arrows coursing straight, I pierced each of them with ten. And they were
driven back by those stone-whetted shafts of mine. Then on my steeds
being swiftly driven by Matali, they began to display various movements
with the speed of the wind. And bei