the warriors. Incorporeal voices
and flashes of meteoric falls were heard and seen in the welkin. And
jackals, howling fiercely, foreboded great calamity. And, O monarch,
these and a hundred other kinds of fierce portents made their appearance
when the king installed Ganga's son in the command of his troops. And
after making Bhishma--that grinder of hostile hosts--his general, and
having also caused by abundant gifts of kine and gold to the Brahmanas to
pronounce benedictions on him, and glorified by those benedictions, and
surrounded by his troops, and with Ganga's son in the van, and
accompanied by his brothers, Duryodhana marched to Kurukshetra with his
large host. And the Kuru king, going over the plain with Karna in his
company, caused his camp to be measured out on a level part, O monarch,
of that plain. And the camp, pitched on a delightful and fertile spot
abounding with grass and fuel, shone like Hastinapura itself."

SECTION CLVIII

Janamejaya said, "When Yudhishthira heard that Bhishma, the high-souled
son of Ganga, the foremost of all wielders of weapons, the grandsire of
the Bharatas, the head of all the kings, the rival of Vrihaspati in
intellect, resembling the ocean in gravity, the mountains of Himavat in
calmness, the Creator himself in nobleness, and the sun in energy, and
capable of slaying hostile hosts like great Indra himself by showering
his arrows, was installed, till his removal by death, in the command of
the Kuru army on the eve of the great sacrifice of battle, terrific in
its mien and capable of making one's hairs stand on their ends, what did
that mighty-armed son of Pandu, that foremost of wielders of weapons,
say? What also did Bhima and Arjuna say? And what too did Krishna say?"

Vaisampayana said, "When news was received of this, Yudhishthira endued
with great intelligence and well-acquainted with what should be done in
view of dangers and calamities summoned all his brothers and also the
eternal Vasudeva (to his presence). And that foremost of speakers then
said in a mild voice, 'Make your rounds among the soldiers, and remain
carefully, casing yourselves in mail. Our first encounter will be with
our grandsire. Look ye for (seven) leaders for the seven Akshauhinis of
my troops.'

"Krishna said, 'Those words of grave import, which, O bull of the Bharata
race, it behoveth thee to utter on an occasion like this, have, indeed,
been uttered by thee. Even this, O mighty armed one, is