n, with the Panchalas and the
Prabhadrakas, and supported by other troops, were stationed in the
middle, O Bharata, for battle. And thither also was king Yudhishthira the
just, surrounded by his elephant division. And next to him were Satyaki,
O king, and the five sons of Draupadi. And immediately next to them was
Iravan. And next to him were Bhimasena's son (Ghatotkacha) and those
mighty car-warriors, the Kekayas. And next, on the left horn (of that
array), was that best of men, viz., he who had for his protector,
Janardana--that protector of the whole Universe. It was thus that the
Pandavas formed their mighty counter-array for the destruction of thy
sons and of those who had sided with them. Then commenced the battle
between thy troops and those of the foe striking one another, and in
which cars and elephants mingled in the clash of combat. Large numbers of
elephants and crowds of cars were seen everywhere, O king, to rush
towards one another for purposes of slaughter. And the rattle of
innumerable cars rushing (to join the fray), or engaged separately raised
a loud uproar, mingling with the beat of drums. And the shouts of the
heroic combatants belonging to thy army and theirs, O Bharata, slaying
one another in that fierce encounter, reached the very heavens."

SECTION LVII

Sanjaya said, "After the ranks of thy army and theirs had been disposed
in battle-array, that mighty car-warrior, Dhananjaya, felling in that
conflict leaders of car-divisions with his arrows, caused a great
carnage, O Bharata, among the car-ranks. The Dhartarashtras, (thus)
slaughtered in battle by Pritha's son, like the Destroyer himself at the
end of the Yuga, still fought perseveringly with the Pandavas. Desirous.
of (winning) blazing glory and (bent upon) making death (the only ground
for) a cessation of the fight, with minds undirected to anything else,
they broke the Pandava ranks in many places and were also themselves
broken. Then both the Pandava and the Kaurava troops broke, changed
positions, and fled away. Nothing could be distinguished. An earthly dust
arose, shrouding the very sun. And nobody there could distinguish, either
the cardinal or the subsidiary directions. And everywhere the battle
raged, O king, the combatants being guided by the indications afforded by
colours, by watch-words, names and tribal distinctions. And the array of
the Kauravas, O king, could not be broken, duly protected as it was by
Bharadwaja's son, O