ing like
the crested Kailasa mount, thy sons fled away in terror. Duryodhana,
however, excited with wrath, urged the Magadha division consisting of ten
thousand elephants of great activity. Accompanied by that elephant
division and placing the ruler of Magadha before him, king Duryodhana
advanced towards Bhimasena. Beholding that elephant division advancing
towards him, Vrikodara, mace in hand, jumped down from his car, uttering
a loud roar like that of a lion. And armed with that mighty mace which
was endued with great weight and strength of adamant, he rushed towards
that elephant division, like the Destroyer himself with wide open mouth.
And the mighty-armed Bhimasena endued with great strength, slaying
elephants with his mace, wandered over the field, like the slayer of
Vritra among the Danava host. And with the loud shouts of the roaring
Bhima, shouts that made the mind and the heart to tremble with fear, the
elephants, crouching close, lost all power of motion. Then the sons of
Draupadi, and that mighty car-warrior, the son of Subhadra, and Nakula
and Sahadeva, and Dhrishtadyumna of Prishata's race, protecting Bhima's
rear, rushed behind him, checking all by scattering their arrowy showers
like the very clouds pouring rain on the mountain breast. And those
Pandava warriors struck off the heads of their foes battling from the
backs of elephants, with well-tempered and keen-edged shafts of diverse
forms.[380] And the heads (of elephant-riders), and arms decked with
ornaments, and hands with iron-hooks in grasp, falling fast, resembled a
stony shower. And the headless trunks of elephant-riders on the necks of
the beasts they rode, looked like headless trees on mountain summits. And
we beheld mighty elephants felled and falling, slain by Dhrishtadyumna,
the high-souled son of Prishata. Then the ruler of the Magadhas, in that
battle, urged his elephant resembling Airavata himself, towards the car
of Subhadra's son. Beholding that mighty elephant advancing towards him,
that slayer of hostile heroes, the brave son of Subhadra, slew it with a
single shaft. And when the ruler of the Magadhas was thus deprived of his
elephant, that conqueror of hostile cities viz., the son of Krishna, then
struck off that king's head with a broad-headed shaft with silver wings.
And Bhimasena, the son of Pandu, having penetrated that elephant
division, began to wander over the field, crushing those beasts around
him like Indra himself crushing