th excellent horse-soldiers and
many infuriate elephants of large size with temporal juice issuing from
their mouths and cheeks, and many brave foot-soldiers armed with diverse
weapons and born in diverse realms, are all prepared to do battle for thy
sake.[411] These, and many others ready for thy sake to lay down their
lives, are, as I think, competent to vanquish the very gods in battle. I
should, however, always tell thee, O king, what is for thy good. The
Pandavas are incapable of being vanquished by the very gods with Vasava.
They have Vasudeva for their ally and are equal to Mahendra himself in
prowess. As regards myself, I shall, however, always do thy bidding.
Either I shall vanquish the Pandavas in battle or they will vanquish me.'
Having said these words, the grandsire gave him an excellent herb of
great efficacy for healing his wounds. And therewith thy son was cured of
his wounds. Then at dawn when the sky was clear, the valiant Bhishma,
that foremost of men well-versed in all kinds of array, himself disposed
his troops in that array called Mandala bristling with weapons. And it
abounded with foremost of warriors and with tuskers and foot-soldiers.
And it was surrounded on all sides with many thousands of cars, and with
large bodies of horsemen armed with swords and lances. Near unto every
elephant were placed seven cars, and near unto every car were placed
seven horsemen. And behind every horseman were placed seven bowmen, and
behind every bowman were seven combatants with shields. And thus, O king,
thy army, arrayed by mighty car-warriors, stood for fierce battle,
protected by Bhishma. And ten thousand horses, and as many elephants, and
ten thousand cars, and thy sons, all equipped in mail, viz., the heroic
Chitrasena and others, protected the grandsire. And it was seen that
Bhishma was protected by those brave warriors, and those princes
themselves of great strength, accoutred in mail, were (in their turn)
protected by him. And Duryodhana accoutred in mail sat upon his car on
the field, and possessed of every grace, looked resplendent like Sakra
himself in heaven. Then, O Bharata, loud were the shouts uttered by thy
sons and deafening the clatter of cars and the uproar of musical
instruments. That mighty and impenetrable array of those slayer of foes,
viz., the Dhartarashtras (in the form called) Mandala, (thus) arrayed by
Bhishma, began to proceed, facing the west. Incapable of being defeated
by enemies, i