tremendous uproar of conches and drums like forests shaken by the
tempest. And the noise made by the two armies, both of which abounded
with kings, elephants, and steeds, and which encountered each other in an
evil hour, resembled the noise made by oceans tossed by the tempest."

SECTION CI

Sanjaya said, "Then the noble Abhimanyu of great energy, borne by his
steeds of a tawny hue, rushed at the mighty host of Duryodhana,
scattering his arrowy showers like the clouds pouring torrents of rain. O
son of Kuru's race, thy warriors, in that battle, were unable to resist
that slayer of foes, viz., Subhadra's son, who, excited with wrath and
possessed of wealth of arms, was then immersed in that inexhaustible
ocean of (Kaurava) forces. Death-dealing shafts, O king, shot by him in
that battle, despatched many heroic Kshatriyas to the regions of the king
of the departed spirits. Indeed, excited with wrath Subhadra's son in
that battle shot fierce and blazing arrows in profusion that resembled
snakes of virulent poison or rods of death himself. And Phalguni's son
speedily split into fragments car-warriors with their cars, steeds with
their riders, and elephant-warriors along with the huge animals they
rode. And the rulers of the earth, filled with joy, applauded those
mighty feats in battle and praised him also that achieved them. And the
son of Subhadra, O Bharata, tossed those divisions (of the Kaurava army)
like the tempest tossing a heap of cotton on all sides in the welkin.
Routed by him, O Bharata, the troops failed to find a protector, like
elephants sunk in a slough. Then, O best of men, having routed all
troops, Abhimanyu stood, O king, like a blazing fire without a curl of
smoke. Indeed, O king, thy warriors were incapable of bearing that slayer
of foes, like insects impelled by fate unable to bear a blazing fire.
That mighty car-warrior and great bowman, having struck all the foes of
the Pandavas, looked at that moment like Vasava himself armed with the
thunder. And his bow, the back of whose staff was decked with gold, as it
moved on every side, seemed, O king, like the lightning's flash as it
spotted amid the clouds. And well-tempered and sharp shafts came from his
bow-string in that battle like flights of bees, O king, from blossoming
trees in the forest. And as the high-souled son of Subhadra careered on
the field on his car whose limbs were decked with gold, people were
incapable of finding an opportunity (f