ing,
displaying the illusion of his weapons. Shot by Vrishasena in that
battle, thousands of arrows coursed in all directions, piercing through
men and steeds and cars and elephants. Mighty arrows, of blazing
effulgence, shot by him, coursed in thousands, like the rays, O monarch,
of the sun, in the summer season. Afflicted and crushed therewith, O
king, car-warriors and horse-men, suddenly fell down on the earth, like
trees broken by the wind. The mighty car-warrior Vrishasena, O king,
felled large bodies of steeds, of cars and of elephants, in that battle,
by thousands. Beholding that single warrior coursing fearlessly on the
field, all the kings (of the Pandava army) uniting together, surrounded
him on all sides. Nakula's son, Satanika, rushed at Vrishasena and
pierced him with ten arrows capable of penetrating into the vitals. The
son of Karna, however, cutting off his bow, felled then his standard.
Thereupon, the other sons of Draupadi, desirous of rescuing that brother
of theirs, rushed at him. And soon they made Karna's son invisible by
means of their arrowy showers. Against them thus smiting (the son of
Karna), many car-warriors headed by Drona's son (Aswatthaman) rushed. And
those, O monarch, quickly covered those mighty car-warriors, viz., the
sons of Draupadi, with diverse kinds of arrows like clouds pouring rain
on mountain breasts. Thereupon, the Pandavas, from affection for their
sons, quickly encountered those assailants. The battle then that took
place between thy troops and those of the Pandavas, was exceedingly
fierce and made the hairs stand on their ends, resembling as it did that
between the Gods and the Danavas. Even thus did the heroic Kauravas and
the Pandavas, excited with rage, fight, eyeing one another (furiously)
and having incurred one another's animosity for past offences. The bodies
of those heroes of immeasurable energy then seemed, in consequence of
(the) wrath (that inspired them), to resemble those of Garuda and
(mighty) Nagas battling in the sky. And with Bhima and Karna and Kripa
and Drona and Drona's son and Prishata's son and Satyaki, the field of
battle looked resplendent like the all-destructive sun that rises at the
end of the Yuga. The battle that took place between those mighty men
engaged with mighty antagonists and all smiting one another was fierce in
the extreme, resembling that (of yore) between the Danavas and the gods.
Then Yudhishthira's host, uttering a shout, loud as t