courage,
attacking them from all sides, began to resist the Pandavas. Then that
tiger among men, viz., the son of Prishata, uniting with the Pandavas,
began repeatedly to strike Drona, for piercing the hostile host. Indeed,
as Drona showered his arrows on Prishata's son, even so did the latter
shower his on Drona. Having scimitars and swords for the winds that blew
before it, well-equipped with darts and lances and sabres, with the
bow-string constituting its lightning, and the (twang of the) bow for its
roars, the Dhrishtadyumna-cloud poured on all sides torrents of weapons,
as its showers of stones. Slaying the foremost of car-warriors and a
large number of steeds, the son of Prishata seemed to deluge the hostile
divisions (with his arrowy downpours). And the son of Prishata, by his
arrows, turned Drona away from all those tracks amid the car-divisions of
the Pandavas, through which that hero attempted to pass, striking the
warriors there with his shafts. And although Drona struggled vigorously
in that battle, yet his host, encountering Dhrishtadyumna, became divided
into three columns. One of these retreated towards Kritavarman, the chief
of the Bhojas; another towards Jalasandha; and fiercely slaughtered the
while by the Pandavas, proceeded towards Drona himself. Drona, that
foremost of car-warriors, repeatedly united his troops. The mighty
warrior Dhrishtadyumna as often smote and separated them. Indeed, the
Dhartarashtra force, divided into three bodies, was slaughtered by the
Pandavas and the Srinjayas fiercely, like a herd of cattle in the woods
by many beasts of prey, when unprotected by herdsmen. And people thought
that in that dreadful battle, it was Death himself who was swallowing the
warriors first stupefied by Dhrishtadyumna. As a kingdom of a bad king is
destroyed by famine and pestilence and robbers, even so was thy host
afflicted by the Pandavas. And in consequence of the rays of the sun
falling upon the weapons and the warriors, and of the dust raised by the
soldiers, the eyes of all were painfully afflicted. Upon the Kaurava host
being divided into three bodies during that dreadful carnage by the
Pandavas, Drona, filled with wrath, began to consume the Panchalas with
his shafts. And while engaged in crushing those divisions and
exterminating them with his shafts, the form of Drona became like that of
the blazing Yuga-fire. That mighty car-warrior pierced cars, elephants,
and steeds, and foot-soldiers,