d Phalguna. Both of them are accomplished in weapons, and Vasudeva
himself is protecting them. (For all that, I feel anxious on their
account), I should certainly seek to remove my anxiety. I shall,
therefore, set Bhima to follow in the wake of Satyaki. Having done this,
I should regard my arrangements complete for the rescue of Satyaki."
Yudhishthira, the son of Dharma, having settled this in his mind,
addressed his charioteer and said, "Take me to Bhima." Hearing the
command of king Yudhishthira the Just, the charioteer who was versed in
horse-lore, took that car decked with gold to where Bhima was. Arrived at
the presence of Bhima, the king, remembering the occasion, became
unmanned by grief, and pressed Bhima with diverse solicitations. Indeed,
overwhelmed with grief, the monarch addressed Bhima. And these were the
words, O king, that Yudhishthira the son of Kunti then said unto him, "O
Bhima, I do not behold the standard of that Arjuna, who on a single car
had vanquished all the gods, the Gandharvas and Asuras!" Then Bhimasena,
addressing king Yudhishthira the Just who was in that plight, said,
"Never before did I see, or hear thy words afflicted with such
cheerlessness. Indeed, formerly, when we were smitten with grief, it was
thou who hadst been our comforter. Rise, Rise, O king of kings, say what
I am to do for thee. O giver of honours, there is nothing that I cannot
do. Tell me what your commands are, O foremost one of Kuru's race! Do not
set your heart on grief." Unto Bhimasena then, the king with a sorrowful
face and with eyes bathed in tears, said, sighing the while like a black
cobra, "The blasts of the conch Panchajanya, wrathfully blown by Vasudeva
of world-wide renown, are being heard. It seems, from this, that thy
brother Dhananjaya lieth today on the field, deprived of life. Without
doubt, Arjuna having been slain, Janardana is fighting. That hero of
great might, relying on whose prowess the Pandavas are alive, he to whom
we always turn in times of fear like the celestials towards their chief
of a thousand eyes, that hero hath, in search after the ruler of Sindhus,
penetrated into the Bharata host. I know this, O Bhima, viz., that he
hath gone, but he hath not yet returned. Dark in complexion, youthful in
years, of curly locks, exceedingly handsome mighty car-warrior, of broad
chest and long arms, possessed of the tread of an infuriated elephant, of
eyes of the colour of burnished copper and like those a