with kings, they should not desire to fight with such as are not kings.
Surrounded, therefore, by elephants and steeds and cars, repair thou
thither, O son of Kunti, where Dhananjaya with myself, aided by a small
force, and Bhima also, that tiger among men, are fighting with the
Kurus". Hearing these words of Vasudeva, king Yudhishthira the just,
reflecting for a moment, proceeded to that part of the field where that
slayer of foes, viz., Bhima, engaged in fierce battle, was slaughtering
thy troops like the Destroyer himself with wide-open mouth. Making the
earth resound with the loud rattle of his car, which resembled the roar
of the clouds at the end of summer, king Yudhishthira the just, the
(eldest) son of Pandu, took up the flank of Bhima, engaged in the
slaughter of the foe. Drona also on that night, began to consume his
foes, the Panchalas.'"

SECTION CLXII

"Sanjaya said, 'During the progress of that fierce and terrible battle,
when the world was enveloped with darkness and dust, O king, the
combatants, as they stood on the field, could not see one another. Those
foremost of Kshatriyas fought with each other, guided by conjectures and
the personal and other names (they uttered). And during the progress, O
lord, of that terrible carnage of car-warriors and elephants and steeds
and foot-soldiers[212], those heroes, viz., Drona and Karna and Kripa,
and Bhima and Prishata's son and Satwata, afflicted one another and the
troops of either party, O bull of Bharata's race. The combatants of both
armies, oppressed all around by those foremost of car-warriors, during
the hour of darkness, fled away on all sides. Indeed, the warriors, broke
and fled away in all directions with hearts perfectly cheerless. And as
they fled away in all directions, they underwent a great carnage.
Thousands of foremost car-warriors also, O king, slaughtered one another
in that battle. Unable to see anything in the dark, the combatants became
deprived of their senses. All this was the result of the evil counsels of
thy son. Indeed, at that hour when the world was enveloped in darkness,
all creatures, O Bharata, including even the foremost of warriors,
overcome with panic, were deprived of their senses in that battle.'[213]

"Dhritarashtra said, 'What became the state of your mind then when,
afflicted by that darkness, ye all were deprived of your energy and
furiously agitated by the Pandavas! How also, O Sanjaya, when everything
was envelo