a
raging fire. Huge elephants, burnt by that weapon, fell down on the earth
all around, uttering fierce cries loud as the rumblings of the clouds.
Other huge elephants, scorched by that fire, ran hither and thither, and
roared aloud in fear, as if in the midst of a forest conflagration. The
steeds, O king, and the cars also, burnt by the energy of that weapon,
looked, O sire, like the tops of trees burnt in a forest-fire. Thousands
of cars fell down on all sides. Indeed, O Bharata, it seemed that the
divine lord Agni burnt the (Pandava) host in that battle, like the
Samvarta fire consuming everything at the end of the Yuga.

"'Beholding the Pandava army thus burning in that dreadful battle, thy
soldiers, O king, filled with joy, uttered leonine shouts. Indeed, the
combatants, desirous of victory and filled with joy, speedily blew
thousands of trumpets, O Bharata, of diverse kinds. Darkness having
enveloped the world during that fierce battle, the entire Pandava army,
with Savyasachin, the son of Panda, could not be seen. We had never
before, O king, heard of or seen the like of that weapon which Drona's
son created in wrath on that occasion. Then Arjuna, O king, invoked into
existence the Brahma weapon, capable of baffling every other weapon, as
ordained by the Lotus-born (Brahma) himself. Within a moment that
darkness was dispelled, cool winds began to blow, and all the points of
the compass became clear and bright. We then beheld a wonderful sight,
viz., a full Akshauhini (of the Pandava troops) laid low. Burnt by the
energy of Aswatthaman's weapon, the forms of the slain could not be
distinguished. Then those two heroic and mighty bowmen, viz., Kesava and
Arjuna, freed from that darkness, were seen together, like the sun and
the moon in the firmament. Indeed, the wielder of Gandiva and Kesava were
both unwounded. Equipped with its banners and standards and steeds, with
the Anukarsa unjoined; and with all the mighty weapons stored on it
remaining uninjured, that car, so terrible to thy warriors, freed from
that darkness, shone resplendent on the field. And soon there arose
diverse sounds of life mingled with the blare of conchs and the beat of
drums, from among the Pandava troops filled with joy. Both hosts thought
that Kesava and Arjuna had perished. Beholding Kesava and Arjuna,
therefore (freed from darkness and the energy of that weapon) and seeing
that reappear so quickly, the Pandavas were filled with joy, and the