us kinds of attire and ornament and accoutred in mail,
flew at me with a mighty rush. And those foremost of the Danavas, of
exceeding prowess, in wrath attacked me with arrows and bhallas and clubs
and two-edged swords, and tomaras. Thereat, O king, resorting to my
strength of lore, I resisted that great volley of weapons by a mighty
shower of shafts; and also confounded them in conflict by ranging around
in my car. And being bewildered, the Danavas began to push each other
down. And having been confounded, they rushed at one another. And with
flaming arrows, I severed their heads by hundreds. And hard pressed by
me, the offspring of Diti, taking shelter within (their) city, soared
with it to the firmament, resorting to the illusion proper to the
Danavas. Thereupon, O son of the Kurus, covering the way of the Daityas,
with a mighty discharge of shafts I obstructed their course. Then by
virtue of the bestowal of the boon, the Daityas supported themselves
easily on that sky-ranging unearthly aerial city, going anywhere at will
and like unto the sun. And now (the city) entered unto the earth and now
it rose upwards; and at one time it went in a crooked way and at another
time it submerged into water. At this, O represser of foes, I assailed
that mighty city, going anywhere at will, and resembling Amaravati. And,
O best of the Bharatas, I attacked the city containing those sons of
Diti, with multitudes of shafts, displaying celestial weapons. And
battered and broken by the straight-coursing iron shafts, shot by me, the
city of the Asuras, O king, fell to the earth. And they also, wounded by
my iron arrows having the speed of the thunder, began, O monarch, to go
about, being urged by destiny. Then ascending to the sky, Matali, as if
falling in front, swiftly descended to the earth, on that chariot of
solar resplendence. Then, O Bharata, environed me sixty thousand cars
belonging to those wrathful ones eager to battle with me. And with
sharpened shafts graced with feathers of the vulture, I destroyed those
(cars). At this, thinking, 'These our hosts are incapable of being
vanquished by mortals, they became engaged in the conflict, like unto the
surges of the sea.' Thereupon I gradually began to fix (on the string)
unearthly weapons. At this, thousands of weapons (shot) by those
wonderfully warring charioteers, by degrees opposed my unearthly arms and
in the field I saw hundreds and thousands of mighty (demons) ranging on
their