warriors and those of the foe,
resembling that between the gods and the Asuras in days of old. Neither
amongst the enemies nor amongst thine was there a single combatant that
turned away from that battle. The warriors fought, aided by guess and by
the names they uttered. Great was the destruction that occurred as they
thus fought with one another. Then king Yudhishthira, filled with great
wrath and becoming desirous of vanquishing the Dhartarashtras and their
king in that battle, pierced the son of Saradwat with three arrows winged
with gold and whetted on stone, and next slew with four others the four
steeds of Kritavarma. Then Ashvatthama bore away the celebrated son of
Hridika. Saradwat's son pierced Yudhishthira in return with eight arrows.
Then king Duryodhana despatched seven hundred cars to the spot where king
Yudhishthira was battling. Those cars ridden by excellent warriors and
endued with speed of the wind or thought, rushed in that battle against
the car of Kunti's son. Encompassing Yudhishthira on every side, they
made him invisible with their shafts like clouds hiding the sun from the
view. Then the Pandava heroes headed by Shikhandi, beholding king
Yudhishthira the just assailed in that way by the Kauravas, became filled
with rage and were unable to put up with it. Desirous of rescuing
Yudhishthira, the son of Kunti, they came to that spot upon their cars
possessed of great speed and adorned with rows of bells. Then commenced
an awful battle, in which blood flowed as water, between the Pandavas and
the Kurus, that increased the population of Yama's domains. Slaying those
seven hundred hostile car-warriors of the Kuru army, the Pandavas and the
Pancalas once more resisted (the whole Kuru army). There a fierce battle
was fought between thy son and the Pandavas. We had never before seen or
heard of its like. During the progress of that battle in which no
consideration was showed by anybody for anybody, and while the warriors
of thy army and those of the foe were falling fast, and the combatants
were all shouting and blowing their conchs, and the bowmen were roaring
and uttering loud noises of diverse kinds, while, indeed, the battle was
raging fiercely and the very vitals of the combatants were being struck,
and the troops, O sire, desirous of victory, were rushing with speed,
while, verily, everything on Earth seemed to be undergoing a woeful
destruction, during that time when innumerable ladies of birth and b