with men, steeds, and elephants,
that river formed by the blood of men and steeds and elephants and
horsemen and elephant-men, became miry with flesh and exceedingly
terrible. And on that current, inspiring the timid with terror, floated
the bodies of men and steeds and elephants. Impelled by the desire of
victory, some combatants forded it and some remained on the other side.
And some plunged into its depths, and some sank in it and some rose above
its surface as they swam through it. Smeared all over with blood, their
armour and weapons and robes--all became bloody. Some bathed in it and
some drank the liquid and some became strengthless, O bull of Bharata's
race. Cars and steeds, and men and elephants and weapons and ornaments,
and robes and armour, and combatants that were slain or about to be
slain, and the Earth, the welkin, the firmament, and all the points of
the compass, became red. With the odour, the touch, the taste, and the
exceedingly red sight of that blood and its rushing sound, almost all the
combatants, O Bharata, became very cheerless. The Pandava heroes then,
headed by Bhimasena and Satyaki, once more rushed impetuously against
that army already beaten. Beholding the impetuosity of that rush of the
Pandava heroes to be irresistible, the vast force of thy sons, O king,
turned its back on the field. Indeed, that host of thine, teeming with
cars and steeds and elephants and men no longer in compact array, with
armour and coats of mail displaced and weapons and bows loosened from
their grasp, fled away in all directions, whilst being agitated by the
enemy, even like a herd of elephants in the forest afflicted by lions.'"

50

"Sanjaya said, 'Beholding the Pandava heroes rushing impetuously towards
thy host, Duryodhana, O monarch, endeavoured to check the warriors of his
army on all sides, O bull of Bharata race. Although, however, thy son
cried at the top of his voice, his flying troops, O king, still refused
to stop. Then one of the wings of the army and its further wing, and
Shakuni, the son of Subala, and the Kauravas well-armed turned against
Bhimasena in that battle. Karna also, beholding the Dhartarashtra force
with all its kings flying away, addressed the ruler of the Madras,
saying, "Proceed towards the car of Bhima." Thus addressed by Karna, the
ruler of the Madras began to urge those foremost of steeds, of the hue of
swans, towards the spot where Vrikodara was. Thus urged by Shalya, that
o