uished Shalya with those glances of his, while Dhananjaya, the son of
Kunti, vanquished Karna with his glances. Then the Suta's son, smilingly
addressing Shalya, said, "If Partha by any means slays me in battle
today, tell me truly, O friend, what thou wilt do after that." Shalya
answered, saying, "If thou art slain, I myself will slay both Krishna and
Dhananjaya." Once more the ruler of the Madras said, "If, O Karna, the
white steeded Arjuna slays thee in battle today, I myself, on a single
car, will slay both Madhava and Phalguna."'"

"Sanjaya continued, 'Arjuna also asked Govinda a similar question.
Krishna, however, smiling, said unto Partha these words of grave import,
"The Sun himself may fall down from his place, the Earth herself may
split into a 1,000 fragments; fire itself may become cold. Still Karna
will not be able to slay thee, O Dhananjaya! If, however, any such
occurrence takes place, know then that the destruction of the universe
will be at hand. As regards myself, I will, using my bare arms, slay both
Karna and Shalya in battle." Hearing these words of Krishna, the
ape-bannered Arjuna, smiling, replied unto Krishna who was never fatigued
with exertion, saying, "Shalya and Karna, united together, are not a
match for myself alone, O Janardana! Thou shalt today, O Krishna, behold
Karna with his standard and banners with Shalya and his car and steeds,
with his umbrella and armour and darts and shafts and bow, cut in pieces
with my shafts in battle. Thou shalt today behold him with his car and
steeds and darts and armour and weapons, reduced to dust like a tree in
the forest crushed by a tusker. Today the widowhood of the wives of
Radha's son is at hand. Verily, they must have in their (last night's)
dreams seen signs of approaching evil, O Mahadeva! Verily, thou shalt
today see the wives of Karna become widows. I cannot restrain my wrath at
what was done before now by this fool of little foresight when he beheld
Krishna dragged to the assembly and when laughing at us he abused us
repeatedly in vile words. Today, O Govinda, thou shalt behold Karna
crushed by me like a tree with its load of flowers crushed by an
infuriated elephant. Today, O slayer of Madhu, thou shalt, after Karna's
fall, hear those sweet words, 'By good luck, O thou of Vrishni's race,
victory hath been thine!' Thou shalt today comfort the mother of
Abhimanyu with a lighter heart for having paid thy debt to the foe. Today
thou shalt, filled