that battle, surrounded him on all
sides, at the command of Duryodhana. The ruler of the Madras at this time
quickly pierced Yudhishthira with seven arrows in that battle. The
high-souled son of Pritha, O king, in return, pierced his foe with nine
arrows in that dreadful encounter. Those two great car-warriors, the
ruler of the Madras and Yudhishthira, began to cover each other with
arrows, washed in oil and shot from their bowstrings stretched to their
ears. Those two best of kings, both endued with great strength, both
incapable of being defeated by foes, and both foremost of car-warriors,
watchful of each other's lapses, quickly and deeply pierced each other
with each other's shafts. The loud noise of their bows, bowstrings, and
palms resembled that of Indra's thunder as those high-souled warriors,
the brave ruler of the Madras and the heroic Pandava, showered upon each
other their numberless arrows. They careered on the field of battle like
two young tigers in the deep forest fighting for a piece of meat.
Swelling with pride of prowess, they mangled each other like a couple of
infuriate elephants equipped with powerful tusks. Then the illustrious
ruler of the Madras, endued with fierce impetuosity, putting forth his
vigour, pierced the heroic Yudhishthira of terrible might in the chest
with shaft possessed of the splendour of fire or the sun. Deeply pierced,
O king, that bull of Kuru's race, the illustrious Yudhishthira, then
struck the ruler of the Madras with a well-shot shaft and became filled
with joy. Recovering his senses within a trice, that foremost of kings
(Shalya), possessed of prowess equal to that of him of a 1,000 eyes, with
eyes red in wrath, quickly struck the son of Pritha with a hundred
arrows. At this, the illustrious son of Dharma filled with rage, quickly
pierced Shalya's chest and then, without losing a moment, struck his
golden mail with six shafts. Filled with joy, the ruler of the Madras
then, drawing his bow and having shot many arrows, at last cut off, with
a pair of razor-faced shafts, the bow of his royal foe, that bull of
Kuru's race. The illustrious Yudhishthira then, taking a new and more
formidable bow in that battle, pierced Shalya with many arrows of keen
points from every side like Indra piercing the Asura Namuchi. The
illustrious Shalya then, cutting off the golden coats of mail of both
Bhima and king Yudhishthira with nine arrows, pierced the arms of both of
them. With another ra