pable of slaying foes. And seeing
that an encounter was imminent between them, the Kauravas, anxious to
witness it, stood aloof as lookers on. And beholding the offender Karna,
the son of Pandu, excited to fury, and glad also at having him, soon
made him, his horses, his car, and car-driver invisible by means of a
frightful shower of countless arrows. And the warriors of the Bharatas
headed by Bhishma, with their horses, elephants, and cars, pierced by
Kiritin and rendered invisible by means of his shafts, their ranks also
scattered and broken, began to wail aloud in grief. The illustrious and
heroic Karna, however counteracting with numberless arrows of his own
those shafts by Arjuna's hand, soon burst forth in view with bow and
arrows like a blazing fire. And then there arose the sound of loud
clapping of hands, with the blare of conchs and trumpets and
kettle-drums made by the Kurus while they applauded Vikartana's son who
filled the atmosphere with the sound of his bow-string flapping against
his fence. And beholding Kiritin filling the air with the twang of
_Gandiva_, and the upraised tail of the monkey that constituted his flag
and that terrible creature yelling furiously from the top of his
flagstaff, Karna sent forth a loud roar. And afflicting by means of his
shafts, Vikartana's son along with his steeds, car and car-driver,
Kiritin impetuously poured an arrowy shower on him, casting his eyes on
the grandsire and Drona and Kripa. And Vikartana's son also poured upon
Partha a heavy shower of arrows like a rain-charged cloud. And the
diadem-decked Arjuna also covered Karna with a thick down-pour of
keen-edged shafts. And the two heroes stationed on their cars, creating
clouds of keen-edged arrows in a combat carried on by means of countless
shafts and weapons, appeared to the spectators like the sun and the moon
covered by clouds, and the light-handed Karna, unable to bear the sight
of the foe, pierced the four horses of the diadem-decked hero with
whetted arrows, and then struck his car-driver with three shafts, and
his flagstaff also with three. Thus struck, that grinder of all
adversaries in battle, that bull of the Kuru race, Jishnu wielding the
_Gandiva_, like a lion awaked from slumber, furiously attacked Karna by
means of straight-going arrows. And afflicted by the arrowy shower (of
Karna), that illustrious achiever of super-human deeds soon displayed a
thick shower of arrows in return. And he covered Karna'