ellas of the hostile host. And affrighted at the
havoc amongst their own ranks, the steeds fled in all directions, freed
from their yokes by means of Partha's arrows and dragging after them
broken portions of cars and elephants, struck on their ears and ribs and
tusks and nether lips and other delicate parts of the body, began to
drop down on the battle-field. And the earth, bestrewn in a short time
with the corpses of elephants belonging to the Kauravas, looked like the
sky overcast with masses of black clouds. And as that fire of blazing
flames at the end of the _yuga_ consumeth all perishable things of the
world, both mobile and immobile, so did Partha, O king, consumeth all
foes in battle. And by the energy of his weapons and the twang of his
bow, and the preter-natural yells of the creatures stationed on his
flagstaff, and the terrible roar of the monkey, and by the blast of his
conch, that mighty grinder of foes, Vibhatsu, struck terror into the
hearts of all the troops of Duryodhana. And the strength of every
hostile warrior seemed, as it were, to be levelled to the dust at the
very sight of Arjuna. And unwilling to commit the daring act of sin of
slaying them that were defenceless, Arjuna suddenly fell back and
attacked the army from behind by means of clouds of keen-edged arrows
proceeding towards their aims like hawks let off by fowlers. And he soon
covered the entire welkin with clusters of blood-drinking arrows. And as
the (infinite) rays of the powerful sun, entering a small vessel, are
contracted within it for want of space, so the countless shafts of
Arjuna could not find space for their expansion even within the vast
welkin. Foes were able to behold Arjuna's car, when near, only once, for
immediately after, they were with their horses, sent to the other world.
And as his arrows unobstructed by the bodies of foes always passed
through them, so his car, unimpeded by hostile ranks, always passed
through the latter. And, indeed, he began to toss about and agitate the
hostile troops with great violence like the thousand-headed Vasuki
sporting in the great ocean. And as Kiritin incessantly shot his shafts,
the noise of the bow-string, transcending every sound, was so loud that
the like of it had never been heard before by created beings. And the
elephants crowding the field, their bodies pierced with (blazing) arrows
with small intervals between looked like black clouds coruscated with
solar rays. And ranging in