by hundreds and by thousands. Do thou, therefore,
speedily rescue them. Oh, see that they are not
lost to thee.’ Hearing these words, the
king arrayed for battle the Matsya force abounding
in cars and elephants and horses and infantry and
standards. And kings and princes speedily put
on, each in its proper place,[26] their shining and
beautiful armour worthy of being worn by heroes.
And Virata’s beloved brother, Satanika, put on
a coat of mail made of adamantine steel, adorned with
burnished gold. And Madiraksha, next in birth
to Satanika, put on a strong coat of mail plated with
gold[27] and capable of resisting every weapon.
And the coat of mail that the king himself of the
Matsyas put on was invulnerable and decked with a
hundred suns, a hundred circles, a hundred spots, and
a hundred eyes. And the coat of mail that Suryadatta[28]
put on was bright as the sun, plated with gold, and
broad as a hundred lotuses of the fragrant (Kahlara)
species. And the coat of mail that Virata’s
eldest son, the heroic Sanksha, put on was impenetrable
and made of burnished steel, and decked with a hundred
eyes of gold. And it was thus that those god-like
and mighty warriors by hundreds, furnished with weapons,
and eager for battle, each donned his corselet.
And then they yoked unto their excellent cars of white-hue
steeds equipped in mail. And then was hoisted—Matsya’s
glorious standard on his excellent car decked with
gold and resembling the sun or the moon in its effulgence.
And other Kshatriya warriors also raised on their
respective cars gold-decked standards of various shapes
and devices. And king Matsya then addressed his
brother Satanika born immediately after him, saying,
’Kanka and Vallava and Tantripala and Damagranthi
of great energy will, as it appears to me fight, without
doubt. Give thou unto them cars furnished with
banners and let them case their persons in beautiful
coats of mail that should be both invulnerable and
easy to wear. And let them also have weapons.
Bearing such martial forms and possessed of arms resembling
the trunk of mighty elephants, I can never persuade
myself that they cannot fight.’ Hearing
these words of the king, Satanika, O monarch, immediately
ordered cars for those sons of Pritha, viz., the
royal Yudhishthira, and Bhima, and Nakula, and Sahadeva,
and commanded by the king, the charioteers, with cheerful
hearts and keeping loyalty in view, very soon got
cars ready (for the Pandavas). And those repressers
of foes then donned those beautiful coats of mail,
invulnerable and easy to wear, that Virata had ordered
for those heroes of spotless fame. And mounted
on cars yoked with good steeds, those smiters of hostile
ranks, those foremost of men, the sons of Pritha, set
out with cheerful hearts. Indeed, those mighty
warriors skilled in fight, those bulls of the Kuru
race and sons of Pandu, those four heroic brothers
possessed of prowess incapable of being baffled, mounting
on cars decked with gold, together set out, following