newly-risen clouds on the breast of a hill reflecting
the solar rays, or like groves of Asoka trees
resplendent with clusters of flowers. Indeed,
afflicted by the arrows of Partha, the soldiers looked
like these, or like a beautiful garland whose flowers
gradually wither and drop away: And the all-pervading
wind bore on its wings in the sky the torn flags and
umbrellas 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 all directions and shooting
(arrows) right and left, Arjuna’s bow was always
to be seen drawn to a perfect circle. And the
arrows of the wielder of the Gandiva never fell