And Drona and Kripa and Vivingsati and Dussasana and
others also, quickly turning back, rushed forward with
speed with drawn bows and arrows fixed on the bow-strings,
for protecting Duryodhana. And beholding those
divisions advance towards him like the swelling surges
of the ocean, Dhananjaya, the son of Pritha, quickly
rushed at them like a crane rushing at a descending
cloud. And with celestial weapons in their hands,
they completely surrounded the son of Pritha and rained
on him from all sides a perfect shower of shafts, like
clouds showering on the mountain breast a heavy downpour
of rain, And warding off with weapons, all the weapons
of those bulls among the Kurus, the wielder of the
Gandiva who was capable of enduring all foes, evolved
another irresistible weapon obtained from Indra, called
Sanmohana. And entirely covering the cardinal
and other directions with sharp and keen-edged arrows
furnished with beautiful feathers, that mighty hero
stupefied their senses with the twang of the Gandiva.
And once more, taking up with both his hands that
large conch of loud blare, Partha, that slayer of
foes, blew it with force and filled the cardinal and
other points, the whole earth, and sky, with that
noise. And those foremost of the Kuru heroes
were all deprived of their senses by the sound of that
conch blown by Partha. And all of them stood still,
their bows, from which they were never separated,
dropping down from their hands. And when the
Kuru army became insensible, Partha calling to mind
the words of Uttara, addressed the son of the Matsya
king, saying, ’O best of men, go thou among
the Kurus, so long as they remain insensible, and bring
away the white garments of Drona and Kripa, and the
yellow and handsome ones of Karna, as also the blue
ones of the king and Drona’s son. Methinks,
Bhishma is not stupefied, for he knoweth how to counteract
this weapon of mine. So, pass thou on, keeping
his steeds to thy left; for those that are sensible
should thus be avoided,’ Hearing these words,
the illustrious son of Matsya, giving up the reins
of the steeds, jumped down from the car and taking
off the garments of the warriors, came back to his
place. And the son of Virata then urged the four
handsome steeds with flanks adorned with golden armours.
And those white steeds, urged on, took Arjuna away
from the midst of battle-field and beyond the array
of the infantry bearing standards in their hands.
And, Bhishma, beholding that best of men thus going
away, struck him with arrows. And Partha, too,
having slain Bhishma’s steeds, pierced him with
ten shafts. And abandoning Bhishma on the field
of battle, having first slain his car-driver, Arjuna
with a good-looking bow in hand came out of that multitude
of cars, like the sun emerging from the clouds.
And Dhritarashtra’s son, that foremost of heroes
among the Kurus, recovering his senses, saw the son
of Pritha standing like the lord of the celestials,
alone on the battle-field. And he said in hurry