in battle by Bhimasena shall the wicked Duryodhana make peace with us?  Beholding other great warriors lying prostrate on the surface of the earth, shall wicked Duryodhana give way to remorse?  Shall not our hostilities cease with the single sacrifice of Bhishma?  Shall that Suyodhana, make peace with us for saving the remnant (of what is still left to him and us)?  Diverse reflections of this kind passed through the mind of king Yudhishthira who was overwhelmed with compassion.  Meanwhile, the battle (between the Pandavas and the Kauravas) raged furiously.’”

SECTION CXXVIII

“Dhritarashtra said, ’While mighty Bhimasena was uttering those loud shouts deep as the roar of the clouds or peals of thunder, what heroes (of our side) surrounded him?  I do not behold that warrior, O Sanjaya, in the three worlds, who is capable of staying before the enraged Bhimasena in battle.  I do not, O son, behold him that can stay on the field of battle before Bhimasena armed with mace and resembling Death himself.  Who will stand before that Bhima, not excepting Sakra himself, that destroys a car with a car and an elephant with an elephant?[153] Who, amongst those devoted to Duryodhana’s welfare stood in battle before Bhimasena excited with rage and engaged in slaughtering my sons?  Who were those men that stood in battle in front of Bhimasena, engaged in consuming my sons like a forest conflagration consuming dry leaves and straw?  Who were they that surrounded Bhima in battle, beholding my sons slain by him one after another like Death himself cutting off all creatures?  I do not fear Arjuna so much, or Krishna so much, or Satyaki so much, or him (viz., Dhrishtadyumna) so much who was born of the sacrificial fire, as I fear Bhima.  Tell me, O Sanjaya, who were those heroes that rushed against that blazing fire, represented by Bhima, which so consumed my sons?’

“Sanjaya, said, ’While the mighty car-warriors Bhimasena was uttering those roars, mighty Karna, unable to bear them, rushed at him with a loud shout, stretching his bow with great force.  Indeed, the mighty Karna, desirous of battle, displayed his strength and checked Bhima’s course like a tall tree withstanding tempest.  The heroic Bhima also, beholding Vikartana’s son before him, suddenly blazed up in wrath and sped at him with great force many shafts whetted on stone.  Karna received all those shafts and sped many in return.  At that encounter between Bhima and Karna, hearing the sounds of their palms, the limbs of all the struggling combatants, car-warriors, and horsemen, began to tremble.  Indeed, hearing the terrible roars of Bhimasena on the field of battle, even all the foremost of Kshatriyas regarded the whole earth and the welkin to be filled with that noise.  And at the fierce peals uttered by the high-souled son of Pandu, the bows of all warriors in that battle dropped on the earth.  And steeds and elephants, O king, dispirited, ejected urine and excreta.