of arrows. Shrouded with incessant showers of
arrows, the son of Kunti, that mighty-armed and unvanquished
descendant of Kuru, became filled with rage. Then
that tiger among men, viz., the son of Indra,
desirous of slaughtering thy host, created a thick
net of arrows. Then those warriors of thine, O
king, thus slaughtered in battle by that hero, abandoned
the ruler of the Sindhus in fear and fled away.
And they fled away in such a manner that no two persons
could be seen flying together. The prowess that
we then beheld of Kunti’s son was extremely
wonderful. Indeed, the like of what that illustrious
warrior then did had never been nor will ever be.
Like Rudra himself slaughtering creatures, Dhananjaya
slaughtered elephants and elephant-riders, horses
and horse-riders, and (car-warriors and) car-drivers.
I did not in that battle, O king, see a single elephant
or steed or human warrior that was not struck with
Partha’s shafts. Their vision blurred by
dust and darkness, thy warriors became perfectly cheerless
and unable to distinguish one another. Urged on
by fate and with their vital limbs cut open and mangled
with shafts, they began to wander or, limp, or fall
down. And some amongst them, O Bharata, became
paralysed and some became deathly pale. During
that terrible carnage resembling the slaughter of
creatures at the end of the Yuga, in that deadly and
fierce battle from which few could escape with life,
the earth became drenched with gore and the earthy
dust that had arisen disappeared in consequence of
the showers of blood that fell and the swift currents
of wind that blew over the field. So deep was
that rain of blood that the wheels of cars sank to
their naves. Thousands of infuriated elephants
endued with great speed, O king, of thy army, their
riders slain and limbs mangled, fled away, uttering
cries of pain and crushing friendly ranks with their
tread. Steeds destitute of riders and foot-soldiers
also, O king, fled away, O monarch, from fear, struck
with the shafts of Dhananjaya. Indeed, thy soldiers,
with dishevelled hair and deprived of their coats
of mail, with blood streaming out of their wounds,
fled away in terror, leaving the field of battle.
And some, deprived of the power of motion as if their
lower limbs had been seized by alligators, remained
on the field. And others concealed themselves
behind and under the bodies of slain elephants Routing
thy host thus, O king, Dhananjaya began to strike
with terrible shafts the protectors of the ruler of
the Sindhus with his arrowy showers, Karna and Drona’s
son and Kripa and Salya and Vrishasena and Duryodhana.
So quick was he in the use of weapons that no one
could mark when Arjuna took out his arrows, when he
fixed them on the bowstring, when he stretched—–the
bow and let them off. Indeed, while striking
the foe, his bow was seen incessantly drawn to a circle.
His arrows also were seen incessantly issuing out
of his bow and scattered in all directions. Then
cutting off Karna’s bow as also of Vrishasena’s,