arrows.  Thus covered in that encounter (with arrows) by Drona’s son, the Panchala prince, difficult to defeat in battle, said ’Thou knowest not of my origin, O Brahmana, or of my vow.  O thou of wicked understanding, having first slain Drona himself, I will not, therefore, slay thee today when Drona himself is still alive.  O thou of wicked understanding, after this night passeth away and bringeth in the fair dawn, I shall first slay thy sire in battle and then despatch thee also to the region of Spirits.  Even this is the wish entertained by me.  Standing before me, display, therefore, till then, the hatred thou bearest towards the Parthas, and the devotion thou cherishest for the Kurus.  Thou shalt not escape from me with life.  That, Brahmana who, abandoning the practices of a Brahmana, devoteth himself to the practices of a Kshatriya, becomes slayable by all Kshatriyas even as thou, O lowest of men.’  Thus addressed by Prishata’s son in language so harsh and insulting that best of Brahmanas Aswatthaman mustered all his rage and answered, saying, ‘Wait, Wait!’ And he gazed at Prishata’s son apparently burning him with his eyes.  Sighing (in rage) like a snake, the preceptor’s son, then, covered Dhrishtadyumna in that battle (with a shower of arrows).  The mighty-armed son of Prishata, however, that best of car-warriors, surrounded by all the Panchala troops, though thus struck with arrows in that encounter by Drona’s son, did not tremble, relying as he did on his own energy.  In return, he sped many arrows at Aswatthaman.  Both engaged in a gambling match in which the stake was life itself, those heroes, unable to brook each other, resisted each other and checked each other’s arrowy showers.  And those great bowmen shot dense showers of shafts all around.  Beholding that fierce battle, inspiring terror, between Drona’s and Prishata’s son, the Siddhas and Charanas and other sky-ranging beings applauded them highly.  Filling the welkin and all the points of the compass with clouds of shafts, and creating a thick gloom therewith, those two warriors continued to fight with each other, unseen (by any of us).  As if dancing in that battle, with their bows drawn to circles, resolutely aspiring to slay each other, those mighty-armed warriors, inspiring fear in every heart, fought wonderfully and with remarkable activity and skill.  Applauded by thousands of foremost warriors in that battle, and thus resolutely engaged in fight like two wild elephants in the forest, both the armies, beholding them, became filled with delight.  And leonine shouts were heard there, and all the combatants blew their conchs.  And hundreds and thousands of musical instruments began to be sounded.  That fierce fight, enhancing the terror of the timid, seemed only for a short time to be waged equally.  Then Drona’s son, O king, making a rush, cut off the bow, and standard, and umbrella, and the two Parshni drivers, and the principal driver, and the four steeds, of the high-souled