“Sanjaya continued, ’When Ghatotkacha, O king, that foremost of all persons conversant with weapons, found that he could not prevail over Karna, he invoked into existence a fierce and mighty weapon.  With that weapon, the Rakshasa first slew the steeds of Karna and then the latter’s driver.  Having achieved that feat, Hidimva’s son quickly made himself invisible.’

“Dhritarashtra said, ’When the Rakshasa fighting by deceitful means thus disappeared, tell me, O Sanjaya, what the warriors of my army thought.’

“Sanjaya said, Seeing the Rakshasa disappear, all the Kauravas loudly said, Appearing next, the Rakshasa, fighting deceitfully, will certainly slay Karna.’  Then Karna, endued with wonderful lightness in the use of weapons, covered all sides with showers of shafts.  The welkin being covered with the darkness caused by that thick arrowy shower, all creatures became invincible.  So great was the lightness of hand displayed by the Suta’s son, that none could mark when he touched his quivers with his fingers, when he fixed his arrows on the bowstring, and when he aimed and sped them off.  The entire welkin seemed to be shrouded with his arrows.  Then a fierce and terrible illusion was invoked into existence by the Rakshas in the welkin.  We beheld in the sky what appeared to us to be a mass of red clouds resembling the fierce flame of a blazing fire.  From that cloud issued flashes of lightning, and many blazing brands, O Kuru king!  And tremendous roars also issued therefrom, like the noise of thousands of drums beat at once.  And from it fell many shafts winged with gold, and darts, lances and heavy clubs, and other similar weapons, and battle-axes, and scimitars washed with oil, and axes of blazing edges, and spears, and spiked maces emitting shining rays, and beautiful maces of iron, and long darts of keen points, and heavy maces decked with gold and twined round with string’s, and Sataghnis, all around.  And large rocks fell from it, and thousands of thunderbolts with loud report, and many hundreds of wheels and razors of the splendour of fire.  Karna shooting showers of shafts, failed to destroy that thick and blazing downpour of darts and lances and clubs.  Loud became the uproar then of falling steeds slain by those shafts, and mighty elephants struck with thunder, and great car-warriors deprived of life by other weapons.  Afflicted by Ghatotkacha with that terrible shower of arrows all around, that host of Duryodhana was seen to wander in great pain over the field.  With cries of Oh and Alas, and exceedingly cheerless, that wandering host seemed on the point of being annihilated.  The leaders, however, in consequence of the nobility of their hearts, fled not away with faces turned from the field.  Beholding that exceedingly frightful and awful shower of mighty weapons, caused by the Rakshasa’s illusion, failing upon the field, and seeing their vast army incessantly slaughtered, the sons became inspired with great fear.