arms or, their sisters’ sons, their kinsmen, fled away on all sides.  With dishevelled hair, and accoutrements loosened, all fled away in such a manner that even two persons could not be seen running together.—­The Kuru army has been totally destroyed,—­even this was the belief of every body.  Others amongst thy troops, fled away, O king, throwing off their coats of mail.  The soldiers loudly called upon one another, O bull of Bharata’s race, saying,—­’Wait, Wait, do not fly,’ but none of them that said so themselves stood on the field.  Abandoning their vehicles and cars decked with ornaments, the warriors, riding on steeds or using their legs, fled away with great speed.

“While the troops, deprived of energy, were thus flying away with speed, only Drona’s son, Aswatthaman, like a huge alligator coming up against the current of a stream, rushed against his foes.  A fierce battle took place between him and many warriors headed by Sikhandin and the Prabhadrakas, the Panchalas, the Chedis, and the Kaikeyas.  Slaying many warriors of the Pandava army that were incapable of being defeated with ease, and escaping with difficulty from the press of battle, that hero, possessed of the tread of an infuriated elephant, saw the (Kaurava) host running away, resolved on flight.  Proceeding towards Duryodhana, Drona’s son, approaching the Kuru king, said, ’Why, O Bharata, are the troops flying away as if in fear?  Although flying away, thus, O monarch, why dost thou not yet rally them in battle?  Thyself, too, O king, dost not seem to be in thy usual frame of mind.  Upon the slaughter of that lion among car-warriors, O monarch, hath thy force fallen into this plight.  O Kaurava, O king, all these that are headed (even) by Karna, wait not on the field.  In no battle fought before did the army fly away thus.  Hath any evil befallen thy troops, O Bharata?’ Hearing these words of Drona’s son on that occasion, Duryodhana, that bull among kings, felt himself unable to impart the bitter intelligence.  Indeed, thy son seemed to sink into an ocean of grief, like a foundered boat.  Beholding Drona’s son on his car, the king became bathed in tears.  Suffused with shame, O monarch, the king then addressed Saradwat’s son, saying, ’Blessed be thou, say thou, before others, why the army is thus flying away’.  Then Saradwat’s son, O king, repeatedly feeling great anguish, told Drona’s son how his sire had been slain.’

“Kripa said, ’Placing Drona, that foremost of car-warriors, at our head, we commenced to fight with only the Panchalas.  When the battle commenced, the Kurus and the Somakas, mingled together, roared at one another and began to strike down one another with their weapons.  During the progress of that battle the Dhartarashtras began to be thinned.  Seeing this, thy sire, filled with rage, invoked into existence a celestial weapon.  Indeed, Drona, that bull among men, having invoked the Brahma weapon, slew his enemies with broad-headed arrows, by hundreds,