all their arrangements. Then when the Sun rose,
the fierce weapons of attack and defence and the coats
of mail of both thy sons and the Pandavas, and the
large and splendid armies of both sides, became fully
visible. There elephants and cars, adorned with
gold, looked resplendent like clouds mingled with
lightning. The ranks of cars, standing in profusion,
looked like cities. And thy father, stationed
there, shone brilliantly, like the full moon.
And the warriors armed with bows and swords and scimitars
and maces, javelins and lances and bright weapons
of diverse kinds, took up their positions in their
(respective) ranks. And resplendent standards
were seen, set up by thousands, of diverse forms,
belonging to both ourselves and the foe. And made
of gold and decked with gems and blazing like fire,
those banners in thousands endued with great effulgence,
looked beautiful like heroic combatants cased in mail
gazed at those standards, longing for battle.[90] And
many foremost of men, with eyes large as those of
bulls endued with quivers, and with hands cased in
leathern fences, stood at the heads of their divisions,
with their bright weapons upraised. And Suvala’s
son Sakuni, and Salya, Jayadratha and the two princes
of Avanti named Vinda and Anuvinda, and the Kekaya
brothers, and Sudakshina the ruler of the Kamvojas
and Srutayudha the ruler of the Kalingas, and king
Jayatsena, and Vrihadvala the ruler of the Kosalas,
and Kritavarman of Satwata’s race,—these
ten tigers among men, endued with great bravery and
possessing arms that looked like maces,—these
performers of sacrifices with plentiful gifts (to
Brahmanas), stood each at the head of an Akshauhini
of troops. These and many other kings and princes,
mighty car-warriors conversant with policy, obedient
to the commands of Duryodhana, all cased in mail,
were seen stationed in their respective divisions.
All of them, cased in black deer-skins, endued with
great strength, accomplished in battle, and cheerfully
prepared, for Duryodhana’s sake, to ascend to
the region of Brahma,[91] stood there commanding ten
efficient Akshauhinis. The eleventh great division
of the Kauravas, consisting of the Dhartarashtra troops,
stood in advance of the whole army. There in
the van of that division was Santanu’s son.
With his white head-gear, white umbrella, and white
mail, O monarch, we beheld Bhishma of unfailing prowess
look like the risen moon. His standard bearing
the device of a palmyra of gold himself stationed on
a car made of silver, both the Kurus and the Pandavas
beheld that hero looking like the moon encircled by
white clouds. The great bowmen amongst the Srinjayas
headed by Dhrishtadyumna, (beholding Bhishma) looked
like little animals when they would behold a mighty
yawning lion. Indeed, all the combatants headed
by Dhrishtadyumna repeatedly trembled in fear.
These, O king, were the eleven splendid divisions of
thy army. So also the seven divisions belonging
to the Pandavas were protected by foremost of men.
Indeed, the two armies facing each other looked like
two oceans at the end of the Yuga agitated by fierce
Makaras, and abounding with huge crocodiles.
Never before, O king, did we see or hear of two such
armies encountering each other like these of the Kauravas.’