a coat of mail made of adamantine steel, adorned with
burnished gold. And Madirakshya, next in birth
to Satanika, put on a strong coat of mail plated with
gold[27] and capable of resisting every weapon.
And the coat of mail that the king himself of the
Matsyas put on was invulnerable and decked with a
hundred suns, a hundred circles, a hundred spots, and
a hundred eyes. And the coat of mail that Suryadatta[28]
put on was bright as the sun, plated with gold, and
broad as a hundred lotuses of the fragrant (Kahlara)
species. And the coat of mail that Virata’s
eldest son, the heroic Sanksha, put on was impenetrable
and made of burnished steel, and decked with a hundred
eyes of gold. And it was thus that those god-like
and mighty warriors by hundreds, furnished with weapons,
and eager for battle, each donned his corselet.
And then they yoked unto their excellent cars of white-hue
steeds equipped in mail. And then was hoisted—Matsya’s
glorious standard on his excellent car decked with
gold and resembling the sun or the moon in its effulgence.
And other Kshatriya warriors also raised on their
respective cars gold-decked standards of various shapes
and devices. And king Matsya then addressed his
brother Satanika born immediately after him, saying,
’Kanka and Vallava and Tantripala and Damagranthi
of great energy will, as it appears to me fight, without
doubt. Give thou unto them cars furnished with
banners and let them case their persons in beautiful
coats of mail that should be both invulnerable and
easy to wear. And let them also have weapons.
Bearing such martial forms and possessed of arms resembling
the trunk of mighty elephants, I can never persuade
myself that they cannot fight.’ Hearing
these words of the king, Satanika, O monarch, immediately
ordered cars for those sons of Pritha, viz.,
the royal Yudhishthira, and Bhima, and Nakula, and
Sahadeva, and commanded by the king, the charioteers,
with cheerful hearts and keeping loyalty in view, very
soon got cars ready (for the Pandavas). And those
repressers of foes then donned those beautiful coats
of mail, invulnerable and easy to wear, that Virata
had ordered for those heroes of spotless fame.
And mounted on cars yoked with good steeds, those
smiters of hostile ranks, those foremost of men, the
sons of Pritha, set out with cheerful hearts.
Indeed, those mighty warriors skilled in fight, those
bulls of the Kuru race and sons of Pandu, those four
heroic brothers possessed of prowess incapable of being
baffled, mounting on cars decked with gold, together
set out, following Virata’s wake. And infuriate
elephants of terrible mien, full sixty years of age,
with shapely tusks and rent temples and juice trickling
down and looking (on that account) like cloud pouring
rain and mounted by trained warriors skilled in fight,
followed the king like unto moving hills. And
the principal warriors of Matsya who cheerfully followed
the king had eight thousand cars, a thousand elephants
and sixty thousand horses. And, O bull among
the Bharatas, that force of Virata, O king, as it marched
forth marking the footprints of the cattle looked exceedingly
beautiful. And on its march that foremost of
armies owned by Virata, crowded with soldiers armed
with strong weapons, and abounding in elephants, horses
and cars, looked really splendid.’”