and rushing again having risen up, the combatants fought hand to hand.  Afflicted by one another, many rolled on the field of battle.  Infuriate elephants rushed hither and thither, and car-warriors by hundreds were slain.  And car-warriors, along with their cars, were crushed on all sides.  And some warriors fell upon his car, slain by another with arrows.  And a mighty car-warrior might be seen to fall down from high, his charioteer (also) having been slain.  A thick dust arose, and thereupon unto the warrior struggling in battle, the twang of the (hostile) bow indicated the struggling adversary before.  From the pressure also on their bodies, combatants guessed their foes.  And the warriors, O king, fought on with arrows, guided by the sound of bow-strings and (hostile) division.  The very hiss of the arrows shot by the combatants at one another could not be heard.  And so loud was the sound of drums, that it seemed to pierce the ears.  And in that tumultuous uproar making the hair stand on end, the name of the combatant uttered in the battle, while displaying his prowess, could not be heard.  The sire could not recognise the son of his loins.  One of the wheels being broken, or the yoke being torn off or one of the steeds being slain, the brave car-warrior was overthrown from his car, along with his charioteer, by means of straight arrows.  And thus many heroic warriors, deprived of their cars, were seen to fly away.[340] He who was slain had cut off; he who was not slain, was struck at the very vitals:  but unstruck there was none, when Bhishma attacked the foe.  And in that terrific battle, Sweta caused a great slaughter of the Kurus.  And he slew many noble princes by hundreds upon hundreds.[341] And he cut off, by means of his arrows, the heads of car-warriors by hundreds upon hundreds, and (their) arms decked with Angadas, and (their) bows all around.  And car-warriors and car-wheels and others that were on cars, and the cars themselves, and standards both small and costly, O king, and large bodies of horses, and crowds of cars, and crowds of men, O Bharata’s race, were destroyed by Sweta.  Ourselves, from fear of Sweta, abandoning (Bhishma) that best of car-warriors, left the battle retreating to the rear and, therefore, do we (now) behold your lordship.  And all the Kurus, O son of Kuru’s race, beyond the range of arrows, and abandoning Bhishma the son of Santanu, in that battle, stood (as spectators though) armed for the combat.  Cheerful in the hour of (universal) cheerlessness, that tiger among men Bhishma, alone of our army, in that terrible battle stood immovable like the mountain Meru.  Taking the lives (of the foe) like the Sun at close of winter, he stood resplendent with the golden rays (of his car) like the Sun himself with his rays.  And that great bowman shot clouds of arrows and struck down the Asuras.[342] And while being slaughtered by Bhishma in that dreadful combat, those warriors breaking away from their ranks, they all fled from him, as if from a fire fed by fuel.[343]