of the joys of his friends and said,—­Thou hast given me, O son of Pandu, a pillow that becometh my bed!  If thou hadst acted otherwise, I would have cursed thee, from wrath!  Even thus, O mighty-armed one, should a Kshatriya, observant of his duties, sleep on the field of battle on his bed of arrows!—­Having addressed Vibhatsu thus, he then said unto all those kings and princes that were present there, these words:—­Behold ye the pillow that the son of Pandu hath given me!  I will sleep on this bed till the Sun turneth to the northern solstice!  Those king that will then come to me will behold me (yield up my life)!  When the Sun on his car of great speed and unto which are yoked seven steeds, will proceed towards the direction occupied by Vaisravana, verily, even then, will I yield up my life like a dear friend dismissing a dear friend!  Let a ditch be dug here around my quarters ye kings!  Thus pierced with hundreds of arrows will I pay my adorations to the Sun?  As regards yourselves, abandoning enmity, cease ye from the fight, ye kings—­

’Sanjaya continued,—­“Then there came unto him some surgeons well trained (in their science) and skilled in plucking out arrows, with all becoming appliances (of their profession).  Beholding them, the son of Ganga said unto thy son,—­’Let these physicians, after proper respect being paid to them, be dismissed with presents of wealth.  Brought to such a plight, what need have I now of physicians?  I have won the most laudable and the highest state ordained in Kshatriya observances!  Ye kings, lying as I do on a bed of arrows, it is not proper for me to submit now to the treatment of physicians.  With these arrows on my body, ye rulers of men, should I be burnt!’—­Hearing these words of his, thy son Duryodhana dismissed those physicians, having honoured them as they deserved.  Then those kings of diverse realms, beholding that constancy in virtue displayed by Bhishma of immeasurable energy, were filled with wonder.  Having given a pillow to thy sire thus, those rulers of men, those mighty car-warriors, viz., the Pandavas and the Kauravas, united together, once more approached the high-souled Bhishma lying on that excellent bed of his.  Reverentially saluting that high-souled one and circumambulating him thrice, and stationing guards all around for his protection, those heroes, with bodies drenched in blood, repaired for rest towards their own tents in the evening, their hearts plunged into grief and thinking of what they had seen.

Then at the proper time, the mighty Madhava, approaching the Pandavas, those mighty car-warriors cheerfully seated together and filled with joy at the fall of Bhishma, said unto Dharma’s son Yudhishthira these words,—­“By good luck victory hath been thine, O thou of Kuru’s rare!  By good luck hath Bhishma been overthrown, who is unslayable by men, and is a mighty car-warrior of aim incapable of being baffled!  Or, perhaps, as destiny would have it, that warrior who was master