and lying on the field like hills, and those beautiful with triumphal banners, and those slain elephant-warriors, and those rich coverlets, each consisting of one piece of blanket, for the backs of those huge beasts, and those beautiful and variegated and torn blankets, and those numerous bells loosened from the bodies of elephants and broken into fragments by those falling creatures, and those hooks with handles set with stones of lapis lazuli fallen upon the Earth, and those ornamental yokes of steeds, and those armours set with diamonds for their breasts and those rich cloths, adorned with gold and tied to the ends of the standards borne by horsemen, and those variegated coverlets and housings and Ranku skins, set with brilliant gems and inlaid with gold, for the backs of steeds and fallen on the ground, and those large diamonds adorning the head-gears of kings, and those beautiful necklaces of gold, and those umbrellas displaced from their positions, and those yak-tails and fans.  Behold the earth strewn with faces adorned with earrings bright as the moon or stars, and embellished with well-cut beards, and each looking like the full moon.  The earth, strewn with those faces looking like lilies and lotuses, resembles a lake adorned with a dense assemblage of lilies and lotuses.  Behold, the earth possessing the effulgence of the bright moon and diversified as if with myriads of stars, looks like the autumnal firmament bespangled with stellar lights.  O Arjuna, these feats that have been achieved by thee in great battle today are, indeed, worthy of thee or of the chief of the celestials himself in heaven.”  Even thus did Krishna show the field of battle unto Arjuna.  And while returning (from the field to their camp), they heard a loud noise in the army of Duryodhana.  Indeed the uproar that was heard consisted of the blare of conchs and the beat of cymbals and drums and Patahas and the clatter of car wheels, the neighing of steeds, the grunt of elephants, and the fierce clash of weapons.  Penetrating into that force by the aid of his steeds possessing the fleetness of the wind, Krishna became filled with wonder upon beholding the army grinded by Pandya.  Like Yama himself slaying creatures whose lives have run out, Pandya, that foremost of warriors skilled in shafts and weapons, was destroying crowds of foes by means of diverse kinds of shafts.  Piercing the bodies of the elephants and steeds and men with sharp shafts, that foremost of smiters overthrew and deprived them of life.  Cutting off with his own shafts the diverse weapons hurled at him by many foremost of foes, Pandya slew his enemies like Sakra (Indra) destroying the Danavas.’”

20

“Dhritarashtra said, ’Thou didst mention to me before the name of Pandya, that hero of world-wide celebrity, but his feats, O Sanjaya, in battle have never been narrated by thee.  Tell me today in detail of the prowess of that great hero, his skill, spirit, and energy, the measure of his might, and his pride.’