the case with all those mighty car-warriors headed by Bhishma!  From desire of doing good to you, I repeatedly applied my powers of illusion and caused them to be slain by diverse means in battle.  If I had not adopted such deceitful ways in battle, victory would never have been yours, nor kingdom, nor wealth!  Those four were very high-souled warriors and regarded as Atirathas in the world.  The very Regents of the Earth could not slay them in fair fight!  Similarly, the son of Dhritarashtra, though fatigued when armed with the mace, could not be slain in fair fight by Yama himself armed with his bludgeon!  You should not take it to heart that this foe of yours hath been slain deceitfully.  When the number of one’s foes becomes great, then destruction should be effected by contrivances and means.  The gods themselves, in slaying the Asuras, have trod the same way.  That way, therefore, that hath been trod by the gods, may be trod by all.  We have been crowned with success.  It is evening.  We had better depart to our tents.  Let us all, ye kings, take rest with our steeds and elephants and cars.”  Hearing these words of Vasudeva, the Pandavas and the Pancalas, filled with delight, roared like a multitude of lions.  All of them blew their conchs and Jadava himself blew Panchajanya, filled with joy, O bull among men, at the sight of Duryodhana struck down in battle.’”

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Sanjaya said, “All those kings, possessed of arms that resembled spiked bludgeons, then proceeded towards their tents, filled with joy and blowing their conchs on their way.  The Pandavas also, O monarch, proceeded towards our encampment.  The great bowman Yuyutsu followed them, as also Satyaki, and Dhrishtadyumna, and Shikhandi, and the five sons of Draupadi.  The other great bowmen also proceeded towards our tents.  The Parthas then entered the tent of Duryodhana, shorn of its splendours and reft of its lord and looking like an arena of amusement after it has been deserted by spectators.  Indeed, that pavilion looked like a city reft of festivities, or a lake without its elephant.  It then swarmed with women and eunuchs and certain aged counsellors.  Duryodhana and other heroes, attired in robes dyed in yellow, formerly used, O king, to wait reverentially, with joined hands, on those old counsellors.

Arrived at the pavilion of the Kuru king, the Pandavas, those foremost of car-warriors, O monarch, dismounted from their cars.  At that time, always engaged, O bull of Bharata’s race, in the good of his friend, Keshava, addressed the wielder of gandiva, saying, “Take down thy gandiva as also the two inexhaustible quivers.  I shall dismount after thee, O best of the Bharatas!  Get thee down, for this is for thy good, O sinless one!”

Pandu’s brave son Dhananjaya did as he was directed.  The intelligent Krishna, abandoning the reins of the steeds, then dismounted from the car of Dhananjaya.  After the high-souled Lord of all creatures had dismounted from that car, the celestial Ape that topped the mantle of Arjuna’s vehicle, disappeared there and then.  The top of the vehicle, which had before been burnt by Drona and Karna with their celestial weapons, quickly blazed forth to ashes, O king, without any visible fire having been in sight.  Indeed, the car of Dhananjaya, with its quick pairs of steeds, yoke, and shaft, fell down, reduced to ashes.