Vaisampayana said, "Beholding the army of the Kurus arrayed in order of
battle, that descendant of the Kuru race, Partha, addressing Virata's
son, said, 'Do thou proceed to the spot where Kripa, the son of
Saradwat, is going by the southern side of that car whose flag is seen
to bear the device of a golden altar.'"
Vaisampayana continued, "Hearing these words of Dhananjaya, the son of
Virata urged, without a moment's delay, those steeds of silvery hue
decked in golden armour. And making them adopt, one after another, every
kind of the swifter paces, he urged those fiery steeds resembling the
moon in colour. And versed in horse-lore, Uttara, having approached the
Kuru host, turned back those steeds endued with the speed of the wind.
And skilled in guiding vehicles, the prince of Matsya, sometimes
wheeling about, and sometimes proceeding in circular mazes, and
sometimes turning to the left, began to be wilder than the Kurus. And
wheeling round, the intrepid and mighty son of Virata at last approached
the car of Kripa, and stood confronting him. Then announcing his own
name, Arjuna powerfully blew that best of conchs called _Devadatta_, of
loud blare. And blown on the field of battle by the mighty Jishnu, the
blare of that conch was heard like the splitting of a mountain. And
seeing that the conch did not break into a hundred fragments when blown
by Arjuna, the Kurus with all their warriors began to applaud it highly.
And having reached the very heavens, that sound coming back was heard
even like the crash of the thunderbolt hurled by Maghavat on the
mountain breast. Thereupon that heroic and intrepid and mighty
car-warrior, Saradwat's son Kripa, endued with strength and prowess,
waxing wroth at Arjuna, and unable to bear that sound and eager for
fight, took up his own sea-begotten conch and blew it vehemently. And
filling the three worlds with that sound, that foremost of car-warriors
took up a large bow and twanged the bow-string powerfully. And those
mighty car-warriors, equal unto two suns, standing opposed to each
other, shone like two masses of autumnal clouds. Then Saradwat's son
quickly pierced Partha, that slayer of hostile heroes, with ten swift
and whetted arrows capable of entering into the very vitals. And
Pritha's son also, on his part, drawing that foremost of weapons, the
_Gandiva_, celebrated over the world, shot innumerable iron-arrows, all
capable of penetrating into the very core of the body. Thereupon Kripa,
by means of whetted shafts, cut into hundreds and thousands of
fragments, those blood-drinking arrows of Partha before they could come
up. Then that mighty car-warrior, Partha also, in wrath displaying
various manoeuvres, covered all sides with a shower of arrows. And
covering the entire welkin with his shafts, that mighty warrior of
immeasurable soul, the son of Pritha, enveloped Kripa with hundreds of
shafts. And sorely afflicted by those whetted arrows resembling flames
of fire, Kripa waxed wroth and quickly afflicting the high-souled Partha
of immeasurable prowess with ten thousand shafts, set up on the field of
battle a loud roar. Then the heroic Arjuna quickly pierced the four
steeds of his adversary with four fatal arrows shot from the _Gandiva_,
sharp and straight, and furnished with golden wings. And pierced by
means of those whetted arrows resembling flames of fire those steeds
suddenly reared themselves, and in consequence Kripa reeled off his
place. And seeing Gautama thrown off his place, the slayer of hostile
heroes, the descendant of the Kuru race, out of regard for his
opponent's dignity, ceased to discharge his shafts at him. Then
regaining his proper place, Gautama quickly pierced Savyasachin with ten
arrows furnished with feathers of the _Kanka_ bird. Then with a
crescent-shaped arrow of keen edge, Partha cut off Kripa's bow and
leathern fences. And soon Partha cut off Kripa's coat of mail also by
means of arrows capable of penetrating the very vitals, but he did not
wound his person. And divested of his coat of mail, his body resembled
that of a serpent which hath in season cast off its slough. And as soon
as his bow had been cut off by Partha, Gautama took up another and
stringed it in a trice. And strange to say, that bow of him was also cut
off by Kunti's son, by means of straight shafts. And in this way that
slayer of hostile heroes, the son of Pandu, cut off other bows as soon
as they were taken up, one after another, by Saradwat's son. And when
all his bows were thus cut off, that mighty hero hurled, from his car,
at Pandu's son, a javelin like unto the blazing thunderbolt. Thereupon,
as the gold-decked javelin came whizzing through the air with the flash
of a meteor, Arjuna cut it off by means of ten arrows. And beholding his
dart thus cut off by the intelligent Arjuna, Kripa quickly took up
another bow and almost simultaneously shot a number of crescent-shaped
arrows. Partha, however, quickly cut them into fragments by means of ten
keen-edged shafts, and endued with great energy, the son of Pritha then,
inflamed with wrath on the field of battle, discharged three and ten
arrows whetted on stone and resembling flames of fire. And with one of
these he cut off the yoke of his adversary's car, and with four pierced
his four steeds, and with the sixth he severed the head of his
antagonist's car-driver from off his body. And with three that mighty
car-warrior pierced, in that encounter, the triple bamboo-pole of
Kripa's car and with two, its wheels. And with the twelfth arrow he cut
off Kripa's flagstaff. And with the thirteenth Phalguna, who was like
Indra himself as if smiling in derision, pierced Kripa in the breast.
Then with his bow cut off, his car broken, his steeds slain, his
car-driver killed, Kripa leapt down and taking up a mace quickly hurled
it at Arjuna. But that heavy and polished mace hurled by Kripa was sent
back along its course, struck by means of Arjuna's arrows. And then the
warriors (of Kripa's division), desirous of rescuing the wrathful son of
Saradwat encountered Partha from all sides and covered him with their
arrows. Then the son of Virata, turning the steed to the left began to
perform circuitous evolution called _Yamaka_ and thus withstood all
those warriors. And those illustrious bulls among men, taking Kripa with
them who had been deprived of his car, led him away from the vicinity of
Dhananjaya, the son of Kunti."