“Sanjaya said, ‘Thou askest me about the feats of Arjuna in battle.
Listen, O thou of mighty arms, to what Partha achieved in the fight.
Beholding the risen dust and hearing the wail of the troops when
Bhagadatta was performing great feats on the field, the son of Kunti
addressed Krishna and said “O slayer of Madhu, it seems that the ruler of
the Pragjyotishas hath, on his elephant, with great impetuosity, advanced
to battle. This loud din that we hear must be due to him. Well-versed in
the art of grinding and battling from the back of an elephant, and not
inferior to Indra himself in battle, he, I think, is the foremost of all
elephant-warriors in the world.[54] His elephant, again, is the foremost
of elephants, without a rival to encounter it in battle. Possessed of
great dexterity and above all fatigue, it is, again, impervious to all
weapons. Capable of bearing every weapon and even the touch of fire, it
will, O sinless one, alone destroy the Pandava force today. Except us
two, there is none else capable of checking that creature. Go quickly,
therefore, to that spot where the ruler of the Pragjyotishas is. Proud in
battle, in consequence of the strength of his elephant, and arrogant in
consequence of his age, I will this very day send him as a guest to the
slayer of Vala.” At these words of Arjuna, Krishna began to proceed to
the place where Bhagadatta was breaking the Pandava ranks. While Arjuna
was proceeding towards Bhagadatta, the mighty Samsaptaka car-warriors,
numbering fourteen thousand, made up of ten thousand Gopalas or Narayanas
who used to follow Vasudeva, returning to the field, summoned him to
battle. Beholding the Pandava host broken by Bhagadatta, and summoned on
the other hand by the Samsaptakas, Arjuna’s heart was divided in twain.
And he began to think, “Which of these two acts will be better for me to
do today, to return from this spot for battling with Samsaptakas or to
repair to Yudhishthira?” Reflecting with the aid of his understanding, O
perpetuator of Kuru’s race, Arjuna’s heart, at last, was firmly fixed on
the slaughter of the Samsaptakas. Desirous of alone slaughtering in
battle thousands of car-warriors, Indra’s son (Arjuna) having the
foremost of apes on his banner, suddenly turned back. Even this was what
both Duryodhana and Karna had thought of for achieving the slaughter of
Arjuna. And it was for this that they had made arrangements for the
double encounter. The son of Pandu allowed his heart to waver this side
and that, but, at last, resolving to slay those foremost of warriors,
viz., the Samsaptakas, he baffled the purpose of his enemies.[55] Then
mighty Samsaptakas car-warriors, O king, shot at Arjuna thousands of
straight arrows. Covered with those arrows, O monarch, neither Kunti’s
son Partha, nor Krishna, otherwise called Janardana, nor the steeds, nor
the car, could be seen. Then Janardana became deprived of his senses and
perspired greatly. Thereupon, Partha shot the Brahma weapon and nearly
exterminated them all. Hundreds upon hundreds of arms with bows and
arrows and bowstrings in grasp, cut off from trunks, and hundreds upon
hundreds of standards and steeds and charioteers and car-warriors, fell
down on the ground. Huge elephants, well-equipped and resembling foremost
hills over-grown with woods or masses of clouds, afflicted with Partha’s
shafts and deprived of riders, fell down on the earth. Many elephants
again, with riders on their backs, crushed by means of Arjuna’s shafts,
fell down, deprived of life, shorn of the embroidered cloths on their
backs, and with their housings torn. Cut off by Kiritin with his
broad-headed arrows, countless arms having swords and lances and rapiers
for their nails or having clubs and battle-axes in grasp, fell down on
the earth. Heads also, beautiful, O king, as the morning sun or the lotus
or the moon, cut off by Arjuna with his arrows, dropped down on the
ground. While Phalguni in rage was thus engaged in slaying the foe with
diverse kinds of well-adorned and fatal shafts, that host seemed to be
ablaze. Beholding Dhananjaya crushing that host like an elephant crushing
lotus-stalks, all creatures applauded him, saying, “Excellent,
Excellent!” Seeing that feat of Partha resembling that of Vasava himself,
Madhava wondered much and, addressing him with joined hands, said,
“Verily, O Partha, I think that this feat which thou hast achieved, could
not be performed by Sakra, or Yama, or the Lord of treasures himself. I
see that thou hast today felled in battle hundreds and thousands of
mighty Samsaptaka warriors an together.” Having slain the Samsaptakas
then,--that is, who were engaged in battle,--Partha addressed Krishna,
saying, “Go towards Bhagadatta.”’”