“Dhritarashtra said, ‘When the van of my army thus slaughtered by the
diadem-decked (Arjuna) broke and fled, who were those heroes that
advanced against Arjuna? (Did any of them actually fight with Arjuna, or)
did all, abandoning their determination enter the Sakata array, getting
behind the fearless Drona, resembling a solid wall?’
“Sanjaya said, ‘When Indra’s son Arjuna, O sinless one, began, with his
excellent arrows, to break and incessantly slay that force of ours many
heroes were either slain, or becoming dispirited, fled away. None in that
battle, was capable of even looking at Arjuna. Then, thy son Duhsasana,
O king, beholding that state of the troops, became filled with wrath and
rushed against Arjuna for battle. That hero of fierce prowess, cased in a
beautiful coat of mail, made of gold, and his head covered with a turban
decked with gold, caused Arjuna to be surrounded by a large
elephant-force which seemed capable of devouring the whole earth. With
sound of the elephants’ bells, the blare of conchs, the twang of
bow-strings, and the grunts of the tuskers, the earth, the points of
compass, and the welkin, seemed to be entirely filled. That period of
time became fierce and awful. Beholding those huge beasts with extended
trunks filled with wrath and rushing quickly towards him, like winged
mountains urged on with hooks, Dhananjaya, that lion among men, uttering
a leonine shout, began to pierce and slay that elephant-force with his
shafts. And like a Makara penetrating into the vast deep, surging into
mountain waves when agitated by the tempest, the diadem-decked (Arjuna)
penetrated into that elephant-host. Indeed, Partha, that subjugator of
hostile cities, was then seen by all on every side to resemble the
scorching sun that rises, transgressing the rule about direction and
hour, on the day of the universal destruction. And in consequence of the
sound of horses’ hoofs, rattle of car-wheels, the shouts of combatants,
the twang of bow-strings, the noise of diverse musical instruments, the
blare of Panchajanya and Devadatta, and roar of Gandiva, men and
elephants were dispirited and deprived of their senses. And men and
elephants were riven by Savyasachin with his shafts whose touch resembled
that of snakes of virulent poison. And those elephants, in that battle,
were pierced all over their bodies with shafts, numbering thousands upon
thousands shot from Gandiva. While thus mangled by the diadem-decked
(Arjuna), they uttered loud noises and incessantly fell down on the earth
like mountains shorn of their wings. Others struck at the jaw, or frontal
globes, or temples with long shafts, uttered cries resembling those of
cranes. The diadem-decked (Arjuna) began to cut off, with his straight
arrows the heads of warriors standing on the necks of elephants. Those
heads decked with ear-rings, constantly falling on the earth, resembled a
multitude of lotuses that Partha was calling for an offer to his gods.
And while the elephants wandered on the field, many warriors were seen to
hang from their bodies, divested of armour, afflicted with wounds,
covered with blood, and looking like painted pictures. In some instances,
two or three warriors, pierced by one arrow winged with beautiful
feathers and well-shot (from Gandiva), fell down on the earth. Many
elephants deeply pierced with long shafts, fell down, vomiting blood from
their mouths, with the riders on their backs, like hills overgrown with
forests tumbling down through some convulsion of nature. Partha, by means
of his straight shafts, cut into fragments the bow-strings, standards,
bows, yokes, and shafts of the car-warriors opposed to him. None could
notice when Arjuna took up his arrows, when he fixed them on the
bow-string, when he drew the string, and when he let them off. All that
could be seen was that Partha seemed to dance on his car with his bow
incessantly drawn to a circle. Elephants, deeply pierced with long shafts
and vomiting blood from their mouths, fell down, as soon as they were
struck, on the earth. And in the midst of that great carnage, O monarch,
innumerable headless trunks were seen to stand up. Arms, with bows in
grasp, or whose fingers were cased in leathern gloves, holding swords, or
decked with Angadas and other ornaments of gold, cut off from trunks,
were seen lying about. And the field of battle was strewn with
innumerable Upashkaras and Adhishthanas, and shafts, and crowns, crushed
car-wheels, and broken Akshas, and yokes, and warriors armed with shields
and bows, and floral garlands, and ornaments and robes and fallen
standards. And in consequence of those slain elephants and steeds, and
the fallen bodies of Kshatriyas, the earth there assumed an awful aspect.
Duhsasana’s forces, thus slaughtered, O king, by the diadem-decked
(Arjuna), fled away. Their leader himself was in great pain, for
Duhsasana, greatly afflicted by those shafts, overcome by fear entered
with his division the Sakata array, seeking Drona as his deliverer.’”