y means of a light skirmish, he addressed those invincible rangers
of the skies in a conciliatory tone and said, 'Leave ye my brother king
Suyodhana.' Thus addressed by the illustrious son of Pandu, the
Gandharvas, laughing aloud, replied unto him saying, 'O child, there is
but one in the world whose behests we obey and living under whose rule
we pass our days in happiness: O Bharata, we always act as that one only
person commandeth us! Besides that celestial chief there is none that
can command us!' Thus addressed by the Gandharvas, Dhananjaya, the son
of Kunti, replied unto them, saying, 'This contact with other people's
wives and this hostile encounter with human beings are acts that are
both censurable in the king of the Gandharvas and not proper for him.
Therefore, leave ye these sons of Dhritarashtra all endued with mighty
energy. And liberate ye also these ladies, at the command of king
Yudhishthira the just. If, ye Gandharvas, ye do not set the sons of
Dhritarashtra free peacefully, I shall certainly rescue Suyodhana (and
his party) by exerting my prowess.' And speaking unto them thus,
Pritha's son, Dhananjaya, capable of wielding the bow with his left hand
also, then rained a shower of sharp pointed sky-ranging shafts upon
those rangers of the firmament. Thus attacked, the mighty Gandharvas
then encountered the sons of Pandu with a shower of arrows equally
thick, and the Pandavas also replied by attacking those dwellers of
heaven. And the battle then, O Bharata, that ranged between the active
and agile Gandharvas and the impetuous son of Pandu was fierce in the
extreme."

SECTION CCXLIII

Vaisampayana said, "Then those Gandharvas decked in golden garlands and
accomplished in celestial weapons, showing their blazing shafts,
encountered the Pandavas from every side. And as the sons of Pandu were
only four in number and the Gandharvas counted by thousands, the battle
that ensued appeared to be extraordinary. And as the cars of Karna and
Duryodhana had formerly been broken into a hundred fragments by the
Gandharvas, so were the cars of the four heroes attempted to be broken.
But those tigers among men began to encounter with their showers of
arrows thousands upon thousands of Gandharvas rushing towards them.
Those rangers of skies endued with great energy, thus checked on all
sides by that arrowy down-pour, succeeded not in even coming near to the
sons of Pandu. Then Arjuna whose ire had been provoked, aiming at