rasandha, that represser of all foes
endued, rushed with great energy at Bhimasena like the Asura Vala or old
who rushed at the chief of the celestials. And the mighty Bhimasena, on
whose behalf the gods had been invoked by Krishna, that cousin of his,
having consulted with advanced towards Jarasandha, impelled by the desire
of fight. Then those tigers among men, those heroes of great prowess,
with their bare arms as their only weapons, cheerfully engaged themselves
in the encounter, each desirous of vanquishing the other. And seizing
each other's arms and twining each other's legs, (at times) they slapped
their arm-pits, causing the enclosure to tremble at the sound. And
frequently seizing each other's necks with their hands and dragging and
pushing it with violence, and each pressing every limb of his body
against every limb of the other, they continued, O exalted one, to slap
their arm-pits (at time). And sometimes stretching their arms and
sometimes drawing them close, and now raising them up and now dropping
them down, they began to seize each other. And striking neck against neck
and forehead against forehead, they caused fiery sparks to come out like
flashes of lightning. And grasping each other in various ways by means of
their arms, and kicking each other with such violence as to affect the
innermost nerves, they struck at each other's breasts with clenched
fists. With bare arms as their only weapons roaring like clouds they
grasped and struck each other like two mad elephants encountering each
other with their trunks. Incensed at each other's blow, they fought on
dragging and pushing each other and fiercely looking at each other like
two wrathful lions. And each striking every limb of the other with his
own and using his arms also against the other, and catching hold of each
other's waist, they hurled each other to a distance. Accomplished in
wrestling, the two heroes clasping each other with their arms and each
dragging the other unto himself, began to press each other with great
violence. The heroes then performed those grandest of all feats in
wrestling called Prishtabhanga, which consisted in throwing each other
down with face towards the earth and maintaining the one knocked down in
that position as long as possible. And employing his arms, each also
performed the feats called Sampurna-murchcha and Purna-kumbha. At times
they twisted each other's arms and other limbs as if these were vegetable
fibres that w