reat battle, or a steed, or an elephant, or a car, that was not
struck with Duryodhana's arrows. Upon whomsoever amongst the warriors I
then cast my eyes, O monarch, I beheld that every one, O Bharata, was
struck by thy son with his arrows. The Pandava army was then covered with
the shafts of that illustrious warrior, even as a host is covered with
the dust it raises while marching or rushing to battle. The Earth then, O
lord of Earth, seemed to me to be made one entire expanse of arrows by
thy son Duryodhana, that bowman possessed of great lightness of hands.
Amongst those thousands upon thousands of warriors on the field,
belonging to thy side or that of the enemy, it seemed to me that
Duryodhana was then the only man. The prowess that we then beheld of thy
son seemed to be exceedingly wonderful, since the Parthas, even uniting
together, could not approach his single self. He pierced Yudhishthira, O
bull of Bharata's race, with a hundred arrows, and Bhimasena with
seventy, and Sahadeva with seven. And he pierced Nakula with four and
sixty, and Dhrishtadyumna with five, and the sons of Draupadi with seven,
and Satyaki with three arrows. With a broad-headed arrow, he then, O
sire, cut off the bow of Sahadeva. Laying aside that broken bow, the
valiant son of Madri, took up another formidable bow, and rushing against
king Duryodhana, pierced him with ten shafts in that battle. The great
bowman Nakula, possessed of courage, then pierced the king with nine
terrible arrows and uttered a loud roar. Satyaki struck the king with a
single straight shaft; the sons of Draupadi struck him with three and
seventy and king Yudhishthira struck him with five. And Bhimasena
afflicted the king with eighty shafts. Though pierced thus from every
side with numerous arrows by these illustrious warriors, Duryodhana
still, O monarch, did not waver, in the presence of all the troops who
stood there as spectators. The quickness, the skill, and the prowess of
that illustrious warrior were seen by all the men there to exceed those
of every creature. Meanwhile the Dhartarashtras, O monarch, who had not
fled far from that spot, beholding the king, rallied and returned there,
clad in mail. The noise made by them when they came back became
exceedingly awful, like the roar of the surging ocean in the season of
rains. Approaching their unvanquished king in that battle, those great
bowmen proceeded against the Pandavas for fight. The son of Drona
resisted i