the other troops thou still hast! I do not cherish the
least fear, O Yudhishthira, of even Shakra himself!"

"'Yudhishthira said, "Rise, rise, O son of Gandhari, and fight me,
Suyodhana! Alone as thou art, fight us, encountering one at a time, thou
of great might, armed with thy mace! Be a man, O son of Gandhari, and
fight with good care! Today thou shalt have to lay down thy life even if
Indra becomes thy ally!"'

"Sanjaya continued, 'That tiger among men, thy son, could not bear these
words of Yudhishthira. He breathed long and heavy sighs from within the
water like a mighty snake from within its hole. Struck repeatedly with
such wordy goads, he could not endure it at all, like a horse of high
breed that cannot endure the whip. Agitating the waters with great force,
that valiant warrior rose like a prince of elephants from within the
lake, breathing heavily in rage, and armed with his heavy mace that was
endued with the strength of adamant and decked with gold. Piercing the
solidified waters, thy son rose, shouldering his mace of iron, like the
sun himself scorching everything with his rays. Endued with great
strength, thy son, possessed of great intelligence, began to handle his
heavy mace made of iron and equipped with a sling. Beholding him armed
with mace and resembling a crested mountain or the trident-wielding Rudra
himself casting angry glances on living creatures, they observed that
Bharata chief shedding an effulgence around like the scorching sun
himself in the sky. Indeed, all creatures then regarded that mighty-armed
chastiser of foes, as he stood shouldering his mace after rising from the
waters, looking like the Destroyer himself armed with his bludgeon.
Indeed, all the Pancalas then saw thy royal son to look like the
thunder-wielding Shakra or the trident-bearing Hara. Seeing him, however,
rise from within the waters, all the Pancalas and the Pandavas began to
rejoice and seize each other's hands. Thy son Duryodhana regarded that
action of the spectators to be an insult directed towards him. Rolling
his eyes in wrath, and as if burning the Pandavas with his glances, and
contracting his brow into three furrows, and repeatedly biting his nether
lip, he addressed the Pandavas with Keshava in their midst, saying, "You
Pandavas, you shall have to bear the fruit of these taunts! Slain by me
today, you shall, with the Pancalas, have to repair to the abode of
Yama!"'

"Sanjaya continued, 'Rising from the wate