eing slain by thee." Thus addressed, Dhrishtadyumna, O king, slowly
said, "My mind becometh stupefied, O sire, and perspiration covereth my
limbs. My body trembles and my hair stands on end. Avoiding that Brahmana
in battle, proceed slowly to where Arjuna is, O charioteer; arrived at
the presence of either Arjuna or Bhimasena, prosperity may be mine. Even
this is my certain conviction." Then, O monarch, the charioteer, urging
the steeds, proceeded to the spot where the mighty bowman Bhimasena was
battling with thy troops. Beholding the car, O sire, of Dhrishtadyumna
speedily moving away from that spot, Gautama followed it, shooting
hundreds of shafts. And that chastiser of foes also repeatedly blew his
conch. Indeed, he routed the son of Prishata like Indra routing the
Danava Namuci.

"'The invincible Shikhandi, the cause of Bhishma's death, was in that
battle, resisted by Hridika's son who smiled repeatedly as he fought with
the former. Shikhandi, however, encountering the mighty car-warrior of
the Hridikas, struck him with five keen and broad-headed shafts at the
shoulder-joint. Then the mighty car-warrior Kritavarma filled with rage,
pierced his foe with sixty winged arrows. With a single arrow then, he
cut off his bow, laughing the while. The mighty son of Drupada, filled
with wrath, took up another bow, and addressing the son of Hridika, said,
"Wait, Wait." Then, O monarch, Shikhandi sped at his foe ninety shafts of
great impetuosity, all equipped with golden wings. Those shafts, however,
all recoiled from Kritavarma's armour. Seeing those shafts recoil and
scattered on the surface of the Earth, Shikhandi cut off Kritavarma's bow
with a keen razor-headed arrow. Filled with wrath he struck the bowless
son of Hridika, who then resembled a hornless bull, in the arms and the
chest, with eighty arrows. Filled with rage but torn and mangled with
shafts, Kritavarma vomited blood through his limbs like a jar disgorging
the water with which it is filled. Bathed in blood, the Bhoja king looked
beautiful like a mountain, O king, streaked with streams of liquefied red
chalk after a shower. The puissant Kritavarma then, taking up another bow
with a string and an arrow fixed thereon, struck Shikhandi in his
shoulder-joint. With those shafts sticking to his shoulder-joint,
Shikhandi looked resplendent like a lordly tree with its spreading
branches and twigs. Having pierced each other, the two combatants were
bathed in blood, and r