ndued with mighty arms! Upon the slaughter, in
battle, of that mighty bowman, Karna, by the diadem-decked (Arjuna), tell
me, O Sanjaya, who were these heroes that stayed (on the field)! I hope
he was not alone and abandoned (by friends) when slain in battle by the
Pandavas? Thou hast, O sire, told me, before this, how our brave warriors
have fallen. With his powerful shafts Shikhandi felled in battle that
foremost of all wielders of weapons, viz., Bhishma, who did nothing to
repel the attack. Similarly, Sanjaya, Drupada's son Dhrishtadyumna,
uplifting his scimitar, slew the mighty bowman Drona who, already pierced
with many arrows, had laid aside his weapons in battle and devoted
himself to Yoga. These two were both slain at a disadvantage and
especially by deceit. Even this is what I have heard about the slaughter
of Bhishma and Drona! Indeed, Bhishma and Drona, while contending in
fight, were incapable of being slain in battle by the wielder of the
thunderbolt himself by fair means. This that I tell thee is the truth! As
regards Karna, how, indeed, could Death touch him, that hero equal unto
Indra himself, while he was engaged in shooting his manifold celestial
weapons? He unto whom in exchange for his earrings, Purandara had given
that foe-slaying, gold-decked, and celestial dart of the splendour of
lightning,--he who had, lying (within his quiver) amid sandal-dust, that
snake-mouthed celestial arrow decked with gold, equipped with goodly
wings, and capable of slaying all foes, he who, disregarding those heroic
and mighty car-warriors having Bhishma and Drona at their head, had
acquired from Jamadagni's son the terrible brahmastra, that mighty-armed
one, who, having seen the warriors with Drona at their head afflicted
with arrows and turn away from the field, had cut off with his keen
shafts the bow of Subhadra's son, he who, having in a trice deprived the
invincible Bhimasena endued with the might of 10,000 elephants and the
speed of the wind, of his car, had laughed at him,--he who, having
vanquished Sahadeva by means of his straight shafts and made him carless,
slew him not from compassion and considerations of virtue,--he who, with
Shakra's dart, slew that prince of Rakshasas, Ghatotkaca, who from desire
of victory, had invoked a 1,000 kinds of illusions,--he whose feats in
battle, filling Dhananjaya with fear, had made the latter for such a long
period avoid a single combat with him,--alas, how could that hero be