ghtning. Slaughtered by Bhima, those elephants, O king, began to fly
away. Some amongst them, with their hearts pierced, fell down on the
Earth. With those fallen and failing elephants adorned with gold, the
Earth looked beautiful there, as if strewn with broken mountains. With
the fallen elephant-warriors of blazing resplendence and adorned with
gems, the Earth looked beautiful as if strewn with planets of exhausted
merit. Then elephants, with their temples, frontal globes, and trunks
deeply pierced, fled in hundreds in that battle, afflicted with the
shafts of Bhimasena. Some amongst them, huge as hills, afflicted with
fear and vomiting blood, ran away, their limbs mangled with arrows, and
looked on that account, like mountains with liquid metals running down
their sides. People then beheld the two arms of Bhima, resembling two
mighty snakes, smeared with sandal-paste and other pounded unguents,
continually employed in drawing the bow. Hearing the sound of his
bow-string and palms that resembled the peal of thunder, those elephants,
ejecting urine and excreta, ran away in fear. The feats of the
single-handed Bhima of great intelligence, on that occasion, shone like
those of Rudra, himself, while engaged in destroying all creatures.'"

62

"Sanjaya said, 'The handsome Arjuna then, on that foremost car of his,
unto which were yoked white steeds, and which was urged by Narayana
himself, appeared on the scene. Like the tempest agitating the ocean,
Vijaya, O foremost of kings, in that battle, agitated that host of thine
teeming with horsemen. When the white-steeded Arjuna was otherwise
engaged, thy son Duryodhana, filled with rage and surrounded by half his
troops, approached suddenly, and encompassed the advancing Yudhishthira
inspired with the desire of revenge. The Kuru king then pierced the son
of Pandu with three and seventy razor-headed arrows. At this,
Yudhishthira, the son of Kunti, became inflamed with ire, and quickly
struck thy son with thirty broad-headed arrows. The Kaurava troops then
rushed impetuously for seizing Yudhishthira. Understanding the wicked
intentions of the enemy, the great car-warriors of the Pandava army,
uniting together, rushed towards Yudhishthira, the son of Kunti, for
rescuing him. Indeed, Nakula and Sahadeva and Dhrishtadyumna, the son of
Prishata, surrounded by a full Akshauhini of troops, thus proceeded
towards Yudhishthira. Bhimasena also, in that battle, crushing the great
car-w