with joy, comfort thy paternal aunt Kunti. Today thou
shalt, O Madhava, comfort Krishna of tearful face and king Yudhishthira
the just with words sweet as nectar."'"

88

"Sanjaya said, 'Meanwhile the welkin, filled with gods and Nagas and
Asuras and Siddhas and Yakshas and with large bands of Gandharvas and
Rakshasas, and Asuras and regenerate Rishis and royal sages and birds of
excellent feathers, assumed a wonderful aspect. All human beings
assembled there beheld those beings of wonderful aspect staying in the
sky, and the sky itself resounded with the voice of musical instruments
and song and adulatory hymns and laughter and dance, and diverse other
kinds of charming sounds. Then both the Kaurava and the Pandava warriors,
filled with joy, and causing the earth and the ten points of the compass
to resound with the voice of musical instruments, the blare of conchs,
and leonine roars and the din of battle, began to slaughter their foes.
Teeming with men and steeds and elephants and cars and weapons,
unbearable to combatants in consequence of the falling of maces and
swords and darts and rapiers, abounding in heroes, and crowded with
lifeless bodies, the field of battle, crimsoned with gore, looked
exceedingly resplendent. Indeed, the battle between the Kurus and the
Pandavas then resembled that in days of yore between the gods and the
Asuras. After that fierce and awful battle had commenced between
Dhananjaya and Adhiratha's son, each of those two heroes, clad in
excellent mail, shrouded the ten points of the compass and the host
opposed to him with keen and straight arrows. A darkness having been
caused there with the arrows shot on that occasion, neither thy warriors
nor the enemy could any longer see anything. From fear all the warriors
there sought the protection of either Karna or Arjuna like rays of light
spread out in the welkin converging towards either the sun or the moon.
The two heroes then, each baffling the other's weapons with his own, like
the east and the west winds encountering each other, looked exceedingly
resplendent like the sun and the moon risen after dispelling the darkness
caused by the clouds and covering the welkin. Each having encouraged his
troops, saying, "Do not fly away!" the enemy and thy warriors stood their
ground, encircling those two mighty car-warriors like the gods and the
Asuras standing around Vasava and Samvara. The two armies then greeted
those two best of men with the so