03.167
Arjuna said.
Then, O Bhārata, all the Nivātakavacas, armed and together, rushed toward me with speed in the battle. (03-167-1)
The great warriors shouted loudly as they blocked the chariot path. Surrounding me from all sides, they covered me with showers of arrows. (03-167-2)
Then other powerful Dānavas, holding spears and pattiśas, hurled spears and slings at me. (03-167-3)
That very great shower of spears, thick with maces and spears and ceaselessly hurled by them, fell upon my chariot. (3-167-4)
Others, who wore armor impervious to wind, approached me in battle—armed with sharp weapons, terrible, death-like in form, and skilled in striking. (03-167-5)
I struck each of them in battle with ten different arrows, swift and unfailing, released from the Gāṇḍīva. All of them were turned away by the stone-tipped arrows discharged by me. (03-167-6)
Then Mātali quickly urged on the horses, and they left the chariot path, swiftly roaming in many directions like the wind. Well-controlled by Mātali, they overpowered the sons of Diti. (03-167-7)
In that great chariot yoked with a hundred hundreds of your horses, then, with Mātali controlling them, they moved about like small ones. (03-167-8)
By the falling of their feet, the sound of chariot-wheels, and also by the impact of my arrows, those asuras were killed by the hundreds. (03-167-9)
There, others—who still held their bows but whose life had departed, and whose charioteers were slain—were being dragged by the horses. (03-167-10)
They, having blocked all the directions and intermediate directions, the attackers strike with various weapons; therefore my mind is troubled. (03-167-11)
Then I saw Mātali's supreme and marvelous power, as he controlled those swift horses effortlessly. (03-167-12)
Then, O king, I destroyed those armed asuras in battle with light and varied missiles, by hundreds and thousands. (03-167-13)
Thus, as I moved there with all my effort, the hero Mātali, charioteer of Śakra and destroyer of enemies, became pleased. (03-167-14)
Then, while being slain by that chariot and its horses, some of them went towards destruction, while others likewise turned back. (03-167-15)
As if competing with us, the Nivātakavacas in battle repulsed me from all sides with great showers of arrows. (03-167-16)
Then I swiftly discharged hundreds and then thousands of light, varied arrows, all empowered by the brahmāstra formulas. (03-167-17)
Then those great asuras, overpowered by anger as they were beset, all together attacked me with a rain of arrows, spears, and swords. (03-167-18)
Then, O Bhārata, I took up the supreme weapon of fierce energy called 'Madhava,' which is beloved of the king of the gods. (03-167-19)
Then I cut apart, by the power of weapons, thousands of swords, tridents and javelins released at me, shattering them into a hundred pieces. (03-167-20)
Having cut the weapons of these, then I also pierced all of them entirely with ten arrows each, out of anger. (03-167-21)
Then, from Gāṇḍīva in battle, arrows emerged just like rows of bees, and then Mātali honoured that.
Even so, their arrows, in great numbers, like locusts, showered upon me; but I repelled those strong ones with my arrows. (03-167-23)
Then, being struck, the Nivātakavacas again surrounded me on all sides with great showers of arrows. (03-167-24)
Having struck down the forces moving at arrow-speed, I pierced them by thousands with supreme, burning, swift missiles that strike like arrows. (03-167-25)
Their severed limbs were shedding blood, just like the horns of mountains in the rainy season after heavy rain. (03-167-26)
Those Dānavas, being struck by my arrows that were swift, direct, and had the impact of Indra's thunderbolt, were greatly agitated. (03-167-27)
Though their bodies and entrails were torn into a hundred pieces and their strength of weapons was diminished, the Nivātakavacas then fought me by means of illusion. (03-167-28)
