07.044
Pancharatra and Core: Abhimanyu kills Rukmaratha, son of Shalya; then takes on Duryodhana and his sons.
Sanjaya said.
Arjuna, in the battle, took away the lives of the heroes, becoming like the end of time for all beings when he arrived.
Abhimanyu, the valiant son of Arjuna, shone brilliantly as he shook the enemy army, much like the mighty Indra.
Having entered, the truthful one, like a fierce tiger, took the deer, O king of kings, O lord of warriors, resembling the destroyer.
In the midst of the truthful hearing, the agitated great charioteers, in their haste, took up abundant weapons and attacked Abhimanyu.
The warrior chiefs, each claiming 'I am first, I am first,' gathered with the intent to kill Arjuna's son.
The armies of the warriors, in their flight, were pursued and consumed by darkness, much like small fish are swallowed by the vast ocean.
Those who approached him did not flee; they did not return, just as rivers do not return from the ocean.
The army trembled as if seized by a great crocodile, afflicted by the fear of the wind's speed, and was dislodged like a boat in the ocean.
Then Rukmaratha, the strong son of the king of Madra, fearlessly spoke words of comfort to the frightened army.
"Enough of your fear, heroes; as long as I stand, no one can harm you. I will capture him alive, without a doubt."
After speaking thus, the valiant warrior charged towards Saubhadra, carried by his well-equipped and resplendent chariot.
He pierced Abhimanyu in the chest with three arrows and then roared. He also pierced the right and left arms with three sharp arrows.
Arjuna swiftly severed his bow and cast down his left and right arms, head, and eyebrows onto the ground.
Upon seeing the broken golden chariot and the proud son of Śalya, the glorious Abhimanyu desired to capture him alive.
O king, the arrogant princes, who are strikers and friends of Shalya's son, have banners adorned with gold.
The great warriors, timing their bow draws, encircled Arjuna with a barrage of arrows from every direction.
The heroes, endowed with education and strength, and the young men, who were excessively intolerant, saw the heroic and undefeated son of Subhadra in battle.
Duryodhana, delighted by the showers of arrows covering him, believed that he had reached the abode of Vaivasvata.
The princes, using golden-feathered arrows with various marks, made Arjuna invisible in an instant.
O gentle one, we saw his chariot adorned with a charioteer, horse, and banner, covered with arrows like a jackal.
Deeply wounded and enraged, he took up the Gandharva weapon and prepared his chariot, like an elephant tormented by goads.
Arjuna, after performing penance, brought something from the Gandharvas, and with it, he deluded those present, including Tumburu.
O king, he appeared as one, yet seemed to multiply into hundreds and thousands, swiftly displaying his weapons like a rotating firebrand in the battle.
The mighty warrior, using deceptive chariot maneuvers and weapons, confused the enemy and shattered the bodies of the earth's rulers into a hundred pieces, O king.
O king, the life forces of the warriors, struck by sharp arrows in the battle, departed to the other world, while their bodies fell to the earth.
Arjuna skillfully severed the bows, horses, charioteers, flags, arms adorned with ornaments, and heads of his enemies using sharp arrows.
Just as a mango grove, once broken, takes five years to bear fruit, similarly, a hundred princes were struck down by Abhimanyu.
Duryodhana was terrified when he saw the delicate ones, who were accustomed to comfort and resembled angry serpents, being killed by one.
Duryodhana, upon seeing the crushed charioteers, elephants, horses, and foot-soldiers, quickly approached him in anger.
The battle between them seemed to last only for a moment. Then, their son, struck by hundreds of arrows, became disheartened.
