07.068
Sanjaya said:
O king, after Sudakshina and the hero Shrutayudha were killed, your soldiers, filled with anger, quickly rushed towards Arjuna.
The warriors from the Śūrasenas, Śibis, and Vasātayas attacked Dhananjaya with a barrage of arrows, O king.
The Pāṇḍava, with his arrows, crushed six thousand noble warriors. Frightened, they fled like small animals from a tiger.
They returned and surrounded Arjuna from all sides in the battle, aiming to defeat the enemies and achieve victory over others in the war.
As they approached swiftly, Dhananjaya, with arrows shot from Gandiva, swiftly struck down their heads and arms.
The battlefield was strewn with fallen heads, resembling a continuous shadow of clouds, and was populated by vultures, eagles, and jackals.
Amidst the destruction, Śrutāyu and Acyutāyu, filled with anger and intolerance, engaged in battle with Dhanañjaya.
The strong and competitive heroes, noble-born and strong-armed, should shoot their arrows in showers from both the left and right sides.
O great king, the archers, eager and swift, sought great fame and desired to kill Arjuna for the sake of your son.
In their anger, they showered a thousand bent-jointed arrows upon Arjuna, as clouds fill a lake with water.
Śrutayu, in his anger, struck Dhananjaya with a sharp yellow spear, being the best among charioteers.
Pierced by the strong enemy, the destroyer of enemies fell into great confusion, bewildering Keshava on the battlefield.
At that moment, Acyutayu, a great warrior, attacked the Pāṇḍava with a very sharp spear.
When wounded, he indeed gave saline to the noble Pandava. Arjuna, though severely wounded, leaned on the flagstaff for support.
Then, O lord of the people, a great roar like that of a lion arose from all your troops, believing that Dhananjaya (Arjuna) had been slain.
Krishna, seeing Arjuna unconscious and deeply aggrieved, consoled him there with kind words.
Then, those two foremost charioteers, having achieved their objective, surrounded Arjuna (Dhananjaya) and Krishna (Vasudeva), the descendant of Vrishni, with a barrage of arrows from every direction.
In the battle, they made the chariot with wheels, axles, horses, flags, and banners invisible; it appeared as a wonder.
Reassured, Bibhatsu (Arjuna) slowly returned as if he had reached the city of the king of the dead, O Bharata.
Seeing the chariot covered with a net of arrows along with Keshava, and the enemies facing them, shining like blazing fires.
Arjuna, the great warrior, then manifested Indra's weapon, and from it emerged thousands of bent-jointed arrows.
They killed those two great archers with arrows released by them. Pierced by Arjuna's arrows, they moved through the sky.
The son of Pandu swiftly countered the arrows and set out to fight the great charioteers at that very place.
They fell to the ground, their arms and heads severed by Arjuna's arrows, resembling trees felled by the wind.
The demise of Śrutāyuṣa and Acyutāyuṣa was a marvel to the world, akin to the ocean drying up.
Arjuna, having slain the followers and five hundred chariots, approached the Bharata army, slaying the best of the heroes.
O Bharata, upon seeing Śrutayush slain and Acyutayush, Ayutayush became enraged, along with Dirghayush.
The sons of the two, the best among men, Kunti's son, returned, showering various arrows, afflicted by the sorrow of their father.
In a moment, Arjuna, extremely angry, sent his arrows with bent joints towards the abode of Yama.
The warrior chiefs could not stop Arjuna, who was shaking the troops like an elephant shakes a lotus-lake.
The Angas, with their division of elephants, surrounded the Pāṇḍava. Thousands of angry elephant riders, adorned and ready, encircled him, O king.
The kings from the eastern and southern regions, led by Kalinga, were commanded by Duryodhana and accompanied by elephants resembling mountains.
As they approached swiftly, their fierce heads and well-adorned arms were severed by arrows shot from Gandiva.
The earth was strewn with their heads and arms adorned with bracelets, resembling golden rocks enveloped by serpents.
Arms severed by arrows and heads smashed were seen falling like birds from trees.
The elephants, pierced by thousands of arrows and bleeding profusely, appeared like mountains oozing red liquid over time.
The foreigners of various distorted appearances, mounted on elephants, lie killed by the sharp arrows of the terrible one.
O king, those wearing various attires and covered with a multitude of weapons, smeared with blood, appear striking as they are hit by variegated arrows.
The elephants, struck by Arjuna's arrows, poured out blood as they moved, their limbs severed, accompanied by their riders and followers, numbering in thousands.
The elephants, greatly frightened by the sound, cried out, fell down, and wandered in different directions. Intoxicated and armed, they were like sharp poison.
The Yavanas, Paradas, and Sakas, known for their fierce and terrible eyes, are aware of the demon's illusion, and they are together with the Sunikas.
The barbarians born of cow lineage, resembling death and strikers, came from the regions of Darva, including the Daradas and Puṇḍras, along with the Bāhlikas.
The groups were so numerous, in hundreds of thousands, that they could not be counted; it was like a vast rain of locusts.
Dhananjaya, with his arrows, created an illusion over the army like a cloud's shadow and destroyed all the gathered barbarians and various unclean ascetics using his mystical weaponry.
The groups, pierced by hundreds of arrows, fled the battlefield in fear, as they were dwellers of mountain caves.
Bats, herons, and wolves joyfully drank the blood of fallen elephants, horses, and other barbarians, struck down by hundreds of arrows, on the ground.
The river, obscured by foot-soldiers, horses, chariots, and elephants, became a crossing. It was dreadful, filled with a torrent of arrows, hair, weeds, and grass. It turned into a fierce river with waves of blood.
At the end of the era, a river filled with elephants and small fish, turned bloody by time, was formed from the bodies of princes, serpents, horses, and chariots.
Just as high and low grounds are indistinguishable when Indra pours rain, so was the entire earth flooded with blood.
The best among the Kshatriyas sent six thousand heroic warriors and another thousand to the realm of the dead.
The elephants, struck by thousands of arrows and properly arranged, lie on the ground like mountains hit by thunderbolts.
Arjuna moved through the battlefield, striking down horses, chariots, and elephants, like a rampaging elephant crushing everything in its path.
The fire, when fanned by the wind, consumes the forest filled with numerous trees, creepers, bushes, dry wood, grass, and leaves.
Dhanañjaya, the Pāṇḍava, in his anger, burned the forest of the army with the flame of his arrows, blown by the dark wind.
Dhananjaya, with bow in hand, made the chariot seats empty by men and covered the earth, dancing as if in a crowd.
Dhananjaya, in his anger, entered the Bharata army, making the earth red with blood with his thunderbolt-like arrows. Shrutayu and Ambashtha stopped his advance.
Arjuna swiftly brought down the horses of the opponent with his sharp, vulture-feathered arrows, O noble one. Then, having severed his bow with other arrows, Pārtha advanced.
Ambaṣṭha, with his eyes filled with rage, wielded his mace and advanced towards Arjuna and Krishna, the great chariot-warrior, in the battlefield.
Then, the valiant hero, with a smile, raised his mace and, blocking the chariot, struck Keśava, O Bharata.
Upon witnessing Keshava being struck by a mace, Arjuna, the destroyer of enemy heroes, became intensely angry and directed his wrath towards Ambaṣṭha, O Bharata.
Then, in the battle, he covered the best of charioteers and their chariot with golden-feathered arrows, just as a cloud covers the rising sun.
Then Arjuna, with other arrows, smashed the mace of the great soul, and it appeared as if it was a wonderful feat.
Then, seeing her fallen, he picked up another great mace and repeatedly struck Arjuna and Vasudeva.
Arjuna, with his sharp arrows, severed the arms that were raised with a mace, and with another arrow, he cut off the head, resembling Indra's flag.
He fell to the ground, O king, with a resounding crash, like Indra's banner released from the bondage of the machine.
Arjuna, immersed in the army of chariots and surrounded by hundreds of elephants and horses, appeared like the sun obscured by clouds.
