09.008
Core and Pancharatra: The fierce river, filled with Kurus and Sṛñjayas, began to flow, bringing joy to the heroes and increasing fear among the fearful. As the army of the Kauravas was being slaughtered, they fled in all directions. Great cries of distress arose among the Kaurava warriors.
Sanjaya said:
Then a fearsome battle began between the Kurus and the Sṛñjayas, O king, resembling the battles of gods and demons.
Thousands of men, chariots, elephant troops, horsemen, and valiant horses gathered together.
The terrifying sound of the serpents with dreadful forms melting away was heard, similar to the sound of clouds in the sky during the rainy season.
Struck by elephants, some charioteers fell along with their chariots. The heroes, overwhelmed by the intoxicated elephants, fled from the battlefield.
The skilled warriors, using their arrows, sent the horses and foot soldiers to the afterlife, O Bharata.
The trained horsemen, O king, surrounded the great charioteers and moved through the battlefield, striking with spears, power, and arrows.
Some archers, having obstructed the great charioteers, would gather in numbers to send one to the abode of Yama.
The great warriors surrounded the elephant and the best of chariots, and in the ensuing chaos, they killed Uttarāyudhinam amidst a great uproar.
Thus, O great king, the elephants surrounded and killed the angry charioteer who was scattering many arrows from all sides.
In the battle, the elephant charged at the elephant, and the charioteer at the charioteer, striking down with spears, javelins, and arrows at various places.
In the midst of the battle, foot soldiers were seen crushing chariots, elephants, and horses, creating great confusion.
The horses, adorned with fans, ran around. The swans on the Himalayan plateau appeared to be drinking the earth.
The ground, marked by the hooves of their horses, appeared to the lord of men like a woman who has been scratched and wounded by nails.
The battlefield resounded with the sound of horses' hooves, chariot wheels, foot soldiers, and trumpeting elephants.
The earth echoed with the sounds of musical instruments and conches, resembling the rumbling of explosions, O Bharata.
The sound of the bows, the gleam of the swords, and the glow of the armors obscured everything from sight.
Many severed arms, resembling the hands of the king of serpents, uncoil and writhe, creating a terrifying speed.
O great king, the sound of heads falling to the ground is like the sound of fruits dropping from palm trees.
O Bharata, the earth appears as if adorned with fallen heads moistened with blood, resembling golden lotuses in due course.
The scene appeared, O great king, as if adorned with lotuses, with eyes protruding and souls departed, all well-wounded.
The earth, adorned with fallen arms smeared with sandalwood and bracelets of great wealth, shines like the banners of Indra, O king.
The battlefield was covered with the severed thighs of kings, resembling the trunks of elephants, by others in the great battle.
The army's camp, filled with numerous headless trunks and decorated with umbrellas and fly-whisks, appeared as splendid as a forest in full bloom.
In that place, O great king, the warriors roam fearlessly, appearing as if their blood-smeared bodies are in full bloom like the Butea monosperma trees.
Elephants, afflicted by arrows and lances, were seen falling here and there in the battle, resembling torn clouds.
O great king, the elephant-army was scattered in all directions by the great souls, like clouds driven by the wind.
The elephants, resembling clouds, fell all around the ground. They appeared like mountains shattered by a thunderbolt at the end of an era.
Heaps of fallen horses with their riders are seen scattered across the ground, appearing as large as mountains.
A river emerged on the battlefield, leading souls to the afterlife, its waters red with blood, chariots swirling like whirlpools, flags standing like trees, and bones scattered like pebbles.
The arm-eaters, bow-streams, elephant-mountains, horse-stones, fat-marrow-mud, umbrella-swans, and mace-moons are described in this verse.
The place was fortified with armor and turbans, decorated with beautiful flags and trees, and encircled by a series of discs and three bamboo staffs.
The fierce river, filled with Kurus and Sṛñjayas, began to flow, bringing joy to the heroes and increasing fear among the fearful.
The heroes, with arms as strong as iron bars, crossed the very terrifying river that carried souls to the world of ancestors, using their vehicles and boats.
In the current battle, O lord of men, which is without rules and as terrible as the battle between gods and demons, the fourfold army faces destruction.
In the midst of the battlefield, others called out to their kin in various places, O Arjuna. Some, overwhelmed by fear, did not turn back with their weeping relatives.
In the terrifying and boundless battle that was ongoing, Arjuna and Bhimasena caused confusion among their enemies.
As your great army was being slaughtered, O ruler of people, it became bewildered right there, as if under the influence of intoxication.
After confusing the enemy forces, Bhimasena and Dhananjaya blew their conches and roared like lions, asserting their dominance on the battlefield.
Upon hearing the great noise, Dhṛṣṭadyumna and Śikhaṇḍin, with Dharmaraja leading, charged at the Madra king.
There, O lord of men, we witnessed a wondrous and terrible sight. The heroes, aligned with Śalya, engaged in battle in separate divisions.
The impetuous sons of Madri, skilled in weaponry and arrogant in battle, swiftly approached your army with the desire to conquer.
Then, O best of the Bharatas, your army retreated, being struck in various ways by the arrows of the Pandavas who had conquered Kāśi.
As the army of your sons was being slaughtered, they fled in all directions while being watched, O great king, driven by the strong archers. Great cries of distress arose among your warriors, O Bharata.
The routed great warriors, desiring victory, were telling each other to "stay, stay" in the battle. However, your soldiers, broken by the Pandavas, fled.
In the battle, having forsaken dear sons, brothers, grandfathers, uncles, nephews, and other relatives and kinsmen.
The warriors, urging the horses and elephants, moved all around with enthusiasm for self-protection, O best of the Bharatas.
