SECTION VIII
"Sanjaya said, 'Beholding Drona thus slaying steeds and drivers and
car-warriors and elephants, the Pandavas, without being troubled,
encompassed him on all sides. Then king Yudhishthira, addressing
Dhrishtadyumna and Dhananjaya, said unto them, 'Let the pot-born (Drona)
be checked, our men surrounding him on all sides with care.' Thus
addressed those mighty car-warriors, viz., Arjuna and Prishata's son,
along with their followers, all received Drona as the latter came. And
the Kekaya princes, and Bhimasena, and Subhadra's son and Ghatotkacha and
Yudhishthira, and the twins (Nakula and Sahadeva), and the ruler of the
Matsyas, and the son of Drupada, and the (five) sons of Draupadi, all
filled with joy, and Dhrishtaketu, and Satyaki, and the wrathful
Chitrasena, and the mighty car-warrior, Yuyutsu, and many other kings, O
monarch, who followed the sons of Pandu, all achieved diverse feats in
keeping with their lineage and prowess. Beholding then that host
protected in that battle by those Pandava warriors, Bharadwaja's son,
turning his eyes in wrath, cast his looks upon it. Inflamed with rage,
that warrior, invincible in battle, consumed, as he stood upon his car,
the Pandava host like the tempest destroying vast masses of clouds.
Rushing on all sides at car-warriors and steeds and foot-soldiers and
elephants, Drona furiously careered over the field like a young man,
though bearing the weight of years. His red steeds, fleet as the wind,
and of excellent breed, covered with blood, O king, assumed a beautiful
appearance. Beholding that hero of regulated vows, felling them like Yama
himself inflamed with wrath, the soldiers of Yudhishthira fled away on
all sides. And as some fled away and other rallied, as some looked at him
and others stayed on the field, the noise they made was fierce and
terrible. And that noise causing delight to heroes and enhancing the
fears of the timid, filled the whole sky and the earth. And once more
Drona, uttering his own name in battle, made himself exceedingly fierce,
scattering hundreds of arrows among the foes. Indeed, the mighty Drona,
though old, yet acting like a young man, careered like Death himself, O
sire, amid the divisions of Pandu's son. That fierce warrior cutting off
heads and arms decked with ornaments, made the terraces of many cars
empty and uttered leonine roars. And in consequence of those joyous
shouts of his, as also of the force of his shafts, the warriors, O lord,
(of the hostile army) trembled like a herd of cows afflicted by cold. And
in consequence of the rattle of his car and the stretching of his
bow-string and the twang of his bow, the whole welkin resounded with a
loud noise. And the shaft., of that hero, coursing in thousands from his
bow, and enveloping all the points of the compass, fell upon the
elephants and steeds and cars and foot-soldiers (of the enemy). Then the
Panchalas and the Pandavas boldly approached Drona, who, armed with his
bow of great force, resembled a fire having weapons for its flames. Then
with their elephants and foot-soldiers and steeds he began to despatch
them unto the abode of Yama. And Drona made the earth miry with blood.
Scattering his mighty weapons and shooting his shafts thick on every
side, Drona soon so covered all the points of the compass, that nothing
could be seen except his showers of arrows. And among foot-soldiers and
cars and steeds and elephants nothing could be seen save Drona's arrows.
The standard of his car was all that could be seen, moving like flashes
of lightning amid the cars.[12] Of soul incapable of being depressed,
Drona then, armed with bow and arrows, afflicted the five princes of
Kekaya and the ruler of the Panchalas and then rushed against the
division of Yudhishthira. Then Bhimasena and Dhananjaya and the grandson
of Sini, and the sons of Drupada, and the ruler of Kasi, viz., the son of
Saivya, and Sivi himself, cheerfully and with loud roars covered him with
their arrows. Shafts in thousands, decked with wings of gold, shot from
Drona's bow, piercing through the bodies of the elephants and the young
horses of those warriors, entered the earth, their feathers dyed with
blood. The field of battle, strewn with cars and the prostrate forms of
large bands of warriors, and of elephants and steeds mangled with shafts,
looked like the welkin covered with masses of black clouds. Then Drona,
desirous of the prosperity of your sons, having thus crushed the divisions
of Satyaki, and Bhima, and Dhananjaya and Subhadra's son and Drupada, and
the ruler of the Kasi, and having ground many other heroes in battle,
indeed, that high-souled warrior, having achieved these and many other
feats, and having, O chief of the Kurus, scorched the world like the Sun
himself as he rises at the end of the Yuga, proceeded hence, O monarch,
to heaven. That hero possessed of golden car, that grinder of hostile
hosts, having achieved mighty feats and slain in thousands the warriors
of the Pandava host in battle, hath at last been himself slain by
Dhrishtadyumna. Having, in fact, slain more than two Akshauhinis of brave
and unreturning warriors, that hero endued with intelligence, at last,
attained to the highest state. Indeed, O king, having achieved the most
difficult feats, he hath, at last, been slain by the Pandavas and the
Panchalas of cruel deeds. When the preceptor was slain in battle, there
arose in the welkin, O monarch, a loud uproar of all creatures, as also
of all the troops. Resounding through heaven and earth and the
intermediate space and through the cardinal and the subsidiary
directions, the loud cry 'O Fie!'--of creatures; was heard. And the gods,
the Pitris, and they that were his friends, all beheld that mighty
car-warrior, viz., the son of Bharadwaja, thus slain. The Pandavas,
having won the victory, uttered leonine shouts. And the earth trembled
with those loud shouts of theirs.'"
--------------------END OF PARVA 7 : UPA-PARVA 8 ---------------------
