SECTION 3
"Sanjaya said, 'Upon the fall of the great bowman Drona, your sons, those
mighty car-warriors, became pale and deprived of their senses. Armed with
weapons, all of them, O monarch, hung down their heads. Afflicted with
grief and without looking at one another, they stood perfectly silent.
Beholding them with such afflicted countenances, your troops, O Bharata,
themselves perturbed by grief, vacantly gazed upwards. Seeing Drona slain
in battle, the weapons of many of them, O king, dyed with blood, dropped
from their hands. Innumerable weapons, again, O Bharata, still retained
in the grasp of the soldiers, seemed in their pendent attitude, to
resemble falling meteors in the sky. Then king Duryodhana, O monarch,
beholding that army of yours thus standing as if paralysed and lifeless,
said, "Relying upon the might of your army I have summoned the Pandavas
to battle and caused this passage-at-arms to commence! Upon the fall of
Drona, however, the prospect seems to be cheerless. Warriors engaged in
battle all die in battle. Engaged in battle, a warrior may have either
victory or death. What can be strange then in this (viz., the death of
Drona)? Fight the with faces turned towards every direction. Behold now
the high-souled Karna, the son of Vikartana, that great bowman of mighty
strength, careering in battle, using his celestial weapons! Through fear
of that warrior in battle, that coward, viz., Dhananjaya, the son of
Kunti, always turns back like a small deer at the sight of a lion! It is
he who, by the ordinary methods of human battle, brought the mighty
Bhimasena endued with the strength of 10,000 elephants to that plight! It
is he who, uttering a loud roar, slew with his invincible dart the brave
Ghatotkaca of a 1,000 illusions and well-acquainted with celestial
weapons! Behold today the inexhaustible might of arms of that intelligent
warrior of sure aim and invincible energy! Let the sons of Pandu behold
today the prowess of both Ashvatthama and Karna resembling that of Vishnu
and Vasava! All of you are singly able to slay the sons of Pandu with
their troops in battle! How much more then are you capable, when united
together, of that feat! Endued with great energy and accomplished in
weapons, you will today behold one another engaged in the achievement of
mighty tasks!'"
"Sanjaya continued, 'Having said these words, O sinless one, your son
Duryodhana, with his brothers, made Karna the generalissimo (of the Kuru
army). Obtaining the command, the mighty car-warrior Karna, so fierce in
battle, uttered loud roars and fought with the foe. He caused, O sire, a
great carnage among the Srinjayas, the Pancalas, the Kekayas, and the
Videhas. From his bow issued innumerable lines of arrows, one close
behind the wings of another, like flights of bees. Having afflicted the
Pancalas and the Pandavas endued with great activity, and slain thousands
of warriors, he was at last slain by Arjuna!"
--------------------END OF PARVA 8 : UPA-PARVA 3 ---------------------
