107.15

battle for supremacy or like savage leopards coming upon each other somewhere up in a mountain cave. No love was lost between them. O lord of men their fight was so vicious and loud and spectacular that even the seers and saints of heaven were shocked to see it. At last with cruel glee Vira·dhanvan sent forth a barbed shaft and o Bharata it split Dhrishta·ketu’s bow in two. The great Chedi king cast the pieces aside and picked up a long iron spear inlaid in gold and hefting its bulk in both his hands he aimed at Vira·dhanvan’s car and swung. Its deadly point transfixed the hero’s heart and Bharata he crashed from his chariot to the earth.

107.20

107.25

O majesty. The bold Tri·garta’s fall presaged your army’s wider collapse beneath the weight of the Pandava assault. For when the great Tri·garta hero fell your men began to give way. Scolding Saha·deva across the fray Durmukha shot six arrows at Pandu’s son. Madreya’s blood was up and brother to brother he struck Durmukha back hard with six sharp shafts as a grin spread across his face. Durmukha saw the fierce mood that was in him. O Bharata Saha·deva took nine more of Durmukha’s darts and then with great skill sent a barbed arrow right through his foe’s standard and four honed arrows into his four steeds, then with another whittled from rosewood and hooked in the point he tore his horseman’s head clean away, earrings flashing as it fell. With a single razorsharp shaft Saha·deva cut through the great bow that Kaurava held before pummelling him with a further five. O Bharata Durmukha stumbled in a daze from among his dead horses and clambered aboard Niramitra’s car. But majesty rage was upon Saha·deva and he would ________