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67. THE FOURTH DAY
THE battle was very much the same every
day and the narrative is one of
monotonous fighting and killing. Still, the
great battle is the central event in the
Mahabharata and, if we skip over it, we
cannot fully understand the epic heroes of
that crowded stage.
At break of day, Bhishma arrayed the
Kaurava forces again. Surrounded by
Drona, Duryodhana and others, the
grandsire looked verily like great Indra,
holding his thunder bolt, surrounded by
the devas.
The Kaurava army, with its chariots,
elephants and horses all arrayed in battle
order and ready for the fight, presented
the appearance of the sky in a great
thunderstorm.
The grandsire gave orders for advance.
Arjuna watched the hostile movements
from his chariot, whereon the Hanuman
flag was waving, and he too got ready.
The battle commenced. Aswatthama,
Bhurisravas, Salya, Chitrasena and the son
of Chala surrounded Abhimanyu and
attacked him. The warrior fought like a
lion opposing five elephants.
Arjuna saw this combined attack on his
son and, with a wrathful lion roar joined
his son whereat the tempo of fighting
flared up. Dhrishtadyumna also arrived
with a large force. The son of Chala was
killed.
Chala himself now joined and he with
Salya, made a strong attack on
Dhrishtadyumna. The latter's bow was
severed into two by a sharp missile
discharged by Salya.
Abhimanyu saw this and sent a shower of
arrows on Salya and put him in such
danger that Duryodhana and his brothers
rushed to Salya's help. Bhimasena also
appeared on the scene at this juncture.
When Bhima raised his mace aloft,
Duryodhana's brothers lost courage.
Duryodhana, who saw this, was
exceedingly angry and immediately
charged against Bhima with a large force
of elephants.
As soon as Bhima saw the elephants
coming up, he descended from his chariot,
iron mace in hand, attacked them so
fiercely that they scattered in a wild
stampede, throwing the Kaurava ranks
into disorder.
It will be seen that even in our Puranic
stories elephants fared as badly in battle as
they did in the wars of the Greeks and the
Romans. Bhima's attack on the elephants
was like Indra's devastating onslaught on
the winged mountains.
The slaughtered elephants lay dead on the
field like great hills.
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