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Mahabharata Karna parva Chapter 21
"Dhritarashtra said, 'When Pandya had been slain and when that foremost of heroes, viz., Karna was employed in routing and destroying the foe, what, O Sanjaya, did Arjuna do in battle? That son of Pandu is a hero, endued with great might, attentive to his duties, and a complete master of the science of arms. The high-souled Sankara himself hath made him invincible among all creatures. My greatest fears proceed from that Dhananjaya, that slayer of foes. Tell me, O Sanjaya, all that Partha achieved there on that occasion.'
"Sanjaya said, 'After Pandya's fall, Krishna quickly said unto Arjuna these beneficial words, "I do not behold the King. The other Pandavas also have retreated. If the Parthas had returned, the vast force of the enemy would have been broken. In fulfilment of purposes entertained by Ashvatthama, Karna is slaying the Srinjayas. A great carnage is being made (by that warrior) of steeds and car-warriors and elephants." Thus the heroic Vasudeva represented everything unto the diadem-decked (Arjuna). Hearing of and beholding that great danger of his brother (Yudhishthira), Partha quickly addressed Krishna, saying, "Urge the steeds, O Hrishikesha." Then Hrishikesha proceeded on that irresistible car.
The encounter then that once more took place became exceedingly fierce. The Kurus and the Pandavas once more fearlessly closed with each other, that is, the Parthas headed by Bhimasena and ourselves headed by the Suta's son. Then, O best of kings, there once more commenced a battle between Karna and the Pandavas that swelled the population of Yama's kingdom. With bows and arrows and spiked clubs and swords and lances and axes and short clubs and Bhushundis and darts and rapiers and battle-axes and maces and spears and polished Kuntas, and short shafts and hooks, the combatants quickly fell upon one another, desirous of taking one another's life. Filling the welkin, the cardinal points of the compass, the subsidiary ones, the firmament, and the Earth, with the whizz of arrows, the twang of bow-strings, the sound of palms, and the clatter of car-wheels, foes rushed upon foes.
Gladdened by that loud noise, heroes, fought with heroes desirous of reaching the end of the hostilities. Loud became the noise caused by the sound of bow-strings and fences and bows, the grunt of elephants, and the shouts of foot-soldiers and falling men. Hearing the terrible whizz of arrows and the diverse shouts of brave warriors, the troops took fright, became pale, and fell down.
Large numbers of those foes thus employed in shouting and shooting weapons, the heroic son of Adhiratha crushed with his arrows. With his shafts Karna then despatched to Yama's abode twenty car-warriors among the brave Pancala heroes, with their steeds, drivers, and standards. Then many foremost of warriors of the Pandava army, endued with great energy and quick in the use of weapons, speedily wheeling round, encompassed Karna on all sides. Karna agitated that hostile force with showers of weapons like the leader of an elephantine herd plunging into a lake adorned with lotuses and covered with swans.
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