The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa, Volume 3: Books 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12
General
The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa, Volume 3: Books 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12
Epic literature, Sanskrit
"Sanjaya continued, 'Then, O king, Shalya speedily proceeded on that car
to the spot where that great bowman, viz., Bhima, was engaged in routing
thy army. There rose then the blare of trumpets and the peal of drums, O
monarch, when Bhima and Karna met. The mighty Bhimasena, filled with
rage, began to scatter thy troops difficult of defeat, with his sharp and
polished shafts, to all sides. That collision in battle, O monarch,
between Karna and the son of Pandu became, O king, fierce and awful, and
the noise that arose was tremendous. Beholding Bhima coming towards him,
Karna, otherwise called Vaikartana or Vrisha, filled with rage, struck
him with shafts in the centre of the chest. And once more, Karna of
immeasurable soul, covered him with a shower of arrows. Thus pierced by
the Suta's son, Bhima covered the former with winged arrows. And he once
more pierced Karna with nine straight and keen shafts. Then Karna, with a
number of arrows, cut in twain Bhima's bow at the handle. And after
cutting off his bow, he pierced him once again in the centre of the chest
with a shaft of great keenness and capable of penetrating every kind of
armour. Then Vrikodara, taking up another bow, O king, and knowing full
well what the vital parts of the body are, pierced the Suta's son with
many keen arrows. Then Karna pierced him with five and twenty arrows,
like a hunter striking a proud and infuriate elephant in the forest with
a number of blazing brands. His limbs mangled with those shafts, his eyes
red with rage and the desire of revenge, the son of Pandu, insensate with
wrath, and impelled by the desire of slaying the Suta's son, fixed on his
bow an excellent shaft of great impetuosity, capable of bearing a great
strain, and competent to pierce the very mountains. Forcibly drawing the
bow-string to his very ear, the son of the Wind-god, that great bowman,
filled with wrath and desirous of making an end of Karna, sped that
shaft. Thus sped by the mighty Bhima, that shaft, making a noise loud as
that of the thunder, pierced through Karna in that battle,
like the thunderbolt itself piercing through a mountain. Struck by
Bhimasena, O perpetuator of Kuru's race, the Suta's son, that commander
(of thy forces), sat down senseless on the terrace of his car. The ruler
of the Madras then, beholding the Suta's son deprived of his senses, bore
that ornament of battle away on his car, from that fight. Then after
Karna's defeat, Bhimasena began to rout the vast Dhartarashtra host like
Indra routing the Danavas.'"
51
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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