52. Hacked by the Pisáchas (Assamese), and snatched of their weapons by the Bhutas (Bhoteas), the Dasárnás (at the confluence of the ten streams of Vindhya) threw off their staffs, and fled as a herd of heifers (_nikuchya karnidhavati_—bolted with their broken staves. Pánini). 53. The Kásias were eager to despoil the tinsels from the dead bodies of the chiefs by their valour, as the summer heat robs the beauty of lotuses in a drying pool. 54. The Tushákas were beset by the Mesalas, with their darts, spears and mallets; and the sly Katakas were defeated and driven away by the Narakas in battle. 55. The Kauntas were surrounded by Prastha warriors, and were defeated like good people by the treachery of the wily. 56. The elephant drivers, that struck off the heads of their hosts in a trice, were pursued by the harpooners, and fled with their severed heads, as they do with the lotus-flowers plucked by their hands. 57. The Sáraswatas fought on both sides with one another until it was evening, and yet no party was the looser or gainer, as in a learned discussion between pandits and among lawyers. 58. The puny and short statured Deccanese, being driven back by the Rákshas of Lanka, redoubled their attack on them, as the smothering fire is rekindled by fuel. 59. What more shall I relate Ráma about this war, which baffles the attempt of the serpent Vásuki even, to give a full description of it with his hundred tongues and mouths. CHAPTER XXXVIII. CESSATION OF THE WAR. Vasishtha continued:—Now as the war was waging fiercely, with mingled shouts on both sides, the sun shrouded his burnished armour under the mist of darkness, and was about to set. 2. The waters of the limpid streams glided with the showers of stones flung by the forces, and falling on the fading clusters of lotuses growing in them. 3. Flashes of fire glittered in the sky, by the clashing of the shafts and darts below; and waves of arrows were seen, now approaching nigh and now receding at a distance. 4. Severed heads like loose lotuses, floated and whirled in the whirlpools of blood below, and the sea of heaven was filled with flying weapons, moving as marine animals above. 5. The rustling of the breeze and the whistling of the overshadowing clouds of weapons, frightened the aerial Siddhas and sylvan apes, with the fear of an approaching rain. 6. The day declined after it had run its course of the eight watches (Yámárdhas), and assumed the graceful countenance of a hero, returning in glory, after he has fought his battle. 7. The army like the day, declined in splendour, being battered in its cavalry, and shattered in its force of elephants. 8. Then the commanders of the armies, in concert with the ministers of war, sent envoys to the hostile parties for a truce to the fighting.