men possessed of long arms, invincible in fight, and before whom, while
he was staying with Krishna, the divine Agni himself desirous of
consuming the forest of Khandava had formerly appeared in the guise of a
Brahmana? What office will be performed by that best of warriors,
Arjuna, who proceeded to that forest and gratified Agni, vanquishing on
a single car and slaying huge _Nagas_ and _Rakshasas_, and who married
the sister of Vasuki himself, the king of the _Nagas_? Even as the sun
is the foremost of all heat-giving bodies, as the Brahmana is the best
of all bipeds, as the cobra is the foremost of all serpents, as Fire is
the first of all things possessed of energy, as the thunderbolt is the
foremost of all weapons, as the humped bull is the foremost of all
animals of the bovine breed, as the ocean is the foremost of all watery
expanses, as clouds charged with rain are the foremost of all clouds, as
Ananta is the first of all _Nagas_, as Airavata is the foremost of all
elephants, as the son is the foremost of all beloved objects, and
lastly, as the wife is the best of all friends, so, O Vrikodara, is the
youthful Gudakesa, the foremost of all bowmen. And O Bharata, what
office will be performed by Vibhatsu, the wielder of _Gandiva_, whose
car is drawn by white horses, and who is not inferior to Indra or
Vasudeva Himself? What office will be performed by Arjuna who, dwelling
for five years in the abode of the thousand-eyed Deity (Indra) shining
in celestial lustre, acquired by his own energy the science of
superhuman arms with all celestial weapons, and whom I regard as the
tenth _Rudra_, the thirteenth _Aditya_, the ninth _Vasu_, and the tenth
_Graha_, whose arms, symmetrical and long, have the skin hardened by
constant strokes of the bowstring and cicatrices which resemble those on
the humps of bulls,--that foremost of warriors who is as Himavat among
mountains, the ocean among expanses of water, Sakra among the celestial,
Havyavaha (fire) among the Vasus, the tiger among beasts, and Garuda
among feathery tribes!'