those lords of earth that came to fight, say, O Sanjaya, when they behold
Vaikartana slain? After the fall of the heroic Drona, that tiger among
car-warriors that bull among men, who, O Sanjaya, became the heads of the
several division in their order? Tell me, O Sanjaya, how that foremost of
car-warriors, Shalya the ruler of the Madras, became engaged in driving
the car of Vaikartana! Who were they that guarded the right wheel of the
Suta's son while the latter was engaged in fight, and who were they that
guarded his left wheel, and who were they that stood at the rear of that
hero? Who were those heroes that did not desert Karna, and who were those
mean fellows that ran away? How was the mighty car-warrior Karna slain
amidst your united selves? How also did those mighty car-warriors, the
brave Pandavas, advance against him shooting showers of shafts like the
clouds pouring torrents of rain? Tell me also, O Sanjaya, how that mighty
shaft, celestial and foremost of its species, and equipped with a head
like that of a serpent became futile! I do not, O Sanjaya, see the
possibility of even a small remnant of my cheerless host being saved when
its leaders have been crushed! Hearing of the slaughter of those two
heroes, those two mighty bowmen, Bhishma and Drona, who were ever ready
to lay down their lives for my sake, what use have I of life? Again and
again I am unable to endure that Karna, the might of whose arms equalled
that of 10,000 elephants, should be slain by the Pandavas! Tell me, O
Sanjaya, all that occurred in the battle between the brave warriors of
the Kauravas and their foes, after the death of Drona! Tell me also how
the sons of Kunti fought the battle with Karna, and how that slayer of
foes received his quietus in the fight!'"



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