Bhishma-Vadha Parva — Sighting of omens

Sanjaya said Thereafter, Bhishma the son of Shantanu advanced with his troops, and he formed his own troops in the array known as Saravatobhadra.

Kripa, Kritavarma, the mighty car-warrior Shaivya, Shakuni, the ruler of the Sindhus, and Sudakshina, the ruler of the Kambojas,

All these, O Bharata, accompanied by Bhishma, and along with your sons stationed themselves in the van of all the troops, and in the very head of the Kaurava array.

Drona, Bhurishravas, Shalya and Bhagadatta. O sire, clad in mail, stood defending the right wing of that array.

Ashvathama, Somadatta, and the two princes of Avanti, both mighty car-warriors, supported by a large division, defended the left wing.

King Duryodhana, surrounded by the Trigaretas on all sides, stood, O monarch, O Bharata, in the centre of the array facing the Pandavas.

That foremost of car-warriors Alambusha, and the mighty car-warrior Shrutayu, cased in Armour, stood in the rear of the array behind all the troops.

Thus, O Bharata, your warriors, having formed this mighty array and cased in Armour, appeared as if leaping forward.

Then king Yudhishthira and that son of Pandu, Bhimasena, and Nakula and Sahadeva the two sons of Madri,

All cased in mail, stood in the van of their array at the front of all the troops. Dhrishtadyumna, Virata, the mighty carwarrior Satyaki.

All these warriors stood prepared for battle, with their mighty divisions desirous of destroying the ranks of the enemy. Shikhandin, Arjuna, the Rakshasa Ghatotkacha,

The mighty-armed Chekitana, the highly puissant Kuntibhoja, all these, o mighty monarch, stood ready for fight, surrounded by their large divisions.

That fierce bow-man Abhimanyu, the highly powerful Draupada, and the Kaikeya brothers, cased in Armour, stood ready for combat.

Thus the heroic Pandavas forming this mighty and invincible contrary, stood, cased in mail, prepared for the ensuing struggle.

Your warriors, o king, supported by large divisions and placing Bhishma at their head, charged, putting forth all their energies, the sons of Pritha on the field.

So also, O king, the Pandavas headed by Bhimasena himself, and desirous of wining victory, rushed to battle with a view to cncounter Bhishma.

With their war-cries and confused uproars and the blarc of Krakachas and sound of drums, cymbals, cow-horns, and panavas, and the roars of their elephants.

And with fierce yells, the Pandavas rushed to battle. With the sound of our drums, cyrnbals conchs, Dundubhis,

With fierce war-dries, and other kinds of shouts, hastily did we advance to meet the foe,

All inflamed with rage. Thereupon ensued an awful and fierce engagement, in which the soldiers, rushing at one another, smote one another down.

Then the earth began to tremble with the loud din. Birds uttering fierce shrieks hovered over our heads.

The sun that had risen in all splendor, now became bedimmed in effulgence; and dreadful winds began to blow portending ominous results.

Fearful jackets yelling terribly roved there, harbingering, Omighty monarch, a great carnage.

The points of the compass, 0 king, appeared to be blazing, and showers of bones mixed copiously with blood.

Tears dropped from the eyes of the animals that were all weeping; and O ruler of men, preyed upon by anxiety, they frequently discharged urine.

O foremost of the Bharatas, fierce war-cries of heroes were drowned by the terrible uproar uttered by Rakshasas and cannibals.

Jackals, vultures, crows and dogs yelling various shrieks, began, O sire, to pounce and swoop down the ranks of soldiers.

Blazing meteors, striking against the solar disc, began to drop down suddenly on earth portending mighty terrors.

Thereafter the two mighty arrays of the Pandavas and the Kauravas, during that dreadful fight, began to shake owing to the tremendous din produced by the blare of conchs and the sound of drums, like forests shaken by the tempest.

The din that was produced by the two armies teeming with royal warriors, and horses, which have encountered each other in an inauspicious moment, became deafening, like that made by the ocean when it is lashed into fury by the tempest.