Shalya Parva — The fight between Duryodhana and Dhrishtadyumna. The encounter between Shalya and Nakula and Satyaki

Sanjaya said Duryodhana, O king and Dhrishtadyumna, the son of Prishata, fought a dreadful fight with enough arrows and darts.

Both of them, O king shot arrows like showers of rain poured by the clouds in the rainy season.

Having struck with five arrows the slayer of Drona, viz., Prishata's son the Kuru king again struck him with seven arrows.

The powerful and steady Dhrishtadyumna, in that battle, assailed Duryodhana with seventy arrows.

Seeing the king thus assailed, O foremost of Bharatas, his brothers, accompanied by a large force, surrounded the son of Prishata.

Surrounded by those great warriors on every side, the Panchala hero, O king, moved in the battle-field, displaying his quickness in the use of weapons.

Helped by the Prabhadrakas, Shikhandin fought with the two Kuru bowmen, Kritavarman and the great car-warrior Kripa.

Then, O king, that battle became fierce and awful because the warriors were all bent upon sacrificing their lives.

Discharging arrows on all sides Shalya assailed the Pandavas with Satyaki and Vrikodara amongst them.

O king, with patience and great strength, the king of the Madras at the same time fought with the twins Nakula and Sahadeva, each of whom was powerful like the Destroyer himself.

The great car-warriors among the Pandavas who were wounded in that great battle with the arrows of Shalya, could not find a protector.

Seeing the just king Yudhishthira greatly assailed the heroic Nakula, the son of Madri, rushed with force against his maternal uncle.

Covering Shalya in that batile Nakula, that slayer of hostile heroes, smiling struck him in the breast with ten other arrows, made entirely of iron, polished by the smith, equipt with wings of gold whetted on stone and discharged from his bow with great force.

Assailed by his illustrious nephew, Shalya struck him in return with many straight arrows.

Then king Yudhishthira, Bhimasena, Satyaki and Sahadeva the son of Madri, all rushed against the king of the Madras.

That vanquisher of foes, the commander of the Kuru army, received in that battle all those heroes that rushed towards him vehemently filling the cardinal and the subsidiary points of the compass with the rattle of their cars and causing the Earth to tremble.

Striking Yudhishthira with three arrows and Bhima with seven, Shalya pierced Satyaki with a hundred arrows in that battle and Sahadeva with three.

Then the king of the Madras, O sire, cut off, with a razor-headed arrow, the bow with arrow fixed on it of the great Nakula.

Taking up another bow, Madri's son quickly covered the king of the Madras with winged arrows.

Then Yudhishthira and Sahadeva, each struck the king of the Madras with ten arrows on the breast.

Rushing at the ruler of the Madras Bhimasena and Satyaki both struck him with Kanka-feathered arrows, the former with sixty and the latter with ten.

Enraged at this, the ruler of the Madras struck Satyaki with nine arrows and again with seventy straight arrows.

Then O king, he cut off at the handle the bow, with arrow fixed on it, of Satyaki and then killed the four horses of the latter.

Having made Satyaki carless, that great carwarrior, the king of the Madras, struck him with a hundred arrows from all sides.

He next struck the two angry sons of Madri and Bhimasena the son of Pandu and Yudhishthira, O Kuru chief, with ten arrows each.

The prowess of the king of the Madras was highly wonderful, since the Parthas, even in a body, could not approach him in that battle.

Riding then upon another car, the mighty and powerful Satyaki, seeing the Pandavas assailed and yielding to the king of the Madras, rushed quickly against him.

Shalya rushed, on his car, against the car of Satyaki, like one infuriate elephant against another.

The encounter between Satyaki and the heroic king of the Madras, became fierce and wonderful to look at like that which had taken place in the days of yore between the Asura Shambara and Indra.

Seeing the king of the Madras stay before him in that battle, Satyaki struck him with ten arrows.

Deeply struck by that great warrior, the king of the Madras struck Satyaki in return with sharp arrows adorned with beautiful feathers.

Beholding the king of the Madras struck by Satyaki those great bowmen the Parthas, quickly rushed towards him with a view to kill him.

The encounter, between those struggling heroes marked by a great flow of blood, was highly dreadful like that which takes place between a number of roaring lions fighting for a piece of meat.

With the thick downpour of arrows shot by them, the Earth was entirely covered and the sky was converted into one mass of arrows.

Indeed, with the arrows shot by those illustrious warriors a shadow, like that of the clouds was caused there.

Then, O king, with those shining and gold winged arrows shot by warriors, that resembled snakes that had just cast off their sloughs, the points of the horizon were as if ablaze.

Shalya, that slayer of foes, performed a wonderful deed because that hero, Alone, unaided, fought with many arrows in that battle.

The Earth was covered with the dreadful Kanka and peacock feathered arrows that fell from the hands of the king of the Madras.

Then, O king, we behalf the car of Shalya moving about in that dreadful battle like the car of Shakra in days of yore on the occasion of the destruction of the Asuras.