"Sanjaya said, 'Having slain Alayudha, the Rakshasa Ghatotkacha became filled with delight. Standing at the head of the army he began to utter diverse kinds of shouts. Hearing those loud roars of his that made elephants tremble, a great fear, O monarch, entered into the hearts of thy warriors. Beholding the mighty son of Bhimasena engaged with Alayudha, the mighty-armed Karna rushed against the Panchalas. He pierced Dhrishtadyumna and Sikhandin, each with ten strong and straight shafts sped from his bow drawn to its fullest stretch. With a number of other powerful shafts, the Suta's son then caused Yudhamanyu and Uttamaujas, and the great car-warrior Satyaki to tremble. The bows of those warriors also, O king, while they were engaged in striking Karna from all sides, were seen to be drawn into circles. On that night, the twang of their bow-strings and the rattle of their car-wheels (mingling together), became loud and deep as the roar of the clouds at the close of summer. The nocturnal battle, O monarch, resembled a gathering mass of clouds. The twang of bow-string and the rattle of car-wheels constituted its roar. The bows (of warriors) constituted its lightning flashes; and showers of shafts formed its downpour of rain. Standing immovable like a hill and possessed of the strength of a prince of mountains, that grinder of foes, viz., Vikartana's son, Karna, O king, destroyed that wonderful shower of arrows shot at him. Devoted to the good of thy sons, the high-souled Vaikartana, in the battle, began to strike his foes with lances endued with the force of thunder, and with whetted shafts, equipped with beautiful wings of gold. Soon the standard of some were broken and cut down by Karna, and the bodies of others pierced and mangled by
"Dhritarashtra said, 'When the Rakshasa fighting by deceitful means thus disappeared, tell me, O Sanjaya, what the warriors of my army thought.'
"Sanjaya said, Seeing the Rakshasa disappear, all the Kauravas loudly said, Appearing next, the Rakshasa, fighting deceitfully, will certainly slay Karna.' Then Karna, endued with wonderful lightness in the use of weapons, covered all sides with showers of shafts. The welkin being covered with the darkness caused by that thick arrowy shower, all creatures became invincible. So great was the lightness of hand displayed by the Suta's son, that none could mark when he touched his quivers with his fingers, when he fixed his arrows on the bowstring, and when he aimed and sped them off. The entire welkin seemed to be shrouded with his arrows. Then a fierce and terrible illusion was invoked into existence by the Rakshas in the welkin. We beheld in the sky what appeared to us to be a mass of red clouds resembling the fierce flame of a blazing fire. From that cloud issued flashes of lightning, and many blazing brands, O Kuru king! And tremendous roars also issued therefrom, like the noise of thousands of drums beat at once. And from it fell many shafts winged with gold, and darts, lances and heavy clubs, and other similar weapons, and battle-axes, and scimitars washed with oil, and axes of blazing edges,
loosened from their grasp, or deprived of heads, or with fractured limbs began to fall down on the field. And in consequence of the failing rocks, steeds and elephants and cars began to be crushed. Those Yatudhanas of terrible forms created by Ghatotkacha with the aid of his powers of illusion pouring that thick shower of mighty weapons spared neither those that were terrified nor those that begged for quarter. During that cruel carnage of Kuru heroes, brought on by Death himself, during that extermination of Kshatriyas the Kaurava warriors suddenly broke and fled with speed, crying aloud, 'Fly, ye Kauravas! All is lost! The gods Indra at their head are slaying us for the sake of the Pandavas!' At that time there was none that could rescue the sinking Bharata troops. During that fierce uproar and rout and extermination of the Kauravas, the camps losing their distinctive features, the parties could not be distinguished from each other. Indeed, during that terrible rout in which the soldiers showed no regard for one another, every side of the field, when looked at, seemed to be empty. Only Karna, O king, could be seen there, drowned in that shower of weapons. Then Karna covered the welkin
missile twined with strings and which seemed to thirst for blood, that fierce weapon which looked like the very tongue of the Destroyer or the sister of Death himself, that terrible and effulgent dart, Naikartana, was now hurled at the Rakshasa. Beholding that excellent and blazing weapon capable of piercing the body of every foe, in the hands of the Suta's son, the Rakshasa began to fly away in fear assuming a body gigantic as the foot of the Vindhya mountains. Indeed, seeing that dart in Karna's hand, all creatures in the sky, O king, uttered loud cries. Fierce winds began to blow, and thunders with loud report began to fall on the earth. Destroying that blazing illusion of Ghatotkacha and piercing right through his breast that resplendent dart soared aloft in the night and entered a starry constellation in the firmament. Having fought, using diverse beautiful weapons, with many heroic Rakshasa and human warriors, Ghatotkacha, then uttering diverse terrible roars, fell, deprived of life with that dart of Sakra. This also is another exceedingly wonderful feat that the Rakshasa accomplished for the
