Mahabharata, Epic of the Bharatas

Book VIII. Bhishma-Badha (Fall of Bhishma) – 101
Dear or hated be the foeman, Arjun, thou shalt fight and slay,
Wherefore else the blood of nations hast thou poured from day to day?”
Morning dawned, and mighty Arjun, Abhimanyu young and bold,
Drupad monarch of Panchala, and Virata stern and old,
Brave Yudhishthir and his brothers clad in arms and shining mail,
Rushed to war where Bhishma’s standard gleamed and glittered in the gale!
Proud Duryodhan marked their onset and its fatal purpose knew,
And his bravest men and chieftains ’gainst the fiery Pandavs threw,
[312] With Kamboja’s stalwart monarch and with Drona’s mighty son,
With the valiant bowman Kripa stemmed the battle still unwon!
And his younger, fierce Duhsasan, thirsting for the deathful war,
’Gainst the helmet-wearing Arjun drew his mighty battle-car,
As a high and rugged mountain meets the angry ocean’s sway,
Proud Duhsasan warred with Arjun in his wild and onward way,
And as myriad white-winged sea-birds swoop upon the darksome wave,
Clouds of darts and glistening lances drank the red blood of the brave!
Other warlike Kuru chieftains came, the bravest and the best,
Drona’s self and Bhagadatta monarch of the farthest East,
Car-borne Salya mighty warrior, king of Madra’s distant land,
Princes from Avanti’s regions, chiefs from Malwa’s rocky strand,
Jayadratha matchless fighter, king of Sindhu’s sounding shore,
Chitrasena and Vikarna, countless chiefs and warriors more!
And they faced the fiery Pandavs peerless in their warlike might,
Long and dreadful raged the combat, darkly closed the dubious fight,
Dust arose like clouds of summer, glistening darts like lightning played,
Darksome grew the sky with arrows, thicker grew the gloomy shade,
Cars went down and mailéd horsemen, soldiers fell in dread array,
Elephants with white tusks broken and with mangled bodies lay!
Arjun and the stalwart Bhima piercing through their countless foes,
Side by side impelled their chariots where the palm-tree standard rose,