The Great Epic of the Bhārata dynasty 9.10.14

9.10.14

prādurāsaṃstato rājannānārūpāṇyanekaśaḥ |
cacāla śabdaṃ kurvāṇā mahī cāpi saparvatā || 14 ||

At that time diverse portents appeared to the view. The Earth herself, with her mountains, trembled, making a loud noise. Meteors, with keen points bright as those of lances equipped with handles, piercing the air, fell upon the Earth from the firmament. Deer and buffaloes and birds, O monarch, in large numbers, placed thy army to their right, O king. The planets Venus and Mars, in conjunction with Mercury, appeared at the rear of the Pandavas and to the front of all the (Kaurava) lords of Earth. Blazing flames seemed to issue from the points of weapons, dazzling the eyes (of the warriors). Crows and owls in large numbers perched upon the heads of the combatants and on the tops of their standards. Then a fierce battle took place between the Kaurava and the Pandava combatants, assembled together in large bodies. Then, O king, the Kauravas, mustering all their divisions, rushed against the Pandava army. Of soul incapable of being depressed, Shalya then poured dense showers of arrows on Yudhishthira, the son of Kunti like the thousand-eyed Indra pouring rain in torrents. Possessed of great strength, he pierced Bhimasena, and the five sons of Draupadi and Dhristadyumna, the two sons of Madri by Pandu, and the grandson of Sini, and Shikhandi also, each with ten arrows equipped with wings of gold and whetted on stone. Indeed, he began to pour his arrows like Maghavat (Indra) pouring rain at the close of the summer season.