"When, like a towering thundercloud, he thundered with the roar of his bowstring and the great sound of his bow, showering the sons of Kunti together with the Panchalas and the Srinjayas, when the hero slew the enemy charioteers as the wielder of the thunderbolt slays the danavas — what heroes surrounded him then? He was a terrible ocean of arrows and weapons: unassailable, where arrows were predators and bows were waves, where in the fight there was neither island nor raft, where maces and swords were sea-monsters and whirlpools, where horses seized like beasts of prey and elephants crowded thick. He swiftly submerged in that battle the horses, elephants, foot soldiers, and many chariots, carrying off the enemy's heroes, blazing with wrath and splendor, scorching his foes. Who, like a shore holding back the sea with its monsters, surrounded him? When Bhishma, destroyer of foes, performed his feats in battle for Duryodhana's benefit, who stood before him? Who guarded the right flank of Bhishma of boundless splendor? What heroes, restrained by their vows, held back the enemy from behind? Who stood in front, guarding Bhishma close at hand? Who guarded the left flank of that fighting hero? Who, standing on the left flank, struck down the Srinjayas, Sanjaya? Who guarded the unassailable one at the converging point of the battle-lines? Who advanced from the sides, following a perilous path? Who, amid the mass of enemies, fought back against their heroes? If he was guarded by such warriors, how then did he not swiftly overcome in battle the armies of those hard to conquer? How could the Pandavas even manage to strike at him, as though at the Lord of all worlds, Parameshthin Prajapati? You tell me, Sanjaya, that this Bhishma, tiger among men, in whom the Kurus found their refuge against their foes in battle, has gone under, as an island sinks beneath the waves."