Having seen Uttara, his fair brother, slain, and seeing Shalya standing there together with Kritavarman, Shankha blazed with rage, like a sacrificial fire fed with ghee. The mighty warrior drew his great bow, decorated with pure gold, and charged, intent on killing Shalya, lord of the Madras. Surrounded on every side by a great line of chariots, he advanced toward Shalya's chariot, pouring forth a rain of arrows. Seeing him bearing down with the fury of a maddened elephant, seven chariots of your side surrounded him on all sides, seeking to save the king of the Madras, who had already entered between the jaws of death. Then mighty-armed Bhishma, roaring like a rain-cloud, took up a bow as tall as a palm tree and charged at Shankha in the battle. When the Pandava army saw that great, immensely powerful archer thus raised for the strike, it was seized with terror, like a ship battered by a gale. There Arjuna quickly placed himself before Shankha as his foremost defender: "He must be protected from Bhishma this day," he said, and so the battle unfolded. A great cry of woe arose among the warriors locked in that fight; they were struck with wonder, saying, "Splendor has met splendor." Then Shalya, mace in hand, descended from his great chariot and killed the four horses of Shankha, O best of the Bharatas. Shankha, his horses slain, swiftly leapt from his chariot, seized his sword, fled, and, reaching the chariot of Bibhatsu, at last found safety."