Dhritarashtra said: "How was Bhishma, the best of the Kurus, struck down by Shikhandin? How did my father, equal to Indra, fall from his chariot? What became of my sons, O Sanjaya, once they were left without Bhishma — mighty, godlike, who kept the vow of brahmacharya for his father's sake? When that great spirit, that great bowman, that mighty warrior, that tiger among men was struck down, what was in their hearts? Supreme grief seizes me, since you tell me the hero is slain — the bull of the Kurus, the unshakable best of men. Who went behind him, who marched before him, who stood firm, who fell back, and who pressed forward, Sanjaya? What heroes followed behind this tiger of charioteers, this unfaltering bull among kshatriyas, as he burst into the ranks of chariots? He, the slayer of foes, dispelled the darkness of the enemy host like the sun, and, resembling the thousand-rayed sun, struck terror into his adversaries, accomplishing the hardest feats in battle at the command of the Kauravas. How did the Pandavas in that fight manage to check the son of Shantanu, skilled and unassailable, as he devoured their battle-lines and pressed straight toward his goal?"