Assure thyself.
Thou also hast, on the field of battle performed, O bull among men,
wonderful feats. Blessed be thou, thou art a prince and born in the
illustrious line of Matsyas. It behoveth thee not to feel dispirited in
chastising thy foes. Therefore, O prince, stationed on my car, muster
all thy fortitude and hold the reins of my steeds, O slayer of foes,
when I once more become engaged in battle.'"
Vaisampayana continued, "Having said this unto Virata's son, that best
of men and foremost of car-warriors, the mighty-armed Arjuna, again
addressed the son of Virata, saying. 'Take me without delay to the van
of Bhishma's division. I will cut off his very bow-string in the battle.
Thou shalt behold today the celestial weapons of blazing beauty, shot by
me, look like flashes of lightning disporting amid the clouds in the
sky. The Kauravas shall behold the gold decked back of my _Gandiva_
today, and assembled together the foe shall dispute, saying,--_By which
hand of his, the right or the left, doth he shoot_? And I shall cause a
dreadful river (of death) to flow today towards the other world with
blood for its waters and cars for its eddies, and elephants for its
crocodiles. I shall today, with my straight arrows, extirpate the _Kuru_
forest having hands and feet and heads and backs and arms for the
branches of its trees. Alone, bow in hand, vanquishing the Kuru host, a
hundred paths shall open before me like those of a forest in
conflagration.
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