The battlefield was transformed into a haunted wilderness, its ground heaped with corpses and rivers of blood flowing relentlessly. The cries of birds and jackals echoed through the air, mingling with the shrieks of the wounded and the desperate calls for help. The broad stream of blood roared with tumultuous waves, carrying the frantic efforts of those seeking rescue. Torrents of blood poured from the piles of dead and half-dead, creating a terrifying spectacle where corpses twitched atop the backs of the living, striking fear into all who witnessed it. Fragments of clouds seemed to rest upon heaps of elephants and bodies, while shattered chariots formed a vast forest of broken parasols. The river of blood swept away chariots and elephants, its waters crowded with arrows, spears, lances, maces, and swords. Fallen armor, ends of canopies, and shields littered the ground, concealing corpses beneath heaps of banners, yak-tail fans, and strips of cloth. The wind rustled through thick quivers and broken bows, while the lords of the slain lay as if asleep, resting on beds made of heaps of arrows and clusters of shields. Crowns, necklaces, armlets, shining discs, bows, and arrows lay strewn about, and thick cords of entrails were dragged away by jackals, wolves, and birds. The gnashing of teeth from the few survivors echoed across the field, as living men struggled, half-submerged in the muddy blood. Coins and heaps of shells were scattered everywhere; eyes protruded from hundreds of severed heads, and dreadful rivers of blood carried masses of arms and logs. The cries of grieving relatives filled the air, mingling with the presence of dead and half-dead men, and the remnants of weapons, chariots, horses, and canopies scattered about. Headless trunks danced, their arm-stumps raised like clubs, while nostrils were clogged with lumps reeking of blood, marrow, and fat. Horses, half-swollen and dying, lay beside noble men whose lives had been cut short, and war drums sounded as the waves of blood surged. Dying horses and elephants dragged bodies, splashing them with streams of blood, while gusts of wind carried the cries and blood of perishing warriors. The voices of those cursed with brief life hiccuped, their mouths stained, flesh torn, and the air thick with the stench of fat and blood forced out by pain. Bodies with half-broken noses, elephants and horses seized by the hands of the dead, and the ground was strewn with corpses of men and beasts fallen without support. The wailing of bereft relatives and friends resounded, the tumult of blood from corpses overwhelming, and women whose husbands had died lay with their throats cut by weapons. People examined the bodies of their kin at the place of corpses, agitated by the mingling of bodies dragged away by corpse-bearers and jackals. Faces like lotuses tangled in hair and sinew whirled and danced in the eddies, as the great river of blood flowed with high, surging waves. At the end of life, many remembered sons, loved ones, mothers, gods, and wealth, crying out "Alas! Alas!" and speaking of wounds that cut to the core. Limbs engaged in raising weapons, distracted by half-dead men; the foreign land resounded with the cries of the dead, filled with bodies and the fallen. Dying men, disturbed by mutual enmity, moved in chariots set in motion by fate, their teeth unable to fight, forgetting home and cherished deities. Some died on the road, ashamed, while the brave resorted to flight, unafraid of the whirl of blood, eager to reach the place of escape. Arrows pierced vital spots, causing pain and shouts; bodies bound together, fate tossing them like the swinging of a corpse. Banners, umbrellas, beautiful fans, and lotuses were carried away, and the horizon was tinged with crimson, radiant with blood-red lotuses. Chariot wheels whirled like eddies, resembling a blood-red ocean, adorned with clusters of flag foam and beautiful fan bubbles. Overturned chariots resembled cities shattered by trembling earth, and a forest spread out, its trees swept away by a storm of disaster. The battlefield appeared as a world burned at the end of an age, like an ocean drunk dry by sages, or a land devastated by excessive rain, its people utterly destroyed. Circles of vultures crowded the field, their crests bent low, joined by flocks of crows; the corpses of intoxicated elephants lay scattered, along with spears and maces. The scene spread out like a grove of palm trees growing from rocky peaks, with trees on the riverbank raised up by corpses, as if forming a forest. Flowers and cloths torn from the bodies of slain warriors were thickly strewn, and garlands made from entrails dragged by jackals adorned the field. Lotus clusters of the blood-lake, their banners destroyed, were submerged in red mud, and the cries of men sinking within called out to the friends of the fallen. The lair of elephant corpses, watched by fearful people, was tangled with trees whose creepers had been cut by weapons, blocked by dense, fierce barricades. The river of blood carried clusters of severed elephant trunks and arms, and floating on its red current were white garments and round shields. Men, their lives cut short by death, wandered and fell swiftly; here and there, headless demons dropped down. People fled from the army, broken by a rain of arrows from above, their voices half-dead, gasping with hiccups, and the sound of blood gushing forth. The sword, washed by streams of blood gushing from the mouths of veins, moved onward through the dreadful tumult of the tāla, ottāla, vetāla, and tāla drums' dance. Within broken chariots and scattered logs, warriors hid in the depths of the forest; inside, the presence of living soldiers inspired fear in the charioteers and their steeds. Some corpses, their mouths filled with muddy blood, made faint rattling sounds of life; others, with necks barely raised, were seen by jackals and crows. The battlefield was filled with the uproar of fierce carnivores fighting over a single piece of flesh; in the struggle for that one morsel, the place swarmed with death-hungry beasts.