36. They severed one another’s heads, using weapons like bhusundis, cakras, clubs, rstis, pattisas, saktis, ulmukas, prasas, parasvadhas, nistrimsas, lances, parighas, mudgaras and bhindipalas.
37. The elephants, horses, chariots, charioteers, infantry soldiers and various kinds of carriers, along with their riders, were slashed to pieces. The arms, thighs, necks and legs of the soldiers were severed, and their flags, bows, armor and ornaments were torn apart.
38. Because of the impact on the ground of the legs of the demons and demigods and the wheels of the chariots, particles of dust flew violently into the sky and made a dust cloud that covered all directions of outer space, as far as the sun. But when the particles of dust were followed by drops of blood being sprinkled all over space, the dust cloud could no longer float in the sky.
39. In the course of the battle, the warfield became strewn with the severed heads of heroes, their eyes still staring and their teeth still pressed against their lips in anger. Helmets and earrings were scattered from these severed heads. Similarly, many arms, decorated with ornaments and clutching various weapons, were strewn here and there, as were many legs and thighs, which resembled the trunks of elephants.
40. Many headless trunks were generated on that battlefield. With weapons in their arms, those ghostly trunks, which could see with the eyes in the fallen heads, attacked the enemy soldiers.
41. Maharaja Bali then attacked Indra with ten arrows and attacked Airavata, Indra’s carrier elephant, with three arrows. With four arrows he attacked the four horsemen guarding Airavata’s legs, and with one arrow he attacked the driver of the elephant.
42. Before Bali Maharaja’s arrows could reach him, Indra, King of heaven, who is expert in dealing with arrows, smiled and counteracted the arrows with arrows of another type, known as bhalla, which were extremely sharp.
43. When Bali Maharaja saw the expert military activities of Indra, he could not restrain his anger. Thus he took up another weapon, known as sakti, which blazed like a great firebrand. But Indra cut that weapon to pieces while it was still in Bali’s hand.
44. Thereafter, one by one, Bali Maharaja used a lance, prasa, tomara, rstis and other weapons, but whatever weapons he took up, Indra immediately cut them to pieces.
45. My dear King, Bali Maharaja then disappeared and resorted to demoniac illusions. A giant mountain, generated from illusion, then appeared above the heads of the demigod soldiers.
46. From that mountain fell trees blazing in a forest fire. Chips of stone, with sharp edges like picks, also fell and smashed the heads of the demigod soldiers.
47. Scorpions, large snakes and many other poisonous animals, as well as lions, tigers, boars and great elephants, all began falling upon the demigod soldiers, crushing everything.
48. O my King, many hundreds of male and female carnivorous demons, completely naked and carrying tridents in their hands, then appeared, crying the slogans “Cut them to pieces! Pierce them!”
49. Fierce clouds, harassed by strong winds, then appeared in the sky. Rumbling very gravely with the sound of thunder, they began to shower live coals.
50. A great devastating fire created by Bali Maharaja began burning all the soldiers of the demigods. This fire, accompanied by blasting winds, seemed as terrible as the Samvartaka fire, which appears at the time of dissolution.
51. Thereafter, whirlpools and sea waves, agitated by fierce blasts of wind, appeared everywhere, before everyone’s vision, in a furious flood.
52. While this magical atmosphere in the fight was being created by the invisible demons, who were expert in such illusions, the soldiers of the demigods became morose.
53. O King, when the demigods could find no way to counteract the activities of the demons, they wholeheartedly meditated upon the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the creator of the universe, who then immediately appeared.
54. The Supreme Personality of Godhead, whose eyes resemble the petals of a newly blossomed lotus, sat on the back of Garuda, spreading His lotus feet over Garuda’s shoulders. Dressed in yellow, decorated by the Kaustubha gem and the goddess of fortune, and wearing an invaluable helmet and earrings, the Supreme Lord, holding various weapons in His eight hands, became visible to the demigods.
55. As the dangers of a dream cease when the dreamer awakens, the illusions created by the jugglery of the demons were vanquished by the transcendental prowess of the Supreme Personality of Godhead as soon as He entered the battlefield. Indeed, simply by remembrance of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, one becomes free from all dangers.
56. O King, when the demon Kalanemi, who was carried by a lion, saw that the Supreme Personality of Godhead, carried by Garuda, was on the battlefield, the demon immediately took his trident, whirled it and discharged it at Garuda’s head. The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Hari, the master of the three worlds, immediately caught the trident, and with the very same weapon he killed the enemy Kalanemi, along with his carrier, the lion.
57. Thereafter, two very powerful demons named Mali and Sumali were killed by the Supreme Lord, who severed their heads with His disc. Then Malyavan, another demon, attacked the Lord. With his sharp club, the demon, who was roaring like a lion, attacked Garuda, the lord of the birds, who are born from eggs. But the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the original person, used His disc to cut off the head of that enemy also.