In the newly erected stadium, when the auspicious moment arrived, Yudhiṣṭhira stood up and bowed to Droṇacārya, and the others. He shows his skill with the Bow, the discuss, the mace and several other weapons. He demonstrated the mastery over the horse, the elephant and the chariot. Bhīṣma and others were extremely pleased with this. Following him, the other hundred Princes showed their skills. Then entered into the arena the lord of the Kaurava-s Duryodhana. He mesmerized the audience with astonishing feats with the weapons. When the audience thought they had seen it all, arrived that fearless Bhīmasena like the Sun bursting forth from the clouds. He showed his skills with every weapon and war instrument a hundred times better than Duryodhana. Then he challenged Duryodhana into a duel. These two fought like enraged elephants taking on one-another with their mighty Gada-s. It slowly started to dawn on everyone that this was no mere contest, but a bloody duel. At the behest of Bhiṣma and Vidura , Kṛpācārya and Aśvatthāma put an end to the duel by separating the two. The whole stadium was divided into two – some praising Bhīma and the others praising Duryodhana.

In such bustling atmosphere, on the sign from Guru Drōṇacārya, Arjuna entered into the arena. The stadium was awestruck into silence.

Audio Link : https://archive.org/download/kumaravyasa-bharata-recitation/Parva-01-Adiparva-007-Sandhi-Part-02-of-04.mp3