Text 39
tayor evaṁ praharatoḥ
sama-śikṣā-balaujasoḥ
nirviśeṣam abhūd yuddham
akṣīṇa-javayor nṛpa
tayoḥ — of the two; evam — thus; praharatoḥ — striking; sama — equal; śikṣā — whose training; bala — strength; ojasoḥ — and stamina; nirviśeṣam — indecisive; abhūt — was; yuddham — the fight; akṣīṇa — undiminished; javayoḥ — whose exertion; nṛpa — O King.
As they thus fought, this contest between opponents of equal training, strength and stamina reached no conclusion. And so they kept on fighting, O King, without any letup.
Some ācāryas include the following two verses in the text of this chapter, and Śrīla Prabhupāda has also translated them in Kṛṣṇa:
evaṁ tayor mahā-rāja
yudhyatoḥ sapta-viṁśatiḥ
dināni niragaṁs tatra
suhṛd-van niśi tiṣṭhatoḥ
ekadā mātuleyaṁ vai
prāha rājan vṛkodaraḥ
na śakto ’haṁ jarāsandhaṁ
nirjetuṁ yudhi mādhava
“At the end of each day’s fighting, they lived at night as friends in Jarāsandha’s palace, and the next day they fought again. In this way they passed twenty-seven days in fighting. On the twenty-eighth day, Bhīmasena told Kṛṣṇa, ‘My dear Kṛṣṇa, must frankly admit that I cannot conquer Jarāsandha.’”