In the pits of khANDava

Source: here.

The amAtya’s spells had provided a temporary respite by completely smothering the sapatna’s fury. But finally the amAtya’s charms were broken by the counter-attack and the sapatna advanced right to our most critical fort. We felt that the capital could last only a matter of days in the worst case and we were also besieged by an army of mlechChas. We had gathered our last reserves in our defensive line of forts for the long struggle and then decided to make a surprise sally on the mlechCha as soon as the first chance availed itself and tried to break past their cordon to reach the defensive forts.