Battle summary

Source: TW
(Threads for remaining days are hard to compile due to two thread discontinuities.) Author: Saiswaroopa

Day 01

Could record two general battles and 26 duels on Day One. Only 6 of those duels ended decisively. Pandava side suffered horribly in the hands of Bhishma. Uttara killed in the hands of Shalya. Saving grace being Abhimanyu countering Bhishma and winning over Brihadbala. Another highlight is the maternal grandfather of the Pandavas, Kuntibhoja successfully repelling Vinda-Anuvinda of Avanti and the sons of Draupadi excelling. Still Bhishma was so terrible that the Pandava side had to withdraw as soon as the sun set. And yes, Shrutasena, the son of Draupadi and Sahadeva wounds Sudakshina, the King of Kambhoja. Taking the liberty to give the duel to the boy here.

That’s for Day One. Loss of Uttara after that stellar battle against Shalya was a blow to Pandavas. And I am not sure if one can say, Shalya betrayed Kauravas. But let us wait for more. And yes, No mention of DivyAstrAs in the duels. Safe to assume it was pure skill and strength.

Day 02

There aren’t as many duels as the day one here. The beauty is in the detail here. The determination in the Pandava camp is visible. Immensely beautiful day. Sanjaya delves into scary detail while describing each of the duels.

Arjuna, fights Bhishma and a host of Kaurava warriors alone for a long time before helps comes to him from Drishtadyumna and others. He and Bhishma keep clashing on and off. Drishtadyumna fights Drona. Here is where the excel sheet fails to give him the due. Drona is the superior warrior and has the upperhand since the start, but the Panchala simply does NOT budge. That courage is like just of the supreme kind.

Most Amazing battle was the one between Bhima and the Kalingas. Bhima is in his crazy best, using his brute strength to bring down Kalinga’s elephant army. He kills Ketuman and Shakradeva, the princes of Kalinga and defeats Srutaayu, their father.

A couple of general battles follow. But in general, the Pandava spirit is high and the day ends with Arjuna proving better than Bhishma himself and it is the Kaurava side which readily withdrew at Sunset on Day 2.

My observation: Cumulative onslaughts started on the very first day itself and not on the 13th day with Abhimanyu’s killing. But I guess, they were less intense and were largely deployed to defending the formation than killing the opponent. And may I add, none of the screen adaptations - NONE have done justice to the original battle description. Reading through the critical edition is an absolute delight. Inspiring too!

Day 03

Mostly a general battle day, this day 3. Kaurava armies form the Garuda vyuha and the Pandava armies form the crescent formation.

We see Abhimanyu and Ghatotkacha shining and making their fathers proud. Abhimanyu and Lakshmana clash and the battle rages till their fathers join.

Satyaki and Abhimanyu rout the Gandharan regiment.

Bhima makes Duryodhana faint. Recovering, Duryodhana blames Bhishma and Drona of not giving their best. Bhishma renews attack and he is unstoppable again!

Upon Krishna’s encouragement, Arjuna counters Bhishma, breaks three of the grandsire’s bows. Bhishma is proud but ups the attack. To give Arjuna a breather and protect him from Bhishma’s arrows, Krishna drives the chariot in circles. Bhishma then aims at Krishna and wounds him. Bhishma’s domination encourages the rest of Kaurava Maharathis to swoop down on Arjuna. Satyaki rushes to Arjuna’s help and is surprised at Arjuna’s mild defence. Krishna addresses Satyaki and declares to drop his vow to not wield a weapon. The description of Krishna’s anger is supremely beautiful. So is that of Arjuna’s attempts to restrain him. At one moment the reader may have been annoyed with Arjuna’s soft heartedness. But in this scene, the same is touching! Finally, he manages to convince Krishna. Understandably, Arjuna is at his best and Bhoorishravas, Bhishma, Shalya and Duryodhana attack him together with a variety of weapons. Arjuna wards them all away with his arrows.

Standby and wait for the Divyastras! So, it seems like the use of Divyastras was started by Arjuna. To handle the cumulative attack on him, he invokes Aindrastra as I understand. The Astra seems to multiply the arrows shot so as to counter many enemies. In his wake, Arjuna left a river of blood in his trail, reminding of the river Vaitarani from Naraka. Understandably, the Kaurava armies are more than happy to see the Sun set. Now, I think there was some unspoken restraint against the usage of Divyastras till Day 3. Krishna’s anger may have shaken something within Arjuna to break that restraint. We don’t see anyone calling foul over this, even in the enemy camp, including Bhishma. Probably because they understood that their cumulative attack caused the reaction from Arjuna.

Day 04

Looks like one to one bouts are back in fashion. As usual, it begins with the best of warriors from each side leading the first clash.

Drona Kripa, Shalya, Bhoorishravas, Vivimshati and Duryodhana back Bhishma while he attacked Arjuna. But they had a counter - Abhimanyu. Bhishma avoids Abhimanyu and focuses on Arjuna. Abhimanyu is left fighting Ashvatthama, Shalya, Bhurishrava, Samyamani and his son. Like a lion fighting elephants. He pierces Ashvatthama, cuts down Samyamani’s son’s flag, wards off Bhurishrava’s spear and kills Shalya’s horses. This boy! Seriously. Twenty five thousand strong army of Trigarta-Madra-Kekayas surrounds the father-son duo.

Drishtadyumna advances to help them against this onslaught. He kills Damana, ten Madra Princes and the son of Samyamani in a quick but breathtaking duel. While Drishtadyumna’s progress was being gloriously described, Dhritarashtra interrupts Sanjaya, saying why he recounted only those duels where the Kaurava side suffered. Asks for those details where they dominated. But Sanjaya persists.

In the duel between Shalya and Drishtadyumna (referred as Parshata at times), the latter loses his bow and is covered by arrows. Abhimanyu rushes to his help and engages Shalya. 10 Kaurava brothers including Duryodhana and Dushasana surround him. Bhima, Drishtadyumna, Nakula, Sahadeva and sons of Draupadi back Abhimanyu.

The battle rages and Bhima decides to pick his mace against Duryodhana. Suyodhana dispatches an army of elephants against Bhima who celebrates his usual blood fest. The King of Magadha advances towards Abhimanyu. Here I am a bit unsure. Magadha King is Sahadeva who joined the Pandavas. So assuming this is a rebel faction or a division occured. Abhimanyu kills the king of Magadha.

Bhima’s battle with elephants is repeatedly compared to Indra’s attack upon mountains. He is also compared to Shiva holding the Pinaka. The elephant army flees. The carnage by Bhima continues. If you remember that bit of Ajax culling down the Trojans in Troy film, that’s not even 1% of the description given here. Like Indra, Rudra, Yama, Agni, Meru, he roamed like death personified.

Bhishma rushes to stall Bhima. Satyaki tries to get in Bhishma’s way. Alambusha in turn, engages Satyaki. Wonderful! There is a duel again. Satyaki is compared to the midday son who is stopped only by Bhoorishravas. Let me take a break here and share about an old feud. Shini, the grandfather of Satyaki helps Vasudeva in securing the hand of Devaki. She was desired by Bhoorishravas. But Shini defeats him and his father Somadatta. Bhoorishravas nurtures the loss and anger all these years to take it all out on Satyaki, the grandson of Shini. The jilted lover’s anger can last three generations!

While warriors on each side support Satyaki and Bhoorishravas, Nandaka, a son of Dhritarashtra strikes at Bhima. Duryodhana too hurts Bhima. The giant gets back to his chariot and instructs his Sarathi Vishoka to drive to the midst of the brothers. Bhima and Duryodhana fight, where Bhima is wounded at first but recovers and fights with fourteen of Duryodhana’s brothers. Senapati, Jalasandha, Sushena, Ugra, Bhimabahu, Bhimaratha, Bhima(Kaurava) and Sulochana met their death in his hands and the rest flee. 8 down 92 more to go!

Bhishma observes Bhima’s progress and sends Bhagadatta of Pragjyotisha to counter him. Many of us are aware of his famed elephant Supritika which will strike fear among the Pandava armies till the 12th day. Bhagadatta makes Bhima faint. Ghatotkacha attacks Bhagadatta.

Day 4 is hardly done. Will recount Ghatotkacha’s expertise with Maya. Ghatotkacha attacks Bhagadatta on his invincible elephant. Ghatotkacha did not have an elephant to ride on but he had his skills of Maya. Creating an illusion of Airavata along with its Compatriots, the diggajas he charged forward. The four elephants surrounded Bhagadatta’s elephant and pierced it with their tusks making it roar in pain. Bhishma , Drona and other Kaurava warriors rush to Bhagadatta’s support. But when they reach the place, the sight of Ghatotkacha backed by the entire Pandava Army even seems to shake Bhishma’s confidence. He advises his side to withdraw for the day.

Day 4 ends with Upapandavas celebrating their dear cousin and his father Bhima and the Kauravas retiring with shame. Dhritarashtra laments the loss his side suffered. Sanjaya reminds him of the bad Karma accumulated by his sons. Similar discussion happens between Duryodhana and Bhishma with Bhishma declaring the invincibility of Kaunteyas as they are protected by Krishna. A beautiful stotram of Vishnu attributed to Lord Brahma follows. Interested ones please look up the Sanskrit text.

Day 05

The Kauravas fo the Makara vyuha while the Pandavas array into a Shyena Vyuha. The Crocodile and the hawk advance towards each other. Bhima, the beak of the hawk strikes at Bhishma, the mouth of the crocodile. Bhishma is back to his invincible form and Arjuna tries to back Bhima. Drona launches his attack and is countered by Satyaki. Satyaki is wounded and is supported by Bhima. Strength adds up on both sides and a tumultous general battle starts.

Shikhandi attacks Bhishma and remembering the former’s rather questionable gender, Bhishma withdraws. Drona puts himself between them and shows that he is indeed the preceptor who taught them all. Shikhandi bows out.

The Kaurava moment of domination is passes quickly when Arjuna comes to the forefront again. Bhishma is under pressure to stop Bhima from killing any more of Dhartarashtras. Duryodhana attacks the Pandavas. By now, the sight of the Hanuman banner or the sound of Panchajanya or the twang of Gandiva had bevome an eye sore to the Kaurava soldiers. Bhishma and Arjuna met in another duel. Arjuna shooting arrows is compared to a dark torrential cloud raining.

King of Avanti met the King of Kashi (Again, I am a bit confused about who they are), Bhima met Jayadrata, Yudhishtira fought Shalya and the combined Madra might. Vikarna clashed with Sahadeva and Chitrasena, with Shikhandi. Drupada, Chekitana, Satyaki stopped Drona-Ashvatthama. Kripa and Kritavarma fought Drishtaketu. Lightning happened without clouds, meteors fell and a dust storm happened. Still they all fought on. Virata with Shikhandi tried to attack Bhishma while Arjuna took on the combined onslaught by Drona, Ashvatthama, Jayadrata, Kripa

Gosh, the duels are never ending!

• Bhima - Duryodhana, Duhsaha
• Sahadeva - Shakuni, Uluka
• Yudhishtira - Elephant division of Kauravas
• Nakula-Trigartas
• Satyaki, Chekitana, Abhimanyu -Shalva and Kekayas.
• Drishtaketu, Ghatotkacha - Chariot division of Kauravas
• Drishtadyumna - Drona.

Bhima meets Bhishma again and a great duel followed. Bhima lost his bow and was backed by Satyaki. But Bhishma kills Satyaki’s charioteer and the horses bolt creating fear among Pandava soldiers. Drishtadyumna tries to stall Bhishma. Virata pierced Bhishma, wounded his horses as well as was wounded in return.

Ashvatthama injured Arjuna on the chest but lost his bow to his father’s favourite student. Enraged he took another bow and wounded Krishna. Arjuna wounds him at muliple places but spares him (why why??).

Bhima and Duryodhana continued their bloody duel but withbows and arrows. Abhimanyu fought Satyavrata, Chitrasena and Purumitra together. Lakshmana joined the trio and then it became a duel between the two boys. Wounding each other, they fought till Abhimanyu slew Lakshmana’s horses and sliced the javelin hurled by Lakshmana in response. Kripa carried away Lakshmana to safety.

Satyaki faced the 10K strong chariot army sent by Duryodhana and took to DivyAstras to fight them. He meets his arch rival Bhurishravas again. Bhurishravas shoots arrows like one possessed and isolates Satyaki from his army. Satyaki’s ten sons come to aid their father. The ten to one battle was mesmerizing till Bhurishravas kills them all, like a lightning striking trees. Satyaki is distraught and attacks Bhoorishravas again. Thry kill each others horses, charioteers and get to sword fight at close quarters. Bhima and Duryodhana pick thrm up on their respective chariots. Sun is setting. But Arjuna is not done even after killing 25K Maharathas. Sun disappears and then Bhishma realises that it is time to withdraw. Losses are heavy on both sides. Kauravas did not have much to celebrate, but the Pandava streak of domination too had come to a halt.

Day 06

As per Yudhishtira’s wish, Commander Drishtadyumna constructed the Makara Vyuha with Arjuna and Drupada at the head, Sons of Madri as the eyes, Bhima at the mouth (beak?), Sons of Pandavas, Satyaki and Yudhishtira at the neck, Virata and Drishtadyumna at the back. Five Kekaya brothers with armies forming the left flank, Drishtaketu of Chedi and Karakarsha on the right flank, Kuntibhoja and Shatanika at the feet, Shikhandi and Iravan at the tail. Bhishma arranged for Krauncha Vyuha with Drona at the beak, Asvatthama, Kripa at the eyes, Kritavarma, Kings of Kambhoja and Bahlika at the head, Shurasena and Duryodhana at the neck, Bhagadatta along with Madras, Sauviras and Kekayas at the chest, Susharma at the left wing, Assorted armies of Tushara, Yavana, Shaka, Chchupas at Right wing, Srutaayu, Shatayu and Bhoorishravas at the rear. Battle for the day began. The armies clashed

We may see some liberties with the code here. Rathas attacked horsemen and infantry too. Elephant riders attacked Rathas. Horsemen attacked foot soldiers. The army of Pandavas with Maharathas is compared to night sky with stars. That of Kauravas, to firmament circled by planets.

The first duel of the day is between Drona and Bhima. Drona wounded Bhima and Bhima killed Drona’s Sarathi. Drona drove his chariot by himself while he fought the armies making them flee. Kaurava armies too suffered under Bhima and Arjuna.

Bhima faced another lot of Dhartarashtras - Dushasana, Durvishaha, Duhsaha, Durmada, Jaya, Jayatsena, Vikarna, Chitrasena, Sudarshana, Charuchitra, Suvarma, Dushkarna and Karna (not Vasusena Radheya) - Like the sun facing Dushta grahas, like Indra against Danavas. Bhima picked his club and jumped down from his chariot. My observation : Bhima jumps down when he feels chariot battle is too slow for him, he prefers the more scary close quarter fight where he can literally smash the heads of his enemies 😂. Drishtadyumna who saw Bhima entering enemy regiment alone rushes to help him and is shocked to find the empty chariot. Almost breaks down and Vishoka, the cherioteer assures him the Bhima was just being Bhima. Here we see Drishtadyumna’s love for Bhima when he says he has no reason to live if he can’t protect Bhima. Saying this, the Panchala follows Bhima’s path, recognisable by dead bodies of elephants he had killed on his way. He found Bhima fighting with his club, like death himself, unmindful of the countless arrows that had pierced him. Taking Bhima onto his chariot, Drishtadyumna pulled out those arrows and embraced him. The Kauravas are dismayed to see Drishtadyumna come to Bhima’s help and attack him. Their arrows fall upon him like rain upon a mountain. Drishtadyumna uses Pramohana Astra which makes some of them fall unconscious and the rest flee.

In the meanwhile Drona attacks his once dear friend and now bitter enemy Drupada and pierces him with three arrows making the Panchala king faint. But before he could enjoy his victory, the news of Kaurava rout in the hands of Drishtadyumna reaches him. He rushes to confront Drishtadyumna and releases an Astra called Prajna to counter the Pramohana. The Kauravas return to battle Bhima-Drishtadyumna. Yudhishtira notices that the duo is outnumbered. He sends a relief team of Twelve Maharathis - Upa Pandavas, Abhimanyu, Five Kekaya brothers and Drishtaketu to help them. Together, they form a mini Vyuha called Suchimukha. Drishtadyumna then faces Drona after sending Bhima to Kekaya King’s Chariot. Drona breaks Drishtadyumna, bow and kills his horses and charioteer. Abhimanyu intervenes and carries Drishtadyumna away to safety. Kaurava confidence was restored.

Duryodhana, recovering from the Pramohana again meets Bhima. Soon, his brothers join him. By this time, Vishoka caught up with Bhima, bringing him back the chariot. Another gruesome duel follows with both of them getting wounded by arrows. Bhima wounds the 9th Kaurava Chitrasena.

Abhimanyu and the rest stay back, supporting Bhima. Some Kauravas abandon their fight with Bhima and attack Abhimanyu who fights back and wounds Vikarna, killing his horses. Vikarna rushes to Chitrasena’s chariot. Bhima only wounded him and did not kill him. Durjaya and Vikarna wound Abhimanyu with iron arrows. But the boy is unwavering like Meru. Dushasana fights the five Kekaya brothers while sons of Draupadi face Duryodhana. Blood flowing from his wounds, Duryodhana looked like a mountain with streams of minerals flowing from it. Bhishma and Arjuna meanwhile continue destroying respective enemy ranks.

Towards sunset, Duryodhana again faces Bhima. Bhima reminds him of all the wrongs faced by the Pandavas and breaks Suyodhana’s bow, kills his charioteer and horses. The Kuru’s Flag with elephant emblem too falls to ground like a lightning. Jayadrata intervenes while Kripa carries Duryodhana away to safety. While Jayadrata takes on Bhima, eight Dhartarashtras launch a combined attack on Abhimanyu, only to get wounded by the son of Subhadra. The sons of Draupadi back Abhimanyu. Srutakarma faces Durmukha, loses his horses charioteer and is carried away by Sutasoma. Young Srutakirti faces Jayatsena and loses his bow, but Satanika intervenes, wounding Jayatsena badly. Dushkarna attacks Shatanika to meet the same fate. Five other Kauravas surround Shatanika. Kekaya brothers relieve him taking over the battle.

Just a reminder tweet with info about Upapandavas and their fathers

• Yudhishtira - Prativindhya
• Bhima - Sutasoma
• Arjuna - Srutakirti
• Nakula - Shatanika
• Sahadeva - Srutakarma

This mini regiment of young warriors holds their ground till Bhishma withdraws the battle for the day. He has already wrought havoc in the Panchala ranks. Yudhishtira on the other hand is happy to see Bhima and Drishtadyumna back alive. End of Day 6.

Day 07

Day 7 begins with Duryodhana whimpering to Bhishma and the latter assuring him with usual disclaimers. Bhishma also gives Duryodhana a painkilling herb called Vishalyakarani. He then calls for forming the Mandala Vyuha. In this Mandala Vyuha, a circular formation, all ranks work in tandem, tightly coupled to others. An elephant riders is surrounded by 7 chariots, each of them protected by 7 horse riders each in turn surrounded by 10 foot Archers, each of who are protected by 7 shieldsmen.

Yudhishtira responded with Vajra Vyuha. It may be noteworthy that though Drishtadyumna is the commander, Yudhi takes the Vyuha strategization upon himself. Duryodhana does nil strategy and keeps whimpering, but does fight a lot from fore front.

The Kaurava offensive started thus

• Drona - Virata
• Ashvatthama vs Shikhandi
• Duryodhana vs Drishtadyumna
• Shalya vs Nakula-Sahadeva
• Vinda-Anuvinda vs Iravan
• Kritavarma vs Bhima
• Many Kings against Arjuna
• Vikarna, Chitrasena, Durmarshana vs Abhimanyu
• Bhagadatta vs Ghatotkacha
• Alambusha vs Satyaki
• Bhurishrava vs Drishtaketu
• Srutaayu vs Yudhishtira
• Chekitana - Kripa
• Others - Bhima

A cumulative attack was launched on Arjuna who dispelled them all with Aindrastra making Susharma and the likes retreat. They were urged by Duryodhana to return and protect Bhishma, willing to take on Arjuna. Bhishma looked like the white planet that had just risen (Shukra or Moon?)

Meanwhile, Drona kills the valiant Matsya prince Shankha and forces Virata to flee.

Shikhandi struck Ashvatthama on the forehead and in return, lost his horses and charioteer. Grabbing his sword and shield, the Panchala moved nimbly, not giving Ashvatthama a chance to strike. The battle continued till Ashvatthama could finally slice down the sword and shield. While Shikhandi was not ready to retreat, Satyaki carried him away to safety and launched his offence against Alambusha. He loses a bow to the Rakshasa and is attacked by the Maya which he dispels with Aindrastra, obtained from Arjuna. With his dexterity, Satyaki forced Alambusha to flee.

Kritavarma attacked Bhima. A foremost archer by training, he rained a volley of arrows upon Bhima. They were as effective as the Dragonfire against the Night King 😁. Needless to say, Kritavarma, despite his superior skill, lost his horses, bow, charioteer to Bhima and had to take Succour in a Gandhara chariot. This was Bhima with bow and arrows, not with Mace. He then turned to wreak havoc among the soldiers.

Vinda-Anuvinda of Avanti attacked Iravan, the Naga son of Arjuna through Ulupi. Iravan rendered Anuvinda chariotless and the brothers fought back from Vinda’s chariot till the latter too lost his charioteer and the horses bolted.

Bhagadatta on his fearful elephant began his onslaught against the Pandava warriors. There was no stopping him until Ghatotkacha came. Ghatotkacha rides a chariot here and manages to wound Bhagadatta, but he is invincible and kills Ghatotkacha’s horses. The Rakshasa prince throws about fifteen javelins, all of them promising to meet their mark, but it was Bhagadatta’s day and Ghatotkacha had to flee. Gosh! Did not see that coming.

Moving over, the twin sons of Madri meet their maternal uncle Shalya. They covered him with arrows like clouds covering the sun. Shalya, though proud of what his sister’s sons had become, upped his game and killed Nakula’s horses. The twins fought from Sahadeva’s rig and made Shalya faint.

The Sun reached the zenith and Yudhishtira met Shrutayu. Shrutayu (Kalinga?), a formidable archer struck Yudhishtira with 7 arrows. We see a description of Dharmaraja’s anger and how the gods and sages feared it. As terrible as the Sun during a Yuganta. He fells Shrutayu’s flag. He also slices Shrutayu’s bow, kills horses and the charioteer. Yudhishtira’s dance of destruction followed, reminding the Kaurava soldiers whose son he is.

Meanwhile, Chekitana fought Kripa. Well the Yadava warrior is rather courageous here and holds off Kripa. For a while he holds his ground. But Kripa kills Chekitana’s horses, charioteer and breaks his bow. But the Yadava takes his club and charges ahead, smashing Kripa’s charioteer and the horses to death. Standing on the ground, Kripa breaks the mace with arrows. Chekitana draws his blade and Kripa draws his. A close quarter duel follows till both are nearly unconscious. Karakarsha takes Chekitana away to safety while Shakuni carries away Kripa.

Next duel - Drishtaketu vs Bhoorishravas. Former loses his chariot to the veteran, rushes to Shatanika’s.

Abhimanyu is handling another cumulative attack by Vikarna-Chitrasena-Durmarshana. The fight was like Kapha Vata Pitta dowhas attacking the body. But Arjuna’s son bettered them and spared their lives remembering Bhima’s pledge.

Bhishma sees the plight of Dhartarashtras and rushes to their help. Arjuna rushes to help his son. But Susharma and other Kauravas surround him. Arjuna’s anger is visible. Blood flowed like water under his attack. He destroys sixty Rathas in his wake. Shikhandi joins Arjuna. Jayadrata and Duryodhana join the fight on the other side. In a while, even as Arjuna fights on, Yudhishtira finds Shikhandi fleeing and admonishes him. Shikhandi returns to the battle. Bhishma avoids him but Shalya holds him.

Bhishma continues being unstoppable. The only way to cover Pandava loses under him was to inflict the same on Kaurava forces. Satyaki and Drishtadyumna took care of that. Yudhishtira, backed by the twins tried to stop Bhishma while Bhima bettered Jayadrata and battered Chitrasena. Vinda and Anuvinda attacked Drishtadyumna while he was paying back Kaurava armies what the Pandava army suffered under Bhishma. Their arrows covered his chariot and he rushed to Satyaki’s. Yudhishtira turned his attention to the Avanti brothers.

It is not clear by the description, but going by rivers of blood flowing by sunset followed by Jackal howls, etc, I assume the battle continued for a bit after dark. The warriors returned to their camps. The remnant battle rages is evident in all of them. End of Day 8.

Day 08

The Kaurava Vyuha of Day 9 resembled an ocean with horses forming it’s waves. Upon Yudhishtira’s instructions, Drishtadyumna responded with Shringataka Vyuha (with two horns). Bhima and Satyaki led the two horns. Arjuna in the middle and Yudhishtira at the centre. The children of Pandavas along with Virata formed the rear.

The battle commenced and Bhishma is at the forefront again, like the sun so bright that one cannot see him. He killed the Rathas, horsemen and elephant riders. Only Bhima challenged him to the Pandava relief. Bhima succeeds in killing Bhishma’s charioteer and the horses bolted carrying the grandsire away. 8 more sons of Dhritarashtra are killed by Bhima. (And he has not even reached for his mace till now, all the above with arrows).

Duryodhana laments his brothers’ deaths. Is gently chided by his other brothers about how he disregarded Vidura’s wise counsel and brought this destruction upon himself and others. He pours his woe to Bhishma and the old man assures him as usual. Dhritarashtra has a similar lament and Sanjaya gives his usual reply and continues.

The Pandavas attack in three divisions

-1. Drishtadyumna, Shikhandi and Satyaki against Bhishma

• 2. Arjuna, Upa Pandavas and Chekitana against those under Duryodhana
• 3.Bhima, Abhimanyu and Ghatotkacha attacked the rest.

The other side mounted their attack too. Drona destroyed the Somakas and Srinjayas

Bhima destroyed the elephant division and the twins routed Cavalry. The Gandharan armies under Shakuni and his six powerful brothers fought Iravan, the Naga son of Arjuna. Iravan has superior horses pulling his chariot and his men are extremely loyal to him. The Naga unit wrought havoc among the Gandharan forces. The seven brothers were enraged. They surrounded him from all sides wounding him with long lances. Iravan, like an elephant wounded by a goad, pulled those lances stuck in his body and wounded them back. Pulling his sword, he dextrously slashed their limbs. Out of Shakuni’s six brothers, only one(Vrishaka) escaped alive and fled.

Alarmed, Duryodhana turned to the Rakshasa son of Rishyashringa and sent him to kill Iravan. It was an uneven match, the Maya endowed Rakshasa vs severely wounded Iravan. But Iravan fought on. Iravan had his own Maya too. He wounded the Rakshasa severely. The Rakshasa assumed the form of Garuda and confused Iravan enough to get an edge and behead the (oldest?) son of Arjuna. The Kaurava camp was relieved. (Where the hell are you Arjuna?!?)

Unmindful of this tragedy, Arjuna was busy killing the Rathas guarding Bhishma who as usual was terrorising his enemies. Drona was in his form too. Satyaki and Drishtadyumna were the same to the Kaurava forces. Iravan’s death first came to the notice of Ghatotkacha.

Gathering his own Rakshasa forces, he directly attacked the segment of Kaurava army under Duryodhana. More gore and bloodshed followed. Duryodhana felt compelled to give up protecting his own life and heroically fought back Ghatotkacha. But Ghatotkacha was unstoppable. Several Kuru warriors rushed to protevt Duryodhana. Bhagadatta, Bhishma, Bahlika, Kripa, Jayadrata and many more. Another cumulative attack happened and yet, Ghatotkacha was a handful. Real handful. Still he was out numbered and Yudhishtira, though confident of Ghatotkacha gaining upper hand, sent a relief force headed by Bhima with Abhimanyu im the forefront.

Bhima let out a roar that probably resonated with Ghatotkacha’s. Many Kuru warriors lost their confidence of facing the father-son duo backed by Abhimanyu and others and left the field. The Maharathas stayed on and fought though the edge belonged to Pandu’s sons. But Duryodhana persisted and wounded Bhima making him faint. That enraged Ghatotkacha further and the sons of Pandavas attavked Duryodhana with renewed fury. Drona and others closed in upon Duryodhana to protect him. Bhima recovered and fought Drona, making him faint now. Ashvatthama attacked Bhima who now jumped doen, mace in hand. Abhimanyu and others tried to close in and protect Bhima. We are introduced to a new warrior here. Nila, the Lord of Marshy regions (???), a friend of Bhima, who attacks Ashvatthama, wounding him. Ashvatthama fights back and wounds him back, only to be attacked by Ghatotkacha.

Guess the day was coming to an end. Ghatotkavha’s Maya capabilities got a sudden enhancement. He created an illusion of all Kuru warriors like Drona, Kripa, etc lying immobile and wounded. The army fell for it snd retreated despite Bhishma’s warnings.

Finally, it was time to withdraw. Day 8 started with a loss to the Pandavas and ended with Kauravas realising how the Pandavas respond to a dear one’s loss.

After the battle, Duryodhana seeks out Bhishma’s reassurance again. Bhishma cautions him to limit his confrontations to those with the Pandavas and to never risk fighting Ghatotkacha by himself again. Assures that he, Drona, Kripa and the likes are there to do that. Wait! Day 8 has not yet ended. Sunset was mentioned but Duryodhana rushed to battle again as I understand. Pandavas had not yet withdrawn. Bhagadatta on his famed Supratika rides before Duryodhana to protect him from Ghatotkacha.

Bhagadatta and Bhima met in a gory duel. Bhima slew a hundred soldiers that were protecting Bhagadatta. Abhimanyu and others trued to cover Bhima when an enraged Supratika charged against him. The Lord of Dasharna goaded his elephant against Supratika. This is probably the only elephant duel described in this war. Dasharna’s elephant attacked Supratika. But Supratika and Bhagadatta woundedit at multiple plaves forcinv its retreat. Bhima and others joined the battle. Ghatotkacha again attacked Bhagadatta. He tried to kill Supratika with a javelin but Bhagadatta cut it down. He then sent a deadly arrow at Ghatotkacha who caught it and broke it into two. Bhagadatta mounted his attack and fought many at a time, wounding them all. He killed Bhima’s horses and wounded charioteer Vishoka badly. Vishoka sat back dazed. Bhima leapt down the chariot, mace in hand. At that moment Arjuna entered and while Ghatotkacha fought Bhagadatta, Bhima told Arjuna about Iravan.

Arjuna is overcome with grief and berates the war and Artha, the cause for it as he deems. He declares he cant derive the warrior’s pleasure anymore by killing relatives. But he reiterates that he will cross this ocean that was war and attacks the Kauravas. The Pandava camp roars seeing that and it resembles the sea during full or new moon, further agitated by the wind.

Sanjaya goes on to narrate another sequence between Bhishma and the Pandavas. But he says it was afternoon. Just a while ago it was sunset. I am a bit confused now. Looks like it is Day 8 still going on. Bhishma, Kripa, Bhagadatta, Kritavarma attacked Arjuna while Drona along with some Dhartarashtras attacked Bhima. Vyudoraska, Kundalina and seven more of them, all the while, braving Drona’s arrows, like a tiger playing with deer.

Abhimanyu fought Ambastha, forcing him to abandon his chariot and take cover under Kritavarma’s. The battle cpntinued getting worse and worse till the nightfall till visibility became an issue. Then both camps retired.

After the battle of day 8, Duryodhana met his dear friend Karna and poured out his woe. Karna suggests him to request Bhishma to withdraw from the battle and let Karna fight instead. Also brags and promises to kill all the Pandavas. Duryodhana approaches the grandsire and parrots the same. There is a glorious description of his attire, retinue etc, comparing him to Indra, etc (cant see the context as Indra is revered as a victorious god all through Mbh). Bhishma is pained, assures that he would fight a battle that none heard of the coming day.

Day 09

On day 9, Duryodhana arranges for the Kuru warriors to protect Bhishma. Instructs Dushasana to not let Shikhandi come anywhere near Bhishma as he knew of Bhishma’s principle not to fight ‘her’. The Kauravas formed the Sarvatobhadra Vyuha (sprculated to resemble a square). The Pandavas arranged themselves in a counter vyuha (name not mentioned) positioning Shimhandi to take on Bhishma. Yudhishtira, with brothers stations himself ahead of his army. The battle began.

Abhimanyu led the attack and targeted right at Duryodhana stationed at the middle of the vyuha. He confounded Drona, Ashvatthama, Kripa and Jayadrata. With his string drawn at high frequency, his bow was seen like a circle, a circke of light around sun. Upon Duryodhana’s instruction, Alambush tries to stop Abhimanyu and begins with a slaughter of Pandava army. At this, the five sons of Draupadi surround him like planets surrounding the Sun. Prativindhya shot arrows that pierced Alambusha’s armour. His brothers joined him and together, they made the Rakshasa faint. But when he recovered, Alambusha was deadly. Abhimanyu came to rescue his brothers.

Dhritarashtra seems to be perturbed about Abhimanyu’s entry and asks how Alambusha withstood his onslaught. Sanjaya details on this battle. Alambusha resorted to his Maya tactics and Abhimanyu, to his knowledge of DivyAstrAs. After a bloody battle Rakshasa retreated There was no stopping Abhimanyu till Bhishma arrived with a host of Dhartarashtras who surrounded the boy. He was like a formidable combination of his father Arjuna and uncle Krishna. Arjuna rushes to protect his son. Bhishma attacks him like Rahu attacks the Sun. Sharadvata (Kripa?) positioned himself before Bhishma to take on Arjuna, but Satyaki engaged him. When he gained upper hand, Ashvatthama intervened and Satyaki attacked like Rahu attacks moon. (Rahu attacking Sun and moon together?) But Ashvatthama broke Satyaki’s bow and wounded him. Satyaki took up another bow and wounded Ashvatthama who lost his senses for a while before he recovered and fought back with renewed vigour and felled Satyaki’s banner. Satyaki again covers Ashvatthama with arrows. Seeing that his son was eclipsed like moon by Rahu, Drona rushed and engaged Satyaki. (A guy who can engage Kripa, Ashvatthama, Drona back to back is a superhuman!). Arjuna intervenes to relieve Satyaki.

Arjuna and Drona met like Budha and Shukra. Drona forgot that this was his dearest pupil. Arjuna too pushed the fact that he faced his beloved guru. Arjuna looked like he would gain and so thought Duryodhana. He sends Susharma of Trigarta to intervene. Trigartas surround Arjuna even as he fights against Susharma. Arjuna uses Vayavya Astra which made a turbulent wind blow, that dropped masses of trees upon Trigarta army. Drona intervenes and releases Shailastra, but by that time, the Trigarta morale was already broken.

Now over to combined attacks on each of the other four Pandavas. Bhagadatta and Shrutayu surrounded Bhima with their elephant army. Bhima jumps down the chariot (ahem! 😄). Tuskers surrounded him like clouds cover the sun, only to meet their end. Sparing the scary details.

It was midday. Bhishma was attacked cumulatively by Drupada, Drishtadyumna, Shikhandi and Virata. He wounded them all, sparing Shikhandi. He broke Virata’s bow. Virata took up another and pierced Bhishma and his charioteer. Bhishma fought back and a battle ensued, increasing Yama’s kingdom by the sheer number of deaths. Kshatriyas witnessing it began to wonder why Duryodhana hated Pandavas so much that he caused this carnage to happen. Duryodhana urged the veterans on his side to hasten.

Meanwhile, Susharma wounded Arjuna and Krishna. Arjuna fought with multiple Kings under Susharma’s command, compelling them to flee. Duryodhana again sends Bhishma to protect Susharma. Everyone from both sides joined and a mass battle followed. Abhimanyu and Chitrasena met like Budha and Shani. Abhimanyu slew the latter’s horses and charioteer. Drona compelled Drupada to flee while Bhima won over Bahlika. Satyaki fought Kritavarma and Bhishma together. Bhishma fought with a ferocity that made the Pandavas run to rescue Satyaki. Duryodhana sends Duhshasana and a large army to protect Bhishma from Pandava-Panchala onslaught. Dushasana and Shakuni surrounded Yudhishtira and Nakula-Sahadeva.

Along with them, were ten thousand strong horsemen who came on their galloping stress like waves in an ocean. But the Pandava ranks were like the shore where ocean can only penetrate so much. Yudhishtira defeats Shakuni and Duryodhana sends Shalya
Yudhishtira wounds him in the chest and Nakula Sahadeva join him. Shalya fights back and wounds all of them. Bhima rushes to help his brothers and Bhishma, to help Shalya. Another fierce general battle where most everyone wounds almost everyone on the other side But Bhishma was unstoppable. Like an axe hacking a pine Forest, he cut through the Pandava ranks. While the main warriors held their ground, the Pandava armies began to lose morale. Krishna urged Arjuna to intervene reminding him of his past vows and Arjuna agreed reluctantly The return of Arjuna to battle temporarily boosted the Pandava morale. But Krishna noticed Arjuna’s mild defence as compared to Bhishma who continuously claimed lives. He left the reins of Arjuna’s chariot and leapt to the ground to kill Bhishma himself
Armed with only the whip, he charged like a lion would against an elephant. The Lord of the Universe advanced against Bhishma, his very steps threatening to shatter the earth. Arjuna caught him in an embrace and was dragged along for nine steps
Arjuna held his feet at the tenth and stopped Krishna from advancing further. He promises to kill Bhishma and swears on all his good deeds, merits and says they would come to a naught if he wavered again. Most touching part -he doesn’t want the world to say Krishna broke his word Krishna goes back to Arjuna’s chariot. But he is far from convinced and his rage still lingers. Bhishma is still unstoppable and Yudhishtira withdraws his forces at twilight itself.
That night, Yudhishtira blames himself for what befell his soldiers, brothers and Draupadi and turns to Krishna for advice. Krishna offers to go to battle and kill Bhishma and others. Reminds of Arjuna’s true capability and then says permit me to make your path come true Yudhishtira disagrees but tells that Bhishma had once promised him to always offer advice and counsel while his services as a warrior were limited to Duryodhana.

Krishna agrees and they go to Bhishma’s place. Bhishma welcomes them
Yudhishtira asks him to show a way to protect his soldiers. Bhishma says as long as he is alive, the Pandavas can’t win and they HAVE to kill him to win. Gives Arjuna permission to strike him. Also gives a list of people he won’t fight
Advises Arjuna to place Shikhandi ahead of him the next day. (Not sure what was the huge outcome of this exercise. That Bhishma won’t fight Shikhandi was a clue he gave Yudhishtira right on Day 1).

Pandavas leave and Arjuna remembers the find moments he had with Bhishma Krishna reminds him of his earlier promise to kill Bhishma and quotes Brihaspati’s advice to Shakra. Arjuna firms up on placing Shikhandi ahead and defending him from other Kuru warriors (They tried it once on day 7 or 8 too!)

They retire and wait for day break

Day 10

Pandavas form an elaborate Vyuha with Shikhandi in the lead. Bhima and Arjuna protect his chariot wheels. Abhimanyu -Upa Pandavas cover him from behind and Satyaki, Chekitana and Drishtadyumna in turn protect them. Yudhishtira follows accompanied by the twins+ Virata and Drupada follow him with their armies. The rest of the armies follow, protected at the rear by Drishtaketu and five Kekaya brothers.

Kauravas put Bhishma at the lead protected by Dhartarashtras, followed by Drona and Bhagadatta and the rest
The battle commenced and the Pandava side deals the first strike. Bhima and Satyaki cut through the enemy ranks and Bhishma launches counter attack. Kills the line of soldiers, Rathas, etc under Shikhandi’s lead. Shikhandi pierces him in the chest but Bhishma sneers at his gender Reminds him that in his eyes, the Panchala Prince is always the “Shikhandini” as who he was born. Arjuna sees Shikhandi’s rage and invites him to keep his offence while he would keep the entire Kuru host at Bay from wounding Shikhandi
While Bhishma continued to burn down the enemy, Arjuna paid back in kind by killing the Kaurava soldiers and warriors. Those who faced him feared even the sound of Gandiva and began to flee and Duryodhana got concerned. Bhishma promises to either kill the Pandavas or be killed Bhishma, that day, kills 10 K elephants, 10 K horses, 200K foot soldiers. (Rules? What are they?) Arjuna tried to clear Shikhandi’s path towards Bhishma while Drishtadyumna and Abhimanyu tried to stop Bhishma
Kauravas put up a man to man defence Chitrasena - Chekitana Kritavarma - Drishtadyumna Bhoorishravas - Bhima Vikarna - Nakula Durmukha - Ghatotkacha Alambusha - Satyaki Sudakshina - Abhimanyu Ashvatthama - Virata and Drupada Drona - Yudhishtira

Arjuna tried to approach Bhishma, all the while, protecting Shikhandi. Duhshasana tries to stop him, and a fierce fight ensues. Arjuna attacks him like Rahu attacks moon and forces him to take refuge in Bhishma’s chariot
Satyaki bettered Alambusha after a tough fight and was immediately checked by Bhagadatta. Satyaki repulses him too and is surrounded by Duryodhana and his unit. The rest of the duels continue with no result showing any soon.

Drona sees inauspicious omens, tells Ashvatthama. Drona points out that the inauspicious Parigha yoga is covering the sun, the planets have pushed the moon to the left and moon is rising as an inverted crescent. Says that Yajnasena’s son Shikhandi bears an inauspicious mark on his flag. Urges Ashvatthama to rush to Bhishma Meanwhile, ten Kaurava warriors attacked Bhima - Bhagadatta, Kripa, Shalya, Jayadrata, Vikarna, Chitrasena, Vinda, Anuvinda, Kritavarma and Durmarshana. Bhima wounds them back all. Breaks Kripa’s bow, kills Jayadrata’s horses+charioteer. Even together, they could not better him Susharma again attacked Arjuna even as he joins Bhima. Arjuna wounds Shalya, Susharma and all others. The earth was strewn with corpses if warriors at Arjuna’s touch. Shakuni and Brihadbala too join Wave after wave, the Kuru warriors try to stop Bhima-Arjuna, in vain. Meanwhile, the destruction he caused hits Bhishma who suddenly loses interest in war. He appeals to Yudhishtira to kill him and end this soon. Pandavas rally again and there is another man to man defence by Kauravas. Abhimanyu-Duryodhana Satyaki - Ashvatthama Pourava - Drishtaket Abhimanyu - Brihadbala Bhima - Elephant army Yudhishtira - Shalya Jayadrata - Virata Drona - Drishtadyumna

Arjuna almost gets to Bhishma when Bhagadatta stops him. Urging Shikhandi to proceed, he fights the rider of Supratika. Duhshasana too defends Bhishma.
Shikhandi finally gets to attack Bhishma and pierces him. The whole of Kuru host rallies to surround Arjuna who was in his formidable form, dispatching warrior after warrior to death while wounding the lead generals. Kripa, Shalya, Vivimshati, Duhshasana, Vikarna fled from Arjuna Bhishma continued to be in form and Arjuna attacked him again, urged by Krishna. Arjuna broke Bhishma"s bow. Seven Kuru warriors (Drona, Kritavarma, Bhuri, Shaka, Shalya, Bhagadatta ) tried to distract Arjuna away. But he repulses them back while fighting Bhishma
He tells Duhshasana that Arjuna’s arrows are like Vajra and cause immense pain. They take life out and he could sense it. Bhishma uses his only javelin and Arjuna cuts it down along with Bhishma’s sword and shield. Even as Kuru warriors rallied against Arjuna, Bhishma fell Ganga sent Rishis who came in the form of swans and advised Bhishma to hold on to his life till the Sun turned North. Bhima and the Panchalas celebrated the moment. Duhshasana rushed to Drona carrying the news. Stupefied, Drona urged a withdrawal and Pandavas obliged
This was the toughest day to summary tweet. Too many short duels, cumulative attacks and defences, un-rallying and re-rallying with a hell of cacophony. Some errors may have crept in. Will clean them up before writing the final essay 🙏🙏🙏.

Day 11

Moving on to Day 11. I am skipping the elaborate description of the honour and worship offered to Bhishma post his fall. (My focus for the current exercise is the battle).

But with Bhishma’s fall, shrinking of armies and rising desperation, the war is going to turn nasty. The most important landmark of Bhishma’s exit was Vasusena Karna’s entry to Kurukshetra. Karna previously refused to fight alongside Bhishma as the grandsire had given him a bad rating as a warrior (Half a Ratha).

Sanjaya says in fact Karna is twice a Ratha.
Kauravas cheer the entry of Karna, their hopes pinned upon the DivyAstrAs he had learnt from Jaamadagnya.

(I am waiting for his entry too! In fact, want to sing Hiranmayena paatrena satyasyaapihitam mukham 😁😁😁)
Karna joins the war, starts with an elaborate obituary to Bhishma, says the grandsire who was one of the Vasus has returned to his rightful celestial position (He is still alive, boss!) Karna also states strengths of the Pandavas and the temporary nature of life.
Karna reiterates his promise to kill all the five sons of Kunti.

Before joining the battle, Karna seeks the blessings of Bhishma who blesses him heartily.

Duryodhana asks Karna about who should lead the armies. Karna suggests Drona, calling him equal to Shukra and Angiras Accordingly Drona was made the commander in chief with due honour and hope.

The Kaurava Vyuha name is not mentioned but Kripa, Kritavarma, Chitrasena, Vivimshati and Duhshasana led the left flank
Okay, it comes in the next page. The Vyuha is in the form of a cart - Shakata.

The Pandavas responded with Krauncha Vyuha with Arjuna at the fore front. There is an anticipation of Karna-Arjuna conflict

Drona began his offence
By using DivyAstrAs right away and destroying the Armies of Panchalas. He was checked by Drupada’s son who also knew DivyAstrAs. Drishtadyumna repeated the same with Kaurava soldiers. But Drona was too terrible and Pandava Maharathas surrounded him to protect their soldiers If Bhishma was superhuman in his attack, Drona was certainly inhuman (my inference). Drona in his period, kills more than two Akshauhinis of the Pandava army. Sanjaya quickly summarises. Dhritarashtra asks him to elaborate.
The narration got me confused. Sanjaya seems to have fetched the news of Drona’s death (probably at the end of fifteenth day). The news distresses Dhritarashtra and he elaborates Drona’s valour and that of ea h of Pandava warriors. Let me read up and tweet here. Yes, Sanjaya does a back and forth. Ignore my last couple of tweets and get back to the vyuhas. Drona was indeed a formiddable force. None could stop him. A long description of his destructive dance follows

In that battle, Shakuni attacks Sahadeva. Shakuni is skilled in Maya He pierces Sahadeva’s charioteer, flag and bow. Sahadeva paid back and also felled Shakuni’s bow AND also wounded Shakuni who grabs a club and kills Sahadeva’s charioteer. Sahadeva picks up a club too. The battle continues.

Bhima wounds Vivimshati.
Vivimshati renders Bhima without a chariot. But Bhima picks his mace and does the same, kills Vivimshati’s chariot too. Shalya was overpowered by Nakula Other duels included Kripa-Drishtaketu Kritavarma - Satyaki Susharma- Drishtadyumna (?)

Karna - Virata Bhagadatta - Drupada Bhoorishrava - Shikhandi Alambusha - Ghatotkacha Anuvinda - Chekitana Lakshmana - Kshatradeva

Detailed duel between a certain Pourava and Abhimanyu is given. Abhimanyu kills Pourava’s horses, charioteer, etc and was about to kill him when+ +Kritavarma interferes and breaks Abhimamyu’s bow. Abhimanyu grabs a sword and shield and is about to kill Pourava. Jayadrata interferes, with his own sword and shield and there is a duel. There are other weapons hurled at Abhimanyu who wards them away. In the sword fight+ +Jayadrata’s sword gets stuck in Abhimanyu’s shield and breaks. Weaponless, he retreats by six paces and Abhimanyu gets bacm on to his chariot to engage other warriors. Shalya throws a javelin at him. Abhimanyu catches it like Garuda would catch a snake and killed Shalya’s+ +charioteer. The feat is lauded by all the Pandava warriors and the Kauravas surround Abhimanyu in anger. Shalya picks up his mace and pounces at Abhimanyu. Seeing Shalya with his mace, Bhima restrains Abhimanyu and jumps in himself.
Another wondrois duel follows between those evenly matched warriors. Bhima makes Shalya unconscious and himself loses his senses for a while. But as he recovered, Kritavarma carried away Shalya. Bhima advanced and the Pandava domination continued till+
+Vrishasena (Karna’s son) attacks the armies, to be stopped and wounded by Shatanika. Vrishasena cuts his bow and other four sons of Draupadi rush to their brother’s help. Ashvathama and others join Karna’s son. The Pandavas too join here and the battle turns general
I forgot to add. Before the battle, while annointing Drona as Senapati, Duryodhana elicits a promise from him that he would capture Yudhishtira alive and present him to Duryodhana.

When the Pandavas hear of this, they take extra care to guard Yudhishtira
Drona attacks Yudhishtira who repulses him successfully and woubds him too but only for a while. Drona persists till he gains an upperhand. The Panchala warriors rush to pritect Yudhishtira. Some oc thrm dies. Rest arent successful. It looked lije Yudhishtira was caught! When Arjuna broke into the scene. Routing the Kuru resistance between him and his elder brother, Kiriti reached just in time. His innumerable arrows covered the sky, blocking light and confusing the enemy. Drona and Duryodhana also see the sun setting and withdraw
End of Day 11

Day 12

There is disappointment felt among the Kuru Ranks and Drona makes it clear, that Arjuna needs to be lured away if he has to succeed in capturing Yudhishtira.

Susharma, his Trigarta army and another assortment take an oath to keep Arjuna distracted.
They are the Shamshaptakas. They vow to either kill Arjuna or get killed by him. They challenge Arjuna.

Arjuna says he is oath bound to fight those who challenge him. At the same time, he knows the criticality of guarding Yudhishtira.
He entrusts the responsibility of Yudhishtira’s safety to Satyajit, a Panchalan Prince. Says Satyajit is a tiger among warriors. But if he falls to Drona, Arjuna tells Yudhishtira to leave the field even if there are others to protect him
He then tells Krishna to lead him to Shamshsptakas. It is a huge unit of 10 K chariot plus horses and fiotmen with one aim - Kill Arjuna. They surrounded him and covered him with arrows. Dispelling the arrow cover with his own, Arjuna kills Subahu and Sutanu
The sokdiers flee in fright, only to be goaded back by Susharma. Arjuna invokes as Astra called Tvastra. It creates an illusion where each of the Shsmshaptaka Ratha looks like Arjuna and the corresponding Sarathi, like Krishna. The army went into self destruct mode
The rest of them fell upon Arjuna, far more enraged and covered him with arrows. The intensity was such that even Krishna, who won over his emotions lost his cool and shouted for Arjuna in concern. Arjuna was unaffected and invoked the Vayavyastra to dispel the cover
After that, he was unstoppable, like Shakra, like Rudra, lives fell to his arrows.

Meanwhile, Drona arranged the rest of the armies in Garuda Vyuha. Yudhishtira responded with Ardhachakra vyuha. He tells Drishtadyumna to do everything to stop Drona
Drishtadyumna stations himself at the head of the army. The very sight of him is like a bad omen for Drona who gets distressed (So easy to Psy Op Drona?). Durmukha engages Drishtadyumna, in order to support Drona. Taking the opportunity, Drona advances ahead.
A gory conflict is described. Drona reaches Yudhishtira who is prepared and showers arrows at him

Satyajit quickly stations himself before Yudhishtira. His determination halts Drona for a while and exerts his full self. But finally Drona severs his head.
Along with Satyajit, Vrika another Panchala Prince too loses his life to Drona’s fury. The rest of the Panchalas and Matsyas try to cover Yudhishtira. Drona kills Dridhasena, Kshema, Vasudhana, Kshatradeva and wounded Yudhamanyu, Uttamaujas, Satyaki, Shikhandi, etc
Yudhishtira, remembered Arjuna’s request and fled the field (Thanks boss, for not talking for empty bravado!)

Dhritarashtra himself is surprised and asks was there really no Panchala who could stand up to Drona

On the field, Duryodhana is full of glee. He shows Karna, the way only Bhima came to fight Drona while everyone fled. Karna tells him not to celebrate too soon and the lone Bhima is the one who survived poisoning, fire and a million hardships. Karna shows how the presence of Bhima started to inspire others
Nakula, Sahadeva, Satyaki were quick to joins Bhima and Duryodhana and Karna rush to help Drona. Sanjaya elaborates the names of Kings, Maharathas, who again rally along with Yudhishtira (looks like he returned). The list is really long!
Kauravas too rally to protect Drona. The duels take place like this Durmarshana - Bhima Kritavarma - Satyaki Shalya - Yudhishtira Jayadrata - Kshatradharma Subahu - Yuyutsu

Yuyutsu slices off Subahu’s Arma and Yudhishtira defeats Shalya.

Other duels were between Bahlika - Drupada Vinda&Anuvinda - Virata

Among Upapandavas Shatanika kills Bhutakarma Sutasoma wounds Vivimshati Srutakarma fights an even battle with Chitrasena’s son. Prativindhya repulses Ashvatthama himself!

Among others Slayer of Patacharas (Sahadeva?) wounds Lakshmana. Shikhandi fought Vikarna Uttamaujas fought with some Angada and Purujit, the son of Kuntibhoja wounded Durmukha. The 5 Kekaya brothers fought Karna. Satyaki, against Kshemadriti and Brihanta
Among the Kauravas

Ambastha wounded King of Chedi (Drishtaketu?) Alambusha engaged Ghatotkacha Kripa repulsed Vardhakshemi, the Varshneya. Bhoorishravas won over some Maniman but lost his charioteer. Dhritarashtra asks Sanjaya about how Arjuna fared with the Samsaptakas. But Sanjaya sticks to main battle and tells about how Duryodhana attacked Bhima with elephant army.

Elephants of course are Bhima’s favourite battle victims. He routed them all. Duryodhana himself attacked Bhima withstood his attack and a great exchange of arrows happens. Both are wounded. King of Anga (not Karna) comes to rescue Duryodhana and attacks Bhima with his elephant. After a tough battle Bhima kills him. Now enters the invincible Bhagadatta upon his Supratika
Supratika is like a Super-elephant. Dasharna intervenes with his elephant to relieve Bhima for a while. But Supratika kills the opponent elephant. The Pandava warriors jump in. Satyaki tries to fight but Supratika smashes his chariot. Satyaki and his Charioteer escape JIT. Bhima jumps in to fight Supratika himself. In the battle, the elephant covers him to such an extent that Bhima wasn’t visible to the Pandava army and they assume Supratika trampled him. Yudhishtira gathers Panchalas and surrounds Bhagadatta.
Bhima emerges and attacks from his chariot. But Supratika scares his horses which bolt carrying him away from the field. Bhagadatta then kills Ruchiparva, son son some Kriti. This angers the youngsters and Abhimanyu & Upapandavas surround him
But neither Bhagadatta nor Supratika could be checked and the elephant continued its rampage. The shouts of Pandava army fell upon the ears of Arjuna who asks Krishna to take him to Bhagadatta. But a 14K strong Shamshaptaka unit challenges him
Arjuna is in a dilemma. He asks Krishna what to do and Krishna drives towards Shamshaptaka. Their cumulative onslaught was intense and even made Krishna faint. Arjuna dispels them with Vajrastra, much to Krishna’s admiration. They then head towards Bhagadatta
Arjuna announces himself by attacking the Kuru armies forcing Bhagadatta to turn upon him. The King of Pragjyotisha on Supratika was like Indra riding Airavata. But his opponent is the son of Indra himself. Arjuna repulses every weapon thrown by Bhagadatta.
The elephant Supratika charges at Arjuna like death itself. Krishna nimbly drives the chariot towards the left where Arjuna gets a vantage point to kill both, Bhagadatta and Supratika, but does not do so, remembering his Dharma (What Dharma?!?!?!?!?)
The elephant repays his favour by mangling other chariots and horses. Arjuna is enraged. Adding to that, Bhagadatta shot arrows that penetrated and pierced Krishna. Arjuna cuts Bhagadatta’s bow. A slew of javelins from Bhagadatta too are cut down
Arjuna penetrates the elephant’s armour and wounds it at many places. He wounds the rider too. Bhagadatta then invokes the Vaishnavastra and throws the elephant goad at Arjuna. The Vaishnavastra had no nemesis and was sure to kill Arjuna.
That moment, Krishna covers Arjuna and takes the Astra upon himself, which turns into a Vaijayanti mala around his neck. Arjuna is distressed and protests Krishna’s intervention. Tells him it is not right for Krishna to intervene when he, Arjuna is armed and capable
Krishna tells him how he, as Vishnu had gifted the Vaishnavastra to Bhumi, who gave it to Narakasura from who Bhagadatta got it. The Astra has returned to its rightful place. Saying this Krishna prods Arjuna to fight. Arjuna now kills both the elephant and it’s rider
After killing the veteran warrior and his elephant, Arjuna does Pradakshina to the bodies and resumes his fight, now against the Gandharas. He kills two of Shakuni’s brothers, at which, Shakuni attacks him with Maya. He counteracts with DivyAstrAs
After a while Shakuni had to flee. Arjuna advanced and there was no saving the Kaurava warriors wherever he went. Many warriors took refuge with Drona, some of them with Duryodhana, but none could counter Arjuna.

Meanwhile Ashvatthama kills Nila. Bhima retaliates
Bhima engages multiple warriors Bahlika, Karna, Drona, Ashvatthama, Duryodhana. Their arrows wound him and his wound them back. He is out numbered but does not step back. He is then joined by Satyaki, Nakula and Sahadeva and more warriors join on both sides
Drishtadyumna spotted an opening to attack Drona and nade his move. Under hus command, the Panchalas charged towards Drona but were checked by Shalya, Karna, Jayadrata, Vinda, Anuvinda and Ashvatthama. The general battle raged till Arjuna reappeared to turn tables
He fought appearing like the sun with thousands of scorching rays (arrows being compared to rays). Arjuna never shot at fallen or fleeing soldiers. Yet, he rendered the enemy fearful. They rushed to Karna for protection. Karna assured them
Karna released the blazing Agneyastra. But Arjuna counteracted if with sheer arrows. Just arrows! (Not with VaaruNaastra!)

Karna replied with his own arrows and Bhima, Satyaki and Drishtadyumna attacked Karna. While fighting Arjuna he shot at them too
Karna broke tge biws if tge trio abd they threw javelins at him. He sliced them too. In the opening, Arjuna killed tgree if Karna’s brothers -Shatrunjaya, Vipatha and an unnamed third.

Bhima leapt down the chariot and killed 15 of Karna’s flank protectors and then came back Drishtadyumna grabbed a sword and shield and kilked Pourava Brihadkshatra and Chandravarma. This while Satyaki faced Karna and the duel was fearsome. Satyaki broke Karna’s bow. The ocean of his arrows was about to drown Karna when…
Duryidhana, Jayadrata and Drona cane to rescue Karna from Satyaki. Arjuna and the super-trio (my nick name for Satyaki-Bhima-Drishtadyumna) stayed to protect Satyaki. Another general battle raged till both sides got too tired abd found the sun right upon the western hill. They withdrew for the day. End of day 12

(I dont have the courage to turn over thd page to day 13 😭😭😭😭😭)

Thanks everyone for following, supporting and participating. The source till Day 12 was Volume 5 of Mahabharata Critical edition translated by Dr. @bibekdebroy. From Day 13 onwards, the source is volume 6. Keep your participation up 🙏🙏🙏🙏.

Day 13

As usual on the morning of the thirteenth day, Duryodhana whined to Drona about his losses and nearly accused him of letting the Pandavas away easily.

Drona reiterates his loyalty and also promises to kill one powerful Maharathi on this day
But only on the condition that Arjuna is led away from the main battle, Drona says his plans will succeed. The Shamshaptakas are more than happy to do their part in keeping Arjuna distracted.

Drona arranges for this formidable and impregnable vyuha
Chakyavyuha was its name. While Drona stood at the headof the vyuha, the Pandava Maharathis tried to attack Drona, only to be repulsed by his shower of arrows. Then Drona led the counter charge throwing Yudhishtira into a turmoil. Only four Maharathis knew this Vyuha
Drona himself, Arjuna, Krishna, Pradyumna and Abhimanyu.

At thr moment, Pandavas had only Abhimanyu. Yudhishtira asks him to penetrate the Vyuha. Abhimanyu agrees but voices his concern. “I know only to penetrate. If a calamity befalls me inside, I cannot get out”
Yudhishtira assures him that once Abhimanyu creates an opening, the Pandava host would follow him. Bhima promises to protect him along with Drishtadyumna and Satyaki. Thus assured, Abhimanyu gets ready for the battle of his life. The battle that took his life
Abhimanyu’s charioteer Sumitra cautions him about this venture. Says proceed only aftr you ha e thought through this. Reminds Abhimanyu thag unlike his father and uncles, he has been reared in prosperity. Abhimanyu waves Sumitra’s concern away. Says he is ready to fight all gods. Followed by his uncles and other Maharathas, donning a golden Armour, Abhimanyu proceeds. The armies clash. Abhimanyu gains twenty feet (mistake?) and penetrates the vyuha, killing warriors in thousands. Like a young lion charging at a herd of elephants.
There is an elaborate description of destruction caused by Abhimanyu. Bodies were strewn like serpents cut off after Garuda attacked them. The Kaurava soldiers fled and Duryodhana came to the forefront to check Abhimanyu. Drona hustled others to protect Duryodhana
14 Maharathis like Droba, Asvatthama, Karna, Vrishasena, Shalya, etc surrounded Abhimanyu and provided an exit to Duryodhana.

Abhimanyu could not tolerate this snatching away of his ‘prize’. Refusing to retreat, he fought on despite being out numbered
He kills the lord of Ashmaka who was fighting for Duryodhana. After claiming his first Victim, Abhimanyu now turned towards Karna and pierced him. His arrows tortured Karna yo the extent that Karna fainted. But recovering soon, Karna sttacked Abhimanyu back
After facing another bout of cumulative attack, Abhimanyu attacked Shalya next. The Lord of Madra did no better than Karna and fainted. Shalya’s brother rushed to attack Abhimanyu and wounds him. Abhimanyu severs his head right in front of Drona.
Abhimanyu’s style of fighting did not betray any sense of fatigue, if he felt any. Nor did beinv outnumbered perturb him. The enraged Madra army fell upon him and yet, he drove them away with arrows, giving a taste of what a combo of Krishna-Arjuna would look like
Dushasana rushes at Abhimanyu assuring Duryodhana that he will kill the son of Su hadra which would distress Krishna and Arjuna so much that they woukd due of grief and that in turn would make the enemy retreat forever. By then Abhimanyu had been mangled by arrows.
Yet, the sight of Duhshasana reminded him of the wrongs his father, uncle and step mother had faced. He decided to kill Duhshasana for Bhima and fought. His shower of arrows made Duhshasana swoon and the charioteer drove away to safety.
Exhilarated at Abhimanyu’s victory, the Pandava host began to cheer aloud and fight with renewed vigour. This agitated Duryodhana and he sent Karna again. Karna began a fresh attack. But Abhimanyu broke his bow and flag. Karna’s brother intervened.
The new attack was intense. But at last, Abhimanyu severed his head and started slaughtering the armies. Except Jayadrata, everyone fled. Abhimanyu was like the scorching midday Sun. Earth was strewn witg thr dead bodies and severed limbs of soldiers.
Meanwhile, the Pandava host tried to keep up with Abhimanyu, but was held off by Jayadrata. Sanjaya says he was given a boon by Hara that he could withstand all the Pandava might except Arjuna. This enabled Jayadrata to keep the Pandavas away from Abhimanyu.
He wounded each of the Pandava warriors. Yudhishtira tooka careful aim and broke Jayadrata’s bow. But takibg another bow, he wounded back Dharmaraja. Bhima broke Jayadrata’s bow, flag and umbrelka. But he took a third and killed Bhima’s horses.
Bhima had to rush to Satyaki’s chariot. Kaurava army cheered Jayadrata who successfully covered the path created fir the enemy by Abhimanyu.

Meanwhile Abhimanyu met Vrishasena, son of Karna. Vrishasena lost his bow, flag and charioteer. The horses bolted away
Abhimanyu’s charioteer Sumitra seized this opportunity to steer the chariot from the melee and Abhimanyu was again visible to the Pandava host who cheered. The next victim to lose his life to the Son of Subhadra was Vasatiya.
After Vasatiya’s death, the angry soldiers surrounded Abhimamyu again. Satyashrava and Rukmaratha (son of Shalya) attacked Abhimanyu , severely wounding him. Abhimanyu invoked the Gandharvastra and routed them all. A hundred princes lost their lives . Duryodhana tried to stop Abhimanyu, but had to retreat in a short while. 9 Maharathas incl Drona, Ashvatthama, Karna, Duryodhana , Kripa tried to attack him, but were repulsed. Lakshmana, the son of Duryodhana came to the forefront and another terrible duel ensued
Duryodhana returned for his son and other Maharatgas too did, launching a cumulative attack. Abhimanyu was drenched in his own blood. He held thrm off and simultaneously fought Lakshmana, finally severing his head off. Duryodhana was mad with grief. . 6 Maharathas Drona, Kripa, Kritavarma, Brihadbala, Ashvatthama and Karna surrounded him and attacked. Abhimanyu routed them all. He then turned upon the army of Saindhava and killed the elephants. Kratha’s son was the next to lose his life.
The six aforementioned warriors did not leave him despite multiple repulsions. Abhimanyu wounded Ashvathama and Drona. He killed Brihadbala and faced Karna again, simultaneously killed Ashvaketu of Magadha and Martikavata of Bhoja
Here is where things turn around in a while. Two great warriors of the Kaurava camp are going to find a way to kill the grandson of Indra. Will return to this tomorrow. Sorry guys, dont have it in me to summarise that portion now 🙏🙏. Please, someone find a way to travel back in time, airlift that boy and come back and give me a new Mahabharata for me to tweet about tomorrow 😭😭😭😭 While Karna duelked with Abhimanyu, Duhshasana’s son too attacked him. Abhimanyu fought back warning him not to flee like his father did. Abhimanyu’s horses and charioteer were wounded. Abhimanyu released a sharp arrow at him ehich was intercepted by Ashvatthama’s
Abhimanyu brought down Ashvatthama’s flag and also pierced Shalya. He brought down Shalya’s flag and killed two of Shalya’s charioteers. He also killed 5 warriors Shatrunjaya, Chandraketu, Mahavega, Suvarcha and Suryabhasa
Abhimanyu then turned his attention towards Shakuni. Fighting back, Shakuni told Duryodhana to rearray and finish off Abhimanyu before he finished them all.

Karna tells the same to Drona and asks for a way out. Drona asks Karna if he found a weakness in Abhimanyu
Karna says Abhimanyu’s arrows hurt him and still he is managing to somehow stay on the field. Drona tells him to somehow render Abhimanyu without his bow, charioteers and horses. Even gods are incapable of overcoming Abhimanyu as long as he had his bow

(Brace yourselves) At Drona’s words

Karna sliced down Abhimanyu’s bow. Kritavarma killed his horses and Kripa killed his charioteers.

That moment, the 6 Maharathis showered arrows at Abhimanyu, who grabbed a sword and moved around in circles still causing fear among foot soldiers
Drona broke his sword and Karna, his shield. Abhimanyu then picked up a wheel, looking like Vaasudeva himself, a sight difficult fir even gods to watch. It took a while for the Kauravas to break the wheel. Abhimanyu then picked up a club and rushed at Ashvatthama
Ashvatthama looked at Abhimanyu charging with the club and jumped down the chariot, backing away by a yard. Abhimanyu killed Ashvatthama’s horses and killed the two charioteers. He then pounced upon and killed Kalakeya, a brother of Shakuni
So many arrows were stuck to Abhimanyu’s body by now, that he looked like a porcupine. He leapt onto the chariot of Dushasana’s son and killed those horses too. The latter picked up his mace and engaged Abhimanyu till both of them fainted due to exhaustion.
Duhshasana’s son was the first to recover and he dealt the death blow, smashing his club against Abhimanyu’s head. He fell like the setting Sun, like the eclipsed moon, like the ocean scorched dry. Sanjaya voices his opinion that Drona and Karna committed Adharma
The Pandava soldiers started to flee . Yudhishtira called thrm back quoting how much destruction Abhimanyu gad singlehandedly caused before falling and that they owed it to him to fight without grieving and dishonouring him.
The sun set for the day and both the camls retire. Yudhishtira’s long lament follows and Arjuna returns to the news. Hearing about the details of Abhimanyu’s valour and death, and about Jayadrata coming in the way preventing them from protecting Abhimanyu
Arjuna then takes a terrible oath of killing Jayadrata before sunset the next day. Failing to do so, he declared would see Arjuna entering the blazing fire.
Before I take a break here, sharing what I gathered while reading and tweeting the whole episode

1. Abhimanyu’s fighting style is closer to that of Bhima than Arjuna. The boy does not know tactical retreat.
2. Abhimanyu has been a magnet of cumulative attacks since day one. 3)Jayadrata’s valour that day goes unsung. He too single handedly faced the cumulative Pandava host. Arjuna sensed the Psy Op it woukd cause on the enemy if he killed that man and hence the oath. 4)The incident costed the Kaurava camp dearly. It pulled back Arjuna to main battle Back after the #Rathyatra and the mild sickness break.

We start with Day 14 shortly and our source is The Mahabharata Volume 6 of the critical edition translated by Dr. @bibekdebroy

Night 13

A little bit of prelude to day 14 - The happennings of the night of day 13.

Arjuna’s oath to kill Jayadrata before the sunset of the next day leaves Krishna under a lot of stress. He spends some sleepless hours and summons his personal charioteer Daruka
Krishna tells Daruka that he is readg to break his vow (of not wielding a weapon) so that Arjuna can keep his. Says his life will cease to have a purpose if Arjuna dies. Hence he would fight to ensure Arjuna’s victory. Instructs Daruka to ready his chariot & weapons
We almost get a sense of the ‘human’ Krishna passio ately feeling for his dear friend. We shall get to know the God behind this act on Day 14 😊😊.

Arjuna on the other hand has a pleasant dream of meeting Lord Krishna and Lord Shiva.

Day 14

Day 14 starts.
While the Pandava hopes are pinned upon Arjuna’s successful kikling of Jayadrata before sunset, they are also aware of Drona’s incessant attempts to capture Yudhishtira. Arjuna entrusts Satyaki with the responsibility before leaving for the battle
Drona on the Kaurava side arrayed the armies into a complex triple vyuha of Part Chakra-Part Sakata+Padma Vyuha in the rear core+ Soochimukha at the end of which Jayadrata was plaved under the protection of fearsome Maharathis
The soldiers of the Kaurava waited for the battle to begin. They sighted Arjuna on his chariot. Krishna and Arjuna blew thrir respective conches and it felt like even the Hanuman on Arjuna’s flag roared, filling the Kaurava hearts with an ominous sense of foreboding
Arjuna’s first clash was with Durmarshana. What happened to Durmarshana was nit mentioned, but the forefront of that triple vyuha was shattered by Arjuna whose arrows did not fail to each claim a life and swevered heads fell like palm fruits in the season.
Dushasana surrounded Arjuna with a unit of elephants. Arjuna slaughtered the armies and the rows of fallen elephants made if feel like it was Bhima fighting and not Arjuna! 😃

Looks like Dushasana fled (not explicitly mentioned). Arjuna advances towards Drona
A nail biting duel took place between Arjuna and Drona. Both wounded each other with arrows. Drona swevered the bow string of Arjuna. Arjuna replaced it in a moment and showered arrows upon Drona’s armies. The soldiers fled. But Drona was unmoved
One of his iron arrows pierced Arjuna in his chest and made Arjuna tremble for a moment before he retaliated. As the duel was going on, Krishna got worried about the timd lost and suggested Arjuna to abandon Drona and proceed ahead. Arjuna agreed.
Krishna circumambulated Drona’s chariot and drove forward. Arjuna kept shooting arrows at Drona looking behind. When Drona jeered at him about running away from the enemy, Arjuna replied that Drona was his guru and was like a father to him. Yudhamanyu and Uttamoujas+
+the princes of Panchala protecting Arjuna’s chariot wheels on either sides followed Arjuna

A cumulative unit headed by Jaya, Kritavarma, Sudakshina and Shrutaayu attacked Arjuna next with a force of ten thousand chariots. Drona attacked from the rear.
Arjuna invoked the Brahmastra to rrpel the first wave of combined attack. Drone persisted. Arjuna’s repky to Drona stuck to being defensive. He focussed on the way ahead and attacked Kritavarma and Sudakshina. He broke Kritavarma’s bow. But the latter took another.
Krishna urges Arjuna to kill Kritavarma if needed and not bother sparing him for being Krishna’s relative. But Arjuna stuck to confounding Kritavarma and advanced. Kritavarma thrn tried to stop the Panchala brothers
They felled his bow and standard. But Kritavarma persisted and broke their bows. Yudhamanyu and Uttamoujas tried their best to keep up with Arjuna who now fought Shrutayu of Koshala. Shrutayu was the son of Varuna and Parashni. Varuna gave him a club that made him invincible. But Varuna cautioned Shrutayu to never use the club against an unarmed person. If done so, he warned that the club would kill him instead. Shrutayu heroically stopped Arjuna till his mind got clouded and ignored the warning and hurled the club against Krishna
Varuna’s words came true. The club hit Krishna’s shoulder while Krishna stsyed unaffected and turned back killing Shrutayu. Arjuna turned his attention to Sudakshina of Kambhoja. Sudakshina’s valour too was at its best today. But Arjuna felled his bow, charioteer+
+Horses and flag and finally pierced Sudakshina in the chest, killing him. After than, Arjuna killed 600 of their Chariot warriors sending the armies fleeing. Shrutayu (Another) and Achyutayu attacked Arjuna next. But after a brief show, they too lost their lives
Along with those of their sons Ayutayu and Deerghayu (irony of those names!) and a 500 more rathas.

Arjuna was then surrounded by thousands of elephants lead by the Kalingan King. Arjuna’s arrows continuously claimed lives. He was like a fire consuming the forest
The forest was but the Kuru army with the wind called Krishna assisting him. The passage created by Arjuba through the vyuha coukd be identified by the strewn over dead bodies of soldiers, horses and elephants.

Shrutayu from Ambastha (for gods sake how many more!)
This Shrutayu also meeta the same fate as his earlier two namesakes. Arjuna’s progress and prowess shakes Duryodhana and he rushes to Drona asking for a solution with his usual whining and whimpering. Drona says he must focus on Yudhishtira and encourages Duryodhana+
+to face Arjuna himself. When Duryodhana expresses his inability and fear, Drona tiesthe impenetrable golden armour around Duryodhana with a detailed benediction and sends him. It looks like a magical armour guarded by mantras from the description of it
While Duryodhana, now emboldened, went to stop Arjuna, Drona was attacked by the Pandava-Panchala host. But he stopped thrm like a montain woukd stand against a torrent if water. Drishtadyumna faced Drona, stopping him from following Yudhishtira
Drishtadyumna’s onslaught not only compelled Drona’s armies to retreat, but it also divided thrm into three as they retreated in different direction. One unit of them was slaughtered by the Pandava host. Drona was enraged and paid back by slaughtering Pandava army
Vivimshati, Chitrasena, Vikarna, Vinda-Anuvinda and Kshemadruti surrounded Bhima while Draupadi’s sons surrounded Bahlika. Shaibya fought the son of Kashi. Shalya fought Yudhishtira, Duhshasana fought Satyaki. Sanjaya reports he fouggt Chekitana himself (?!?!?)
Ghatotkacha fought Alayudha and Kuntibhoja fought Alambusha. Vinda-Anuvinda fought Virata (looks like they abandoned Bhima). Bahlika tried to vanquish Shikhandi. Shakuni attacked Sahadeva. All the duels were terrible and long.
Resuming this in a while guys, Watch this space 😊 Getting into the details of these duels, Drishtadyumna stopped Drona for a while but Drona still got better of him and would have almost killed Drishtadyumna if not for Satyaki’s intervention. Then another duel ensued between them. Totally nail biting
Satyaki broke many of Drona’s bows. Soldiers on both sides stopped fightinv or cheering and began to watch them. Drona invoked Agneya and Satyaki counteracted it with Vaaruna. The Sun then began his downward journey
Warriors on both sides now rushed to support Drona and Satyaki. Sanjaya shifts his narration toArjuna and Krishna and thrir strady prigress towards Jayadrata. Every arrow of Arjuna took a life, like they were made with the name of whose life they were meant to take
The horses of Arjuna began to tire. But they were trained to move along circular paths and outwit the enemies. Vinda and Anuvinda accosted Arjuna, knowing that his horses had begun to slow. But Arjuna struck them in thrir inner organs
Arjuna then broke their bows. Killed their horeses and the protectors of their wheels. Then he beheaded Vinda. Anuvinda took up a club and struck Krishna on his forehead. Arjuna then swevered his head too. The soldiers then attacked Arjuna
Krishna noticed how their progress had slowed down due to the fatigue of the horses and expressed his concern. Arjuna suggested that the horses be unyoked and rested for a while and left the decision to Krishna who agreed. Right in the middle of the field! 😲
And Krishna agreed! So Arjuna alighted the chariot and is immediately surrounded by Kaurava soldiers and warriors who thought it was Arjuna’s moment of weakness. They covered him with arrows like clouds covering the Sun
The Kaurava camp was in for a rude surprise. They got a taste of the strength of Arjuna’s arms when he, on foot, repulsed that cumulative attack, covering them back with arrows. They advanced like the tides in the sea but he was the very firm shoreline.
Amidst this attack, Krishna approached Arjuna, pointing that the horses needed water to drink. Arjuna shot an arrow towards the earth, creating a lake. He built a pavillion too, with his arrows while fighting the enemy.
Krishna unyoked the horses, gave them water, removed arrows stuck to thrir bodies, bathed them, soothed their wounds. The Kaurava warriors, on chariots, horses and elephants, meanwhile, had kept their attack on Arjuna on foot. All in vain.
The smile on Krishna’s face made it look like he was amidst the gopikas and not the fearsome warriors. After resting the horses, he yoked them back to the chariot and brought it to Arjuna who was still undeterred by the cumulative attack.
Promptly mounting the chariot, Arjuna advanced, further demotivating the Kauravas. They could not touch him while he was on foot. Stopping him on the chariot driven by Krishna was unthinkable. The duo emerged like Sun and Moon from Rahu’s mouth (cc @NileshOak )
Thus, Krishna and Krishna (Arjuna) crossed the second Vyuha under Drona’s command. Jayadrata now seemed like a target within Arjuna’s reach. The Kauravas were counting upon Kritavarma and Drona to stop Arjuna but thry both had failed to stop him
It was then that Duryodhana caught up with Arjuna. He was now confident as he was fitted with an impenetratable armour given by Dronacharya. Kaurava confidence returned seeing their King challenge Arjuna. Krishna’s pep talk to Arjuna here is interesting.
He first praises Duryodhana as the formiddable warrior, instructs Arjuna to focus his anger snd rage in the form of his skill and thrn praises Arjuna as the one invincible even by gods. Says killing Duryodhana is akin to Avabhrita ritual following a Yagnya
Duryodhana had the first strike, challenging Arjuna, he struck him in the inner organs witg thress arrows. He wounded Krishna and the horses too. Arjuna’s arrows could not pierce the armour fastened by Drona. This distressed Krishna. “Has Gandiva lost its life+” + “Or have your arms lost their strength? Why is this happenning?” Arjunathrn realised that it was due to the impenetrable Armour that Duryodhana was wearing which was not breakable even by Indra. He says the same to Krishna and invokes a divine weapon to break it.
But Ashvatthama intervenes and destroys Arjuna’s Astra. Arjuna says he cant use the same Astra twice as it would turn back on him if he did. Duryodhana continued to wound Arjuna and Krishna. Arjuna killed Duryodhana’s horses, charioteer flankmen
Arjuna then broke Duryodhana’s bow and slashed the leather palm guards, piercing his palms. His arrows shattered Duryodhana’s chariot too. Many warriors of the Kaurava camp rushed to Duryodhana’s rescue. Arjuna fought back unaffected.
Nobody could approach Arjuna’s chariot and stay within a krosha’s distance, even from behind. Such was the force of his arrows. Anyone who did that was dead. Krishna, knowing that they covered more than two thirds the distance and realising the day fading+
He suggests that Arjuna teang the Gandiva with all his strength while he blew into his Panchajanya. They did that, executing another Psy-op, shattering the confidence levels of the enemy. The lesser warriors fled, making further way to Arjuna. 8 Maharathas rallied
Bhurishrava, Shala, Karna, Vrishasena, Shalya, Kripa, Ashvatthama and Jayadrata himself. They rallied to stop Arjuna’s progress. They surrounded Arjuna from all directions. Duryodhana too joined them. Conches blared. Ashvatthama wounded Krishna and horses.
Arjuna wounded him back and the rest too. But the Kaurava Maharathas were undaunted. And so was Arjuna. He fought thrm back, breaking two of Shalya’s bows. Bhurishrava cuts down Krishna’s whip. Then a description of the flags of each warrior follows
The next section of narration shifts to the Panchala struggle against Drona, who did nit forget his pledge to capture Yudhishtira alive. He was indeedinvincible and terrible, but Panchala spirit too was undying. Brihadkshatra of Kekayas fought Kshemadhriti.
Drishtaketu attacked Drona himself but was stopped by a certain Viradhanva. Nakula was a costed by Vikarna. Satyaki fough Vyaghradatta. Upapandavas were attacked by Somadatta’s son (guess another son, not Bhurishrava). Bhima fought Alambusha
Drona finally got to Yudhishtira. But the Eldest Pandava sent a volley of arrows at him, wounding him. Drona in turn wounded Yudhishtira in the chest and broke his bow. Yudhi picked up another bow and sliced each of Drona’s arrows. He then took up a fearsome spear
And hurled it at Drona. The spear waslike a serpent unleashed, making every Kaurava soldier pray for Drona’s life. Drona had to invoke Brahmastra which burnt down this Shakti and advanced against Pandava. Yudhishtira invoked Brahmastra too & then severed Drona’s bow
Drona then hurled a club at Dharmaraja who also hurked another club. Both collided, emitting sparks at the impact. Then Drona gainsed an upper hand and killed Yudhishtira’s horses. The King descended the chariot and Sahadeva took him away to safety.
In the other duels, Kekaya Brihatkshatra killed Kshemadhriti. Chaidya Drishtaketu killed the Trigarta Viradhanva. The Pandaveyas slaughtered the Kuru forces. (Man, they are damn angry!). Sahadeva defeated Durmukha and killed Niramitra who came to help Durmukha
As Niramitra fell, Sahadeva roamed unchallenged like Rama did after killing Khara. Nakula vanquished Vikarna. Vyaghadatta did give a tough fight to Satyaki but he too had to become a guest of Yama. Upon this, Drona furiously attacked Satyaki.
Upapandavas jointly brought down Somadatta’s son in a cumulative attack. Alambusha had an early edge over Bhima, stunning him. But Bhima recovered and invoked Tvashtra causing Alambusha to flee. Soldiers hailed Bhima like Maruts hailed Indra after he vanquished Prahlada. Alambusha thrn attacked Ghayotkacha and another terrible battle followed. Alambusha’s Maya was superior and Pandavas, Upapandavas rushed to rescue Ghatotkacha. Bhima’s son persisted and the duel came to close quarter fist fight where Ghatotkacha crushed Alambusha
Sanjaya moved on to the other glorious battle between Drona and Satyaki. Drona was in his best form and Satyaki was desperate. Both wounded each other. Yudhishtira saw Satyaki overehelmed like Sun under Rahu’s attack and sent Drishtadyumna and Bhima to rescue
Then, the sound of Panchajanya was heard. But not the twang of Gandiva. This distressed Yudhishtira. He implores and orders Satyaki to follow Arjuna’s trail and verify his well being. Despite being severely wounded by Drona, Satyaki agrees to do the uphill task.
He was partly afraid of leaving Yudhishtira’s side as Arjuna had bid him in the morning. But Yudhishtira assures him and sends Satyaki. This Yadava sets out seeking Arjuna’s well being. His onslaught reminded the Kauravas of Arjuna’s attack earlier.
Bhima, Drishtadyumna lead the Pandava charge in order to give Satyaki a headway. Yudhishtira follows him in the rear. Satyaki routed the Kuru armies. Chariot flags, wheels, corpses were scattered upon the field in his wake
Soon, Drona stopped Satyaki and a great duel followed where both wound each other. In thr middle, Drona sneers at Satyaki saying your guru Arjuna realised he cant beat me, so he abandoned the fight with me and proceeded. If you persist, I may kill you.
Satyaki replies that he is ready to follow Arjuna’s footsteps and bypasses Drona quickly. He shows the Kuru host to his charioteer. It was divided into three segments, Avanti, Bahlika and the forces under Karna. Satyaki tells his charioteer to steer in between
Satyaki chooses to attack Karna’s forces and sends them fleeing. Kritavarma tries to dtop him but loses his horses. Kritavarma in turn, badly wounds Satyaki in his chest and breaks his bow. Satyaki takes up another bow and kills Kritavarma’s charioteer.
Kritavarma takes up the reins in his own hands. But in the interim, Satyaki advances ahead. So Kritavarma attacks Bhima instead. The fight between Kritavarma and the remaining Pandu warriors is glorious. He manages to stun even Bhima and keeps the rest at bay
Something is amiss in the coupleof tweets before. The narration went to and fro. So the right seqjence is that Kritavarma faces the Pandu host first and then Satyaki rescues them from his onslaught, killing his charioteer and horses before advancing ahead.
Satyaki then proceeds to rout the elephant army of the Trigartas and kills the Magadhan warrior JaLasandha in a violent battle. Drona pursues him and attacks him along witg many soms of Dhritarashtra. Satyaki wounds them all despite being pierced by them
In the course, Satyaki wounds Duryodhana badly and renders him chariot-less, forcing the Kuru Prince to flee to Chitrssena’s chariot. It causes the kuru host to panic. Kritavarma again comes to thrir aid. But he too coukd not stand Satyaki this time
Drona again attacked Satyaki snd the duel is of course violent and nailbiting. Drona renders Satyaki’s charioteer senseless. Satyaji thrn, takes up the reins and simultaneously fights Drona, killing Drona’s charioteer. Drona’s horses bolt from the field
A warrior called Sudarshana, assorted armies of Yavanas, Mlechas, Kambhojas, Kiratas, Shakas, all are routed by Satyaki. Another host of Dhritarashtra"’s sons stops Satyaki. They are again headed by Duryodhana. Satyaki’s onslaught made them forget Arjuna’s!
After he routs them all, Duryodhana sends a Shamshaptaka force to contain Satyaki. 3000 riders, 1000 Rathas, 100 Maharathas, 1000 elephants 2000 horses. Thry were urged by Duhshasana to surround and kill Satyaki. Sparing the gory detail, Satyaki overcomes them all
Drona is in a great dilemma whether to pursue Satyaki or to contain the Pandu-Panchala forces. He decides to do the latter and harshly goads Duhshasana to go and stop Satyaki. He then kills several Panchalan princes like Viraketu, Sudhanva, Chitraketu, Chitraratha
Looks like Drona is the only silver lining of the Kuruforces on . Arjuna and Satyaki made mincemeat of the rest. Like Duhshasana got beaten black and blue by Satyaki until thelatter remembered Bhima’s pledge to kill him and spared Duhshasana
Meanwhile, Duryodhana attacked the rear Pandava forces, terrorising them. Yudhishtira faced him and cut Duryodhana’s bow into three pieces. He would have pierced Duryodhana too if not for Drona’s armour. The soldiers cheered Yudhishtira. Drona and Panchalas rushed+

• to support the respective Kings and the battle be ame general. Brihadkshatra of the Kekayas valiantly faced Drona’s onslaught including the Brahmastra, but ultimately was killed (😢😢😢He is Krishna’s wife Bhadra’s brother! Possibly only BiL friendly with Krishna)
  Oh Gosh! One by one, the Pandava allies fall to the fury of Drona! Drishtaketu of Chedi and his son, Sahadeva of Magadha, Kshatradharma, the son of Drishtadyumna (Dei! Bhima, ehere are you???) ..Ohhh gosh Chekitana too. Okay no, he had a narrow escape!
  Meanwhile, Yudhishtira’s worry over Arjuna doubled. And he was anxious for Satyaki too who had left on his bidding. So he sends Bhima to protect Satyaki. (Who sends away Bhima at this juncture man! This guy snatches defeat from the jaws of victory!! 😭😭😭😭)
  But looks like Drishtadyumna and Drupada are confident of handling Drona. So Bhima is unleashed!

Dear Dhartarashtras

HE IS COMING 😈😈😈

Bhima advanced against the Kuru armies and the Panchalas followed him like Devas followed Maghavan. He cut through the head of the army headed by 21 sons of Dhritarashtra and attacked Drona’s array. He drove away an elephant section sent to stop him.
Drona smiled a d struck Bhima on the forehead with an arroe. He thought Bhima too would pay his respects to him like Satyaki and Arjuna did. Tells Bhima the same and says Bhima is incapable of penetrating the vyuha without his permission
Bhima’s reply in summary was that Arjuna still sees Drona as his guru while he, Bhima sees him as nothinv but an enemy. Saying this, Bhima whirled a club at Drona’s chariot. Dro a had to leap down in defence. It destroyed Drona’s chariot.
Bhima was then surrounded by the sons of Dhritarashtra as Drona got on to another chariot. Duhshasana threw a javelin at him and Bhima cut it into two pieces. He killed Kundabhedi, Sushena, Dirghanetra, Vrindaraka, Abhaya, Roudrakarma, Durvimochana.
Friends, remember, this is Bhima with his bow and arrows. Vinda, Anuvinda (not Avanti twins), Survarmana too fell to his arrows. He passed through Dhartarashtras, slaughtering them like Sun passing through clouds. Drona attacked him again.
The arrows of Drona were unable to stop him. His force against the enemies was like that of Suparna (Garuda) against Nagas. Drona mounted his atta k on Bhima with a volley of arrows. Bhima had it with him. Jumping down his chariot, he approached Drona on foot.
Bhima held the pole of Drona’s chariot and hurled it, throwing Drona off in the process. Drona hurried away from there in another chariot to guard his vyuha. Bhima got back to his chariot and advanced. (I am laughing! Bhima is such a dear!)
He then attacked the Bhoja armies under the leadership of Kritavarma. There is no mention of a duel till noe. But Bhima managed to slaughter that army too and then saw Arjuna!!! He roared at the sight of his valiant brother. Krishna and Arjuna roared back in delight
Yudhishtira hears the roars and relaxes. He mentally recounts each of Arjuna’s achievements. He blesses Bhima for dispelling his worries.

Meanwhile, Karna tries to stop Bhima and a terrible exchange of arrows takes place. Then Bhima cuts Karna’s bow.
Karna strung another bow and attacked Bhima with a renewed force. Bhima struck him in the chest with three arrows. Even while struck, Karna looked handsome, like a mountain with three peaks. The Suryaputra wounded the Vayuputra and sent another shower of arrows.
Bhima then cut the string of Karna’s bow and quickly killed his charioteer and horses. Karna had to rush to Vrishasena’s chariot. Krishna and Arjuna cheered Bhima’s vicyory by blowing into their conches. The Pandu host sensed Bhima’s victory and celebrated.
There is a usual whimper by Duryodhana to Drona. Drona reminds him he has been guarding the vyuha from the entire Pandu-Panchala forces and only three managed to pass through him. Duryodhana rushes back to protect Jayadrata. Meanwhile, Yudhamanyu and Uttamaujas
who were separated from Arjuna (They are the protectors of his wheels and flanks) because of Kritavarma, manage to pass him and race towards Arjuna. Duryodhana stops them. He manages to kill Yudhamanyu’s horses. But then the Panchala rushes to Uttamaujas’ chariot
Yudhamanyu kills Duryodhana’s horses, charioteer, severs his bow and cuts up Duryodhana’s arm guards too. Duryodhana leaps down with a mace and smashes their chariot. But left without his own, he had to get into Shalya’s. The brothers get another chariot and proceed
Meanwhile, Karna challenges Bhima again. Bhima turns back to fight him. This time Karna’s attack is superior, including the Maya of his weapons. Both wound each other with arrows severely. Bhima again severs Karna’s bow, kills horses charioteer
Karna ascends another chariot, equipped with a fresh set of weapons and attacks Bhima. Bhima is supremely irritated by Karna’s smile. The memories of Karna insulting Draupadi as a whore hit him and he does not care about staying alive anymore. The battle got bloodier
For the third time, Karna loses his bow and charioteer to Bhima’s arrows. Karna hurls a javelin capable of killing Bhima, but Bhima cuts it up with seven arrows. Karna took up another bow andthe duel continued in its bloody pace.
Bhima cuts that bow too and kills Karna’s horses. Durjaya, a brother of Duryodhana engages Bhima to provide relief to Karna. Before long, Bhima kills Durjaya, distressing Karna. Ascending another chariot, he attacks Bhima again (Karna is such a sore bore!)
Battle. Repeat. Bhima kills Karna’s horses. Duryodhana now send brother Durmukha. What happened in the last tweet repeats. Durmukha killed. Finally Karna ascends the new chariot and flees the scene! (Yabba!!)
But no, Karna’s defeat is simply not acceptable. So five more of Duryodhana’s brothers surround Bhima and attack him from all sides. Karna comes back and all six of them shoot arrows at Bhima. Guess what happens next?
Durmarshana, Durdhara, Duhsaha, Durmada and Jaya. All the five and their charioteers were sent to Yama by Bhima. Karna was alone again. Bhima kills his horses and charioteer (I stopped counting). Karna managed to break Bhima’s armour. Bhima too wounds Karna
Seeing that Karna lost his chariot for the umpteenth time, Duryodhana launches his fourth “Mission Rescue Karna”. The would be martyrs are Chitra, Upachitra, Charuchitra, Chitraksha, Chitrayudha, Chitrayodhina, Chitravarma, Sahasrana
The whole scene repeats. The fifth batch that comes to rescue Karna from the wrath of Bhimasena has seven of Duryodhana’s brothers - Shatrunjaya, Shatrusaha, Chitra, Chitrayudha, Dridha, Chitrasena and Vikarna. (Bid farewell to batch five please).

Karna kept fighting Bhima intermittently, the deaths of successive Kaurava brothers adding to his distress everytime. With a barbed arrow, Bhima cut off Karna’s resplendent earring and wounded him in the chest and forehead and again breaks his current bow.
Note… Bhima has not lost his bow even once Karna took up another bow and continued to fight. He looked like the autumn sun on midday, shooting gold tufted arrows at Bhima. They showered each other with arrows, wounded each other.

Finally, with the Maya of his weapons, Karna severed Bhima’s quivers and bowstring. Even the harnesses of the horses and then killed them. He injured Vishoka, the charioteer, causing him to flee towards Satyaki’s chariot. Karna broke Bhima’s flag too.
Bhima hurled a sword at Karna that broke Karna’s bow and bowstring. Karna took up another bow and continued to shoot. Bhima leapt onto Karna’s chariot, trying to pull him down like Tarkshya would grab a snake. Karna hid on the floor of his chariot to dodge Bhima
Having exhausted his weapons, Bhima took cover behind the corpse of a large elephant, earlier killed by Arjuna. Karna cuts up the corpse limb by limb, exposing Bhima. Remembering his promise to Kunti not to kill any of her son’s except Arjuna, he did not kill Bhima
Just as one begins to acquire some teeny weeny bits of respect for Karna over this, his notorious foul mouth springs into action, undoing any good he does. I can’t type all his abuses. So posting a screenshot. “No skills in fighting” My foot!

Arjuna, now, intervenes. The arrows from Gandiva penetrated Karna, driving him away from Bhima. Mounting another chariot, Karna tries to flee as Bhima moves to Satyaki’s chariot. Arjuna sends a deadly arrow at Karna. But Ashvatthama intercepts it to save Karna
Angry at the interception, Arjuna showers arrows against Ashvatthama who flees towards an elephant division. Arjuna pursues him there. (Boss, Jayadrata boss!). Anyways, that elephant and horse division is slaughtered by Arjuna.
Karna, meanwhile was pursued by Satyaki. Alambusha (not the Rakshasa who is already killed by Ghatotkacha) stops him. He put up a stiff resistance before losing his life to Satyaki. Duhshasana and Trigartas try to stop Satyaki. He kills Duhshasana’s horses
Trigartas, Kalingas and Shurasenas were ineffective in holding Satyaki back. Finally, Satyaki, exhausted, managed to reach Arjuna. Krishna sees him and lauds Satyaki’s endeavours. But Arjuna worries for Yudhishtira’s safety with Satyaki and Bhima leaving the rear
Arjuna tells Krishna “Look at Bhurishrava attacking an exhausted Satyaki. Now shall I go in pursuit of Jayadrata or stay back and protect Satyaki?” Even as they were talking, Bhurishrava and Satyaki attacked each other in a ferocious bout
Before long both of them exhaust most of their weapons, kill each others’ horses, fight fromclose quarters with swords and shields. Fatigue begins to claim Satyaki who had fought all day while Bhurishrava was still energetic and rested till this point.

Krishna sees Satyaki fall unconscious. He also sees Bhurishrava pinning down Satyaki, foot on hia chest, raising his sword to stab him. He urges Arjuna to intervene. Arjuna shoots an arrow at Bhurishrava, severing his right arm. Bhurishrava is enraged.
Arjuna says he respects Bhurishravas like he does Yudhishtira, Bhishma, Drona but here, Bhurishrava was about to kill an unconscious Satyaki and Arjuna was dutybound to protect him. Also says Abhimanyu was killed the same way.
Bhurishrava does not reply and sits to medidate. Meanwhile Satyaki recovers and attacks the unarmed Bhurishravas despite Krishna, Arjuna, Bhima and the Panchala twins warning him not to do so and kills Bhurishravas. The one blemish on an otherwise flawless character
This rash act is not lauded by anyone. Satyaki defends himself quoting the same two reasons that Arjuna said. But it does not convince them. Especially because Bhurishravas’ glorious reputation in performing Yagnyas, giving Daana, etc.
Soldiers began to debate Satyaki’s violation of code, something that stopped mattering after Abhimanyu. But Arjuna’s attention now turned to Jayadrata. He urges Krishna to take him to Jayadrata as the sun already reached the western hills
Duryodhana urges Karna to do his best to stop Arjuna. Karna says he will try his best though he is not in his best shape after being wounded by Bhima. Meanwhile, Arjuna launched his offence on the tail of the vyuha.
Duryodhana, Karna, Vrishasena, Kripa and Ashvatthama surround Arjuna and shield Jayadrata from him. Arjuna holds back Kripa and Ashvatthama. Karna joins the attack and Satyaki, Bhima back Arjuna. Arjuna severs Karna’s bow. But time was fast passing
He sends an arrow to kill Karna but Ashvatthama intercepts it. Karna takes up another bow and the duel rages on. Duryodhana calls everyone to protect Karna and enable him to kill Arjuna. But Arjuna kills Karna’s horses and charioteer making him flee to Ashvatthama’s.
The encounter was tumultuous. Arjuna was like Shiva with Ajagava (Pinaka?) . Bringing down anyone who dared to stand against him, Arjuna finally reached Jayadrata. Jayadrata himself is no less a warrior and fights back hard. He wounds Krishna, Arjuna and the horses
Arjuna fells Jayadrata’s banner Krishna spotted the Sun just about to set and urges Arjuna to behead Jayadrata with his arrows. Also cautions him about the noon Jayadrata’s father Vriddhakshatra begot that the head of the one beheading Jayadrata would shatter
Hearing Krishna’s words and advice to use a Divyastra, Arjuna invokes an Astra that looked similar to Indra’s Vajra and sends it at Jayadrata. The Astra beheads Jayadrata. With the sheer force of his arrows Arjuna keeps it from falling.
His arrows carried Jayadrata’s head to Samantapanchaka where the old Vriddhakshatra was doing his prayers. Jayadrata’s head fell upon his lap and when Vriddhakshatra rose, the head fell from his lap, causing Vriddhakshatra’s own head shattering to pieces.
Correction : Vriddhakshatra’s boon was that the head of the man causing his son’s head to fall to ground would be shattered into a thousand pieces. Moral : Don’t let specificity kill the very essence of any boon you ask of . Bhima let’s out a roar to celebrate Arjuna’s success and convey the same to Yudhishtira at the rear. After killing Jayadratha, Arjuna continued to fight the other warriors. The Pandu forces at the rear fought Drona with renewed vigour.

Night 14

There is night battle!
Key myths challenged in this. No illusion of Sunset No eclipse No magic by Krishna (Sorry NTR!) No Pashupata Astra

Critical edition on Jayadratha Vadha Parva.

Onlookers though Duryodhana was killed while ge had actually escaped to one of his brothers’ chariot. Bhima roared in delight.

The next duel is between Karna and Sahadeva. Karna easily gains though Sahadeva put up a fight till the last thing he could grab. Sahadeva loses his bows, horses, charioteer, spears, club and even chariot wheel to Karna’s arrows. When he abandons the battle Karna pursues him for a while insulting him (Typical Karna. Just as goodwill builds, he squanders it). Sahadeva would have preferred to die than be spared and insulted so. Of course he is unaware that Karna was keeping his word to Kunti. As Sahadeva was being pursued, a Panchala called Janamejaya bears him away in his chariot. Over to Virata vs Shalya The Madra king gained an early upper hand over Virata and rendered him without a chariot. Shalya also kills Virata’s brother Shatanika. Virata fought till he collapsed under Shalya’s heat. At that juncture, Arjuna entered the scene. Before Arjuna attacked Shalya, Alambusa stopped him. He was like an Indra among Rakshasas with a fearsome chariot. Vultures tailed his chariot as they knew he wrought death. But only difference was that the opponent was Arjuna. Alambusha stood no chance.
Meanwhile, Nakula’s son Shatanika faced Duryodhana’s brother Chitrasena. The boy is definitely made of tough steel. He broke Chitrasena’s bow, armour and flag. Though Chitrasena fought on, he lost his horses and charioteer and had to run to Kritavarma’s. Looks like youngsters’ night this is. Karna’s son wins over Drupada with ease. Prativindhya gave a tough time to Dushasana. The son of Yudhishtira loses his chatiot but breaks Dushasana’s bow. Others sons of Draupadi rush to help and the battle turns general BTW the duel between Dushasana and Prativindhya is described as a conjunction between Budha and Shukra.

Finally, Drishtadyumna managed to reach Drona and a wonderous fight took place. Drona broke the Panchala’s bow. But Drishtadyumna picked another and covered Drona with arrows. One arrow from him came at Drona with a force that made Kurus shiver and pray for Drona ButvKarna sliced that arrow into 12 pieces, saving Drona. Drishtadyumna had to now fight multiple warriors Karna, Shalya, Duryodhana, Shakuni and others. But retreating was not the Panchala’s way and he wounded tham back, all of them. Drishtadyumna, while withstanding the cumulative attack, killed a warrior called Drumasena and broke Karna’s bow, enraging him. Shalya, Shakuni, Ashvatthama, Duryodhana and Drona surround him. At that instant, Satyaki comes to Panchala’s rescue. Another violent duel takes place between Karna and Satyaki (This guy is superhuman!). Vrishasena arrives to help his father but Satyaki engages both of them. At that instant, Arjuna is seen from a distance. Duryodhana is concerned. Duryodhana sends Shakuni to stop Arjuna and other Pandavas from coming to the aid of the ’tiresome Panchala-Yadava duo’. He tells Shakuni to kill the Pandavas (I cant help laughing!).

Shakuni leaves and Duryodhana attacks Satyaki, only to be beaten badly. Had overlooked two earlier duels. Shakuni against Nakula where Nakula won and Kripa against Shikhandi where Kripa dominated till the Panchalas rushed in to render the battle general.

Now coming back to when Duryodhana was defeated by Satyaki… Duryodhanahad to retreat. Meanwhile Shakuni surrounded Arjuna with a large army. With thousands of chariots, elephants and horses. Divine missiles were invoked against Arjuna in large numbers. And Shakuni won. Kidding. Arjuna is has to be! Over to the never ending duel between Drishtadyumna and Drona. Drishtadyumna broke Drona’s bowstring, making him pick another bow. Drona wounded Drishtadyumna’s charioteer but the Panchala fought on, killing Kaurava soldiers, causing a river of blood. It is not mentioned if Drona retreated. But Drishtadyumna and Shikhandi are mentioned to be blowing conches triumphantly. Duryodhana was distressed and pulled up Karna and Drona. Says trusting your words, we went to night battle and now you both seem incapable Thus prodded by Duryodhana, they both returned to battle (which may imply that Drishtadyumna had indeed prevailed over Drona earlier) and faced the Pandava host headed by Satyaki. Karna, Vrishasena, Shakuni engaged Satyaki while Drona slaughtered Panchalas The loss suffered by the Panchalas was huge. Under Krishna’s advice, the Pandava armies rearrayed and attacked. Karna and Drishtadyumna met in a duel. Drishtadyumna lost his bow, horses and charioteer. With his club, he destroyed Karna’s horses and went to Sahadeva. Karna’s charioteer got new horses yoked and he continued to torment the Panchala soldiers like death personified. The state of armies affected Yudhishtira a lot and he asked Arjuna to stall Karna. Krishna disagreed and suggested to send Ghatotkacha instead Some questions torment me here. Krishna is concerned about the Shakti with Karna, given by Shakra himself. What kind of Shakti could Indra have given that cant be overcome by Arjuna’s Brahmastra/Pashupata/Brahmasirsha??? It really beats me. It does! I mean it is understandable if it was just because Arjuna was tired after his day long pursuit of Jayadrata and the battles that followed. Satyaki, Bhima too for the same reason and hence Ghatotkacha was sent instead. But the fear of that Shakti does not add up. And yes, Ghatotkacha is summoned and sent to battle. A long drawn one that will require some new energy levels from my side. Will resume in a day or two. With Satyaki protecting his rear, Ghatotkacha advanced towards Karna. Duryodhana sees this and tells Dushasana to not let him approach Karna. At that instant, Alambala, the son of Jatasura who was earlier killed by Bhima approaches Duryodhana Alambala and Ghatotkavha clashed in a fearsome duel. Armies on both sides suffered damage. Ghatotkacha smashed Alambala’s chariot, kills the horses and charioteer. They came to fist fight and fought like Indra and Bali, like Garuda and Takshaka, like wind and thunder

Bhima saw that and came to back his son up. Alayudha and Bhima fought another bloody duel. But with his Rakshasa Maya, Alayudha began to overwhelm Bhima. Krishna hastened Arjuna to help his brother, leaving the Panchalas to fend against Karna Meanwhile, Bhima had lost his chariot, horses and charioteer (Gosh! Vishoka is it?). Krishna urged Ghatotkacha to help his father. Rakshasa met Rakshasa while Bhima engaged Karna in the meanwhile. Arjuna and twins stalled the Rakshasa army of Alayudha. A whole thesaurus list of weapons is there that both the Rakshasas used against each other 😊. Blood streaming down their bodies looked like red springs streaming down two mountains. After a duel that tested him to limits, Ghatotkacha severed the head of Alayudha Even as Duryodhana trembled at the sight of a violently triumphant Ghatotkacha, Karna was giving a tough time to the Panchala host. Even Satyaki found it tough to contain him (given his own exhausting day I guess). Ghatotkacha came back to give them reprieve Ghatotkacha saw that it was indeed tough to fight Karna then. With a divyAstra, he killed Karna’s horses and charioteer. Aided by Maya, he began to destroy the army that backed Karna. Even with his amazing dexterity, Karna could not stop him The Kuru armies fled the scene, leaving Karna to fend for himself alone. Ghatotkacha again killed Karna’s horses with a shataghni. With that Karna had to leap down his chariot. The Kurus pleaded with him to use Vasava Shakti and kill Ghatotkacha Unwillingly, Karna invoked the Vasava Shakti, which he had preserved for years, in hope of killing Arjuna. Even as the Shakti manifested, Ghatotkacha was wise enough to see that the weapon meant his end. He assumed a gigantic form as the spear pierced his heart The Rakshasa son of Bhima collapsed crushing a whole unit of the enemy army under him. There is a popular belief that Ghatotkacha killed more in his death than while he lived! (Not from critical edition). The Kauravas finally breathed easy and celebrated Thus ends the chapter Ghatotkacha vadha Parva. We enter Drona Vadha Parva next. Shall tweet tomorrow. Thanks for the support. 🙏🙏

The death of Ghatotkacha is followed by loud celebrations in the Kaurava camp and lamentations in the Pandava side. Except Krishna who is openly relieved that Arjuna is now saved from the only infallible weapon that Karna once possessed. One need not say how much of a wreck Bhima would have been. Yudhishtira himself is inconsolable. We see a snippet of his personality when he narrates to Krishna everything what Ghatotkacha did for them with gratitude. Not like an entitled father/uncle/king. Yudhishtira questions the valour on his side for letting Ghatotkacha be killed. Says Abhimanyu’s death would have been avenged better by killing Drona or Karna. Then Ghatotkacha would have been alive. Saying so, he proceeds to face the enemy One thing beautiful about Krishna is that he knows when to reason, when to lecture and when to keep quiet and just listen :-). With Yudhishtira he only gave a patient ear and encouraged him to continue fighting. Vyasa appears to Yudhishtira and promises him that he would attain the throne in 5 more days, says where there is Dharma, thereis Victory. After Vyasa departs, the Pandava army surrounds Drona while the Kaurava warriors rally around him. Darkness added to confusion, not to speak of fatigue from the long fight Looking at the plight of his own soldiers and those from the other side, Bibhatsu (Arjuna) addressed thrm all and suggested that the soldiers as well as the animals deserve a nap, at least till the moon rises. Soldiers from both sides applauded Arjuna They caught some sleep till moon arose in all his glory, dispelling darkness. The armies awoke like the ocean gets agitated during moonrise. The battle restarted. Duryodhana again blamed Drona for going soft on the Pandavas. Drona gets annoyed. He Promises to remove his armour only after he kills all the Panchalas. Also adds that Arjuna is invincible by all immortals too on the battlefield. Duryodhana declares that he, along with Karna and Shakuni would slay Arjuna soon. The armies divide into two By that time, most of the night had passed. Dawn was fast approaching, bathing the field in a coppery red hue. Krishna saw the enemy army doing a two pronged attack. Upon Krishna & Bhima’s suggestion, Arjuna ignored the Karna-Drona led division and attacks the other I think that technically moves us to #Day15 of .

Day 15

Arjuna countered the enemy that included Karna, Duryodhana, Shakuni and otger warrioirs and inflicted a great damage upon the enemy. Drona did that same thing against Panchalas. He killed Drupada and Virata at one go! Oh no! What just happened? Enraged at his father’s killing, Drishtadyumna vows to kill Drona that very day. The Panchalas surround Drona but penetrating the Kaurava protective ring is a challenge for them. Drishtadyumna’s inability angers Bhima who tears inyo the enemy ranks. The battle intensified with the rising sun. Duryodhana and Duhshasana clashed against the sons of Madri. Arjuna fought with Drona and Bhima against Karna. Duryodhana was at first wounded by Nakula on his right. He fought back. But Nakula confused him

Karna seemed to stay steady. He then killed Bhima’s horses and two charioteers (I think it should be wheel protectors). Bhima ascended Nakula’s chariot like a lion leaps onto a mountain. (Result inconclusive till now). Over to Drona vs Arjuna) The duel between the illustrious preceptor and pupil was so wonderful that warriors around them stopped fighting to just watch them fight. Both were so dexterous that neither could dominate the other for a long time Astras like Aindra, Pashupata, Tvashtra, Vayavya and Varuna were released by Drona, all counteracted by Arjuna. Even the Astras more powerful than the above were ineffective against Arjuna. Drona felt proud within himself at his student’s prowess. Drona then released the Brahmastra that scorched the enemy and Arjuna invoked his own Brahmastra nullifying it. They fought on. Meanwhile, Duhshasana fought against Drishtadyumna. He could not stand for long before the Panchala and had to retreat. Drishtadyumna then advanced towards Drona, but was stopped by Kritavarma and his three brothers. Nakula and Sahadeva came to back up Drishtadyumna. The seven Maharathas battled each other. All fine warriors who respected code and used sanctioned arrows. A lot of description is given on the list of kinds of arrows that are prohibited. The seven warriors fought according to that. Possibly by this time the code was so much violated that it is mentionworthy when someone followed it! The twins quickly created an opening for Drishtadyumna by engaging two opponents each. Drishtadyumna advanced towards Drona. Duryodhana tried to stop him but in turn was accosted by Satyaki. The duel brought memories of their childhood to Duryodhana.

Duryodhana lets out his emotions to emotions recollecting their days together during their education and curses his greed for getting them into this situation. Satyaki seems to be as perplexed as I am and tells Duryodhana to focus on the battle. Duryodhana continues to fight. But Satyaki quickly dominates while Karna rushes to protect Duryodhana. But Bhima comes in between (Not again guys!). They do the usual killing each other’s horses, charioteers. Yudhishtira on the rear gets frustrated and goads the Panchalas and Matsyas to rally behind the Maharathas who were fighting off Dhritarashtra’s sons. Bhima and the Twins formed the new fore with Panchalas and Matsyas backing them up They call out to Arjuna to destroy the Kuru protectors of Drona so that the Panchalas could get to Drona with ease. Arjuna obliges by taking on the Kaurava host while Drona attacks Panchalas in full fury Even with Arjuna holding off the full Kuru host, Drona proves to be a handful to the Panchalas, Bhima and the twins. They were like dry hay caught in fire that was Drona. Krishna sees the destruction suffered by Panchalas and gives an idea. He says, in order to protect the remaining soldiers and stop Drona from fighting, let us have him believe that his son Ashvatthama died. Arjuna hates the idea. Yudhishtira is hesitant. Meanwhile Bhima finds an elephant named Ashvatthama and kills it Then, Bhima comes to the forefront and shouts that he killed Ashvatthama. Drona is shocked to hear it but recovers quickly and attacks Drishtadyumna with a renewed anger. Panchalas struggle to save their prince. 20000 Panchalas, 500 Matstyas, 6000 Srinjayas, ten thousand each of horses and elephants lose their life to Drona’s ensuing rage. It makes the Rishis like Jamadagni, Bharadvaha, Atri Kashyapa descend to preach restraint to Drona.

They urge him to give up this battle as he fought on the side of Adharma. They remind him that his time has come. Drona looks at Bhima and Drishtadyumna and then at Arjuna knowing Arjuna would never lie. Krishna urges Yudhishtira to convince Drona. Says if Drona fights for even half a day, the Panchala-Pandava armies would be annihilated. As much as he hated the idea of falsehood, Yudhishtira, urged by Krishna and Bhima came to forefront and faced Drona. He utters the half lie. A part aloud that Ashvatthama is dead and the part under his breath that Ashvatthama was the elephant. Drona is under a shock. Does not notice that Yudhishtira’s chariot which remained four finger breadths above the ground, touched the ground In that state, Drona is attacked by Drishtadyumna with a fatal arrow. Drona fights back shattering Drishtadyumna’s arrows. The Panchala wounded him severely but it was a matter of time before Drona rendered him without weapons and chariot. Drishtadyumna leapn on to Drona like ahawk, armed with a sword and shield. But with a thousand Vaitastika arrows, Drona sliced the sword and shield and was about to kill Drishtadyumna. But Satyaki intervened saving his friend’s life. The Pandavas rally around to protect Satyaki from more attacks. Bhima takes Drishtadyumna onto his chariot and gives him a sturdy bow, reminding him of his oath to kill Drona. Drishtadyumna again attacks Drona. Drona again breaks that bow. Bhima berates Drona of being selfish and giving up his Brahmanatva for narrow ends. All for the sake of Ashvatthama. He asks how Drona could fight on even after hearing that Ashvatthama is dead. Upon this, Drona decides to cast his weapons away Calling upon Karna and Duryodhana to take charge of the war, he threw his weapons away and sank on to the ground of his chariot. That moment, Drishtadyumna swooped upon him with a sword. The soldiers started lamenting at the shameful step. Drona’s spirit ascended to the skies leaving his body. The spectacle was only visible to Yudhishtira, Krishna, Arjuna, Kripacharya and Sanjaya. Unaware of that, Drishtadyumna beheaded what was only the corpse of Drona. Arjuna had called out from behind not to harm Drona, but Drishtadyumna heeded none of that. The fallen head of Drona terrorised the Kaurava armies. The Pandavas too were shocked. Only Bhima rejoiced and embraced Drishtadyumna.

This is one of the most engaging discussions, friends.

Would strongly urge you all to read the unabridged edition while I shall do my best to summarize here.

Drishtadyumna further goes on defending his killing of Drona and compared it to Arjuna’s bringing down of Bhagadatta and Bhishma. Nobody is able to counter him but then Satyaki rushes to Arjuna’s defence and berates Drishtadyumna with rather strong words. He furthers adds that the Panchalas have lost their sense of morality and have no right to point at Arjuna who only protected Shikhandi from other Kauravas during Bhishma Vadha. Drishtadyumna laughs in contempt and reminds Satyaki how he killed Bhurishrava He also enunciates without bias how both sides failed the code and points to how victory is what matters at the moment. Also point out how Dharma-Adharma determining is tricky. So the Pandavas camp is literally acting like Hindu/RE on Twitter 😁😁😁 Satyaki is unable to bear it anymore and leaps down to kill Drishtadyumna. Krishna urges Bhima to intervene and Bhima restrains Satyaki. Such was Satyaki’s strength that it tested Bhima’s power to stop him from advancing further. Sahadeva comes in between Satyaki and Drishta dyumna and pacifies both. Drishtadyumna is still unwilling to relent but Krishna and Yudhishtira too join in bringing back normalcy. It was then that Ashvatthama invoked the Narayanastra Countless blazing arrows and Shataghnis appeared, engulfing the Pandavas armies in a fiery deluge. Yudhishtira is overcome with guilt and asks Satyaki and Drishtadyumna to abandon the Pandavas and save themselves and their armies. Ktishna stops the retreating soldiers and asks everyone to alight from theur chariots and mounts and stay unarmed for the Narayanaastra never harms unarmed people. Everyone save Bhima follows the instruction. The astra focuses on Bhima and surrounds him with fire Arjuna invokes Vaarunastra to oro ide a protective cover to Bhima. Knowing the Vaaruna would not be able to hold of Naarayana, Krishna and Arjuna force Bhima to let go off his weapons. With an effort them stop him from roaring and challenging the missile. Finally the Narayanastra passes, pacified and Bhima rises like the sun at dawn. So do the rest, ready to battle again. Ashvatthama telks Duryodhana that he cannot use the Narayanastra more than once. The battle commences again and he meets Drishtadyumna Drishtadyumna wounds Ashvatthama badly, pierces his horses and charioteer. Ashvatthama wounds back Drishtadyumna, kills the horses and charioteer. Satyaki rushes to save Drishtadyumna (he wanted to kill Drishtafyumna like 5 minutes back 😁). Though wounded badly by Satyaki , Ashvatthama laughs and says nobody can save Drishtadyumna from him. He breaks Satyaki’s armour after which Satyaki’s charioteer takes him away from Ashvatthama who thrn turns to Drishtadyumna. He pierces Drishtadyumna in between the eyebrows making him faint. Arjuna, Bhima and three more warriors attack Ashvatthama and he engages them all and kills the princes of Malava and Chedi. Even Bhima thinks of it as wise to retreat for the moment. Only Arjuna is left facing Ashvatthama. Ashvatthama releases Agneya and Arjuna invokes Brahmastra to counteract. Ashvatthama is disgusted and leaves the battlefield. He meets Vedavyasa and asks why his weapons could not harm Krishna and Arjuna. Vyasa tells him that Krishna and Arjuna were Naryana and Nara, and about the boons Narayana obtained from Lord Rudra along with the oneness he realised with him. That is the reason for Krishna’s invincibility. Ashvatthama calls to withdraw for the day. After withdrawing Arjuna approaches Vyasa and reveals about a spectacle he alone witnessed that day. He says a strange warrior preceded Arjuna wherever he went and attacked those who were about to Arjuna. He never touched the ground. Vyasa says it was Lord Rudra himself, helping Arjuna and hence Arjuna would neverknow defeat as Shiva himself weakens the enemy of Arjuna. Taking Vyasa’s blessings, Arjuna too retires. (The unabridged portion had a long Shivastuti) #Day15 of ends We conclude the volume 6 of the critical edition of Mahabharata by Dr. @bibekdebroy

Day 16

Moving to volume 7 now for #Day16 of Sanjaya gets to narrating Karnavadha Parva or simply Karna Parva. The final duel between Karna and Arjuna is compared to those epic battles between Ravana-Rama, Vritra-Indra, Kartavirya-Parashurama, Mura-Krishna. Dhritarashtra is understandably agitated Getting to details, Karna is made the chief commander of Kuru forces upon the advice of Ashvatthama. Annointed with responsibility, the son of the Sun blazed like the son of Fire (Skanda) in charge of the armies of gods. Karna arrayed the armies into Makara Vyuha Karna was at the Makara’s mouth. Shakuni and Uluka were the eyes. Duryodhana was at the neck, Kritavarma, the left leg, Goutama (Kripa?), The right leg. The rear left leg had Shalya. Other supreme warriors formed the tail. The Pandavas formed a Half-Moon formation with Bhima and Drishtadyumna at the two ends, Arjuna in the middle and Yudhishtira at the rear protected by the twins.

Finally Drishtadyumna can roam free.! All this while, he was tied to Yudhishtira’s side

The battle started and the dance of death continued. The first notble duel is between Bhima and Kshemadhriti. Both are sitting upon elephants today. The ekephants tok clashed along with their riders. Kshemadhriti killed Bhima’s elephant and Bhima returned the favour But once on the ground, Kshemadriti was easily killed by Bhima. The Kaurava armies fled and he proceeded to fight Ashvatthama.

Meanwhile, Karna unleashed terror upon the Pandava forces and was accosted by Nakula. Satyaki fought Vinda-Anuvinda of Kekayas. Shrutakarma fought Chitrasena. Prativindhya fought Chitra. Yudhishtira faced Duryodhana. Drishtadyumna fought Kripa while Shikhandiattacked Kritavarma. Shrutakirti faced Shalya and Sahadeva attacked Duhshasana.

Over to the details o Satyaki’s percormance

Vinda and Anuvinda of Kekaya (not to be confused wirh our old friends from Avanti) covered Satyaki with arrows and he did the same to them. Satyaki broke their bows and they took up new obes and broke his. Satyaki took up another and severed Anuvinda’s head Vinda fought back valiantly and wounded Satyaki all over, making him look like a Kimshuka tree during blooming season. They destroyed each other’s chariots and fought with swords and shields. Satyaki cut off Vinda’s head and ascended Yudhamanyu’s chariot. Chitrasena of Abhisara (not the Kaurava) fought with Shrutakarma, the youngest upapandava and the son of Arjuna-Draupadi. Shrutakarma made Chitrasema faint, with his sharp iron arrows, piercing his inner organs. The latter recovered and broke Shrutakarma’s bow. Taking up another bow, Shrutakarma continued to fight despite being wounded heavily. After losing another bow and breakinv another of Chitrasena, the son of Arjuna shot an arrow that took his opponent’s life. Abhisara armies fell upon him but he drove them all Prativindhya, the son of Yudhishtira and Draupadi fought with Chitra. He struck Chitra and his charioteer and also brought down Chitra’s flag. Chitra struck him back on the chest. Prativindhya then broke Chitra’s bow and the latter threw a javelin. Prativindhya countered it. Chitra then smashed Prativindhya’s horses and charioteer with a club. Prativindhya threw another javelin at Chitra who caught it and threw it back, wounding Prativindhya. The eldest Upapandava then hurled another javelin which slew Chitra Ashvatthama and Bhima clashed like Vritra and Vasava (Indra). It was a splendid battle. Ashvatthama’s agility and finese were at their best but Bhima with his resilience was quite a match for him. Piercing each other with arrows, they looked like meteors clashing Their arrows struck like lightning. It was a battle that made the celestials stop and watch. In the heat of each other’s attack, thry fainted and both the charioteers grabbed the moment to bear their respective masters away from the field. Arjuna meanwhile, faced the whole Shamshaptaka host and slaughtered them. The area was filled with broken chariots, dead horses and bodies of warriors he killed, becoming impassable. Ashvatthama rushed to stall Arjuna and challenged him. Arjuna was in two minds about continuing to fight the Shamshaptakas or honour Ashvatthama’s challenge and left the decision to Krishna who drove him towards Ashvatthama. The son of Drona wounded Krishna heavily upon which Arjuna was enraged and broke his bow. Ashvatthama shot countless arrows, covering Arjuna and Krishna and Arjuna’s arrows boke them like wind clearing the mist. Apparently this bought Arjuna some time in which he killed more Shamshaptakas before Ashvatthama attacked again. They clashed like Shukra and Angirasa (Dr. Debroy thinks Angirasa here refers to Brihaspati who is the son of Angirasa, so, a Venus-Jupiter face off). Thpugh he and Krishna were wounded, Arjuna managed to cover Ashvatthama with arrows and turn to Shamshaptakas After a bout of slaughtering the enemy, Arjuna again turned towards Ashvatthama and they covered each other with arrows. Upon Krishna’s urging, Arjuna upped his attack and cut off the harnesses of Ashvatthama’s horses and they bolted, bearing him away He is a fine warrior, man! This Arjuna. He does not just prevail over the enemy, but can even controlthe damage he can inflict upon his enemy. His soft corner for Ashvatthama is so clear! All in vain though 😢. #Personalrant Arjuna again engaged the Shamshaptaka division. He is compared to Angaraka doing forward and retrogade in his slaughter of Shamshaptakas. So much that Krishna is full of praise and awe at the destruction he wrought on the enemy.
The Magadhan princes who fought on the side of Duryodhana, Danda and Dandadhara were killed by Arjuna in quick succession. (Magadha is a divided force with one division supporting Pandavas and the other supporting Duryodhana). Sanjaya narrates about a certain Malayadhvaja of the Pandyas who fought on the side of Pandavas. Described as the Lord of mountains, he put up a stiff resistance to Ashvatthama after challenging him to a duel. Ashvatthama killed the Pandya’s horses Malayadhvaja cuts Ashvatthama’s bow string but rhe son of Drona restrung his bow and killed Malayadhvaja’s horses. The Pandya countered Ashvatthama’s Vaaruna with his Vayavya. But as time passed, Ashvatthama gained the edge and destroyed Malayadhvaja’s chariot

Nakula meanwhile, did not share the luck of his twin as he accosted Karna. As he pierced Karna, the latter cut his bow. Picking up another bow, Nakula covered him with arrows. Karna tpok up another bow and wounded Nakula at the shoulder joints. Unfazed, Nakula shot him back with iron arrows and cut the ends of Karna’s bow. With his third bow, Karna upped his game, shooting countless number of arrows. But the son of Madri was as unaffected like the sun by the clouds. Parallelly they killed enemy soldiers too In a quick turn of events, Karna gained and cut Nakula’s bow, killed his horses qnd charioteer. Nakula hurled a giant mace at Karna but with his swift arrows, Karna countered it and wounded bck Nakula but not fatally. Just enough to cause him pain. Nakula fled But Karna pursued him, laughing and catching him by neck with his bowstring and heckled Nakuka to fight only his equals from now on and not superiors. Nakula hurried towards Yudhishtira’s chariot and Karna continued his slaughter of enemy soldiers.

Sanjaya moves to the duel that took place between Yuyutsu and Uluka. Yuyutsu is Dhritarashtra’s son by a maid, who changes sides to fight for the Pandavas. Uluka seemed to win over Yuyutsu with ease.

Meanwhile, Shatanika fought Shrutakarma (Rudrakarma).

Both lost their chariots and weapons and angrily withdrew.

Sutasoma fought Shakuni. Put up a stiff resistance despite losing his chariot early, but Shakuni won eventually. (Is this the first battle that Shakuni won?)

Then, Kripa vanquished Drishtadyumna

Kritavarma too defeated Shikhandi. So it is Kaurava camp gaining under Karna’s commandership!

Although, Arjuna was a challenge they could never overcome. He slaughtered Trigartas, Narayanas, Shalvas, Shamshaptakas, Shibis like Garuda destroying the serpents. The next duel is between Yudhishtira and Duryodhana. While Duryodhana is a great warrior himself, something seems to bother him whenever he faced Yudhishtira. The Pandavas quickly killed his horses and charioteer, cut his flag, bow and sword.

Upon this, Karna, Ashvatthama and Kripa rushed to help Duryodhana while the Pandava Panchalas rallied around Yudhishtira. A general battle ensued for a while. But Duryodhana returned in a new chariot and attacked Yudhishtira again. He broke the Pandava’s bow. With another bow, Yudhishtira broke Duryodhana’s bow and standard. The latter took a new bow and the duel continued between those two lions. Duryodhana threw a lance which was cut up by Yudhishtira’s arrows. His next arrows wounded Yudhishtira who+ Shot an arrow that dazed Duryodhana. He recovered and raised a club, resembling Yama himself and was about to hurl it at Yudhushtira. But Yudhishtira threw a lance that pierced Duryodhana’s armour and made him faint. Kritavarma who rushed to support Duryodhana was checked by Bhima.

Meanwhile Karna attacked Satyaki who covered him, his charioteer and horses with so many arrows that the Kuru Atirathas had to surround him to hekp Karna. The battle raged on.

Arjuna entered the scene, having worshipped Shiva. His arrows drove enemy sokdiers away like winds blowing clouds away. Duryodhana tried to check him. But Arjuna felled his bow, charioteer, horses and umbrella in order. His next arrow was sure to killing Duryodhana But Ashvatthama intervened by cutting off that fatal arrow. Arjuna then cut Ashvatthama’s bow and killed his horses. He also cut the bows of Kripa, Kritavarma and Dushasana, killed Kritavarma’s horses and also attacked Karna.

Karna left Satyaki and turned to Arjuna. He struck Krishna and Arjuna back. But Satyaki pursued him and wounded Karna with many arrows. Other Pandava Panchalas too joined to attack Karna. He drove them away. Arjuna countered Karna’s arrows and killed enemy soldiers The heat of the attack was high but the Sun had already reached the western hill. Darkness descended and the armies withdrew. Sanjaya describes the Pandava camp rejoicing their dominion for the day as Kauravas had retreated first.

End of #Day16

Day 17

Karna met Duryodhana early on #Day17 to strategise. The main problem was Arjuna. Karna analysed the situation comparing himself and Arjuna. Showing his bow, he saud it was forged by Vishvakarma, used by Indra to win over Daityas and then given to Parashu Rama Parashurama then gave it to his student Karna, the bow with which he conquered the earth 21 times. With that bow, Karna felt he had an advantage over Arjuna despite the unbreakable Gandiva and inexhaustible quivers. But Karna felt inferior to Arjuna+ +in the matters where charioteer became important. He told Duryodhana to convince Shalya to man his chariot thus putting him at a net superior level to that of Arjuna. Duryodhana convinces an unwilling Shalya with some effort and ego massaging In his attempts to convince Shalya, Duryodhana cites the Puranic episode of Tripurasura vadha by Mahadeva. Supremely Beautiful story. Urge you all to read it in its unabridged form.

The crux is how Shiva wanted a suitable charioteer and Brahma was chosen

Shatanika - Duhshasana Yudhishtira - Kripacharya Shikhandi and remaining Upapandavas against the rest of Dhartarashtras.

Once Arjuna starts advancing, Shalya again speaks out his awe over Arjuna, annoying Karna.

The Shamshaptakas first clash with Arjuna And what follows is a mad mad battle- neither like duels, nor general Forget Yudhishtira’s plan. Everyone attacks and strikes anyone who comes under the line of sight and abandons duel at the next provocation. Just crazy. Hence, will cover the main highlights Karna advances against the Panchalas, slaughtering five Panchalan Princes - Bhanudeva, Chitrasena, Senavindu, Tapana and Shurasena.

His chariot wheels are protected by his sons Sushena and Satyasena. Rear is protected by his eldest son Vrishasena. Sushena and Satyasena attack Bhima. Sushena cuts Bhima’s bow. But with a new bow, Bhima cuts back Sushena’s bow and also pierces Karna. In front of Karna, he then kills Satyasena’s horses, charioteer and then cuts off Sushena’s head. Bhima then strikes multiple warriors, Kritavarma, Kripa, Shakuni and Karna himself. He almost kills Sushena but Karna saves his son. But Sushena then fights with Nakula who kills his charioteer. Sushena shoots an arrow that dazes Nakula and Sahadeva intervenes Error regretted in the tweet before. It is Satyasena who is killed by Bhima. Sushena is alive and fighting the twins.

Satyaki kills Vrishasena’s charioteer, horses, breaks his flag and weapons. Vrishasena recovers and attacks Satyaki back with sword. Duhshasana rescues Vrishasena when Satyaki breaks the boy’s sword and shield. Satyaki then destroys Duhshasana’s chariot, charioteer, horses and they ascend another chariot. The rest are meanwhile attacking Karna and he repulses them all wonderously Driving them all away, Karna reaches Yudhishtira. Like Yama incarnate, Karna slughter’s Yudhishtira’s protective ring comprising Chedi and Panchala Rathas. Yudhishtira wounds back Karna, Shalya and Karna’s guard. The Pandava Maharathas rush to support Yudhishtira To ward off the combined onslaught, Karna invokes Brahmastra and keeps them all at bay. He thrn cuts Yudhishtira’s bow and breaks his armour. Yudhishtira, covered in blood now, hurls lances that pierce Karna. Enraged, Karna kills Yudhishtira’s charioteer and horses Yudhishtira retreats in shame, ascending Shrutakirti’s chariot and instructs Bhima and others to stop Karna. Bhima and Satyaki attack Karna’s army and destroy them ruthlessly. Karna is forced to turn to them. Bhima sends Satyaki back to protect Yudhishtira. Bhima is angrier than he ever was at his brother’s defeat in the hands of Karna. Shalya expresses his fears. But Karna persists to fight Bhima. He strikes Bhima on the chest and they cover and pierce each other with countless arrows. Bhima loses a bow and is further struck by Karna’s many arrows. Enraged, he shoots a powerful arrow with all his force. The arrow makes Karna faint and sink to the floor of his chariot. Shalya bears him away and Bhima slaughters six of Dhritarashtra’s sons. Karna recovers and returns to check Bhima. He destroys Bhima’s chariot and Shakuni’s elephant division surrounds Bhima who was on the ground (Total festival for Bhima!). Bhima kills three thousand elephants and horses and climbs another chariot to pursue Karna Karna is meanwhile pursuing Yudhishtira. But Satyaki put himself between him and Yudhishtira. This duel too is wonderous as both the warriors cover each other with arrows. The sun has reached the zenith but the arrows these men released covered the sky. Arjuna meanwhile, faced Susharma, the king of Trigarts and the general of Shamshaptakas. One of Susharma’s arrows pierced Arjuna’s flagpost and a fearsome roar of The Ape was heard shocking everyone. As they recovered, some of them bodily attacked Krishna and Arjuna Shaking those attackers away, Arjuna invoked the Nagastra which bound thelegs of the enemy, rendering thrm immobile. (He has big time prob killing the enemy!). Susharma invoked Suparna to release his army from the serpent stupor. Susharma’s drooping tufted arrows pierced Arjuna so deep that he sank to the floor if his chariot. Recovering, Arjuna invoked his favourite Aindra which slaughtered the enemy by thousands. Arjuna killed 14K soldiers, 10 K Rathas and 3K elephants in that battle On the other side, Shikhandi faced Kripa and pierced him severely with arrows. Enraged, Kripa killed his horses and charioteer. Shikhandi leapt down, sword and shield in hand. Drishtadyumna rushed to help his brother but was checked by Kritavarma Yudhishtira approached Kripa but was countered by Ashvatthama. Nakula and Sahadeva were stopped by Duryodhana and Karna himself fought Bhima. Shikhandi was within the grip of Kripa if not for a young Panchakan prince Suketu who engaged Kripa wonderously He boke Kripa’s bow, giving time for Shikhandi to escape. But very soon Kripa dominated and beheaded Suketu.

Kritavarma and Drishtadyumna fought like a hawk and vulture desiring the same meat. Drishtadyumna then killed Kritavarma’s charioteer & defeated him When Ashvatthama fought Yudhishtira, Satyaki, Upa Pandavas and sone Panchalas rushed to the Pandava’s support. But Ashvatthama withstood the attack. When Satyaki broke his bow, Ashvatthama killed Satyaki’s charioteer and horses bolted. Yudhishtira too retreated.

Meanwhile, Drishtadyumna tried to stop Karna from attacking Yudhishtira. When Karna broke his bow, he took up another and shot arrows that pierced Karna. Enraged, Karna shot a deadly arrow at Drishtadyumna, but Satyaki intercepted it. Karna then turned at Satyaki And Ashvatthama engaged Drishtadyumna. Both challenged each other and covered each other with arrows. Drishtadyumna cut Ashvatthama’s bow and the latter took another and killed Drishtadyumna’s horses and charioteer. His bow too broke, the Panchala took up a sword Ashvatthama vbroke that too and shot many arrows at Drishtadyumna. The Panchala was wounded beyond measure but would not retreat. Ashvatthama then leapt down his chariot to kill Drishtadyumna. Ashvatthama overpowered him but then was driven away by Arjuna. Ashvatthama then rushed back to his chariot and attacked Arjuna while Sahadeva carried Drishtadyumna to safety. Once again, Arjuna wounded Ashvatthama badly, making him sink down to the floor of his chariot. As Ashvatthama retreated, Arjuna wanted to finish off the remaining Shamshaptakas. But Krishna told him about the havoc Karna wrought upon the Panchalas and the distress Yudhishtira faced. He also says how formidable are Duryodhana, Ashvatthama and Kripa together Krishna was thoroughly concerned for Yudhishtira who, he said is worn out by extreme fasts and a brahmin like regime. He praised Karna at length. (Longer than how Shalya praised Arjuna in the morning). Only Bhima and Satyaki are seen repulsing the enemy. Bhima faced a Nishada King and killed him along with an elephant division. The sons of Dhritarashtra fled. Karna rallied them and led the counter attack, supported by Duhshasana, Ashvatthama, Kripa and others. Karna defeated Shikhandi Drishtadyumna checked Duhshasana and broke his bow. But Duhshasana took up another and continued to fight. Vrishasena, Karna’s eldest son fought Nakula. But midway, he saw that Karna had tactically withdrawn and abandoned Nakula to join his father Nakula defeated Uluka, the son of Shakuni and the latter joined the Trigarta Army. Satyaki fought with Shakuni. When Shakuni shattered Satyaki’s armour, the latter killed Shakuni’s horses and forced him to retreat. Duryodhana fought Bhima Within no time, Bhima killed Duryodhana’s horses, charioteer and felled his standard. Duryodhana too had to retreat. However, Yudhamanyu and Uttamoujas did not have the same luck with Kripa and Kritavarma respectively and lost. Is there even one battle duel that Duryodhana won? No wonder his earlier techniques to weaken the Pandavas were all those which did not require valour. #PersonalComment #Day17 Ashvatthama again met Arjuna in a duel and this time they resorted to Divyastras. but it was a matter of time before Arjuna dominated though Ashvatthama was wonderous. Finally, Arjuna killed the charioteer and made the horses go berserk, taking Ashvatthama with them. Seeing his armies routed by the Pandava - Panchala host, Duryodhana appealed to Karna to do something. Karna invoked the Bhargavastra against the Panchala-Chedi armies. (He is like Drona here! Don’t know why people compare Karna to Bhishma) cc @sri9011

The effect of Bhargavastra on the army was so severe that even Arjuna was dazed for a moment. Krishna quickly decided that Arjuna should meet Karna after the latter tires out further and suggests to go and meet Yudhishtira instead They meet Bhima on the way Arjuna and Bhima have a short debate on who should fight the enemy and who should go to check upon Yudhishtira who apparently has retired for the day after being badly mangled by Karna’s arrows. Bhima stays back after assuring he would kill Shamshaptakas too When they reach the camp, Yudhishtira assumes that Arjuna has already killed Karna and welcomes them overjoyed. He asks for details about how Arjuna killed Karna, almost beyond himself with curiosity. We see here how much grudge Yudhishtira held against Karna Arjuna replied that he is yet to kill Karna and recounts his battles of the day with Shamshaptakas, Ambasthas, Ashvatthama and how he was afraid for Yudhishtira’s life because of which he came to the camp. Arjuna promised to go back and kill Karna (O Arjuna..) Hearing that Karna is alive, Yudhishtira gave in to rage. His extreme disappointment that Arjuna came back from the field without killing Karna just broke bounds and he launched this tirade against Arjuna. Questioned Arjuna’s capabilities against promises

He went on to say Arjuna should have given his Gandiva to Krishna and driven the chariot instead and with this, Arjuna lost it and unsheathed his sword. Krishna stepped in and tried to pacify Arjuna Arjuna confessed it had been his secret vow to kill anyone who asks him to part with Gandiva. Krishna manages to pacify him narrating the story of Balaka and Kaushika the brahmin. Balaka went to heaven for killing a carnivore that harmed others while Kaushika went to hell for speaking a truth that endangered others’ lives. There comes a beautiful enunciation of what is Dharma connecting it to the etymological definition that whatever sustains everything is Dharma. Warrants a detailed reading and study. Krishna further advises to virtually fulfil his vow by censuring Yudhishtira for being addressed in a disrespectful manner in equivalent to being killed. Arjuna does that (and probably takes out whatever frustration and grudges he bore against Yushishtira 😃) But having done that Arjuna feels like killing himself for whatever he spoke. Then Krishna tells him that praising self is equivalent to suicide and hence he can atone by ‘killing himself’ through self praise. ( Sounds dramatic and funny but has many lessons) Upon Krishna’s prevailing, Yudhishtira and Arjuna pacify each other too and Arjuna promises to kill Karna. This is the first instance where we see Yudhishtira thirsting for revenge and asks Arjuna to avenge his defeat in the hands of Karna.

Further, Yudhishtira adds that he would kill himself if Arjuna fails to kill Karna that day. Krishna gets the chariot ready and they leave for the battle field. On the way, Krishna, knowing Arjuna’s state of mind, reminds him of all his previous achievements

The other Kuru warriors - Kripa, Kritavarma, Ashvatthama, Shakuni, Duryodhana launched themselves upon Arjuna. Arjuna’s Gandiva was in full circle, continuously firing arrows, blazing like the sun in mid summer. Ashvatthama wounded Arjuna and Krishna Arjuna severed Ashvatthama’s bow and killed his charioteer and horses too. Drona’s son took up a bow that looked like Takshaka, the serpent Lord and continued to shoot arrows. Meanwhile Arjuna cut up Kripa’s bow too and killed his horses and charioteer. Kritavarma fared no better. Arjuna meanwhile saw that the rest of Kuru host had surrounded Bhima and rushed to relieve him, killing soldiers on the way, leaving a path filled with dead bodies and severed limbs. He caught up with Bhima and the enemy fled

As he conveyed about Yudhishtira’s wellness to Bhima. Ten of Dhritarashtra’s sons surrounded Arjuna He killed them all (inconsistency acknowledged here as all of Dhritarashtra’s sons were killed by Bhima). Shamshaptakas surrounded Arjuna. Bhima kept up with his brother and together they destroyed the enemy host. Whoever escaped Arjuna’s arrows could not escape Bhima’s mace. Rest of the Kauravas ran to Karna as he battled the Panchalas. There is another inconsistency here. Sushena, son of Karna (Earlier shown as being killed by Uttamoujas) is fighting with Satyaki, already wounded by Karna. But the Yadava, despite losing his horses to Karna’s arrows, killed Sushena. Karna was enraged and shot a deadly arrow at Satyaki But Shikhandi intercepted it. Karna turned upon him and then killed Drishtadyumna’s son, also wounding upa Pandavas. Krishna and Arjuna hastened towards Karna. Bhima followed him, protecting Arjuna’s rear. Meanwhile, Satyaki was not giving up easily.

He engaged Karna, Vrishasena, Kritavarma and Kripa simultaneously. It was Satyaki’s turn to dominate this battle and the combined Kuru host could not overcome him.

Meanwhile, Duhshasana attacked Bhima (Ahemmm). They fought like Shakra and Shambara. Bhima broke Duhshasana’s bow and flag. He also killed Duhshasana’s charioteer. The latter took control of the reins while simultaneously shooting arrows with a new bow. He cut Bhima’s bow and wounded Vishoka. Bhima then flung a club. #Kuruksheta The weapon threw Duhshasana off his chariot while killing his horses and charioteer. Duhshasana was rendered immobile at the impact. Bhima remembered the fateful day of the dice game and leapt on to Duhshasana. (Brace yourselves for what follows)

Keeping a sword to Duhshasana’s neck, Bhima tore apart his breast and drank Duhshasana’s blood, commenting that it was tastier than a lot of drinks! Battle hardened warriors fainted at the ghastly sight. Bhima recounted the atrocities of Kauravas. Turning to Arjuna and Krishna’ Bhima said he would fulfill his next oath of breaking Durodhana’s thighs and killing him. Ten more brothers of Duryodhana attacked Bhima in extreme grief and he killed them all with his sharp arrows.

Karna saw this.

Shalya told Karna not to let Duhshasana’s death distress him and reminded of Duryodhana’s grief. He told Karna to become a consolation to his friend by committing himself to Kshatriya Dharma and killing Arjuna. Meanwhile Vrishasena rode ahead of his father Before Vrishasena met Bhima, Nakula accosted him. A wonderful battle took place between both. Nakula lost his horses and charioteer and his bow. Picking up a sword and shield, he leapt at Virshasena but Kaurava soldiers attacked him. He killed them all Seeing this, the Panchala Pandava warriors rushed to Nakula’s rescue while Ashvatthama, Kripa, Duryodhana and others came to support Vrishasena. Nakula climbed on to Bhima’s chariot. A general battle ensued Two Kuninda Princes of a Himalayan tribe lead an elephant segment, fighting on the Pandava side, lose their lives to the arrows of Kripa and Shakuni. Third prince kills Kuru warriors Shuka (Lord of Kratha) and Vrika on the Kaurava side, but was killed by Babhru’s son Both sides suffer the loss of lives of these minor war lords and princes. Vrishasena came to the fore and wounded Nakula, Bhima, sons of Nakula and Sahadeva and even Krishna. At that instant, the Kurus thought Vrishasena had hurled himself into fire Arjuna severely attacked Vrishasena upon this. Though the son of Karna put up a valiant fight, it was a matter of time before Arjuna got better and severed Vrishasena’s head and arms. The corpse of the handsome Vrishasena fell down to the ground

At this, Karna came to the fore and faced Arjuna.

The mother of all battles is here.

Shall do this a bit later. Thank you for following it till here.

Please keep tabs on this place for new updates On seeing that the two archers faced each other like the sun and moon, soldiers and warriors gathered around them, cheering the warrior of their side. Not just the warriors, but celestial beings gathered in the sky to watch the duel. The sky supported Karna while earth supported Arjuna. The spirits supported Karna while the knowledge personified, the vedas and upanishads supported Arjuna. Gandharvas, Nagas, all the beings of the universe gathered. Even Indra, Brahma and Shiva came

Both the bows, Gandiva and Vijaya were drawn into full circles because of the force with which Arjuna and Karna shot arrows. Duryodhana, Kripa, Kritavarma, Shakuni and Ashvatthama attacked Arjuna to support Karna. He drove them all away with his arrows Arjuna then struck Karna with 12 arrows and then sattered the force of hundred chariots and a hundred more elephant force that came to attack him. At that point, Ashvatthama held Duryodhana’s hand and requested him to stop the war and make peach with Pandavas Duryodhana says it is not possible after Duhshasana’s ghastly death in the hands of Bhima. He is still confident that Karna will overcome Arjuna and the war would anyways be won.

Meanwhile Arjuna and Karna continued to hit each other with arrows The kind of wounds they inflicted on each other could not be tolerated by lesser mortals. Then Karna wounded Arjuna with ten sharp arrows. Bhima rebuked Arjuna from behind for letting Karna wound him and Krishna encouraged Arjuna reminding him he was Nara The legendary rishi who killed Dambodbhava. And Karna was Dambodbhava reincarnated. At this, Arjuna sought Krishna’s permission and prayed to Shiva and Brahma to invoke Brahmastra which created thousands of arrows. Karna responded with a weapon which also+ +far many arrows to withstand Brahmastra. Some of them even pierced Arjuna, Krishna and Bhima. Arjuna was enraged and shot back arrows that wounded Karna and also killed two warriors Sushena and Sabhapati, hundreds of elephants, horses and soldiers He again pierced Karna with many arrows. In that attack, the string of Gandiva snapped. Karna, in that moment of advantage, wounded Arjuna and Krishna even more. Arjuna (replaced the string I guess) and shot back arrows that wounded Karna and it went on. Karna shot serpent like arrows and Krishna which wounded him and then went back towards Karna. Arjuna sliced them all before they returned to Karna. He then pierced Karna with arrows that had flaming tips and slew the protectors of Karna’s wheels and flanks Arjuna released a certain Astra to kill Karna but he responded with Bhargava Astra and destroyed Arjuna’s weapon. The exchange of arrows followed and then Karna chose to shoot the ‘Nagastra’. His arrow was taken over by Naga Ashvasena. Shalya advised Karna to+ +add an additional arrow as he felt that the said arrow would not be able to reach Arjuna’s neck. Karna disregarded the advice and shot the lone arrow. Ashvasena, the son of Takshaka had borne a grudge against Arjuna over Khandava burning and aimed at Arjuna’s neck Krishna recognized the snake and pressed down the chariot making it sink into the ground. The arrow claimed Kiriti’s famed crown, crafted by Brahma for Indra, gifted to Arjuna. Collecting his front curls with a scarf, Arjuna shot an arrow at the frustrated serpent Ashvasena died on the spot. Karna again wounded Arjuna with ten arrows. Arjuna shot back arrows that shattered Karna’s armour and the exchange continued. Karna became more vulnerable to Arjuna’s arrows. Both their bodies were mangled by arrows. Shooting hundreds of arrows from his bow, himself coered with blood, Karna looked like the setting sun, crimson red with arrows looking like rays. The earth quaked and Karna felt his guru’s curse take shape and Astras did not manifest to him. He cursed Dharma for being partial. His chariot was caught in the mud and horses were dislodged. He continued to fight, shooting arrows. He then invoked Brahmastra. Arjuna responded with Aindra in return. Karna severed Arjuna’s bowstring and he replaced it in a trice. Krishna goaded Arjuna to up his game and release divine astras. Arjuna invoked a triple astra (Naga+agni+Roudra by the looks of it) and was about to shoot when Karna’s wheel was swallowed by the earth. He requested Arjuna to wait in the name of Dharma Krishna replied ‘finally, you remembered dharma, which you forgot while dragging Draupadi and insulting her with foul words,’ and reminded Arjuna of all the wrongs that Pandavas had been subjected to.

Karna then released Brahmastra and tried to extricate the wheel. Arjuna responded with his own weapon and then invoked Agneyastra. Karna quelled it with Vaaruna. After quenching the fire, the astra covered the battle field with dark clouds. Arjuna invoked Vaayavya to dispel the darkness around. He then felled Karna’s banner

The sight of Karna’s flag which had been the refuge to Kaurava warriors all along the war, now lying on the ground, disheartened the soldiers of Duryodhana.

Arjuna then took up an Anjalika arrow reminding of Sun in its dazzle, equivalent to Pinaka and Sudarshana. Arjuna’s prayer before shooting the arrow is worth pondering. Summarizing below

‘If I have performed austerities and pleased my elders, if I have heeded well meant advice and respected truth, let this arrow kill my enemy.’

And he shot it at Karna

The arrow blazed through and severed the head of the commander of Duryodhana’s armies. Though mangled by arrows Karna’s body looked resplendent and beautiful, like the extinguished flame of an untainted Yajna, like the sun in the midday. That was the end of Karna Parva. End of Day 17 as well

Thanks for the support till here🙏🙏 .

Day 18

After the death of Karna, Duryodhana appointed Shalya,
the King of Madra as the commander.
Knowing of this development, Krishna advises Yudhishtira to lead the battle on the following day.
He also says Shalya may be suprior to Bhishma, Drona and Karna.

The Kuru Maharathas take a decision to not let individual duels happen
and stay together through out the day.
Shalya arranged for the armies to be arrayed in a sarvatobhadra vyuha.
He was protected by the remaining of Karna’s sons.

Kritavarma and Trigartas formed the left flank
while the Shaka-Yavana division under Kripa’s leadership formed the right flank.
Ashvatthama was at the rear and Duryodhana was in the middle,
protected by whoever remained of his brothers.
Shakuni at the front.

The Pandavas made a three pronged attack
with Yudhishtira leading against Shalya, Bhima attacking Kripa and Arjuna taking on Kritavarma.
The twins attacked Shakuni and his son Uluka.
The carnage followed despite the greatly reduced size of the army

Duryodhana killed Chekitana, the lone prince of Chedis
and then attacked Drishtadyumna.
Ashvatthama fought Arjuna.
Shalya returned to fight Yudhishtira.

Knowledgeable about the vulnerabilities of inner organs, Yudhishtira pierced Shalya badly.
He also killed Chandrasena and Drumasena who protected Shalya’s chariot wheels.
Shalya was enraged and killed Chedi warriors and injured Satyaki, Bhima and the twins.
Yudhishtira then brought down Shalya’s flag. At this Shalya rained arrows upon Yudhishtira When Yudhishtira was dazed at the attack,
Bhima and Satyaki as well as Nakula and Sahadeva tried to cover for him.
But Shalya repulsed them all.

Meanwhile, Ashvatthama attacked Arjuna and covered him,
Krishna and his chariot with arrows.
Arjuna fought back like a flame without smoke,
encouraged by the wind that was the twang of his bow.
He destroyed two thousand of the enemy chariots.
He then killed Ashvatthama’s charioteer and horses and also broke the bludgeon hurled at him by Ashvatthama.
Unperturbed, Ashvatthama fought on, killing two Panchala Princes Sudharma and Suratha.
Arjuna meanwhile wought destruction among enemy ranks.

Duryodhana and Drishtadyumna too fought a great duel. They hit each others with arrows. Seeing that Drishtadyumna was dominating, Duryodhana’s brothers surrounded him. Shikhandi held off Kritavarma and Kripa.

Shalya meanwhile was proving to better the four Pandavas together. Satyaki too lost his chariot Returning on another chariot, Satyaki took it upon himself to stop Shalya. He pierced Shalya with sharp arrows and was wounded back in return. The Pandava brothers supported him. The arrows released in the process covered the sky. Shalya could not be stopped

Shalya was stationed near Yudhishtira like saturn near the moon.
He calls his brothers and Krishna to re-array the formation and announces that he would lead the battle next. Satyaki and Drishtadyumna protect his wheels Arjuna stays in the rear and Bhima advances in the front. Twins form the flanks.

The Kaurava side is ready to respond. Shakuni and his brothers engage Satyaki, Drishtadyumna and the twins while Duryodhana himself fights Bhima

Duryodhana cuts Bhima’s standard and bow. Bhima then hurls a javelin that pierces him in the chest and makes him faint. Bhima then kills Duryodhana’s chariot. Kripa and Kritavarma try to rescue Duryodhana as the horses carry him away

Yudhishtira was in such a fearful form that none who knew him could recognize. He brought down chariots, horsemen and foot soldiers in thousands. Shalya countered him. Yudhishtira broke Shalya’s bow and killed his four horses. The two charioteers were next. At this juncture, Ashvatthama rushed in and took Shalya upon his chariot as Yudhishtira pursued them, terrorising enemy soldiers. Shalya got into another chariot and came back to fight Yudhishtira. They pierced each other like two tuskers gore each other.

Shalya severed Yudhishtira’s bow and Kripa at that instant killed Yudhishtira’s charioteer and Shalya killed Yudhishtira’s horses. At this, Bhima intervened and covered Shalya with his arrows. Bhima severed Shalya’s bow, killed horses and charioteer

Shalya advanced towards Yudhishtira with a sword and shield. But Bhima severed those too. Still Shalya advanced against Yudhishtira and attacked him (don’t know with which weapon). Yudhishtira, himself without a bow or chariot, took up a javelin.

It was a javelin that Yudhishtira had worshipped all his life, originally crafted by Tvashtra for Ishana. He threw it at Shalya and it pierced him like Skanda’s spear shattered mount Krouncha. That marked the end of Shalya, prosperous Lord of a vibrant civilization Upon Shalya’s death, his valiant younger brother attacked Yudhishtira but was killed shortly by Dharmaraja. The Madraka’s fled under Pandava’s attack and were pursued by Satyaki. Kritavarma accosted him. Though he lost a bow, Satyaki picked up another.

With that, he shattered the yoke of Kritavarma’s charioteer and killed his horses. He also killed the bhoja’s two charioteers. At this the Kuru armies fled. Duryodhana came to the fore and attacked Satyaki as other Pandava warriors came in Kritavarma too returned in another chariot. But Yudhishtira slew Kritavarma’s horses and also pierced Kripa. Ashvatthama took Kritavarma away from Yudhishtira as Kripa put up a resistance against the Pandava.

The Madra warriors returned to battle, to attack Yudhishtira, despite Duryodhana’s warnings not to advance. Arjuna, Bhima and the twins surrounded Yudhishtira and slaughtered the enemy. Shakuni chided Duryodhana for simply looking on.

Seeing his armies run in different directions, Duryodhana asks his charioteer to drive him towards Arjuna. A large portion of the army (21000) follows him to fight Bhima and Drishtadyumna. Though outnumbered, Bhima is not perturbed and kills his attackers.

Shalva, the king of mlechchas rode on his elephant and led the attack against the Pandavas and Panchalas. The armies fled in the heat of his attack. Drishtadyumna fought the Mlechcha Lord and targeted the elephant first. The wounded mammoth charged at him. Drishtadyumna leapt down from his chariot, club in hand. But the elephant crushed his chariot and charioteer. At this, Bhima, Satyaki and Shikhandi rushed to support Drishtadyumna. Shalva covered them all with arrows. But his elephant wavered and fell

+after suffering a degree of loss and sent Sahadeva and the sons of Draupadi to tackle Shakuni. Though it was a tad late, the Pandava response was steady and Shakuni had to retreat but not before denting the Pandava army. Sahadeva went back to Yudhishtira Here, there is no duel mentioned between Sahadeva and Shakuni. It is said that Shakuni overcame the Pandavas but the horsemen of Pandava army persisted till the Gandharans retreated. (Veda Vyasa has not forgotten even the nameless horsemen! 🙏)

Shakuni then attacked Drishtadyumna from the side. and another round of slaughter followed. He then proceeded to Duryodhana saying the Pandava horsemen are nearly finished. All the Kuru side needed to do was to do away with the enemy rathas and elephants. He goaded Duryodhana to give his best shot now and get to Yudhishtira. Meanwhile Arjuna saw the damage inflicted upon his army and asked Krishna to drive him to the midst of the enemy and single handedly slaughtered the army of Duryodhana

Duryodhana attacked Drishtadyumna with a chariot division. Drishtadyumna quickly killed Duryodhana’s horses and charioteer. Duryodhana ascended another horse and rushed towards Shakuni. A great elephant force then surrounded all the five brothers. As Bhima and Arjuna destroyed the elephants, Arjuna is his fine way and Bhima in his delirious style, Drishtadyumna rushed to protect them. Duryodhana then returned on an elephant. Upon not seeing Duryodhana on any of the chariots, the Kuru Maharathas+ +got a bit confused and regrouped to strategise without Duryodhana. Now Sanjaya tells about his own experience of how he was pursued by each of the Pandava warriors. Sanjaya says he fled from Arjuna’s attack and then fought against Drishtadyumna +

+had to flee from there too and found himself at the mercy of Satyaki (he seems to have spared Sanjaya’s life after slicing off his armour). Meanwhile Kritavarma, Ashvatthama, Kritavarma go in search of Duryodhana as the Pandavas continue to slaughter the forces Bhimasena meanwhile begins to kill the remaining brothers of Duryodhana save one. Sudarsha. Krishna saw Duryodhana unprotected and encouraged Arjuna to quickly kill him. Arjuna agrees and proceeds there with Bhima and Sahadeva.

Seeing this, Sudarsha, the lone brother of Duryodhana fought Bhima while Shakuni and Susharma attacked Arjuna. Riding on a horse, Duryodhana took on Sahadeva and struck him on head with a javelin, making him sink to the floor. But Sahadeva recovered and fought Arjuna meanwhile handles the Trigarta force under Susharma. He killed Satyakarma and Satyeshu. With another sharp arrow, he pierced Susharma in the heart and then killed forty three of Susharma’s sons too. Bhima killed Sudarsha as Shakuni attacked Sahadeva

In the early phase of the duel, Sahadeva fainted and Bhima held back the soldiers from attacking his brother. Sahadeva recovered and severed Shakuni’s bow. Shakuni fought on with a new one while Uluka jumped to defend his father and attacked Bhima

Sahadeva then beheaded Uluka with a sharp arrow. Enraged and bereaved, Shakuni reflected upon Vidura’s warning. Sahadeva broke Shakuni’s bow again. Shakuni’s sword, club and javelin were countered by Sahadeva. Shakuni tried to retreat but Sahadeva pursued him He challenged Shakuni to fight like a man and receive the fruit of his actions in the sabha during the fateful game. As Sahadeva brought down Shakuni’s flag and umbrella, he rushed at the Pandava with a javelin. Sahadeva cut it up with two arrows

With a third, he beheaded Shakuni. The Pandava Panchala armies cheered and Duryodhana’s men fled the scene. The Gandharan soldiers attacked Sahadeva but Arjuna beheaded them all. Duryodhana then rallied the remaining Rathas and led the attack The Pandava warriors fought back and annihilated Duryodhana’s army and he retreated seeing that he was alone. What remained of the Pandava army?
700 elephants
2K chariots
5K horses
10K footmen
Drishtadyumna rallied them and stationed himself at the fore

Duryodhana’s horse succumbed to injuries and he retreated on foot, mace in hand, remembering each word of Vidura’s counsel.

Meanwhile, Satyaki and Drishtadyumna were about to kill Sanjaya who they had captured. But Vedavyasa arrived on the scene He convinced the Panchala and Satyaki to let Sanjaya escape alive. Sanjaya started out to return to Dhritarashtra and met Duryodhana on the way who bade him farewell and entered a lake, wounded and exhausted. Sanjaya also meets Kritavarma, Ashvatthama and Kripa who take him back to camp and then return to the lake to convince Duryodhana to return to the battle field. He refuses to return. But the conversation is overheard by some hunters. They inform Bhima of Duryodhana’s whereabouts. The Pandavas with Krishna and Satyaki go to the lake to challenge Duryodhana. Before that, Yuyutsu the son of Dhritarashtra through a Vaishya woman (he would have changed sides to fight on Pandava side)+ +expresses interest to go back to Hastinapura and keep Dhritarashtra company till the worst is over. Yudhishtira blesses him and sends him. They all proceed to the lake and Yudhishtira challenges Duryodhana to keep the fight one. When Duryodhana says he is alone +and hence it is against dharma for so many Pandava warriors to fight him, Yudhishtira laughs and reminds him of Abhimanyu incident. But still assures him the Duryodhana would have to fight only one of them and not all. He then goes on to do something unwise Yudhishtira then promises that Duryodhana needs to fight only one of them and if he won that, he could continue to be the king. Either because he is too tired or proud or something, Duryodhana does not see the chance there+

+and simply says the one who is interested in fighting him can come forward. Bhima readily steps forward. Later Krishna gives Yudhishtira the scolding of his life as to what could have happened if Duryodhana had chosen to fight either of twins or Arjuna. Here, let me give a small analysis of my own while I try to understand why Yudhishtira did that. I think he was confident that any of them could defeat Duryodhana given the state he was in. Yudhishtira’s confidence perhaps came from the past 18 days where+ +he himself had defeated Duryodhana with ease at least thrice. Drishtadyumna and Bhima had defeated him and Arjuna had breezed through all their duels with Duryodhana. But that was Duryodhana on a chariot where he lacks real war experience But when it came to close quarter duel with a mace, Krishna knew that Yudhishtira had grossly under estimated Duryodhana and overestimated their own strength and scolds Yudhishtira for the misstep. Bhima assures Krishna that he would kill Duryodhana today. Meanwhile, Balarama returns from his pilgrimage and is received with affection by everyone. We come to know that he earlier, wanted to fight on the side of Duryodhana, but Krishna would have flatly refused which is why he goes off on a pilgrimage. Balarama suggests that they all proceed to a place called Samantapanchaka. The one who gets killed there is believed to be an offering to the gods and hence would reach the abodes of the gods. They all proceed there for the duel-finale of this great war And it was a duel worth the wait as these two elephants of men clashed with each other, attacking, defending, restraining and attacking again. Bhima’s power astounded Duryodhana. He struck with his own mace and seemed to dominate The clash of those clubs caused sparks and the power behind each stroke made the onlookers tremble. One particular defence of Bhima was so stellar that it annoyed Duryodhana who struck him on the head. Bhima was unmoved and fought back. Bhima’s subsequent offences were parried by Duryodhana who cracked Bhima’s techniques and the duel started to tire out Bhima. Frustrated, Bhima struck Duryodhana on the side which stupefied him. Duryodhana then struck Bhima on the head again Unfazed, Bhima struck Duryodhana so hard that the latter fell unconscious, but recovered soon enough and with a powerful strike, he floored Bhima. Duryodhana then struck at Bhaima’s armour, breaking it into fragments. Bhima too recovered and fought back. As they fought on, unmindful of the blood that flowed from their bodies, Arjuna asked Krishna who among them was superior. Krishna says They are evenly matched in what they learnt. But Bhima was the stronger and still, Duryodhana due to practice would emerge stronger Krishna says Bhima can overcome Duryodhana only with some unfair means, like gods overcame asuras with maya. He says Bhima needs to keep up the pledge that he had taken during the game of dice, to break Duryodhana’s thighs. He censures Yudhishtira for staking+ the victory of 18 day hardships on a single duel. Arjuna nods and slaps his thigh. Bhima gets the hint, but fights on for a while. At one opportune moment, Bhima tries to bait Duryodhana into offence. Duryodhana still parries the blow and strikes Bhima The strike leaves Bhima in a daze but because of his extreme will power, Bhima does not let the pain show and Duryodhana is unable to decide whether to strike again or let Bhima strike back. Bhima recovers and leaps back to attack Duryodhana. To frustrate Bhima’s attack, Duryodhana leaps into air. Bhima sees this and raises his club, striking Duryodhana on his thighs. Duryodhana falls down with fractured thighs and ominous omens follow his fall.

Bhima though is delirious and reminds how Duryodhana+ +had the menstruating Draupadi dragged into the Sabha and had her garment pulled off while calling the Pandavas cattle. Now, Bhima says he would inflict the same insult upon Duryodhana now without the guile of deceiving in dice and kicks Duryodhana on the head Yudhishtira steps in to restrain Bhima and then weeps looking at Duryodhana, pointing at the magnitude of the destruction caused by the feud that was sown by Duryodhana.

Balarama is enraged at the lapse by Bhima when he struck Duryodhana on the thigh,+ +a move that is considered sinful and attacks Bhima with his plough. But Krishna restrains him reminding that keeping up a vow is a must for a Kshatriya and that is what Bhima had done. He also reminds the curse of Rishi Maitreya+ +that Duryodhana’s thighs would be crushed by Bhima. Balarama is unconvinced and leaves in a huff. Krishna tries to cheer the Pandavas and Bhima falls on the feeet of Yudhishtira saying ‘The earth removed of its thorns, is yours again.’ On this note, I shall end this thread on the great battle of Kurukshetra. The questions of right and wrong shall persist and it is each individual’s journey to find those answers and become a better versions of him/herself.

Thanks a lot for your support till here 🙏 I shall compile the tweets in a booklet, add a quick summary of what follows in the Sauptika and Aishika Parvas and explore ways to circulate it.

As for the excel sheet, will try and update it ASAP and share the analytics too. yatO dharmastatO jayaH 🙏🙏

Warrior performance

Source: TW

Shall compile my running thoughts about as I compile the numbers in this #thread.

There are three kinds of confrontations - I am terming them

1. duel = One to one
2. general battle = many vs many
3. and cumulative = one against many

Deciding the victor in a duel if the opponent is killed or is forced to flee or is carried away by a friend of his or is spared by the victor.

Till Day 11

Number crunched till Day 11

• 188 Confrontations of all kinds
• 46 in favour of Pandavas
• 28 in favour of Kauravas
• Rest are inconclusive

The number of inconclusive confrontations is rather a bit frustrating but natural for the early phase of a war.
As the warrior numbers thin down,
each confrontation would be forced towards a conclusion.
Epic battle this one is!
(I mean reading and believing so is something and realising it is something else)!

Till Day 13

242 confrontations till Day 13
74 in favour of Pandavas
39 in favour of Kauravas

Rest inconclusive or not reported in the text.
Data crunching being done on Critical edition translated by Dr. @bibekdebroy

Day 14 - bhIma and abhimanyu

Abhimanyu has not lost a single battle until the last cumulative one he faced. And he faced many cumulative attacks till then 😭😭😭
Bhima too knows Divyasatras! He invokes Tvashtra on Day 14.
Another doubt.

Bhima faces off Karna on day 14. Once he beats him fair and square.
Next time, he almost beats Karna (like breaks bow, chariot, kills horses)
and a Kaurava brother comes to give Karna relief.
Bhima kills that brother and again fights Karna.
It repeats till totally five times,
Bhima dominates
and there is a host of Kauravas coming to rescue Karna. He kills them all.
Only the sixth time, Karna wins over Bhima.

Should I record as 1 duel gone in favour of Karna
or 6 duels where 5 go to Bhima and last one goes to Karna?
Advice pls

125 confrontations only on Day 14!! Including the night battle that is!
Ramachandra Prabhu!

Day 17 morning is super messy!
Everyone is attacking everyone.
I am tempted to put it all into one large general battle.
Shalya showed better leadership than Karna. Even if for half a day.
The Armies are so united and give a tough last mile to the Pandavas.
Possibly he might have done it better than even Drona???

Foma;

Done with ’excel’ing
459 confrontations over 18 days
216 in favour of Pandavas
91 in favour of Kauravas
152 with either no recorded result or draws

The warrior who faced maximum Divyastras in a single duel AND counteracted them….. Any guesses?
It is Yudhishtira (By the mentioning of the variety).
He faces and counteracts Drona’s Vaaruna , Yamya, Agneya, Savitr, Tvashtra, Aindra, Prajapatya, Brahma astras with his own!
This is just by the mentions.

We don’t know if Satyaki or Arjuna faced more but Sanjaya did not detail it.

This pie is dedicated to @NileshOak ji :D Victory pie of Pandavas.

Upon popular demand, pasting popular warrior performances from both sides

Warrior	Wins	Losses	NR
Pandava
Bhima	57	6	20
Arjuna	48	0	13
Satyaki	32	6	17
Abhimanyu	25	1	10
Yudhishtira	12	7	8
Drishtadyumna	6	9	12
Sahadeva	5	2	6
Nakula	5	3	3
Kaurava
Drona	25	9	12
Karna	12	14	8
Ashvatthama	10	11	8
Shalya	7	6	8
Kripa	6	2	4
Bhagadatta	4	2	4
Bhishma	5	3	14
Duryodhana	4	21	5

Methodology

Source: TW

Source was The Unabridged Critical Edition of The Mahabharata by BORI, translated by Dr. bibek debroy sir.

The volumes 5,6,7 and a part of 8 of this set deal with the War and aftermath.

My methodology :

1. Read through and record every confrontation on an excel sheet
2. Result of each confrontation was recorded based on
   2a) Explicit mention in the text. If not mentioned explicitly
   2b) A warrior killing the opponent
   2c) Opponent fainting or fleeing the battle field mid-confrontation
   2d) Interruption by other warriors (NR -No Result)

It took me about a year to record the whole thing while also live tweeting during my reading :-). And another couple of months to review and verify.
And here is the compiled tweets available as an ebook for those interested https://amzn.to/3xOA3xf
My point was that it was a laborious (& immensely satisfying) work done purely with academic interest & passion. Needed my undivided time of an hour almost every day over a year.

Will be presenting the paper in a couple of conferences and working on some academic publications on the same soon. To those who want to refute the research, please repeat my work independently & critique/refute/compare. Will be happy to recheck and correct any human errors. Because my primary victory will be that you went through a substantial portion of an unabridged edition of the world’s greatest itihasa. Bhagavan Veda Vyasa’s blessings will be with you 🙏🙏🙏