81
Drona’s onslaught
On the eleventh day, Drona became the leader of the Kaurava army. Duryodhana told Drona, ‘The first great warrior to die on this battlefield is a Kaurava, not a Pandava. This is a great blow to our morale. You must kill a great Pandava too, preferably Yudhishtira.’
Drona swore to do so. Unlike Bhishma, who showed great restraint in his battle strategies, and whose intention was primarily to push the Pandavas back with the least harm, Drona’s strategies were directed at causing maximum damage.
He dispatched the charioteers of Trigarta known as the Samsaptakas against Arjuna and a vast legion of elephants led by Bhagadatta, king of Pragjyotisha, against Bhima. ‘With Arjuna and Bhima thus distracted, the eldest Pandava, left unguarded, will be easy to capture,’ said Drona.
Bhima tried his best to push back Bhagadatta’s elephants. But they were more than a match for him. He decided to retreat.
The sight of Bhima’s chariot retreating filled the Pandava army with gloom. Arjuna saw this and felt he should subdue Bhagadatta first and then deal with the Samsaptaka charioteers. So Krishna pulled out the chariot and moved towards Bhagadatta and his elephants. ‘No, go back. First Samsaptaka and then Bhagadatta,’ he said first. Then he said, ‘No, maybe first Bhagadatta and then Samsaptaka.’
Realizing Arjuna’s dilemma and rising stress, Krishna said with a smile, ‘You can defeat both. One at a time or simultaneously. I have faith in you.’
Thus reassured by Krishna, Arjuna raised his bow and first showered arrows in the direction of the Samsaptakas. The arrows hit dozens of horses, smashed hundred more chariots and killed thousands of riders. As the horses fell on top of each other and the broken chariots piled up, there was complete confusion among the great Samsaptakas. Arjuna had single-handedly destroyed this legion which had sworn either to destroy Arjuna or be destroyed by him.
Arjuna then turned to Bhagadatta. As the chariot moved towards Bhagadatta, the great warrior stood on top of his elephant and released a dreaded weapon—the Vaishnav-astra. Arjuna raised his bow to counteract the effects of this astra. But Krishna came in between and bore the brunt of the missile. As soon as the missile touched him it turned into a garland of flowers.
‘Why did you take the weapon upon yourself, Krishna? I could have destroyed it myself,’ said Arjuna arrogantly.
Krishna replied, ‘No, you could not. This weapon was given to Bhagadatta by his father, who had received it from his mother, the earth-goddess, who in turn had received it from me when in an earlier incarnation, in the form of a boar I had raised the earth from the bottom of the sea. No creature in this world, but me, its creator, could withstand the power of the Vaishnav-astra. That is why I took the brunt of the weapon.’
Arjuna apologized for his arrogance. And then he turned his attention to Bhagadatta. With one arrow, he split open the head of the elephant on which Bhagadatta rode. With another, he ripped open Bhagadatta’s chest. As the two fell, so much blood spurted out that it felt like it was raining blood.
And while Arjuna was defeating the Samsaptaka charioteers and Bhagadatta’s elephants, Bhima ensured that Yudhishtira was well protected, foiling Drona’s plans.
Shakuni led the forces of Gandhara against Arjuna. With his arrows, reverberating with the power of chants, he conjured up darkness and torrential rains. Arjuna retaliated by releasing magic missiles of his own: he destroyed the darkness with light and the rains with dryness. Shakuni finally had to give up and withdraw from the battlefield.
A warrior called Shrutayudha tried his best to defeat Arjuna but failing to do so, hurled his mace at Krishna. This mace was a gift of the sea-god Varuna and could not be used against an unarmed warrior. As Krishna was unarmed, the mace bounced off Krishna’s chest and struck Shrutayudha and killed him on the spot.
Despite hearing Krishna’s Bhagavad Gita, Arjuna struggles with his attachments and prejudices. This repeatedly manifests in his hesitation and indecisiveness on the battlefield. Growth is thus not a one-time activity; it is a process where decisions to overpower the beast within have to be taken every single moment.
The stories of the Vaishnav-astra and Shrutayudha show us that the Pandavas are clearly under divine protection. Krishna’s presence ensures that Arjuna can do what he is supposed to do on the battefield, unhurt.
The Pandavas and the Kauravas fight each other with astras: these were not just ordinary arrows. These were missiles charged with the power of magical hymns. There were different types of astras, each one containing the power of one or many gods. There were the Brahma-astra, Vishnu-astra and Pashupat-astra containing the power of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva respectively. There were the Agni-astra, Vayu-astra and Indra-astra, reverberating with the power of fire, wind and rain respectively. The descriptions of the effect of these weapons have led to speculations that the ancients were probably familiar with nuclear technology and that astras were really nuclear warheads.
82
Death of Abhimanyu
As the twelfth day drew to a close, Krishna noticed that just as Arjuna had hesitated to strike down Bhishma, who he considered to be like a father, he hesitated to strike down Drona, who was his teacher. ‘In battle there are no sons or fathers or uncles or teachers. There are only soldiers who fight for dharma or adharma,’ said Krishna. But Arjuna’s heart was filled with too much regard for his teacher to be so detached.
Drona, meanwhile, angry at his failure to harm even a single Pandava, after two days of intense fighting, came up with a terrifying plan on day thirteen.
He had observed that Krishna constantly kept Arjuna away from Karna, who had, after the fall of Bhishma, finally entered the battlefield. The reason for this was as follows:
As long as Bhishma led the Kaurava forces, Karna had not stepped into the battle. When it was time for him to finally enter, after Bhishma’s death, an old man came to him, at dawn, begging for alms. As was his nature, Karna said, ‘Ask and it shall be yours.’ The old man immediately asked Karna for his earrings and armour that had been part of his body since the day of his birth. They clung to his body like flesh and were impermeable to any weapon. Giving them up meant giving up his advantage in the battlefield and letting himself be vulnerable. Without a second thought, Karna decided to part with his divine gifts—cutting them out like bark from a tree using a very sharp knife. The old man, who was none other than Indra, king of the gods, and father of Arjuna, acted out of love for his son. As he watched the blood gush out of Karna’s ears and chest, he felt overwhelmed by Karna’s selflessness. He revealed his true identity and said, ‘I salute you, son of Surya. Your charity has no parallel. I give you a gift. A celestial spear that never misses its mark. But you can use it only once. Use it wisely.’ Karna decided that he would use this spear to kill Arjuna. Divining this, Krishna never let Arjuna come within Karna’s line of sight from the moment the latter stepped into the battlefield.
‘Let your chariot be next to mine,’ said Drona to Karna, thus ensuring that Krishna would move Arjuna to the other end of the battlefield. Drona then organized his soldiers in the dreaded battle formation called Chakra-vyuha where the soldiers encircle and entrap the enemy. Only Arjuna knew how to break this formation but with him on the other side of the battlefield, Drona was able to trap some of the major warriors of the Pandava army within the Chakra with great ease.
Suddenly surrounded by the Kaurava army, Yudhishtira cried out for help, but Krishna blew his conch-shell simultaneously so that Arjuna heard nothing. ‘How do we break this battle formation? How do we escape?’ asked a nervous Yudhishtira.
Abhimanyu, Arjuna’s young son by Subhadra, newly married and barely sixteen, said, ‘I know how to break the battle formation so that you can escape.’ His eyes were wide with excitement at this opportunity to fight great warriors in this great war.
‘How?’ asked Yudhishtira.
‘I overheard father describe it when I was still in my mother’s belly. But…’
‘Bu
t?’
‘But, while I know how to breach the formation and help all of you escape, I do not know how to escape from it myself. You will have to come back and get me.’
Yudhishtira smiled and said, placing his hand on the young lad’s head, ‘You have my word.’
Abhimanyu immediately set about breaching the Chakra formation and to the amazement of everyone around, Drona included, the formation was breached and the Pandava warriors were able to slip out.
Then gathering reinforcements, Yudhishtira turned around to rescue Abhimanyu, only to find his path blocked by Jayadhrata and his army. Drona, meanwhile, managed to close the Chakra breach and Abhimanyu was trapped inside.
Abhimanyu found himself surrounded by all his uncles and cousins, Duryodhana, Dusshasana, Lakshman, Kritavarma, Kripa, Karna, Drona, Ashwatthama, each one armed, each one moving menacingly towards him. ‘But is it not against the rule of war for many warriors to attack a single warrior simultaneously?’ asked Vikarna.
‘They broke the rule first by getting a woman to fight Bhishma,’ said Drona, justifying his decision.
Abhimanyu fought back bravely. They broke his bow, so he raised a sword. They broke his sword, so he picked up a spear. They broke his spear, so he picked up a chariot wheel. He was able to kill Duryodhana’s son, Lakshman. But Dusshasana’s son was able to strike him on the head with a mace. Before he could recover his senses, the other warriors jumped on him like wild dogs on a young antelope and cut him to pieces mercilessly.
Outside the Chakra, all Yudhishtira could do was hear Abhimanyu’s piteous cries for help. He could do nothing except glare at Jayadhrata who smiled in triumph.
Abhimanyu’s death holds great significance because he is the first member of the Pandava family to be killed by the Kauravas.
The play Chakravyuha by Manoranjan Bhattacharya, with lyrics and music by Kazi Nazrul Islam, first performed on 23 November 1934, gives a modern twist to the tale of Abhimanyu when he and Duryodhana’s son, Lakshman, make a pact to share the kingdom between themselves, irrespective of what their elders do, if they ever become heirs to the throne.
There are many folktales attempting to explain why Krishna allowed Arjuna’s son to die so. One states that in his former birth, Abhimanyu was a demon and had escaped being killed by Vishnu by taking birth as Arjuna’s son. Another states that Abhimanyu was actually the son of Chandra, the moon-god, who had been allowed by his father to stay on the earth for sixteen years.
At various times during the battle, the supreme commander organized his troops into special formations known as vyuhas. Each formation had a specific purpose; some were defensive while others were offensive. Furthermore, each formation had specific strengths and weaknesses. The formations that were encountered are as follows: Krauncha vyuha—Heron formation
Makara vyuha—Dolphin formation
Kurma vyuha—Turtle formation
Trishula vyuha—Trident formation
Chakra vyuha—Wheel or discus formation
Padma vyuha—Lotus formation
83
Before sunset
‘You let my son die,’ cried Arjuna. He blamed Yudhishtira for abandoning Abhimanyu and Krishna for purposefully taking his chariot to the far side of the battlefield.
Krishna did not protest. The death of Abhimanyu had the desired effect. Arjuna was filled with rage and was forced to accept that, on the battlefield, Drona was no teacher. He was an adversary.
When Yudhishtira informed Arjuna how Jayadhrata had blocked his way when he had tried to save his nephew, Arjuna directed all his rage against Jayadhrata. ‘I swear that if I do not kill Jayadhrata before sunset tomorrow, I will burn myself alive.’
When Drona learnt of Arjuna’s oath, he was happy. ‘All we have to do is protect Jayadhrata till sunset and it will be the death of Arjuna.’
The entire Kaurava army was positioned between Arjuna and Jayadhrata on the fourteenth day of battle, their sole aim to protect the son-in-law of the Kaurava household from death until sunset.
No matter how hard Arjuna tried, he could not find Jayadhrata. Arjuna fought fiercely, releasing hundreds of arrows that shattered the chariots and standards and weapons of the soldiers who stood between him and Jayadhrata, but they kept pouring in like waves of locusts, determined to block Arjuna’s progress until nightfall. Arjuna was a lion determined to get to his prey. The Kauravas were like wild elephants equally determined not to let him have his way.
A point came when the horses of Arjuna’s chariots were too exhausted to chase Jayadhrata. While Arjuna kept the enemy at bay with his fierce shafts, Krishna stopped the chariot and unyoked the horses. Krishna said that the horses needed water. So Arjuna, pausing for a moment, turned away from the surrounding enemies and shot an arrow in the ground and caused water to gush out. Arjuna then resumed fighting, keeping the enemy at bay, and allowing the horses to drink this water and refresh themselves. Soon, the four white stallions were ready to pursue Jayadhrata once more.
Arjuna saw Bhurishrava, who fought for the Kauravas, pinning Satyaki, the Yadava, to the ground and about to strike him dead with a sword. The rivalry between the two was well known—it had started when Satyaki’s grandfather, Sini, had defeated Bhurishrava’s grandfather, Somadatta, and would end only when Bhurishrava had avenged that defeat by killing Satyaki. But when Bhurishrava attacked Satyaki, he was tired and unarmed. Arjuna, already irritated by his failure to find Jayadhrata, released an arrow to save Satyaki. The arrow severed Bhurishrava’s upraised arm. Bhurishrava cried foul, for it was against the code of war to interfere when two warriors were in a duel. As Bhurishrava expressed his outrage to Arjuna, Satyaki recovered his senses. Without realizing that his enemy was in conversation with his saviour, Satyaki picked up a sword and swung it to behead the armless and distracted Bhurishrava. The assembled warriors condemned Arjuna and Satyaki for such a cowardly act. But by this time, after the death of Abhimanyu, Arjuna had lost all regard for the rules of war.
The chase for Jayadhrata continued as the sun raced towards the western horizon. The red glow of dusk appeared. And soon there was no sign of the sun anywhere. ‘It is sunset,’ declared Drona. A cheer erupted from all the Kaurava warriors. They had succeeded in their mission. Jayadhrata was safe.
Arjuna was taken by surprise, ‘Is it dusk already? Oh Krishna, I have failed. Prepare the pyre where I may burn myself alive.’
Krishna then whispered in his ear, ‘The sun is still high up in the sky. I have simply covered it with my hand, deluding everyone to believe it is sunset. Listen carefully to Jayadhrata’s laughter and shoot him dead in the darkness as only you can. I will then reveal the sun.’
Recharged by this information, Arjuna stood up and strained his ears through the cacophony of Kaurava jubiliation that filled the battleground. Then, finally, in the dark, he heard the unmistakable peal of Jayadhrata’s laughter. Arjuna released the arrow and the arrow hit its mark. Before Drona could cry that it was adharma to fight after sunset, Krishna uncovered the sun. It stood high above the horizon.
Jayadhrata’s father, Vriddhakshatra, who had become a hermit long ago, had obtained a boon from the gods to protect his son. It was said that whosoever caused Jayadhrata’s head to fall on the ground would have his own head burst into a thousand pieces. To prevent this from happening, Krishna caused Arjuna’s arrow that had severed Jayadhrata’s neck to carry his head through the sky and drop it on Vriddhakshatra’s lap. Finding his son’s severed head on his lap, analarmed Vriddhakshatra stood up. The head rolled to the ground and Vriddhakshatra’s head burst into a thousand pieces. Thus the boon obtained by the father to protect his son turned against him, thanks to Krishna’s intervention.
The death of Abhimanyu makes the war more personal for Arjuna. Thus while the Bhagavad Gita motivates Arjuna to enter the battlefield, the wisdom of God’s discourse fails as the days pass. Arjuna does give in to his fears and attachments, much to Krishna’s exasperation. This was perhaps Vyasa’s way of drawing attention
to how even God’s discourse need not bring about permanent transformation.
Bhurishrava kicks Satyaki on his head because his grandfather, Somadatta, had long ago been treated so by Satyaki’s grandfather, Sini. Thus there were many underlying agendas that brought warriors to the battlefield of Kuru-kshetra. Often, the Kaurava–Pandava conflict was just an excuse.
According to the Indonesian retelling of the epic, Bhurishrava, who is killed by Satyaki during the war, is the son of Shalya. He is an impolite and arrogant man, cursed to be so by his own maternal grandfather, who Shalya hated and killed.
The Drona Parva informs us that at one point Satyaki comes face to face with Duryodhana and the two start weeping, lamenting the state of affairs. When they were children, they were the best of friends. And now, circumstances had caused them to fight on opposite sides.
In the epic, there are several occasions when Arjuna takes the dramatic vow of burning himself to death if he fails to succeed. This vow is taken when he promises to save the dying children of a Brahman, when he proclaims to Hanuman that he can build a bridge of arrows across the river, and finally in the battlefield when he declares his intention to kill Jayadhrata before sunset. One wonders if this was Vyasa’s way of showing Arjuna’s bravado and tendency to be dramatic.
84
After sunset
After the death of Jayadhrata just before sunset on the fourteenth day of battle, Drona was so angry that he ordered his troops to continue fighting even after the sun had set. Duryodhana and Karna reminded Drona that this was against the code of war. Drona replied, ‘If Krishna can make the day night, why can’t we consider night day?’