The Greatest Indian Epic - Mahabharath

[Nakeeran]

Day 12 of the war continues ------------------------------


Bagadata didn’t wait a moment for the Pandavas to advance. He himself stepped up a violent assault on them , mounted on his Supratika .

The elephant was throwing all the kings , Chariots & warriors that come in its front in such a force that all were thrown to a wide distance with a thud.

Bhima, by now recovered, tried to attack Bagadatha again but Bagadatta was so mighty aggressive that Bhima was forced to retreat.

Now Abimanyu & other sons of the Pandavas tried their best to stem the riot but in vain.

Now Bagadatha deeply penetrated into the Pandava foray & caused extensive losses to chariots, horses & elephants & the armymen .

All these were being watched with awe by Arjuna at a distance & as a huge dust like that of a cloud formed now from the direction of Bagadatha, Arjuna feared calamity & wondered about the prowess of Bagadatha :

Krishna, this Bagadatha with his elephant resembles Yamadharma to me & in elephant based warfare, he is as good as another Indra himself ! If we allow him further, he will definitely destroy our army to pieces. Lets rush towards him now.


As Arjuna tried to move towards Bagadatha, the Trigarthas started screaming loudly at him – FIGHT WITH US , DON’T GO ANYWHERE !

Arjuna hesitated for while but a quick survey of the destruction caused by Bagadatha made him firmly move towards his direction but not before showering multiple shafts on Susharma’s army which made them to withdraw few steps.

Arjuna uses this time frame to quickly move towards Bagadatha.
Bagadatha, on seeing Arjuna , impetuously rushed towards with fury & ordered his elephant to crush him. As the giant elephant pounced on Arjuna, Krishna smartly moved the chariot back & forth & ensured control.

Now both fired multiple shafts & javelin on each other & a few even hit Krishna & this made Arjuna more furious.

One such well aimed shaft of Bagadatha hit Arjuna’s crown.

For every shaft of Bagadatha, Arjuna was giving a befitting response. As the fight reached a very sensitive stage, Arjuna shot arrows on the elephant which made its senses lose control as its armour got broken .

Bagadatha sensing this, fired more & more shafts on both Arjuna & Krishna.

Arjuna’s anger was uncontrollable now. He shouted at Bagadatha now :

Take a last look at the world now. Your time is up .

Saying this, Arjuna fired arrows which hit the vital organs of Bagadatha & virtually made him blind.

NOW BAGADATHA TRIED HIS LAST OPTION – HE TOOK THE ELEPHANT’S ANKUSH , CHANTED DIVINE MANTRAS CALLED VAISHNAVA MANTRA & FIRED AT ARJUNA.
AND AS THE DIVINE WEAPON WAS COMING AT GREAT SPEED , KRISHNA SUDDENLY POSITIONED HIMSELF BETWEEN ARJUNA & THE WEAPON & ABSORBED IT !
AS IT FELL ON KRISHNA, THE WEAPON BECAME A GARLAND !

Arjuna’s ego was hurt a lot now with this incident & asked Krishna :

Why did you come in between ? When you have promised that you will not do any act during the war except being a charioteer to me , why did you intervene here ? I am competent to vanquish these worlds with the gods, the Asuras, and men.

Krishna replies now :

Arjuna , THIS DIVINE WEAPON IS ACTUALLY MINE . IT WOULD HAVE KILLED YOU INSTANTLY BECAUSE THE ANKUSHA WAS THROWN CHANTING THE VAISHANAVSTRA MANTRA . THAT’S WHY I CAME INBETWEEN TO ABSORB THE INTENSITY OF THE WEAPON & PROTECT YOU. Now focus back on Bagadatha.

Now Arjuna realizing the truth, back to focus, fired a shaft on the elephant like a thunder which penetrated deep into its body like a snake & became totally deprived of senses. Atlast, the mighty elephant fell dead .

Arjuna, for a moment feels bad about that great elephant which he was forced to kill as necessitated by the circumstances.

NOW WITH A STRAIGHT SHAFT, ARJUNA PIERECED THE CLOTHES WHICH WERE TIED TO PROTECT THE EXTRA FLESH FROM COVERING BAGADATHA’S EYES.

Bagadatha becomes totally blind now as the cloth cover was cut off above his head.

A powerful arrow of Arjuna deeply pierced his chest & now the great Bagadatha fell dead .

THUS ENDS THE LIFE OF ONE OF THE GREAT WARRIORS OF MAHABARATH TIMES, BAGADATHA .

Arjuna , heaved a sigh of relief now , went before the dead King Bagadatha & paid his respects & goes back to his chariot to resume fighting with other Kauravas.

Day 12 of the war to continue---------------------------------------

[Nakeeran]

Day 12 continues---------------------------------------------------------


Having achieved a major victory now ( slaying Bagadatha ) , Arjuna refocuses on the Trigarthas.

Now Shakuni’s 2 brothers tried to halt Arjuna’s progress but both get banished to the heaven by Arjuna immediately which makes Shakuni furious.

Shakuni himself fights single handedly against Arjuna using all his illusionary powers. But Arjuna, the skilled warrior that he was, checked the guiles of Shakuni & after a lengthy battle , a tired Shakuni had to withdraw.

On the other side, Drushtadyumna , with renewed vigour resumed attack ( rather defense ) against Drona along with the Panchalas.
And Bhima came to his support . Seeing Bhima advancing, Duryodhana, Karna, Aswathama all forged ahead to attack Bhima with arrows.

Drona caused a great carnage amongst the Chedis, Panchalas & Pandavas.

A furious Drishtadyumna now proceeded speedily towards Drona’s chariot in an attempt to kill him on the spot but was forced to run back with the force of Drona’s arrows.

Now Arjuna comes back after vanquishing a majority of Trigarthas much to the relief of the other Pandavas.

Seeing Arjuna, Karna now moves forward to face Arjuna.

Now Karna shoots a powerful weapon AGNEYA ASTRA . Arjuna counters this with his arrowy downpours .

Karna also resisted Arjuna’s shafts with ease & uttered loud shouts.

Now Drishtadyumna & Bhima & Satyaki – all approach Karna.

However Karna, apart from checking Arjuna’s arrows, pierced all the other 3 warriors with 3 sharp shafts & breaks the bows of all three .

Furious by this skillful act of Karna, all the 3 hurl multiple weapons on Karna .

These were also blown to pieces by karma . Then Arjuna attacked Karna . This sort of attack - counter attack went on for hours & it was an interesting sight to see 2 great archers of proven class competing with each other to show their superiority.

Then Bhima, jumping down from his own car, kills the support armymen of Karna.

Now Satyaki tries to attack Karna but in vain & infact finds himself in big trouble against the guiles of Karna’s archery skills. Seeing the plight of Satyaki, Arjuna & others rush forward to rescue him
& the fight resumes once again between everyone in high voltage which went on continiously for a lengthy tenure.

All the attempts by Drona & company were successfully resisted by Arjuna & his team .

As finally the Sun moved towards the west end , both armies withdrew by blowing counches for the day & moved slowly towards their tents.

END OF DAY 12


TOMORROW IS THE DAY OF ABIMANYU

[tshankar]

Hi Gentlemen,

I am sorry to interupt the Mahabharath War sequence. My dream is to make Mahabharth by a Hollywood Director (even with actors!) with 3 sequel movies - similar to Lord of the Rings or Indiana Jones (or even more like Harry Potter Series). I am sure that hollywood has the capability to film this graet epic in a grand and interesting manner. I was very much disappointed with the historical movie " Asoka" made by our own film industry... T.Shankar - Doha/ State of Qatar

[Nakeeran]

Day 13 of the war ------------------------------------------------


The failed attempts during the past 2 days to capture Yudishtira makes Duryodhana upset & demotivated . He vents his frustration on Drona wondering why Yudhishtira could not be taken captive .

He also wonders :

Acharya, you are peerless in warfare. Nobody can be a match for you . How is it possible that we could not penetrate the Pandava army & capture Yudhishtira ? I am frustrated.

Drona , visibly upset , says :

When Arjuna is around , you cannot think of taking Yudhishtira . We will continue to use the same option, diverting his attention to a very far off place so that Yudhishtira becomes our easy target.
Besides, I will form an array that will be impenetrable by the Gods even.

After Drona had said these words, the Samsaptakas once more challenged Arjuna to battle and took him away to the southern side of the field.

Now Drona arranges the army in CIRCULAR ARRAY – that of a Lotus formation a very formidable array which only experts in the art of warfare can penetrate.

Lets have a look at how the warriors were positioned now on this array –

At the entrance – The Kaurava princes

Heading them – Lakshmana ( son of Duryodhana )

In the middle – Duryodhana

Surrounding Duryodhana – Karna / Dushashana / Kripacharya

At the head – Drona

Along with Drona – JAYATHRADHA – the king of Sindh together with Aswathama & other brothers of Duryodhana

Jayathradha was flanked by – Shakuni, Salya & Burisiravas

THE FORMIDABLE / IMPENETRABLE ARRAY WAS THUS ARRANGED.

Day 13 to continue-----------------------------------------

[Nakeeran]

Day 13 of the war ---------------------------------------------------------


Seeing that INVINCIBLE ARRAY from a distance, the pandavas headed by Yudhishtra were really stunned by the formation & were clueless

Bhima now approaches that great array along with Satyaki , Chekitana , Virata, the entire other Panchalas , Nakula , Sahadeva , Drishtadyumna , Durupada & Abimanyu - with 1000s of soldiers . They were all casually checked by Drona & they were all pushed backwards. Drona’s prowess is wonderful here. All were virtually paralysed by the mighty offensive launched by Drona at this juncture.

Despite various attempts from various corners, the array could not be broken & like a surging wave, Drona forged ahead, step by step towards capturing his prey – Yudhishtira.

Out of panic, Yudishtira asks Abimanyu, the YOUNGEST AMONG THE LOT :

Dear child, act in such a way that Arjuna may not reprove us. We do not know how to break the circular array. We all know only 3 now are capable of breaking this foray – Krishna, Arjuna & you . Hence, take up Ur arms immediately , destroy this formation.

Now its Abimanyu’s turn :

Yes. Soon I shall penetrate into that firm, fierce and foremost of arrays formed by Drona. However, please be aware that I HAVE BEEN TAUGHT BY MY FATHER THE METHOD OF (PENETRATING AND) SMITING THIS KIND OF ARRAY. I SHALL NOT BE ABLE, HOWEVER, TO COME OUT IF ANY KIND OF DANGER OVERTAKES ME.

Its Yudhishtira again :

Break this array once and make a passage for us. All of us will follow U immediately in the track by which will enter.You will be protected by all of us.

Now Bhima steps in :

I myself will follow U and Dhrishtadyumna , Satyaki, the Panchalas- we all will quickly follow U. We need U to just break the formation. Upon entering, we will smash & slay all of them.

Abhimanyu finally said :

Today, I will do that which will please my maternal uncle as also my mother.

Now, blessed by all seniors, Abimanyu asks his charioteer to move forward towards the array.

Now even that elderly charioteer advises Abimanyu to be very careful as he is going to face the Guru of all . Abimanyu, once again cheerfully neglects the caution thrown by his charioteer & asks him to proceed speedily.

And as he was coming at a distance, the Kauravas shouted –

Abimanyu is coming !

And the other Pandavas also followed Abimanyu closely from behind

DAY 13 CONTINUES--------------------------------------

[Nakeeran]

Day 13 continues ------------------------

Abimanyu charged in with flurry of arrows & disturbed the formation ( in the manner taught by his Father ) .

Now right in the very sight of Drona, the magnificent formation was breached skillfully by Abimanyu & now he enters inside the foray.

Abhimanyu was seen coursing on all sides. With his keen-edged weapons, he cut into pieces , all those who come infront .

In the process, Abimanyu goes DEEP INTO THE KAURAVA FORMATION.

Duryodhana, on seeing him, filled with rage, rushed towards Abimanyu. Drona quickly asked Karna & others to protect him. Abimanyu now, checks the entire support group of Duryodhana & tames them. Dushashana pierces Abimanyu now. Drona also joins the party now firing shafts.

Karna attacks him but Abimanyu’s one shaft pierces with such a force that Karna was forced to sit back with great pain. Quickly recovering from the shock, karma fires multiple shafts on Abimanyu.

Salya tries to attack him but the ferocity of one shaft makes him speechless as he sits down on the terrace of his chariot, fainting.

Salya also loses his brother in the process who tries to save him.

Now it’s the turn of Ashwathama who after a brief battle was forced to retreat.

Seeing his son himself suffering by the skilled Abimanyu, Drona openly admires :

I do not regard any bowman to be his equal in battle. If only he entertains the wish, he can slay this vast host. It seems, that for some reason or other, he does not enter tain that wish

An upset Duryodhana on hearing the comments of Drona screams :

Mercy by Drona, this boy still survives. It seems our Commander doesn’t want to slay him & looks very partial. If he had desired as such, how long will it take for Acharya to extinguish this Abimanyu ?? Let us crush him now.


A furious Dushashan now charges violently & both exchange fireworks in brief. Ultimately a swoon Dushashan was saved by his swift charioteer.

The other Pandavas in the meanwhile tried to follow Abimanyu.

Karna now stages a monumental assault on Abimanyu , showered with arrows & pierced the vitals of Abimanyu & caused great pain to him. Karna displaced many of his best weapons & pained Abimanyu . Abimanyu in return, breaks Karna’s bow & his chariot .

HAVING THUS FOUGHT A HIGHLY SKILLFUL WAR , ABIMANYU MANAGES TO DEEPLY PENETRATE INTO THE KAURAVA FORAY.

Day 13 continues ----------------------

[Nakeeran]

DAY 13 CONTINUES :


Amongst the warriors thus slaughtered by Abhimanyu , none stayed any longer on the field of battle except JAYATHRATHA , the ruler of the Sindhus.

While all the above events were happening, Yudhishthira, Bhimasena and Satyaki, along with the other Pandavas, tried to rush , following Abimanyu’s path.

Seeing the vast army coming , Jayathratha rushed forward to rally them.

Now Jayathratha, on the peripherals of the array, fought a terrific war with the entire pandavas with his army men . The twang of his bow cheered the Kauravas who regrouped themselves & repaired the breach caused by Abimanyu.

In one shot, Jayathratha, pierced Bhima, Satyaki, Yudhishtira, Durupada, Drishtadyumna & other key pandava armymen. Even after Yudhishtira once broke his bow, Jayathratha quickly took another one & shot back. Yudishtira was forced to move back.

Bhima now tries to penetrate but Jayathratha’s fiery arrows destroys his chariot & also his bow & Bhima had to move to another chariot for safety.

All the feats of Jayathratha further inspired the kauravas & their fort was becoming more & more solid.

The Matsyas, the Panchalas, the Kaikeyas, and the Pandavas, exerting themselves vigorously, succeeded in approaching the presence of Jayadratha, but none of them could bear him.

The entire Pandavas , once again regrouped themselves & tried to attack Jayathratha from all corners but none could move even a yard forward . Such was the authority & control imposed by
Jayathratha at that moment.

This particular day, Jayathratha fought a remarkable battle that the entire Pandavas found him impossible to overcome him & no one could go past him.

The war between Jayathratha & other Pandavas went on the entire stretch of the day.

WHAT HAPPENED TO ABIMANYU FURTHER WILL BE NARRATED TOMORROW

[Nakeeran]

DAY 13 CONTINUES -----------------------

Yesterday , we closed the day with how Jayathratha successfully filled up the breach caused by Abimanyu & splendidly resisted the entire Pandava force sans Arjuna.

Let us focus back on what happened to Abimanyu

Having surrounded by the veterans of the Kaurava army , Abimanyu showed tremendous skill in archery.

After making Karna exhausted with multiple arrows, Abimanyu checked Rukmaratha , the son of Salya & within few minutes, his head rolled over the earth like a flash.

Now the friends of Rukmartha joined together & fired him from all corners & for a moment the sky was covered with arrows . But Abimanyu responded well by shooting GANDHARVA , a weapon which Arjuna obtained from a Gandharva called Tumvuru. This weapon has the capability to annihilate powerful astras & the consequent illusion buy them.

Now , Drona , Ashwathama , Kripa, Duryodhana & Karna once again tried to check Abimanyu but they were stunned by the pace with which Abimanyu shot his arrows .

Seeing this, LAKSHMANA, DURYODHANA’s SON, rushed towards Abimanyu. Duryodhana and others protected him well.

Abimanyu shouts to him now saying :

IN FRONT OF YOU ALL , I SHALL SLAY THIS LAKSHMANA .

And with a broad headed arrow which resembled like a snake speedily was sent by Abimanyu which cut off Lakshmana’s head

Seeing his dead son right in front, filled with immense grief , Duryodhana’s rage was uncontrollable now.

He loudly shouted at Drona & Karna – SLAY HIM .

[Nakeeran]

Karna wonders now on Drona – HOW ABIMANYU IS ABLE TO RESIST ALL OF US ?

For which Drona responds :

If you observe his movements, he takes the arrows like a flash & leaves little time to execute it . That’s why he is able to shoot multiple arrows in quick succession.
The best way now to silence him is to break his bow & also nullify his movements by destroying the chariot. If both can be done now, we can tackle him .

KARNA NOW SHOOTS SHART ARROWS WHICH BREAKS ABIMANYU’S BOW ( step 1 achieved )

ANOTHER POWERFUL ARROW DESTROYS ABIMANYU’s CHARIOT ( step 2 done )

KRIPACHARYA KILLS ABIMANYU’s CHARIOTEER NOW. ( step 3 also executed )

Now all the senior warriors shoot Abimanyu from all sides.

Deprived of his bow, Abimanyu takes a sword & shield & jumped with great strength. And he killed all those who tried to counter him.

DRONA NOW CUTS ABIMANYU’s SWORD .

KARNA CUTS ABIMANYU’s SHIELD.

Deprived of everything now, ABIMANYU TAKES UP THE BIG WHEEL OF HIS CHARIOT & FOUGHT LIKE A LION.

But soon even that Wheel was blown to smithereens.

Now Dushashana’s son rushed towards Abimanyu . By now Abimanyu managed to get a mace from ground & fought with him .

Now this mace fighting went on in brief.

Both the fighters fell down after colliding with each other .

However, Dushashana’s son gets up first strikes Abhimanyu with the mace on the crown of his head, as the latter, was on the point of rising. Stupefied with the violence of that stroke as also with the fatigue he had undergone, ABIMANYU FINALLY FELL ON THE EARTH DEAD.

SEEING HIM DEAD, THE KAURAVAS CELEBRATED WITH A HUGE ROAR.

Watching everything helplessly from a distance, Yudhishtira’s grief was immeasurable. He addressed to all his troops to hold fort & battle for the rest of the day. And inspired by his words & filled with grief, the other Pandavas fought together & resisted for the remaining part of the evening .

Finally they all went back to their tents with immense grief & plunged with sorrow.

Arjuna, in the meanwhile fought successfully with the Trigarthas & was returning to his tent at close of the day UNAWARE of what happened for the day

END OF DAY 13 OF THE WAR-----------------

[Nakeeran]

DAY 13, AFTER THE SUNSET ------------------------------------------

Now lets have a look at Arjuna .

A tired Arjuna was returning back to his camp from the Southern end of the warfield

Having been diverted to the southern most corner of Gurushetra, Arjuna , the whole day was focused on the Trigarthas. The brave Trigarthas, consciously followed their terrible pledge continuously attacked him but Arjuna terminated a majority of them by applying some celestial weapons & victorious for the day, slowly moved towards the Pandava camp.

However, his heart was not cheerful psychologically & shared his concern with Krishna :

Why is my heart afraid & why both my speech falter? Evil omens encounter me and my limbs are weak. Thoughts of disaster possess my mind without living it ?

Krishna said :

It is evident that everything is right with UR BROTHER & FRIENDS . Do not grieve, some trifling evil in another direction will happen.

Arjuna was not contended with this reply & as they entered the camp, Arjuna’s concern compounded . He clearly identifies the difference :

-Krishna – I am not hearing the auspicious trumphet blows today ( our customary welcome )

-The sweet sound of Veena is absent

-Auspicious & delightful songs , which are the customary routine , are not to be heard ?

-And above all, where is Abimanyu who normally will come along with his other brothers , the sons of Draupadi to welcome me , which is their customary practice ?

Having said the above, the 2 finally enter their camp & find the other 4 Pandava brothers along with all key kings in a grief stricken mood .

A panicking Arjuna now screams at everyone :

I heard that Drona had today formed the circular array. None amongst you, except Abimanyu could break that array. I, however, did not teach him how to come out of that array, after having pierced it. Did you cause the boy to enter that array?

None had the guts to look at Arjuna's face now ( shamful of not being able to protect Abimanyu )

Yudhishtira now narrates detailed account of the whole day’s incidents & tries to comfort Arjuna.( Earlier a grief stricken Yudhishtira was well comforted by sage VYASA with quotes from various events of the past & what Kshatriya dharma is all about )

He also highlights the main reason for Abimanyu’s death by attributing to the heroics of Jayathratha who was stubborn at the peripheral of the lotus formation all through the day & blocked the penetration done by Abimanyu. An isolated Abimanyu thus was slain by the Kauravas.

Even Krishna spoke words of wisdom but who can absorb the death of one’s own son ?!

An enraged Arjuna swears & takes a pledge now :

I will slay Jayathratha, the prime cause of my son’s death by tomorrow before close of the day. Whomsoever , oppose me , including Guru Drona will be sent to Yama’s abode.

AND IF AM UNABLE TO SLAY HIM TOMORROW BY SUNSET , I SHALL ENTER THE BLAZING FIRE .

Followed by this, there was loud uproar made by the Pandavas .

And the news of Arjuna’s vow reached the Kaurava camp swiftly through their spies .