Mahabharata Unravelled by Ami Ganatra;

Author:Ami Ganatra;
Language: eng
Format: azw3, mobi, epub
Publisher: Bloomsbury UK (Trade)
Published: 2021-12-11T17:17:17.817133+00:00

It was midnight but the fight continued. Exhausted, dazed and almost blinded by sleep, the soldiers carried on with their duties out of a sense of commitment and responsibility. But the fatigue was interfering with their thinking and responses. Some were not even aware who they were fighting with and ended up hitting soldiers on their own side. Arjuna noticed that the soldiers as well as the animals on both sides were completely worn out. He called out aloud, ‘Everyone is extremely tired. Darkness and dust have engulfed the field. If you think it is feasible, let us halt the battle for a while. You all can catch some sleep right here on the field. Let the animals rest too. We can resume our fight afresh when the moon appears.’35

Both the Pāndava and Kaurava troops readily agreed. They commended this thoughtful gesture of the youngest son of Kunti. ‘Arjuna is not only intelligent and courageous but also has a lot of compassion for one and all,’ they praised. The troops slept where they were, along with their opponents and weapons.36 The soldiers were up and about as soon as the moon peeped. Fight resumed, and the sun came soon after. It was the fifteenth day of the war.

When Arjuna Almost Killed Yudhishthira

Dronāchārya fell on the fifteenth day. Karna became the Kaurava commander. The sixteenth day was relatively lacklustre. In their camp that night, Karna pledged to kill Arjuna. He requested Duryodhana to convince Shalya to become his charioteer. Shalya agreed. Karna was in his finest form on the seventeenth morning, egged on by his determination. The altercation with Shalya wasn’t helpful but that didn’t dampen his spirits. This was going to be a day of reckoning.

Arjuna and Krishna also knew that the day heralded the final battle between Arjuna and Karna. As his sārthi, Krishna prepared Arjuna for the imminent face-off. He explained to Arjuna the strengths, weaknesses as well as major exploits of Karna and Duryodhana in the war.37 It was important to ensure Arjuna knew the opponent for what he was and did not over or underestimate him.

Karna entered the field and began looking out for Arjuna. He promised rewards to whoever gave him his location. Armed with his imposing Vijay bow, he thrashed everyone who came his way. Only Bheema could resist his strike and make him retreat. Earlier in the day, Karna had severely injured Yudhishthira in a duel. Shalya’s discouragement and his word to Kunti stopped him short of killing Yudhishthira. Humiliated and in extreme pain from the wounds Karna had inflicted, Yudhishthira retired to his camp to get some anointment and rest. His absence, however, got Arjuna and Bheema worried. Bheema asked Arjuna to go check on Yudhishthira while he took the Kaurava army head-on. Off went Arjuna along with Krishna to seek out Yudhishthira.

Seeing Arjuna come to the camp while the battle was still going on, Yudhishthira assumed Karna was killed. ‘Arjuna has eliminated Karna and has come to give me the good news,’ he thought.

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