THE MAHABHARATA: A Modern Rendering, Vol 2 (53 page)

Inexorably, Karna closes on Bheema. Bheema stands before him, chest heaving, uncowed. Karna raises his bow, with an arrow fitted to it, aimed at the Pandava’s heart. Just a kshatriya now, his enemy in the eye of his shaft, Karna draws back his bowstring. At the heart of that long moment, he sees Kunti’s face before him. He remembers his oath to her that he would not kill any of her sons except Arjuna. Suddenly, he sees not a dangerous enemy whom he has at his mercy, but his brother. Karna stays his hand. Instead, he reaches out and prods Bheema with his bow on his great chest, reviling him.

Bheema stands shaking, helpless and Karna cries, “Pandava, you are a glutton and a fool besides, that you dare challenge me. Go back to Virata’s kitchen; you belong there more than on a battlefield. Or go back to the forest and spend your days gathering fruit and roots. Look at you, your face red and helpless as a child! Go home, boy: this is a man’s war and no place for you.”

From a way off, Krishna sees all this. He knows he must come to Karna’s rescue, or how will he spare Bheema’s life before all the Kaurava army? The Dark One cries to Arjuna, “Karna has Bheema at his mercy, he taunts him like fire!”

Arjuna swirls around and covers Karna with a scream of narachas, which home into Karna’s body like cranes into the krauncha mountains. Gratefully, that warrior turns away from Bheema; he allows Arjuna to chase him off. Satyaki rides up to Bheema. The Pandava climbs into his chariot and they ride away, Bheema still trembling, humiliated by a brother he does not know. Arjuna pursues Karna briefly, his dark sarathy glad he had told Surya’s prince who he really was, or Bheema would have lost his life. In rage for Bheema, Arjuna looses an astra after Karna. Aswatthama sees the weapon burning across the field and cuts it down. With a roar, Arjuna turns on his guru’s son.

TWENTY-TWO SATYAKI AND BHOORISRAVAS 

Satyaki, scourge of the Kaurava army, arrives at the front in blazing style. Dusasana surrounds him with a legion, but Satyaki brushes him aside, killing another thousand men, while siddhas, charanas and pannagas applaud in the sky
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. He bursts through Dusasana’s force and rides toward his master.

Krishna says to Arjuna, “Here comes your sishya. He has burned his way through two vyuhas: Satyaki of the incredible exploit!”

Arjuna is not pleased. “I left him to guard Yudhishtira like his life and he has left my brother’s side.”

“Can’t you think why he has come? Yudhishtira must be anxious and has sent him to find us. Whatever the reason, I am glad to see Satyaki and Bheema.”

“Look, Krishna!” cries Arjuna. “Bhoorisravas rides at Satyaki and Satyaki is exhausted.”

Bhoorisravas reaches Satyaki and Arjuna says, “How quickly the sun sinks and Jayadratha still lives. Bhoorisravas has just begun to fight and he is fresh. Now I have Satyaki to protect; Yudhishtira should never have sent him out so late.”

They who still dare give battle to Arjuna; he kills those who come in his way, easily as breathing. Meanwhile, Bhoorisravas cries, “I have waited so long for this moment, Satyaki! You won’t escape with your life today.”

Satyaki roars back, “You are like an autumn cloud, Bhoorisravas, full of thunder but never bringing rain. Fight me not with threats, but arrows if you dare!”

Vasudeva’s father, Soora, had a cousin called Sini, who was a fine kshatriya. When Kamsa was king in Mathura he held a swayamvara for his cousin Devaki. Sini burst into that swayamvara and carried Devaki away for Vasudeva, who loved her. A Kuru king called Somadatta, who had eyes for Devaki himself, challenged Sini. Before all the other kings, Sini defeated Somadatta. Heady with victory, he caught the Kuru by his hair, dragged him down into the mud and holding a sword to his throat, planted a foot on his chest. Somadatta never forgot that humiliation. He performed a tapasya to Siva, for a son who would, one day, avenge the insult. Bhoorisravas was born Somadatta’s son and Satyaki as Sini’s grandson.

The Yadava and the Kuru duel. Bhoorisravas is a bhakta and a kshatriya and he has hardly fought today. This was exactly as Drona intended: if Arjuna broke through the two vyuhas, he must face a handful of maharathikas, who had rested all day, before he reached Jayadratha. It was to save Arjuna some of that effort, that Krishna had summoned Satyaki and Bheema.

Bhoorisravas kills Satyaki’s horses with an astra that sets them alight, roasting them. As he leaps from his chariot, the Yadava kills the Kuru’s horses with four shafts that find their hearts. Bhoorisravas also leaps out of his ratha. Swords out in a flash, in the grip of an older contention than this war, they charge each other. Blade rings against blade, showering sparks over both kshatriyas. They circle one another and thrust out wildly. They hew and parry, they growl, they roar, they weave and dodge. They leap high in the air and strike mighty blows down on each other. With every moment, it is clear that Satyaki tires quickly; inevitably, Bhoorisravas gains the advantage. Satyaki staggers under his blows and has neither the strength nor the speed to answer them any more. It is all the Yadava can do to keep the Kuru from killing him. Still, he does not run, but fights on.

Krishna turns to Arjuna. “Satyaki is so tired he can hardly stand. Bhoorisravas will kill him if you don’t intervene.”

Even as he speaks, Bhoorisravas fells Satyaki with a tremendous stroke, knocking the Yadava’s blade from his hand, sending him sprawling on his back. With a roar, Bhoorisravas is on him, crying, “The moment of revenge is here, Yadava! This is what your grandfather did to my father.”

Bhoorisravas seizes Satyaki by his hair, plants a foot squarely on the fallen warrior’s chest and roars his triumph; and Satyaki goes limp. Even the Kaurava soldiers cry out in shock at the shaming of a fallen enemy. But, his eyes glinting, Bhoorisravas drags the young Yadava round and round the space where they had fought, roaring, “Today, my father is avenged!”

Krishna cries to Arjuna, “Look what that wretch is doing to my cousin! Satyaki didn’t follow you through two armies to be humiliated like this.”

Arjuna replies, “Bhoorisravas is honorable. He is only having revenge for what happened to his father. He will not kill Satyaki.”

The words hardly leave his mouth and they see Bhoorisravas draw his sword again. They see him raise his arm to hew off Satyaki’s head. Arjuna cries, “What shall I do, Krishna?”

“To kill an unconscious enemy isn’t the kshatriya dharma by which we agreed to fight this war,” says the Avatara.

Between the raising of Bhoorisravas’ arm and its fall, Arjuna cuts off that sword-arm with an arrow like lightning. The look on Bhoorisravas’ face is unforgettable. He stares at the blood spouting at his elbow and his severed arm which lies on the ground at his feet, the sword still clutched in its hand. Bhoorisravas whirls around with an agonal cry and sees Arjuna behind him.

“Arjuna!” wails Bhoorisravas. “What have you done? Is this dharma? You have covered yourself in shame, Pandava. You have brought disgrace to the House of Kuru! Your wretched sarathy made you do this, only a Yadava could stoop so low.”

But Arjuna rages back at him, “You dare speak ill of Krishna! Do you think I am heartless that I will let you kill Satyaki when he cannot defend himself? He is not only my friend who risks his life for me, he is my sishya. Bhoorisravas, when Sini shamed him, your father was not in the state in which Satyaki is. I could have had your head instead of your arm and I would not sin.”

Bhoorisravas stands before him, uncowed, blood gushing from his wound. Arjuna rails on, “Dare you speak to me of dharma? You stood by when the six maharathikas shot Abhimanyu down like a dog, when my child stood defenseless before them. Was that the dharma you preach? Or is dharma just for someone else, while you and yours are above it? Did you say a word to your dastardly nephews, when they murdered my son?”

Bhoorisravas has no answer to this. He hangs his head. Next moment, Arjuna is overcome with remorse and cries, “Ah, my lord, how I hate myself that I was born a kshatriya! That I had to do this terrible thing to one of the noblest sons of the House of Kuru. But I curse Duryodhana more than I do myself: all this is his doing.”

Arjuna has tears in his eyes. Now, Bhoorisravas raises his good hand over his head, to acknowledge what the Pandava says. He orders a seat of kusa grass spread for himself on the battlefield beside his chariot. He sits on it in padmasana, the posture of the lotus. Bhoorisravas shuts his eyes, yokes himself in dhyana and prepares to die. The blood flowing from his elbow forms a pool on the field of dharma.

The Kaurava army has gathered around Bhoorisravas, in a hush. Every soldier’s gaze is upon him. They watch the color drain from his face and slowly the pain, as the swell of the atman, his soul, washes over the kshatriya. Just then, Satyaki stirs from his faint. He seizes up his sword and rushes at Bhoorisravas, who by now is unaware of the world. Kaurava soldiers cry out in horror. Arjuna and Krishna cry at Satyaki to stop. But he is at the motionless Bhoorisravas in a blink. With a roar, Satyaki strikes off the Kuru’s head so it flies from his neck in a scarlet eruption.

The Yadava stands panting beside Bhoorisravas’ corpse, his eyes aflame, daring anyone to challenge him.

TWENTY-THREE
THE SETTING SUN 

Arjuna is shocked by what his sishya does; but this is no time for him to rebuke Satyaki and the Pandava does not say a word. The Kauravas raise accusing voices and Satyaki smolders at them. They cry at him, “Is this dharma that you kill a man who had sat down to die? That you kill him while he sits in dhyana, with his eyes shut?”

Sword in hand, Satyaki roars back at them, “How easy it is to preach dharma to others! But yesterday, when that child said, ‘Come, one by one and fight me’, did you listen to him? When Karna cut Abhimanyu’s bowstring from behind his back that was dharma was it? When you set on him like a pack of dogs, was that dharma? The Kuru Acharya, the Senapati of this great army, was the one who trapped him. He knew only Abhimanyu could enter the chakra vyuha when Arjuna was away. To save his wounded pride, to save face, he murdered a mere boy. I know it was Drona who told Karna the only way Abhimanyu could be subdued: with treachery, from behind his back! When your Sena-pati’s conscience is sold for a title, how dare the rest of you speak of dharma?

As for my killing Bhoorisravas, I care little what you think of it: I am a kshatriya and I must kill anyone who insults me. When I was past fighting back, he struck me down, seized my hair and dragged me round the field. I would have killed him, anyway, or died trying to. I don’t care what you think, my dharma was to kill Bhoorisravas.”

Suddenly, a disembodied voice, an asariri, speaks out of the sky, “No blame clings to Satyaki. It was written that Bhoorisravas would die by his hand.”

The Kaurava army turns away from that sanguinary place. Satyaki has no chariot to ride in; he stands there with his bloodied sword in his hand. Even after the unearthly voice speaks, Arjuna is not convinced of Satyaki’s innocence. But Jayadratha still lives and every moment the sun plunges down the sky and the world grows dimmer.

Arjuna says, “Krishna, our time is short.”

Krishna flicks his reins over the gandharva horses. Duryodhana, Karna, Vrishasena, Aswatthama, Kripa and their soldiers prepare to stop the charge of the white chariot. Duryodhana cries to Karna, “There is only one task for you now: keep Arjuna away from Jayadratha. The sun is not far from setting and all of us will be at your side. If you can do this thing, the war is won.”

But also between Karna and Arjuna stands Satyaki, sword in hand, his feet stained with Bhoorisravas’ blood. Karna rides at the Yadava: to distract Arjuna again, to waste more of his precious time; or, perhaps, deep in his heart, Karna does not want his brother to fail his mission. Arjuna cries, “Quick, Krishna! Ride to Satyaki, he stands defenseless before Karna.”

But Krishna does not want to face Karna now. He fears Indra’s shakti that Karna has. He says, “Let Satyaki face Karna. There are others we must pass, before you can keep your vow.”

“But Satyaki has no chariot!”

“Not for long,” replies the Avatara. He raises the Panchajanya to his lips and a clear rishabha rings across Kurukshetra. Hardly has that note died, when they hear a storm of horses’ hooves and no one can be sure if the sound comes from the earth or the sky. In a moment, a marvelous chariot flashes up to Satyaki and he cannot tell whether that ratha came through the Kaurava lines, or flew down from Devaloka. It shines like treasure on Kurukshetra and flies the banner of the golden eagle. Satyaki climbs into Krishna’s chariot, the Jaitra and Daruka’s chariotry excels the Dark One’s.

Satyaki and Karna fight a pitched duel. But Karna’s sarathy is no match for Daruka, who flies here and there, like thoughts, as hard to aim at. The advantage of fighting from Krishna’s chariot, yoked to the foam-born horses Varuna gave the Blue God, tells for the Yadava. Besides, killing Bhoorisravas has invigorated Satyaki. He cripples Karna’s chariot and Duryodhana has to rescue his friend.

The Kauravas must stop Satyaki from gaining Arjuna’s side again; together, those two would make short work of cutting their way through to Jayadratha. Dusasana and some of his brothers surround Satyaki; they are dazzled by Daruka’s skill and overwhelmed by the renewed Yadava’s archery. Satyaki has them at his mercy. But he remembers Bheema’s oath and lets them escape; only hurting them sorely on their way.