The Mahabharata (21 page)

Bhishma decided to end the combat. Clutching his sword and shield, he attempted to dismount from his chariot, but fell headlong to the ground. The arrows shot at him were so closely pinned to his body that when he fell, a bed of arrows supported him above the ground. On noticing this, both sides stopped the fight.

Arjuna went up to Bhishma and, finding his head hanging down, stuck three arrows in the ground, lifted his head tenderly, and supported it on the stakes. Bhishma then said he was thirsty. Arjuna shot an arrow down into the earth on the right side of the fallen man and immediately a jet of water gushed out to the Bhishma's lips. It was Ganga, Bhishma's mother, who had arrived to quench his thirst.

Bhishma announced that he would lie on his bed of arrows for many days to come until his time to depart arrived. He enjoyed the boon of being able to live as long as he wished, and dying according to his own decision. After lying there a time in meditation, he summoned Duryodhana. “I hope this war will end with my departure,” he said. “Make peace with your cousins without delay.”

Karna arrived on hearing of Bhishma's end. He begged to be forgiven his rash words and the vow not to fight until Bhishma died. Bhishma replied graciously, “Your hatred of the Pandavas seemed too severe and unwarranted, and that was the reason for my harshness to you. You are not the son
of the charioteer, but of Surya. You are Kunthi's eldest son. Go back to the Pandavas, and end this strife….”

Karna, however, declined to act on this advice. “I'll pay Duryodhana with my life for all his kindness and help. I cannot change my loyalty under any circumstance.” Karna paid his homage to Bhishma, and lost no time in donning his battle dress and equipment. Seeing him ascend his chariot, Duryodhana felt revived. His troops felt that victory was within their grasp, now that Karna was back in action. Before resuming battle, Drona was installed as the Commander-in-Chief after Bhishma.

Duryodhana suddenly developed the notion that if Yudhistira could be captured alive, victory would be his. “Yudhistira's capture should have priority,” he ordered Drona. “I do not even want a total victory in this war; if I could have Yudhistira in my hold, it would be enough.” He entertained a hope that he could involve Yudhistira in another gambling bout, exile him again for twelve years, and thus end the war.

Next day, all the Kauravas joined in the attempt to get at Yudhistira. Drona led the sortie personally. As the Pandavas knew of his plan, Yudhistira was strongly guarded at all hours of the day and night. Yudhistira repulsed a well-mounted attack by Drona with some special astras, and then Arjuna appeared and dispersed the attacking body.

Drona confessed, “As long as Arjuna is there we can never take Yudhistira. Something must be done to divert him and draw him away.”

In order to attract Arjuna's attention, the Chief of Trigarta formed a suicide squad. A body of men, clad in a fabric woven of dharba grass, performed funeral obsequies for themselves and took a deadly oath before a roaring sacred fire—“We will either kill Arjuna or be killed.” Marching southward, which was the direction of the world of Yama, they uttered loud challenges to their foe. Arjuna heard them
and announced, “I must go now. It is my duty to accept the challenge.”

Yudhistira cautioned him, “You are aware of Drona's plans to capture me. Remember this.” Arjuna left a strong guard for Yudhistira and hurried away.

Krishna drove Arjuna's chariot into the midst of the Trigarta force. At first they were hemmed in by the suicide squad, but soon it scattered away before Arjuna's hail of arrows.

At the same moment, Drona approached the point where Yudhistira stood, guarded by Dhrishtadyumna. Drona avoided Dhrishtadyumna, since he knew that the young Prince had been born to destroy him. Wheeling about, he carried on his attack from another direction; but in spite of several attempts, Drona could not capture Yudhistira.

The next day, Duryodhana bitterly complained, “Yudhistira was within a few paces of you and yet you let him go. I know that you are unwilling to come to grips with the Pandavas. It is the same as it was with Bhishma. I cannot understand why you will not carry out your promises to me!”

Drona was irritated by this remark and said, “You cherish unworthy sentiments. I have already explained to you how we cannot get at Yudhistira as long as Arjuna is nearby. We will try again. Be patient and trust me.”

On the thirteenth day of the battle, the suicide squad once again challenged Arjuna from the southern sector of the battlefield. Arjuna went away to deal with it, although the Pandavas could not afford such a diversion that day.

When Arjuna left, Drona regrouped his army in a lotus formation, a sort of maze in which an entering enemy would be hopelessly lost. Yudhistira felt concerned at this turn of events, and realized that Drona's onslaught was fierce and irresistible. All his supporters were desperately engaged in an attempt to crack the lotus maze, but could make little
progress. Young Abhimanyu, Arjuna's son, was their only hope.

“In your father's absence,” Yudhistira told him, “the responsibility falls on you. You must try to breach this formation.”

Abhimanyu was willing to try, although he felt diffident. “My father has only taught me how to break into this formation and not how to come out of it.”

Bhima, Satyaki, Dhrishtadyumna, and all the rest urged him on, promising to follow closely through the breach once it was effected. Abhimanyu's arrowhead pierced the formation, much to the wonder of all the veterans on both sides. He smashed his way through, overcame every obstacle, and proceeded far into the breach. But, unanticipated, Jayadratha, ruler of Sindhu and son-in-law of Dhritarashtra, moved his contingent and completely sealed the breach, preventing the advance of Bhima and the rest in the wake of Abhimanyu. He stormed his way through the enemy ranks. At one point Duryodhana himself came down to tackle the young warrior. Drona, Aswathama, Kripa, Karna and Sakuni, and a great many others combined to eliminate the young man. He met all their attacks as long as he could, but was finally killed.

On returning to his camp later in the evening, after defeating the suicide squad, Arjuna learnt of Abhimanyu's death. He broke down and cried, “I had only taught him how to break into a lotus formation, but not how to come out of it. I swear that I shall kill Jayadratha, who trapped him, before the sun sets tomorrow.”

The next day, having learnt of Arjuna's vow, Jayadratha remained behind a fortress of chariots, elephants, horsemen, and soldiers until late evening. Arjuna battled his way through and reached Jayadratha, who was anxiously watching the western sky for the sun to set. The sky darkened and Jayadratha, feeling certain that he had passed Arjuna's time limit, emerged from his shelter, whereupon Arjuna felled
him with a single arrow. Now the skies brightened again. It was still daylight; a false sunset had been created by Krishna, holding up his discus against the sun. He had adopted this strategy as it seemed to him the only way to bring Jayadratha out of hiding, and end that terrible day's events.

The battle had raged at many other points too. Bhima and Karna faced each other. Bhima was in his element, as Duryodhana had sent his brothers to help Karna and Bhima managed to kill twelve of them that day. Bhima felt he was born to ravage and diminish Duryodhana's prolific brotherhood, who had watched with glee Draupadi's shame at the assembly.

Karna was beaten back several times and was also disheartened at the loss of so many of Duryodhana's brothers. But he soon rallied himself and destroyed not only Bhima's bows and weapons, practically disarming him, but also his chariot, charioteer, and horses. Thus Bhima was compelled to run from shelter to shelter, even behind the carcasses of elephants, and to defend himself with whatever article he could lay hands on, such as horses' limbs, broken wheels, and pieces of wood.

Karna taunted him, “You glutton, go back to the forests and chew grass. You are not a kshatriya, but a savage unfit for a regular battle.”

On this day their tempers had so much worsened that the armies found it impossible to respect the conventions of the war. Both sides discarded the time limit and fought at night with the help of thousands of torches. Bhima's son, Ghatotkacha, felt especially strengthened at night-time, as was the nature of rakshasas. He and his army harassed the Kauravas in a thousand ways. They had supernatural powers, and their strategies could not be anticipated through normal calculations. They rained arrows from unseen quarters, fought from the air above, withdrew from sight at will, and
caused great damage to the Kaurava armies. The Kauravas became desperate, as they felt Ghatotkacha with his incalculable moves would destroy them completely, and they begged Karna to put an end to him.

Karna himself had been wounded by one of Ghatotkacha's missiles and was smarting with pain. He possessed a magic spear, a gift from Indra himself, which could be sent on its errand after an elusive enemy; but its potency was limited to only one use. Karna had been reserving it for Arjuna, but this day he had so far forgotten himself through pain and desperation that he hurled it on and ended the career of Ghatotkacha. Arjuna was no doubt saved from this peril, but the price paid for it was Ghatotkacha's life.

That was a crucial night all round, with fighting going on unceasingly. Drona was here, there, and everywhere, spreading death and destruction. Krishna watched his activity and declared, “We must put an end to this terrible man. He is invincible, and he can go on like this for many, many days and nights till the last member of our army is eliminated. We have to stop his fighting by every means possible. His spirit must be damped. His only sensitive spot is his attachment to his son, Aswathama. Aswathama cannot be vanquished, but if an announcement could be made that he is dead, that would be enough to make the old master pause. Who will now go and inform him that Aswathama is dead? At this moment he is quite far away in another part of the field, and we can get away with the statement.”

Arjuna refused to take part in this game of deceit. One by one, each was asked and declined to utter the lie even to save themselves. They stood brooding. Time was running short. It was a matter of survival for their men and families and themselves, since Drona's attacks were unabating.

Yudhistira gave deep thought to the proposal and the situation warranting it and said, “I will go and speak to Drona.
If this piece of falsehood takes me to hell, I shall deserve it, but our cause is compelling. Krishna, I trust you. When you make a suggestion, it must be accepted. There is no other way for us at this juncture.”

In order to create a situation which could give the plan a semblance of truth, Bhima picked up his mace and smashed the skull of an elephant which had been named Aswathama. Bhima then cried in his stentorian voice, “I have killed Aswathama!”

Drona heard it as he was about to discharge the deadliest of the astras in his power, the Brahmastra, which would have wiped out all the Pandavas and their armies in a second. He asked Yudhistira, believing that he was one who would never utter a lie, “Yudhistira, you must tell me, has Aswathama been killed?”

Yudhistira answered back, “Yes, it is true,” and added, “but it is an elephant called Aswathama.” He lowered his tone to a soft whisper while uttering the last part of the sentence, so Drona did not hear it and lost heart. He felt that there was nothing left for him to live for.

Bhima chose this moment to arraign him. “You are a brahmin, and deserting the duties of your caste, you have chosen to become a warrior like a kshatriya. You have betrayed the duties of your birth. Instead of propagating knowledge and peace, you have taught people how to use weapons for mutual destruction. You have revelled in the profession of killing. It was your misfortune that you should have degraded yourself thus.”

The veteran warrior was greatly hurt by this speech, but the news of his son's death had benumbed his senses. He flung down his weapon, threw off his armour, and sat on the floor of his chariot in meditation, actually in a trance. Just at this moment, Dhrishtadyumna jumped on his chariot, and before anyone could understand what was happening, he drew his sword and cut off Drona's head, thus avenging the humiliation his father had faced years ago.

Next Karna was made the Commander-in-Chief of the Kaurava armies. Arjuna found this a propitious hour for challenging him, and resumed the battle, supported by Bhima behind his chariot.

Dussasana now approached to attack Bhima with a shower of arrows. Bhima was thrilled at this opportunity, and cried, “Now is the moment of fulfilment.” He recollected the scene of Draupadi dragged before the assembly, jumped down from his chariot, and sprang upon Dussasana. Pulling him down, he tore at his hand, crying, “Is this not the hand that dragged Draupadi by her hair?” He flung the bleeding limb out to the battlefield into Duryodhana's face. Then he sucked the blood gushing out of Dussasana's body in fulfilment of his vow, shocking the onlookers, including Duryodhana.

Karna was shaken at the spectacle and stood transfixed for a moment at this exhibition of Bhima's wrath.

Salya, driving Karna's chariot, said, “I notice that you are hesitant and wavering. The situation warrants it, no doubt, but now, as a General, you must act resolutely. Don't lose heart. After Dussasana, the responsibility rests fully on you.”

Karna had his chariot driven towards Arjuna and sent his choicest weapons across. A dazzling fiery arrow, called the Serpent, came spitting fire, searching out Arjuna's head. In the nick of time, Krishna pressed down the chariot and sunk it five fingers deep into the ground. The arrow missed Arjuna's head, but knocked off his crown. Red with anger, Arjuna fixed an arrow to finish off his opponent. At this moment, Karna's fated hour having approached, his chariot's left wheel stuck in the bloody mire of the ground, and he descended to lift it out of the rut. While struggling with it, he pleaded, “Wait till I set my chariot right; I depend upon your honour. Do not…”