The Greatest Indian Epic - Mahabharath

Night war of Day 14 continues :

For a brief moment, the Pandava brothers deeply mourned the death of Gatotkacha & Bhima was obviously the worst affected with grief. Comforting each other now, Yudhishtira decides to fight against karna to seek revenge .

At this moment, sage Vyasa appears & gives some soothing words & says further that Gatotkacha’s destiny was such that he had to be felled by Vajra weapon only & this also saved Arjuna which was good to the Pandavas. Vyasa also advised Yudhishtira to continue practicising his dharma & follow values & disappears.

Yudhishtira orders his troops to focus on Drona now & the entire army rushes towards Drona. However both armies were tired by this time and both sides also had minimum weapons to use as most were used during the day.

Most of the army men were totally tired now as midnight approached & most of them confined to their divisions blind with sleep, abandoning their weapons, laid themselves down. Some laid themselves down on the backs of elephants, some on cars, and some on horseback.

Seeing the condition of both the armies, Arjuna screams loudly at Duryodhana & Karna requesting them to stop the fight for the day ( night ! ) & this brings cheer to everyone including the Kauravas & they all appreciate Arjuna for this gesture.

At this moment, Duryodhana, unable to digest the sequence of various events happened during the day, approaches Drona & pours his frustration :

No mercy should have been shown to our foes while they were heartless and worn out with toil and taking rest, especially when they are all of sure aim. Desirous of doing what is agreeable to U, we showed them kindness by then letting them alone. The tired Pandavas, however, have become stronger. As regards ourselves, we are, in every respect, losing in energy and strength. You still have the soft corner towards them & indeed U are protecting them.
I still wonder why U are not unleashing all ur celestial weapons . The Pandavas are sacred of U. However Ur attitude is my ill luck.

Drona’s anger was uncontrollable now. He takes up a vow now to destroy the entire Pandavas & asks the army men to be ready to resume the war.

By this time, three-fourths of that night had worn away & the battle once more commenced between the Kurus and the Pandavas.

The east was soon reddened with the red rays of the sun .

EARLY MORNING OF DAY 15 ( continuity of night 14 warfare )



The war continues without gap now even after the sunrise.

An enraged Drona kills the grandsons of Durupadha. He also vanquishes in no time, the Chedis, the Kaikeyas, the Srinjayas & Matsayas.

Drona faces Durupadha & Virata now & the old rivalry comes to the memories now & after a brief battle, Drona kills both Durupadha & Virata.

On seeing the death of his father Durupadha, Drishtadyumna takes up the challenge & charges towards Drona supported by Arjuna.

By now Sun had risen at the morning & the fighting still continued

Karna & Bhima once again have a wonderful battle . After both showing their prowess, Karna again shows his superiority by destroying Bhima’s chariot & his horses. Bhima was forced to jump over to Nakula’s chariot for safety.

Drona & Arjuna meet .

Drona unleashes the Aindra, the Pasupata, the Tvashtra, the Vayavya, and the Yamya weapons which were all countered efficiently by Arjuna.

The battle looked exceedingly wonderful with both displaying their prowess.

But gradually Drona showed his dominance & kills countless number of Pandavas .

Even Arjuna could not control Drona’s onslaught .

A worried Krishna now tells Arjuna :

It is evident that Drona, that warrior conversant with the mightiest of weapons, will consume us soon. This foremost of all bowmen is incapable of being ever vanquished by force in battle, by the very gods with Indra at their head. When, however, he lays aside his weapons, he becomes capable of being slain on the field even by human beings. Casting aside virtue, someone of U , adopt now some contrivance for gaining the victory, so that Drona may not slay us all in battle. However, he is fond of his son Aswathama. If he hears that Aswathama is dead, he will cease to fight, I think. Let someone , therefore, tell him that Aswatthaman, hath been slain in battle.

However, Arjuna disapproves this totally. But Yudhishthira accepted it with great difficulty.

Now Bhima, slews with a mace a elephant named Aswatthaman, of his own army, belonging to Indravarman, the chief of the Malavas.

Approaching Drona now with some bashfulness Bhima began to exclaim aloud,

Aswatthaman had been slain

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Raghuji. True . This was from SriKrishna's mouth itself because the Kavacha was AN IMPENETRABLE ARMOUR which Karna had it along with when he was born. Knowing the power of that armour, Indra ( Arjuna was born to Indra's powers U know that ) with a vested interest , wished to save Arjuna & hence took away Kavacha.

In return for that gift, he got Vajra which he used on Gatotkacha

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Well, please tell me what earrings were for?

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Originally Posted by bok

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Raghuji. True . This was from SriKrishna's mouth itself because the Kavacha was AN IMPENETRABLE ARMOUR which Karna had it along with when he was born. Knowing the power of that armour, Indra ( Arjuna was born to Indra's powers U know that ) with a vested interest , wished to save Arjuna & hence took away Kavacha.

In return for that gift, he got Vajra which he used on Gatotkacha

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Well, please tell me what earrings were for?

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I believe both were soaked with nectar of immortality ( Long life ) & hence were destined to give long life & a solid protection to Karna.

While the armour was supposed to protect his body, the ear rings were for his head .

Not sure but.

One thing however, if one has to compare head to head with Arjuna & Karna, this god sent kavacha / kuntala should not be considered as an aspect which doesnt speal of true valour.

Ultimately, both were equally matched on warfare & the nuances of warfare as well

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Originally Posted by bok

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Raghuji. True . This was from SriKrishna's mouth itself because the Kavacha was AN IMPENETRABLE ARMOUR which Karna had it along with when he was born. Knowing the power of that armour, Indra ( Arjuna was born to Indra's powers U know that ) with a vested interest , wished to save Arjuna & hence took away Kavacha.

In return for that gift, he got Vajra which he used on Gatotkacha

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Well, please tell me what earrings were for?

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GOOD QUESTION, Kavasha was the armour protecting the Body, but the Kundalas(Ear rings) what purpose did it serve?

I heard one opinion. Kavacha was for body and earrings were for soul.

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Originally Posted by bok

I heard one opinion. Kavacha was for body and earrings were for soul.

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Kavacha 4 the body is correct, but the Kundala's for Atma?? :roll:

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Originally Posted by Nakeeran

One thing however, if one has to compare head to head with Arjuna & Karna, this god sent kavacha / kuntala should not be considered as an aspect which doesnt speal of true valour.

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Karna's gifts or boons were from GOD due to his Poorva genma karma's in his previous forms of life, this applies to every Atma....

but then how about Arjuna attainig the MOST powerful astra ever in the war from MAHESHWAR, yes I am talking about 'PASUPASTRA', which Partha Obtained after SHIVA THAVA??

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Originally Posted by Raghu

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Originally Posted by Nakeeran

One thing however, if one has to compare head to head with Arjuna & Karna, this god sent kavacha / kuntala should not be considered as an aspect which doesnt speal of true valour.

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Karna's gifts or boons were from GOD due to his Poorva genma karma's in his previous forms of life, this applies to every Atma....

but then how about Arjuna attainig the MOST powerful astra ever in the war from MAHESHWAR, yes I am talking about 'PASUPASTRA', which Partha Obtained after SHIVA THAVA??

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Raghuji

Well thats another sub story on it own !

Shall I present it once the war description is through ? :D

U know, 14th day is the longest day ( night ) of the war & we have 3 more days to narrate :D

EARLY MORNING OF DAY 15 CONTINUES :

Bhima kills an elephant by name Ashwathama & shouts loudly before Drona :

ASWATHAMA HAD BEEN SLAIN

Hearing those highly disagreeable words of Bhima and reflecting upon them, Drona's limbs seemed to dissolve.

Recollecting however, the prowess of his son, he soon came to regard that intelligence as false.

Hearing, therefore, of his slaughter, Drona did not become unmanned. Indeed, soon recovering his senses, he became comforted, remembering that his son was incapable of being resisted by foes. Rushing towards Drishtadyumna, he covered him with multiple shafts.

Now around 20000 warriors attacked him but he dispelled all those warriors’ shafts with arrows of his.

Using more celestial weapons, Drona slews six thousand elephants & ten thousand steeds.

Seeing the destructive mood of Drona, all the rishis assemble & Bramha Deva himself appears before him and says :

U are fighting unrighteously. Ur are versed in the Vedas but U ceased to practice them. U are not doing the duties of a Brahman . Please lay aside all ur weapons.

Even the rishis echoed the same feelings of Brahma Deva.

Hearing this, Drona became exceedingly cheerless in battle.

Burning with grief and exceedingly afflicted, he tries to reach Yudhishthiraas to find out whether his son Aswatthaman had been slain or not.

Drona firmly believed that Yudhishthira would never speak an untruth even for the sake of the sovereignty of the three worlds.

For this reason, Drona sought to approach Yudhishthira and not any body else. He had hoped for truth from Yudhishthira from the latter's infancy.

Meanwhile, Krishna , knowing that Drona, was capable of sweeping all the Pandavas off the face of the earth, became much distressed

Krishna's main concern was due to the fact that Drona was all set to fire BRAMASTRA soon.