The Greatest Indian Epic - Mahabharath

DAY 6

Yudhishthira addressed Dhrishtadyumna to arrange in the array called Makara

In return, Bhishma arranged the vyuha in the form of a Crane.

Drona meets his childhood friend & now enemy Durupadha & makes him stunned totally with shower of arrows. Durupadha was no match for Drona & he leaves the battle. Drona having thus vanquished Drupada, blew his conch. And hearing the blare of his conch, all the Pandavas were struck with fear.


Earlier, Dhrishtadyumna fired a weapon called PRAMOHANA capable of depriving the senses which made a section of Kauravas swoon .
Drona rescues them now by taking up a weapon called PRAJNA which neutralizes Pramohana.

Drona now meets Dhrustadyumna & makes him absolutely wonderstruck by multiple arrows & also kills the charioteer in the process. Quickly Dhrushtadyumna takes another chariot & moves to safety

This created loud cheers onto the Kauravas

Duryodhana meets Bhima again & the arrows of Bhima hits him so hard that he swoons briefly but recovers quickly & began to resist Bhima with showers of arrows.

Bhimasena, excited , said these words,--

That hour has come which I have desired for so many years. I will slay u to-day if u does not abandon the battle. Slaying u I shall today dispel the sorrows of Kunti as also of Draupadi and the woes that were ours during our exile in the woods. Filled with pride, u had formerly humiliated the sons of Pandu. Behold, O son of Gandhari, the dire fruit of that sinful behaviour. Following the counsels of Karna as also of Suvala's son, and recking the Pandavas little, u had formerly behaved towards them as u had hinted. U had also disregarded Krishna who begged thee (for peace). With a joyous heart did u despatch Uluka (to us) with ur messages. For all these, I shall slay u to-day with all ur kinsmen, and thus avenge all those offences of urs of former days.

Having said these words, Bhima bending his bow and stretching it repeatedly, and taking up a number of terrible shafts

Duryodhana, deeply pierced by Bhimasena and feeling great pain, sat down on the terrace of that car.

Then Jayadratha, surrounded him on all sides with several thousands of cars , rescues Duryodhana

Bhishma , all through the day slaughtered Pandavas . And with his arrows he began to despatch the combatants of the Panchalas to the domains of Yama.

Having broken the ranks of Pandavas at last withdrew his troops and retired for the day

DAY 6 ENDS .....................

DAY 7 of the war

The day starts with Bhishma addressing Duryodhana , the follg words :

As regards myself, I shall, however, always do ur bidding. Either I shall vanquish the Pandavas in battle or they will vanquish me.

Having said these words, the grandsire gave him an excellent herb of great efficacy for healing his wounds.

Bhishma arrays a format called Mandala

Yudhishthira himself disposed his troops in the array called Vajra.

Ashwathama faced Shikandi

Salya faced his nephews Nakula & Sahadeva !

Arjuna faced the Tirigarthas

Drona faced Virata & make him run away from the scene

Drona , in the process kills Sanka, Virata’s son.

Ashwathama made Shikandin fall from his chariot & also destroys it. This makes Shikandi switch over to Satyaki’s chariot

Satyaki faced Alamyusha . Satyaki applied a special weapon , the mantras which were taught by Arjuna . This made Alamyusha retreat . This brings loud cheer on to the Pandava army.

Drishtadyumna faced Duryodhana & both a terrible war . While the former destroyed the chariot of the latter, filled with anger, Duryodhana rushed by foot towards Drishtadyumna with his gatha. However, Sakuni intervenes & takes him onto his chariot.

Bagadhatha faced Gatotkacha in a might exchange of weapons . However, the old man Bagadhatha emerged victorious & Gatotkacha had to retreat which caused a mild panic amongst a section of Pandavas.

Salya could not face his sister’s sons & at one stage swooned . Having achieved success , Nakula & Sahadeva proudly blew their counches which caused cheer amongst the pandavas.

Arjuna met Susarman, and said these words,

I know u to be foremost in battle, and a dire enemy (of ours) of old. Behold to-day the terrible fruit of that evil behaviour 4 I will today cause u to visit the manes of ury ancestors.'
Susarman, in return, said :

Well or ill.

Thus began a big battle between the 2. Then Arjuna, having vanquished all warriors headed by Susarman along with all their followers, in the midst of their division, ended the day on a victorious note & proceeded towards his tent.

All other respective warriors who survived the day, moved towards their tents .

Making arrangements for the protection of their brave warriors and disposing outposts according to rule, they plucked out the arrows from their bodies and bathed in diverse kinds of water.

Brahmans performed propitiatory rites for them

Bards sang their praises.

Men sported for a while in accompaniment with music both vocal and instrumental.

For a while the whole scene resembled heaven itself.

Day 7 ends

nakeera..its a better format...so that we can read

Day 8 of the war :


As soon as the day commenced, Bhishma, as he was well known for, started his demolishing act on Pandavas & they immediately panicked. The Pandavas were incapable of even looking at Bhishma excited with rage went on the rampage & it was Bhima who checked the onslaught .

Indeed, Bhima alone, approaching Bhishma, encountered him in battle. In that encounter , a fierce and terrible uproar arose among all the troops (of the Kauravas).

The Pandavas then, filled with joy, uttered leonine shouts.

Now, Duryodhana sensing danger to the Grandsire, surrounded by his brothers, protected Bhishma . Bhima, slew Bhishma's charioteer. Thereupon the steeds no longer controlled, ran away from the field with car.

Now Bhima faced the kaurava brothers.

Bhima with a sharp arrow cut off the head of Sunabha another brother of Duryodhana.

Now , 7 brothers of Duryodhana , Adityaketu , Vahvasin,
Kundadhara , Mahodara, Aparajita, Panditaka and Visalaksha, rushed against Bhima.

Bhima, however, did not bear these attacks .

He cuts the head of Aparajita.

Then with a big arrow, dispatched Kundadhara to death.

Another shaft kills Panditaka

A mighty arrow felled Visalaksha's head

Strikes Mahodara in the centre of the chest with a long shaft & kills him also.

& also eliminates Adityaketu

Not satisfied with this, he kills Vahvasin also.

Duryodhana, on seeing this, with great grief, went to Bhishma, and there, overcome with sorrow, he began to lament, saying,

My heroic brothers have been slain in battle by Bhimasena. Although, again, all our troops are fighting bravely, yet they also are failing. U seem to disregard us, behaving like an indifferent spectator, Alas, what course have I taken. Behold my evil destiny.

Hearing these cruel words of Duryodhana, Bheeshma with eyes filled with tears, said this unto him.

Even this was said by me before, as also by Drona, and Vidura, and the renowned Gandhari. O son, u did not then comprehend it. But having decided to wage a war, lets fight sincerely .
& the great warrior urged his troops to refocus on the war

At midday the battle became exceedingly awful and fraught with great carnage.

Day 8 continues............

Day 8 continues :

Now Iravat, the son of Arjuna shows his prowess.( Iravat was born to a woman who marries Arjuna when he visits the Nagaloka while in exile. I am avoiding the story of Iravat as this will occupy some space & will deviate from our main focus now )

Alamvusha , after great struggle , manages to kill Iravat .

Bhishma , with shafts capable of penetrating into the very vitals, slew many mighty car-warriors and caused the Pandava army to tremble . By him were slain many combatants in Yudhishthira's host, and many tuskers and cavalry-soldiers and car-warriors and steeds.

On seeing Iravat slain in battle, Ghatotkacha, the son of Bhimasena, uttered loud shouts.

Anticipating trouble, Duryodhana moved towards the Rakshasha
Seeing Duryodhana facing Gatotkacha, Yudhistira orders Bheema to proceed towards his son in support.

Duryodhana now encounters Bhima with powerful arrows & aiming a sharp crescent-shaped shaft he cut off Bhimasena's bow. With another shaft, he strikes Bhimasena in the chest. Deeply pierced with that arrow, and exceedingly pained, and licking the corners of his mouth, Bhimasena , sits in brief on his chariot . Now Gatotkacha comes to the rescue of his father !

The war becomes terrible as the Rakshasa gets powerful as the day progresses further. Duryodhana was forced to retreat & he reports everything to Bhishma about the loss .

In return, Bhishma advises Bagadhatta to fight with Bhima & the old king obliges immediately& showers Bhima like the clouds & covers him arrowy shower like the clouds afflicting the mountain & also pushed his elephant towards Bhima. That prince of elephants then, thus urged with the hook and the toe, caused huge destruction on the Pandvas. This day, Bagadhatha causes heavy human losses to the Pandava army & this makes Arjuna himself enter the scene.

At this moment, Bhima whispers to Arjuna, about the death of his son Iravat which makes Arjuna filled with great grief.

Cursing kauravas for not having given an inch of land for their living, Arjuna tells Krishna now that he has to kill the entire Kaurava army now .

Now Bhishma also joins the fray along with Drona & a big battle resumes here.

In course now, Bhima kills another Kaurava son by name Vyudoroska & another a rrow kills Kundalin

In the process, Bhima further eliminates the following sons of Dirudhirashtra:
-Anadhriti
-Kundabhedin
-Virata
-Dirghalochana
-Dirghavahu
-Suvahu
-Kanykadhyaja

Now Drona checks Bhima’s onslaught to some extent.

Bhishma along with Bagadhatha fought with Arjuna & Abimanyu & the battle went on for long until the day came to a close

Finally, after the combatants had been fatigued, routed, and crushed, dark night set in and the battle could no longer be seen.

Thereupon both the Kurus and the Pandavas withdrew their armies, when pitched darkness came. And having withdrawn their troops, both the Kurus and the Pandavas took rest for the night, retiring to their respective tents.

DAY 8 ENDS

SUMMARIZING THE FIRST 8 DAYS OF THE WAR :

Dear All

I thought , its time I do a recap of the first 8 days & how it progressed :


Those who have been following the war events might be wondering why the description is monotonous ?

Let me give a brief of how the war progressed .

The first 10 days of the war were dominated overall by Bheeshma .

Also, the 9 days were not that eventful in the sense, major losses were not registered in terms of well known personalities . All survived the first 8 days of the war except that Arjuna lost his son Iravat. Ofcourse, Duryodhana lost some of his brothers but their names are little known unlike Dushashan or Vikarna

Both sides faced frustration at various stages & angry exchanges with violent outbursts

Even Krishna could not control his anger atleast twice during the war that he himself challenged Bhishma with his Srichakra before Arjuna pleaded him to stay cool & just be a guide to the Pandavas & restrain from taking up arms. Such was the intensity of the war & the impact of terror unveiled by Bheeshma

It was only with the fall of Bheeshma that all dramas & wicked methods started flowing into both camps which resulted in innumerable deaths & precious loss of human beings

The great grandsire Bhishma , true to his reputation, stood like a colossus , controlled both the sides with his dominating presence , guided the course of the war for 10 days & maintained his credibility intact

Despite having possessed wealthy / immense knowledge on the usage of weapons & in his kitty, all the divine astras, Bheeshma was very much restrained & fought a conventional warfare only with his rivals

As mentioned , Bhima was another Yamadharma himself , killing many brothers of Duryodhana & frequently used his mace as a potent weapon

On the contrary, Duryodhana preferred bow & arrow & played a very supportive role , was always present with his rescue army whenever anyone was tired or was about to get overpowered .


None of the war rules were broken till now & it was the all pervading presence of the son of Ganga , Shri Bhishma which enabled decent warfare.

Bheeshma fought like a true champion warrior , unleashing terror in the minds of the Pandavas & wherever he was present, it sounded death bells & countless number of Pandavas were destroyed by him & created havoc amongst even the top ranked Pandava warriors

Satyaki, a relative of krishna played a very good supportive role , as a viable back up for Arjuna whenever trouble arose

As regards youth brigade is concerned, Abimanyu & Gatotkacha took the honours & earned wholesome praise from all seniors from both the sides

As every day passes through, both sides discussed strategies & counter strategies to neutralize the impact of top notch warriors

The fight between Duryodhana & Bheema was always very forceful & violent ( on expected lines ) . While twice Duryodhana made Bheema virtually swoon, once Duryodhana also had that when Bheema pounced on him with shower of arrows

However, both avoided a direct mace fight

The old King Bagadhathan showed his prowess at the very old age which stunned the Pandavas. His elephant also added force to his army & he was a nightmare to the enemies wherever he was present . He was skilled warrior & a veteran

Drona , played a supportive role to Bheeshma but was destructive self along with his son Ashwathama

Arjuna was mighty powerful during the entire war & he was the MAN OF CRISIS making a stormy presence whenever something went wrong amongst the pandavas & restored balance to the course of the war . whenever Arjuna & Bheeshma met eye to eye, the devas & rishis used to assemble to watch the magnificent display of their talent & mastery over archery .

My presentation was a fine tuned / edited version & honestly, it was just 1 % of what was actually described about the war .

I thought it would be boring if I had to describe word by word account like – the number of arrows shot at , the noof times the bow was brokes & the chariots getting destroyed etc etc will only reduce the speed of description of the important events.

All through the first few days, the war was fought with little use of DIVINE ASTRAS as the individual battles were fought with CONVENTIONAL WEAPONS

As the pressure mounted on both sides , each one started unleashing his reserve armoury which resulted in innumerable losses & sorrows which left both sides suffering heavily

However, the rules of war were first broken by the Pandavas from the 10th day onwards & how they started this will be described in the coming days of this week.

My description now moves to Day 9 of the war tomorrow

THE NIGHT OF DAY 8

Wish to highlight what transpired the night of day 8 as I feel its significant & also necessary for everyone to know .

The reason why I am very particular is simple - SOME IMPORTANT CLUES & CUES COME OUT FROM THE GREAT BHISHMA THROUGH HIS WORDS WHICH WILL HAVE RELEVANCE LATER.

Duryodhana never had any doubt over the capabilities of Bhishma or Drona as regards defeating any enemy , leave alone Pandavas but as everyday passed by, his frustration grew by leaps & bounds as in his very presence, his brothers fell dead one by one . This prompted him to have a chat with other Kauravas.

Duryodhana, Sakuni, Dussasana & Karna held a meeting ( of course without the presence of Bhishma & Drona )

While Duryodhana expressed his concern over why both Bhishma & Drona could not vanquish the Pandavas . Karna steps in now & pours his frustration Bhishma. He says the follg :

Do not grieve. Even I will do what is agreeable to u. Let Bhishma soon withdraw from the battle. I will slay Arjuna in the very sight of Bhishma. Beyond doubt, Bhishma shows mercy towards the Pandvas.

Now Duryodhana responds by saying :
I will consent with Bhishma, to agree to this & then I will, without delay, come to u. After Bhishma will have retired from the fight, u will smite the foe.

Now Duryodhana meets Bhishma at his tent & after paying respects , he expresses his concern :

Venerable grandfather , pls slay the Pandvas without any further hesitation. If you have any second thoughts on this now, pls permit Karna, to fight. He will vanquish in battle the Parthas with all their friends and kinsmen.

Hearing the words, Bhishma felt higly insulted & got filled with great grief.

Do you have any doubts over my sincerety ? It pains me a lot . And u have faith on Karna ? Remember, even Karna was defeated earlier by Arjuna who is really invincible in the war but I am doing my best for you & ready to give my life to you.
As regards myself, I will,say all the Somakas and the Panchalas assembled together, avoiding Sikhandin alone. Either they will die or I will. However, Sikhandin was born in Drupada's palace as female at first. She became a male in consequence of the grant of a boon. After all, however, she is Sikhandini. Him I will not slay even if I have to lose my life. She is the same Sikhandini that the Creator had first made her. Pass the night in happy sleep, Duryodhana.. Tomorrow I will fight a fierce battle about which men will speak as long as the world lasts.

Thus addressed by him, Duryodhana came away. And saluting his grandsire with a bow of the head, he came back to his own tent. Coming back, Duryodhana conveyed this to others & passed the night in sleep.

Day 8 night gets over

Nakeeran,

Where are you getting these infomation you are posting here?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Raghu

Nakeeran,

Where are you getting these infomation you are posting here?

---

Raghu sir

Well. the process I follow is like this :

I am referring to various books & articles first.

Then, work out the events which have been mentioned commonly in them.

Then compile the same in readable format ( like what Nilavupriyar wished )

And finally post them.

U will realize now thats why for every day of the war, I am taking one or 2 days to describe :D

Apart from this, I also wish to cover what transpired in the night after the war on certain days. Not sure whether our hubbers are keen to hear that also ?

Nakeerare,

Pls dont call me Sir, Machi will do :-)

you are actually typing all these posts :shock:, i thought it was as all copy and paste, :-)

you are doing an excellent job, but i feel you are being biased towards the Pandavas, Please be as neutral as possible