Mahabharata characters 51 – Arjuna 14 – Besting the fearsome elephant and the formidable elephant wa

This talk is a part of the “Fascinating Mahabharata Characters” series. To know more about this course, please visit: bhakticourses.com

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Krishna. Hare Krishna.
Welcome back to the Mahabharata characters series. We are discussing about Arjuna and we are on the end of the 10th day where Arjuna has overcome Bhishma and at the start of the 11th day and now the war begins with Drona as the commander. So Drona takes the vow on being honoured by Duryodhana with the commandership that I will overcome, I will arrest Yudhishthira and bring a life to him.
And on the 11th day he fights fiercely and Yudhishthira’s chariot is destroyed, his armour is destroyed and he is on the verge of being captured. Arjuna is fighting elsewhere but when he gets the news of Yudhishthira being in danger, he charges with such ferocity and velocity that the Kauravas are stunned. And Drona who is just on his first day about to honour his vow, he finds himself overwhelmed.
He fights fiercely and Arjuna is more than a match to Drona. Arjuna and Drona have fought earlier on a few occasions but never has been in a war this earnest. And Drona fights fiercely but still Arjuna overcomes him and Yudhishthira is saved.
And that day Duryodhana is incensed and he blames Drona. He says, why did your illustrious opportunity go away? And Drona is ashamed. He said, oh Duryodhana, although Arjuna is my student, he has performed austerities and he has gained celestial weapons and he has practised immensely and he is young and that is why he has been able to overcome me.
I told you if you want me to arrest Yudhishthira, you must keep Arjuna aside. So then Yudhishthira, Duryodhana looks around and Susharman along with his Trigartas, he comes in forward and he says, now Arjuna has humiliated us many times in the past and I want to take revenge. He said, we will either kill Arjuna or we will fight till our last number against him.
We will keep him engaged elsewhere. And Susharman takes a solemn bow like that and Duryodhana is very pleased by this. And when this news comes to Arjuna, he is concerned.
He knows that as a warrior, as a Kshatriya warrior, he cannot refuse a challenge. At the same time, he is also concerned about Yudhishthira’s safety. But then knowing that the Trigartas will challenge and he will not refuse, he entrusts the care of Yudhishthira to Dhristadyumna, the commander of their army, Satyaki and also Bhima.
And the next day he fights tirelessly. So the 12th day is a momentous day in which Arjuna is fighting, fighting against the Trigartas, overcoming them one by one by one. And although Arjuna has celestial weapons, he did not want to use those celestial weapons against ordinary humans, ordinary warriors.
And so he tirelessly fights and overcomes the Trigartas one by one. And slowly, one by one by one, arrows are coming in endless stream and the Trigartas are being overcome. And in the other part of the battlefield, the war is going on in immense fierceness.
And on the Kavarava side, there is the king of Prajyotishapur, that is Bhagadatta. And he has got a giant elephant named Supratika and is wreaking havoc in the Pandava camp, destroying everyone that comes in his way. The Pandavas have an elephant division to counter him, but he just destroys their elephant division.
Seeing their army being wrecked like this, Bhima comes to fight and Bhima is almost crushed underfoot by Supratika, Bhagadatta’s elephant. And Bhima jumps off in the nick of time and then comes under Bhagadatta’s elephant and starts pummeling him from below. And Bhagadatta is screeching in anger and rage and he spins around and catches Bhima and raises him up and about pounds him down.
Bhima decreases his body and falls off and again starts pummeling Bhagadatta. Now, his screeches are going all around in the meanwhile. And these are heard by Arjuna.
Arjuna turns towards Krishna and says, O Krishna, that barbarian king’s elephant is formidable and he cannot be stopped. He is wreaking havoc in our camp. I think I must go and stop him.
So Krishna agrees and he turns his chariot. At that time, the Trigartas again challenge him and Arjuna is perplexed. He cannot refuse the challenge at the same time he knows that he is needed elsewhere.
So as he is thinking, rather than respecting the fact that he is waiting, the Trigartas attack him suddenly and not just one or two, hundreds and hundreds, thousands, a sudden bolt of arrows comes upon him. And as a bolt of arrows comes upon him, Arjuna gets angry. He sees that the Trigartas are also not honouring the Kshatriya codes.
It is not one warrior fighting against another. Hundreds of them are attacking simultaneously. So he takes the Brahmastra.
Actually, what impels him to take this is, as the hundreds of arrows come upon him and they hit Arjuna, they hit Krishna also. And Krishna actually faints. Now, how can Krishna faint? He is the Supreme Lord.
But Krishna does not always act as the Supreme Lord when he is fighting a war, when he is doing his leela. So here, he wants to demonstrate, he performs his leela where he faints. And that causes Arjuna to blaze apart in anger.
Not only are these wicked Trigartas attacking him unfairly, but they are also attacking his charioteer, which is a warrior against the military codes. And not only that, they are also attacking him so brutally, who is he, who is his beloved Lord. Unable to tolerate it, Arjuna takes up a Brahmastra.
And he takes and he shoots it. And that single weapon breaks havoc in the Trigartas. And thousands and thousands of them are felled by that weapon.
And as the weapon is breaking its havoc, Krishna comes back to him out of the swoon. And he looks at the devastation on the Trigarta side. And Krishna cheers Arjuna.
He says, Oh Partha, what you have done today would have been difficult and impossible for even the gods to attain. It is a stupendous feat that you have done. Bravo! And he says, now let us rush to the side where Bhagavata is breaking havoc.
And the Pandavas charge. And both Partha and Krishna charge towards it. And they see Bhagavata is just, Bhagavata is like a moving mountain.
And his feet themselves can crush horses and chariots entirely. And he is just unstoppably destroying wherever he goes. And not only is the Supratika destroying on top of that, Bhagavata is also using his fellow fierce weapons and carving a path of death wherever he goes.
Seeing this, Arjuna charges towards him. And Arjuna charges and issues a challenge. And then Supratika turns.
And Bhagavata gets Supratika to charge towards Arjuna. Arjuna is shooting arrows at both of them. But the arrows have little effect on Bhagavata or on Supratika.
And Bhagavata is shooting arrows and Supratika is charging, charging, charging. And just as Bhagavata has got Supratika to crush Bhima’s chariot, so his plan is to similarly crush Arjuna’s chariot. And once the enemy is charioteer-less, then he will overcome him.
But Krishna was the decisive advantage for Arjuna. Although Bhima’s charioteer, was also expert, but nobody’s expertise was like Krishna’s. And in the last moment, Krishna expertly veered the chariot off.
Krishna by his expert charioteer-ship has helped Arjuna many times. Even when Bhishma was fighting fiercely, Arjuna fought on and was able to evade most of the arrows, streams of arrows that came from Bhishma because Krishna was skilfully manoeuvring the chariot. And now Krishna takes off chariot in a nick of time.
And Supratika’s giant feet falls on the ground expecting to crush the enemy and falls on nothing. And as the elephant is charging ahead because of its momentum, Arjuna has the opportunity to shoot the elephant or shoot the warrior from behind and kill them. But knowing the codes of a Kshatriya, Arjuna waits.
And Bhagavata gets this huge elephant to turn around. As they turn around, they start fighting. Arjuna starts shooting arrow after arrow.
And this whole… Supratika’s elephant has a fierce armour, has a very powerful armour, almost impenetrable. But Arjuna’s arrows are so powerful, so relentless, so sharp that Supratika’s… this thing starts penetrating. His armour starts penetrating.
And when his armour starts penetrating, it appears as if meteors are falling from the sky. He’s so tall. His armour, expensive metal starts falling.
And then Bhagavata gets enraged. And realising that Arjuna may well become the cause of his death, he decides that he will use the most powerful weapon at his command to kill Arjuna. And he invokes the Vaishnavastra.
And that weapon, when it appears on his bow, it appears as if it has set the whole sky ablaze. And when Bhagavata discharges it, it seems to rend the sky apart as a blazing dart of massive, intolerable flame charges towards Arjuna. And Arjuna has a formidable armour.
And some weapons, Arjuna counters with his weapons. And some weapons, Arjuna just lets them hit against his armour and they will just fall off harmlessly. So Arjuna is not countering this weapon, thinking that no matter how threatening it looks, it’ll have no effect.
But as this weapon is swooping down upon Arjuna for his death, suddenly at the last moment, Krishna jumps up from his chariot and raises himself to his full height. And that arrow which is meant to fall on Arjuna and cause his death, that falls on Krishna’s chest. And because Krishna is Vishnu, and this is the Vaishnavastra, this weapon cannot harm its lord.
So that weapon, which is a blazing dart of fire, suddenly transforms into a fragrant garland. And the garland goes around Krishna. And the watching warriors are amazed, they gasp in surprise and astonishment.
And Bhagavata is incensed to see the weapon which he had thought would give him the glory of having killed the most formidable weapon on the opposite side. The warrior who is famed in all the three worlds, Arjuna, sees that weapon has not even scratched the skin of anyone, it has become a garland. It’s just incensed, can’t tolerate it.
And on the one side, now Arjuna is also mortified. He says, okay, Krishna, you are a charioteer, you are acting as a charioteer. And the charioteer’s duty is to protect the warrior if the warrior is in danger.
Your intervention, I would have understood if I had been unconscious and you were taking me to safety. But here I am in full position of my senses. And yet you have intervened.
How is it that, oh Krishna, you who know the best of dharma have acted in this way? So Krishna turns towards Arjuna and speaks gravely. You know, Partha, that this weapon was so powerful that it could have killed Indra or even the immortal Shiva. Actually, there is Sadashiva who is in the spiritual world, at the border of the spiritual material world who is eternal.
But there is Rudra in this world who is not eternal. So Arjuna is referring to that. And Arjuna looks at him, could have killed Indra? What kind of weapon is this? The question is riddled on his face.
And looking very grave, Krishna replies that actually long ago this Bhagavata is actually the son of Naraka, Narakasura or Bhaumasura, who is actually the son of Bhoomidevi through me in my past incarnation as Varahadev. So when Varahadev had come to this earth and he had lifted up the earth after killing and delivering Hiranyaksha. So at that time, the contact of Varahadev and Bhoomidevi had led to a son named Bhauma.
Now, this Bhauma was initially virtuous, but by bad association, he became a demon named Bhaumasura or Narakasura, both same names. And then, so long ago when Vishnu was sleeping, resting and then he was about to wake up, Bhoomidevi came with her son and she offered prayers to please Vishnu. And Vishnu got up and was pleased after hearing the prayers.
He said, what can I give you as a blessing? She pointed to her son, Bhauma and she said, please grant him an infallible dart. And accordingly, that weapon was given, which is the of all the weapons. And he said that weapon of Narakasura was eventually given.
Narakasura was the king of Pravijyotishapur and Bhagadatta was also the king of Pravijyotishapur. He was the descendant. So and he says, he was actually son also.
So he gave the weapon to Bhagadatta and that’s how he’s got this weapon. Oh Arjuna, this weapon was meant to have caused your death. And when Krishna spoke, this Arjuna became silent.
He realised how Krishna had saved him from certain death and feeling gratitude in his heart and remembering how on many occasions, Krishna had protected him. And now also Krishna had personally intervened, protecting him from a danger that he was not even aware of. Arjuna felt his heart flood with gratitude and as they looked intimately at each other, the Lord and his beloved friend bound in love, although they were fighting on a war field where death and destruction was all around, their love was the supreme reality, which transcended everything else.
And Arjuna decided that this Lord, who was constantly vigilant to protect him, I will do whatever it takes to glorify him, to fulfil his will. And then he turned his attention towards Bhagadatta, who had recovered from the shock and the dismay of seeing his most formidable weapon nullified and he started attacking Arjuna fiercely. Arjuna decided that Bhagadatta, it’s time for now come and he started shooting arrow upon arrow fiercely, attacking Bhagadatta as well as the elephant.
Arjuna’s arrows pierced deep into the forehead of Bhagadatta’s elephant Supratika and now it had been deprived of its armour and the arrows piercing deep into its forehead, the forehead of the vulnerable part of elephant. It just froze in its tracks. As it froze in its tracks at that time, Bhagadatta tried to goad him from above fiercely to get him to move forward.
But the arrow that pierced him causing mortal wounds and Bhagadatta far from moving and started falling. Now Supratika started falling. As Supratika started falling, Bhagadatta realised that he would get crushed under his own elephant and he immediately jumped off his elephant.
But Arjuna expertly shooting arrows at Bhagadatta, shot arrows with such unerring accuracy that by the time Bhagadatta fell off the elephant onto the ground, his two arms, his two legs, his torso and his head had fallen in different directions. And this way Arjuna attained a great victory, exhibiting his formidable skill against a formidable warrior and his formidable carrier, the elephant Supratika. And after this victory on the twelfth day, Dhrudana was disconsolate and Dhrudana turned towards Drona and by the end of the day he said, Oh Drona, how is it that our army is being destroyed like this? You had said that you will arrest Yudhishtira and you have not arrested him.
Why is it like this? So Drona became angry and he said, I have told you that Partha is a formidable warrior and we can only endeavour, but results are determined by destiny and the lord of destiny is the chariot of Partha. What can we hope for? This was Krishna’s good fortune, Arjuna’s good fortune. The lord of destiny was by his side, not just by his side, but he was striving for his well-being, striving for his prosperity and success and Arjuna was unstoppable.
And on the thirteenth day, again Arjuna was challenged by the remaining Trikarta army and Arjuna was sidetracked. And as he was sidetracked, Drona, after Arjuna had been taken away, rearranged his army and he formed the Chakravyuha. And knowing that nobody else could penetrate the Chakravyuha, Yudhishthira sent Abhimanyu inside.
We will discuss about Abhimanyu’s valour when we talk about Abhimanyu later. But Abhimanyu went inside, fought single-handedly and was ultimately killed, wounded brutally by six maharathas and killed by a seventh. And when the Pandavas’ shouts and roars and conches and drums of victory came about, the Pandavas knew that Abhimanyu had fallen.
And Yudhishthira as well as his brothers were shaken, horrified at what had happened. They wondered, how will we face Arjuna? What will we tell him? Abhimanyu was loved by all of them, but he was Arjuna’s beloved son. That day Arjuna had fought a formidable war, overcoming the Kuru… overcoming the Kuru… Kshigarthas.
And as the evening fell, he came back. And as he came back, he started feeling some fear, some inauspicious… something is wrong has happened, something inauspicious has happened. And as he was thinking like this, he looked around at his army and he found that none of the soldiers were ready to meet eyes with him, none of his warriors.
They were all looking away as soon as he would come, as soon as he would look at them. And he saw that there were no… no celebratory welcoming music and bands going on over there. As he returned, there seemed to be a morbid silence in the Pandava camp.
Arjuna looked at Krishna and he said, Krishna, I think my heart is filled with misgivings. Why is everybody avoiding looking at me? Why is this terrible silence in our camp? Has some calamity happened? Krishna consoled Arjuna and said, O Partha, do not worry unnecessarily. If at all anything has happened, some minor reversal may have taken place.
Arjuna tried to take heed of Krishna’s words, but still his heart was shaken. Now, Krishna himself sets an example that there is no need to aggravate bad news. And although Krishna could have conveyed the news, Krishna waited.
He wanted Arjuna to be with his loved ones, with all of them to comfort him when he would hear this news. And that’s why Krishna spoke like this to Arjuna. Do not worry.
Arjuna tried to keep calm, but still the sense of fear grew deeper and deeper. As he came near the main camp of the Pandavas where they would meet after the day’s war, suddenly the doubt that was nagging at the back of his mind came to the forefront. He had heard while he was fighting fiercely against the Trigartas that Drona had formed a Chakravyuh.
And he knew that apart from him and Krishna, nobody else knew how to penetrate into Chakravyuh except Arjuna, except Abhimanyu. But Abhimanyu did not know how to break out of it. And when he saw that at the entrance of the tent, there was no Abhimanyu waiting to welcome him, his heart almost stopped.
Abhimanyu was always there to welcome his father back and to ask about the day and to report about his day’s activities. And Arjuna got off his chariot with a heavy heart and as he went inside, he saw all the warriors sitting on their thrones looking down. Yudhishthira’s face was streaked with tears.
His brothers were looking at the wall and Arjuna’s eyes turned towards Abhimanyu’s throne. It was empty. His heart stopped and he collapsed to the ground.
Krishna came up and lifted him and took him along. And Arjuna asked in mortal grief, O King, where is my beloved son? Where is Abhimanyu? Is it true that Abhimanyu has, after fighting against and killing scores of warriors, now departed from this world? Yudhishthira’s eyes were filled with tears as he looked with sorrow and compassion at Arjuna. Arjuna realised that Yudhishthira’s words were true and he collapsed again.
O my dear son Abhimanyu, where have you gone? How could you leave me and go away like this? He started lamenting and he started thinking, you must have been alone in the warfield and you must have called out for me. Alas, I was not there to help you. Arjuna started cursing himself.
He should have thought that the Pandava Kauravas would do something evil like this. He started berating himself rather than thinking of his own glory in overcoming those who had challenged him. He should have thought of the safety of his loved ones.
He should have been more vigilant. But alas, it was too late. Because of his own desire for his own glory, now his son lated.
He said, oh you must have called for me but alas I never came. Or maybe because you are born in the Vishnu dynasty, you did not call out for me. But still I was not there for you.
As Arjuna went to his grief, he turned toward Yudhishthira and he told Yudhishthira, please tell me how did my son meet his end? Did none of you go to help him? Alas, how is it that all of you call yourselves warriors? Are the weapons on your body just ornaments of a woman? While my son was being killed, how could none of you help him? Alas, but why am I blaming you? It is I who should be blamed. For I entrusted my son to you and now he lies dead because of my own folly. Arjuna’s grief was so great that he turned towards Krishna and he said, oh Krishna, why did you not tell me what was happening? Surely I would have sprang, charged to the help of my son and saved his life.
Alas, Arjuna collapsed crying again. Yudhishthira narrated the day’s events, how it had happened. And finally he said that Jayadrath stopped us because Vyasadev told us that he had been blessed by Mahadev.
And as Arjuna heard this, slowly the grumbling grief gave way to a burning wrath. He got up, picked up his Gandiva and he said, those wicked Kauravas have conspired to kill Abhimanyu. They will face the brunt of my wrath the way the world has never seen.
Since that wicked Jayadrath, he has caused the death of my son. Why did Arjuna get so angry with Jayadrath alone? Because often it would happen that warriors would get overwhelmed by superior odds, but then their friends and allies would come to help them. By so ruthlessly cutting off the young, single Abhimanyu from his allies, Jayadrath caused his death.
And that act was mean and despicable and unforgivable. If the remaining Pandavas had got to the side of Abhimanyu, they would surely have saved him. So Arjuna felt that Jayadrath’s despicable act, reprehensible act is the cause of Abhimanyu’s death.
And therefore, he said, tomorrow, if I do not kill Jayadrath by sunset, now let me not attain the land, the destination that has been attained by my ancestors. Let me not attain the results of my pious deeds. Let me not attain the heavens.
Instead, let me attain those lowest of abodes, which are the destination of those who are sinners, those who steal the wealth of the brahmanas, those who kill brahmanas, those who do all despicable activities. Let me attain that terrible abode. Tomorrow, I will fight so fiercely that Jayadrath, even if he goes to the end of the earth, still he will not survive.
Only O king, if he comes and takes shelter of you or of Keshava, can he save himself. And as Arjuna went to his anger, he said, now listen, O Kshatriyas, as I take a most fierce vow, by tomorrow sunset, if I do not kill Jayadrath, then I will enter into fire and give up my life. When Arjuna took this fierce vow, the whole mood in the Pandava camp changed.
Where there was devastation, now there was jubilation and anticipation. The Pandavas knew that an enraged Arjuna was an unstoppable warrior and Arjuna would have taken a vow like this. Indeed, the next day, Kauravas would meet their worst reversal.
And as Arjuna blew his conch shell, Krishna joined along with him and Krishna also blew his conch shell. And both of them jubilantly blew their conches. All the Pandava warriors joined and blew their conches.
And then, after making a plan, a rough plan for tomorrow, for the next day, Yudhishthira dismissed the assembly and said, tomorrow after hearing from our spies what is Arjuna’s plan, we will finalise the plans. And then Krishna and Arjuna departed, determined to ensure that Arjuna’s vow was fulfilled. What happens next, let us discuss in our next session.
Thank you. Hare Krishna. Hare Krishna.