Mahabharata characters 52 – Arjuna 15 – Breaking through the wall of the Kaurava forces

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.
Welcome back to the Mahabharata character series. We are into the middle of the Kurukshetra war. Arjuna has won two major victories, one against Bhishma and then again Bhagadatta.
And now he is on the night of the 13th day, infuriated and devastated because of the death of Abhimanyu, not the death actually, the slaughter, the unfair slaughter of Abhimanyu. And he has taken a vow to kill Jaidrath by sunset the next day. And after the Pandavas depart toward the camp, Arjuna has directly come from the war field to the meeting place.
And now as he departs, he goes to his wife Subhadra and she is distraught. And Krishna also accompanies Krishna’s sister. And she is thinking, besides herself with tears, falling on the ground, rolling and crying in agony.
And Krishna gently consoles her. He says, Oh lady, you are the daughter of a hero, the wife of a hero and the mother of a hero. Your son has done feats which would make even the most celebrated warriors proud.
And he has attained a destination that is the perfection of warriors who go on the battlefield, never fearing death. Give up your lamentation. Now it is time for you to console your daughter-in-law.
Uttara is also there. She is young bride and she is besides herself with grief. Just a short while ago, their marriage is not even a year old.
Just a few months have happened in the marriage and she has just become pregnant. And now she is barely out of her teens and she has become a widow. And Subhadra looks at Uttara and again fresh tears start spouting from her eyes.
And she says, Oh my dear Abhimanyu, why did you ever go to war? Oh, you were equal to Partha in your prowess. How could you have perished in the war field? How can I tolerate the thought that you are lying on the ground, dead? She started crying once again. Krishna with gentle words consoled her.
Draupadi also came there. She was also in tears. And Krishna and Arjuna consoled the ladies gently.
And Krishna told Subhadra and Uttara, Abhimanyu’s death will not go unavenged. Tomorrow Arjuna will break havoc in the Kaurava camp and he will kill the wicked Jayadratha. After speaking consoling words to them, Krishna and Arjuna departed.
They would often sleep in the same tent. As they went into their tent, Krishna turned towards Arjuna looking very grave. And he said, Oh Partha, in great haste, under the sway of emotion, without consulting me, you have taken a rash vow.
Tomorrow Drona will arrange the full military army to stop you from reaching Jayadratha. It will be extremely difficult for you to fulfil your vow. So although Krishna was cautioning Arjuna, there was a slight note of chastisement in his voice also.
Arjuna who was breathing heavily, his mind torn between thoughts of Abhimanyu and Jayadratha, the one who had died and the one who was going to die. Arjuna turned towards Krishna. Oh Krishna, I do not understand your anxiety.
You know my power and I know your power. Together who can check us? We will surely avenge Abhimanyu’s death by killing that wicked Jayadratha. Arjuna thought that Jayadratha should have been killed long ago when he had carried away Draupadi.
It was only Yudhishthira’s magnanimity, compassion that had saved him. Now he would not find shelter with Yudhishthira also. Arjuna grew his lips tightly and resolved to count the moments till the next day’s battle started.
He is waiting and Krishna put his shoulder on Arjuna and said, O Partha, tomorrow you have a formidable task ahead of you. Let us rest now. And they both as they were talking, actually Abhimanyu was very dear to Krishna also.
Often when Subhadra would come to her parents’ place, she would bring Abhimanyu with him and Krishna loved Abhimanyu and he had trained him personally in warfare. Krishna was also distressed and enraged and as Krishna and Arjuna both were anticipating with anger the next day’s war, the heavenly residents felt as if they were two agents of the destruction of the world and they waited with bated breath what would happen the next day. Arjuna slept fitfully throughout the night, through the night and the next morning they got ready.
As they marched out, they found that the Kauravas had made their military formation impregnable. Arjuna turned towards Krishna and said, just see, O Keshava, in order of an attempt to foil me, the preceptor has arranged this military formation in such a formidable way. It is 20 miles across and must be at least twice as deep and yet I will penetrate it and I will fulfil the vow.
On the other side, Drona turned to Jayadratha. Duryodhana was also there. Duryodhana, I was thinking that if somehow we can stop Arjuna from reaching Jayadratha, then the war will end because Arjuna, if he dies in the Kauravas, their back will be broken.
So he was determined to do all that he could to check Arjuna from reaching Jayadratha. Still he knew that enraged Arjuna would not be easy to check and Drona explained to both of them, he says, here you will be faced by a military formation that will be like a needle and that will be the line of command protecting you. Ahead of that, there will be another military formation which will be like a lotus and ahead of that, there will be another military formation which will be like a semicircle and any warrior who will be foolish enough to enter into this will be destroyed.
And beyond that, there will be another military formation which will be like a cart and none of these warriors will retreat from their positions. Drona turned towards Jayadratha and he said, I feel that even if Shakra, Indra comes with his thunderbolt weapon, he will not be able to penetrate this formation and reach you. Jayadratha felt reassured.
He had also been sleepless throughout the night. For him, when he had got the news that Arjuna had taken a vow to kill him, he had been on the verge of fleeing to the Himalayas to save his life. But only because of Drona’s reassurances, he had decided to stay.
But still, his face the previous night had become a mask of terror and he was apprehensive. But Drona’s words reassured him. And then as the conches were blown, Arjuna charged towards the Kaurava military formation and seeing this, Duryodhana, one of the brothers of Duryodhana, he charged forward and he attacked Arjuna fiercely.
Arjuna was besides himself with rage and although normally he would be no match, he would be more than a match to any of the Kaurava brothers, but today it was practically no match. In a short while, the Kaurava was routed and he fled. Seeing his brother fleeing, Dushyasan came over there and Dushyasan was accompanied by a huge elephant division and they all attacked Arjuna.
Arjuna just shot arrows relentlessly. His Gandiva bow seemed to be bent to a circle and there was no gap between the arrows that were shooting through his bow and within a few minutes, the whole elephant division was routed and either the perished or they had fled. Dushyasan fought heroically, but seeing the whole elephant division devastated, he lost heart.
He jumped off his chariot and fled from there. This Arjuna and this mood could not be matched. And Drona had decided to position himself right at the front of the military formation so that Arjuna would be checked.
And Drona came right over there and seeing him, Arjuna put his bow down and folded his hands. He said, O preceptor, it is you who had trained me in weapons. Please bless me so that I will be able to fulfil the vow that I have taken today.
Drona looked gravely. He said, O Partha, you will not be able to go forward without defeating me. And Drona started shooting arrows.
Arjuna immediately picked up his bow and started shooting arrows. And the preceptor and the student fought and fought. And this seemed to be a formidable warrior, a formidable war like that between the best of the gods and the strongest of the demons.
And it just went on and on. Nobody could conceive who would get the upper hand. It seemed to be a match arrow for arrow.
Drona had put aside his affection towards Arjuna, knowing that this was going to be a brutal battle and it was his duty and responsibility. Drona knew that after he had conspired to kill Abhimanyu, Arjuna would be relentless, remorseless. So he fought and Arjuna, whatever affection he had for Drona, the anger for the death of Abhimanyu was so great that even that affection was gone and they fought remorselessly.
And yet Krishna warned Arjuna that, O Arjuna, you are wasting time. The battle with the preceptor can go on throughout the day. You don’t have time to lose.
Go ahead quickly. Krishna’s words jolted Arjuna, realising that he was right. Arjuna suddenly shot a spade of arrows that stunned Drona.
And as Drona was reeling under that sudden onslaught, Krishna charged Arjuna’s chariot right behind him. And as Krishna went rapidly forward, he had Uttamaujas and Yudhana. They were his chariot guards and Uttamaujas were there and they just charged behind him and just ran after him.
And then as Drona recovered and he looked at Arjuna shooting past him, he said, O Partha, are you afraid? Where are you going? Stop and fight. But Arjuna just blazed past him, streaked led by Krishna. And so swift was Arjuna’s breaking into the Kaurava formation that none of the Kaurava warriors or soldiers could check him.
Drona called, challenged Arjuna, but Arjuna kept going. Drona shot arrows, but Krishna led the chariot so fast that Drona’s chariot, Drona’s arrows fell short. And as Drona was about to give chase from behind, Dhrishtaketu, who was following Arjuna, challenged him.
And Drona turned and fought with Dhrishtaketu. And both of them fought fiercely. Dhrishtaketu was himself an illustrious fighter and he exhibited his full skill.
And he overpowered Drona temporarily and wounded him. Drona blazed with anger and he took up a formidable celestial weapon and placing it in the arrow and shot it straight at Jaikitana, at Dhrishtaketu. And then it pierced his heart and he fell dead.
And by this time when Drona turned around, Arjuna had gone far deep into the Kaurava formation. Realising that he would soon meet Arjuna, Drona’s chariot decided that instead of giving pursuit from behind, he went through the military formation so that he would be there with other Kaurava warriors to check Arjuna. He knew Arjuna in this mood would not be easy to check.
He had seen the fury of Arjuna and how that had taken his power and precision and speed in shooting to an entirely different level. Now here, actually, this particular pastime of Arjuna racing against time to reach Jaidrath also has lessons for us at our level. Sometimes in our life, there are problems that are unsolvable.
So, if we just let our mental energy and our emotional energy get caught in that problem, then we will never be able to progress. So, as it is said, what cannot be cured has to be endured. So, if a problem is not solvable, then we simply tolerate it and move forward to deal with other problems that are solvable.
So, Arjuna knew that, Krishna reminded Arjuna that you will not be able to defeat Drona in a straight fight. So, today your goal is not to overcome Drona. Today you have another goal and focus on that goal.
Same way, often, sometimes we just have to put some problems in the back burner and focus on problems that can be solved. It is very important that we choose the problems that we tackle carefully. Life is filled with problems coming from different directions.
And if we choose a problem to tackle unwisely, then we will stay caught and we will not be productive in our life. So, Arjuna was, with the counsel of Krishna, he chose the productive battle and he kept charging forward. As he charged forward, Krutavarman, who was a Yadu commander, who was an old friend of Arjuna, came forward and Krutavarman challenged Arjuna.
They had been old friends, but now they fought fiercely, arrow for arrow, the Pandava and the Yadava, again with a fierce fight. It seemed to be almost equal to the fight that had gone on between Arjuna and Drona. And again, Krishna reminded Arjuna, he said, Arjuna, you are wasting time.
Do not be gentle. Put aside and move forward. And jolted again by their words, Arjuna increased his attack.
Although Krutavarman was also a formidable warrior, he is among the three Kaurava warriors who survives at the end of the war from the Kaurava side. But his archery skills, though extraordinary, were not a match to Arjuna s. Arjuna s sudden intensified onslaught wounded him. And as he got wounded, Krishna took Arjuna s chariot forward.
And as Krutavarman recovered, then those warriors were guarding his chariot, wheels. They turned and they checked him. And Arjuna charged forward.
As Arjuna went on and on, breaking through the Kaurava ranks. The Kaurava ranks were like a wall, but Arjuna s chariot which went through it was like a bulldozer, which is just breaking the walls. And nobody could check him.
At that time, a great warrior, Shrutayush, he came in the way and challenged Arjuna. And Arjuna and Shrutayush fought and fought. And Shrutayush realised that he will not be able to overcome Arjuna in a bow and arrow fight.
So he had a celestial mace which had been given by Varuna. And he decided to pound Arjuna with that mace. And he brought the chariot to come right in front towards Arjuna.
And as the warriors came closer and closer, he was swinging his mace in the air. And in the heat of the moment, before he reached Arjuna, he thought, he was so angry, agitated, wanting to attack that he hit the mace on Krishna. A celestial mace and Shrutayush was a powerful warrior.
But Krishna took the mace as if it is a lotus hitting an elephant. However, Shrutayush had a demoniac nature. And knowing his demoniac nature, Varuna had warned him that this mace will be formidable.
But if you ever use it against a non-combatant, then it will boomerang on you. It will destroy the person who uses it unethically. In the heat of the moment, Shrutayush had forgotten that warning.
As he hit the mace upon Krishna, the mace suddenly lost its grip from his hand. It rose up and came and hit him heavily. And Shrutayush perished on the spot because of his own mace.
Those who work against the Lord, often the very plans they make to attack and destroy the devotees, those plans backfire and boomerang on them. And seeing their formidable warrior killed by his own weapon, the Kauravas cried in sorrow and horror and fled. Then there was another Kambhoja prince Sudakshina.
He challenged Arjuna. Arjuna was just moving on relentlessly and different warriors were being positioned at different locations on the battlefield. They all came and challenged one by one.
Sudakshina is a Kambhoja prince. He was a ferocious prince and he fought with full vigour. And in the ensuing arrow combat, Sudakshina shot arrows so fiercely that they penetrated through Arjuna’s defence.
And wounded Arjuna is why it was an Arjuna’s wound. And seeing this, Krishna expertly moved Arjuna’s chariot round and round so that Sudakshina’s arrows would be parried. And Arjuna recovered, came back to senses and he bit his lips and glared with red-shot eyes at Sudakshina.
Now for a Kshatriya like Arjuna to be knocked down, to be made to swoon was a great insult. And Arjuna was in no mood to lose time. And he took arrows and started shooting fiercely.
Sudakshina fought back but Arjuna was unstoppable, unmatchable. And Arjuna’s onslaught of arrows destroyed Sudakshina’s chariot and before he could do anything, Arjuna killed Sudakshina. And he charged forwards as he went on.
Three of Shudayu’s sons came and they were also formidable warriors. They all attacked Arjuna simultaneously. Arjuna fought and fought but they were unstoppable.
They were bent on taking revenge for the death of Shudayu. And they were accompanied by Shudayu’s huge army. Arjuna seeing that he had practically come into a wall of arrows, he took up the Shakra weapon.
And with that single weapon, it expanded into many weapons and all three of Shudayu’s sons as well as most of his army was decimated by that single arrow. And Arjuna charged onwards relentlessly. The sun was now rising overhead.
It was going towards noon and Arjuna was charging on and on. And as he kept charging, he knew that he was in a race against time. The Kaurava warriors who came running towards him, they never went back.
To move, to meet him, to charge towards him was to charge towards their death. And Arjuna created a trail of destruction as he went through the Kaurava rank. And meanwhile, Duryodhana and Drona were discussing.
And Duryodhana was filled with anxiety hearing how Arjuna was unstoppable. He told, O preceptor, you had said that you will protect Jayadratha but Arjuna seems to be unstoppable. Please do something.
And Drona shook his head in tiredness, sweat on his forehead. And he said, you sir, you revile those who work tirelessly for you. He says, I am exerting myself fully for your cause and yet you find fault with me.
Duryodhana became panicky and he did not want Drona to abandon the cause. He says, please forgive me. My words are born out of distress.
Please we depend on your grace and expertise. Please protect Jayadratha. So Dronacharya became grave.
He says, your words do not anger me. You are like my own son, like Ashwathama to me. That’s why I will do my best.
But the Pandavas have chosen the strategy well. Arjuna is breaking through our ranks and whoever comes against him is perishing. And the other Pandavas are also advancing and they have kept all our other warriors, major warriors engaged.
There is no one right now to stop Arjuna. And he said, I will not encounter right now because I want to be here in the last line of defence to be with Jayadratha. And moreover, Arjuna will not fight with me.
He will just bypass me and go ahead as happened right at the beginning of the war today. So still there is one warrior who can fight. And who is that? He says, you.
So Duryodhana was shocked. He said, you know, I might be able to resist Indra with his thunderbolt in hands, but I cannot resist Arjuna in this mood. So do not worry, Dronacharya.
I will dress you. I will put upon you my celestial impenetrable armour. And once you wear this armour, even Arjuna’s unstoppable, irresistible, unbearable warrows will cause no harm to you.
And equipped thus, you will be able to check Partha. You are yourself a maharatha. Have no fear.
And then Dronacharya chanted the celestial mantras and he put that armour on Duryodhana. And Duryodhana, being proud, started charging towards Arjuna. In the meanwhile, Arjuna had tirelessly charged against the Kauravas, breaking through them, creating a trail of devastation and moving forward unstoppably.
At that time, Krishna turned and told Arjuna, oh Arjuna, your celestial steeds, your horses are celestial, but such is the ferocity of this fight that even they have become exhausted. Even they need rest, they need water. They will not be able to sustain this fight.
Now we may wonder, doesn’t Krishna know that what can a warrior do in such a situation? Why is Krishna making such a request? Actually, Krishna wants the world to know Arjuna’s glories and therefore, he makes this request to Arjuna. Arjuna says, oh Krishna, I will just clear the path ahead of me, of all the warriors and then you can take the horses over there and I will arrange whatever is required. Arjuna shot a series of arrows and just routed the Kauravas ahead of him.
And as an open space was created, Arjuna invoked celestial weapons. And as he shot the celestial weapons, the watching warriors gasped in amazement because part of the war field suddenly became transformed. It became a beautiful, pleasing lake with swans and ducks and other birds floating within it and with lilies and lotuses and other flowers in it and a soothing breeze started blowing.
And Krishna told Arjuna, well done, oh Partha, well done. And Krishna shot another arrow and it created a shade over there. So from above, the sun was blazing.
But the steeds are to be rested, they need not just water and rest physically, but they also need relief from the heat. And Arjuna got on the chariot and told Krishna, Krishna, please let the horses rest and drink water and graze and you can remove the arrows from their body and massage them. And till that time, I will hold the Kauravas back.
And Arjuna got off his chariot. Now he was charioted and all around him, he was completely inside the enemy’s enemy formation. All around him were Kaurava warriors and they were on horses and they were in chariots, they were elephants.
And they saw this as their opportunity. And from all directions, they started charging on Arjuna. Arjuna was swinging around on foot and shooting so fiercely, so swiftly that to come into him was to practically encounter a wall of arrows.
No one could come near him. Arjuna fought and fought and fought. And here he was charioteer-less, horseless, chariot-less.
And he was surrounded by hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of warriors on all sides. Such a disadvantaged position even Abhimanyu had not been in. Abhimanyu had of course been attacked by many warriors.
But his chariot had been destroyed already. Arjuna had voluntarily forsaken his chariot. Just as Abhimanyu had been put in the situation, Arjuna accepted that situation and demonstrated that he would counter and crush the wretched Kaurava soldiers who dared to attack him.
And seeing Arjuna’s stupendous feat in resisting them, despite being so disadvantaged, Kaurava warriors cheered him. And Krishna took the horses and rested them, massaged them, fed them, soothed them. And after resting for some time, the horses recovered.
The horses had exerted themselves as the chariot was moving at a formidable speed. And they had become wounded also. But Krishna, by his expert caring, caught the horses to rest and recover.
And then Krishna brought the chariot back. And Arjuna marched, got on his chariot and they charged forwards. That day when Arjuna had first got on the chariot, Satyaki was with him.
Satyaki was his close friend. He was also like his disciple. Although Satyaki had also been trained by Drona, he was Drona’s disciple officially, but Arjuna had trained him further.
And Satyaki and Krishna were very close and Krishna and Arjuna were very close. And Arjuna and Satyaki were also very close. So that day when they had started off, when they were sitting in the assembly, Krishna and Satyaki had sat on the same elevated throne near Yudhishthira.
And when they decided to start off for the war, Krishna brought the chariot. And at that time, Arjuna circumambulated the chariot with Gandiva in hand. As he climbed up, Krishna signalled Satyaki also to climb up.
And Satyaki, Krishna and Arjuna, they all went on the same chariot approaching the enemy. And then Satyaki got off and went on his chariot. And as Krishna, as Arjuna was blowing his conch shell to signify that he was fully ready and fully marching ahead, he wanted to cause terror in the hearts of the Kauravas.
And he also wanted to send reassurances to Yudhishthira, the king, that although he was in a situation similar to Abhimanyu, but he was safe. And when Yudhishthira heard the conch of Arjuna blowing, he decided to send supplementary forces to assist, reinforcements to assist Arjuna. What happened on this momentous day is war.
This was by the time it was noon. So first half was over. What happened in the second half of the day, we will discuss in our next session.
Thank you.