In the previous episode, we had witnessed Utthara Kumara being schooled by Arjuna on confidence and determination. Arjuna explains how he had fought several wars on his own and even goes on to tell Utthara Kumara that the same enemies who he sees in front of him have been rescued by him several times in the past. Even then, these people want to test their strength against Arjuna and Co. Speaking thus, Arjuna asks Utthara Kumara to drive the chariot, which he obeys. Subsequently, as the chariot nears the huge banyan tree, Arjuna wants the flag of Viraata Desha (The lion flag) to be removed and the chariot goes without the flag in front of the enemy camp. As this happens, several people in the enemy side like Bhishmachaarya, Guru Dhronachaarya, etc. are surprised! Firstly, there was a young boy who was coming alone to fight, and then the young boy became a charioteer and somebody else is on the king’s seat! Now, even the flag of the Viraata Desha has been removed! What is the mystery behind this move? Let us continue witnessing what is going to happen subsequently.
As the chariot is moving at a fast pace, Arjuna meditates upon Hanuman, who in turn provides his divine “Anugraha” in the form of a flag on top of the chariot. Thus, with Hanuman’s divine “Anugraha” in place as well, Arjuna and Utthara Kumara are super-confident with their strength, and march on towards the enemy camp. As Arjuna now takes the “Gaandeepa” bow in his hand, Bhishmachaarya spots this immediately! By the time he makes an announcement that the guy who is coming in the opposite direction is none other than Arjuna himself, the sound that emits from the “Gaandeepa” bow is so deafening for everyone! With this great thunderous sound from the “Gaandeepa” bow, everybody in the enemy camp figures out that this is none other than Arjuna himself! By the time people get on their toes to face Arjuna, two arrows come flying from Arjuna and one of them falls just close to Guru Dhronachaarya’s feet! Another arrow passes so close to Guru Dhronachaarya’s ears and whizzes past him with great speed!
As these two arrows are fired directly towards Guru Dhronachaarya, Bhishmachaarya declares that the war is on! Guru Dhronachaarya then explains the message behind the two arrows thus, “Oh Bhishmachaarya! The message from Arjuna is loud and clear here – The first arrow that fell on my feet signifies the way in which he respects me! The second one that whizzed past my ears signified that he is ready for the quest! Through the second arrow, Arjuna wishes to convey to all of us that if we have the real talent, we should proceed with the abduction of the cows, and he would somehow come and take all of them back from us! This is an open challenge that Arjuna has issued to all of us!”
Now the war opens up! First comes Guru Dhronachaarya! As he comes closer, Arjuna pays his respect to his Guru, and the war begins! An intense and a fierce battle between the two commences and even as Utthara Kumara sees it, Guru Dhronachaarya is unable to stand in front of Arjuna’s penetrating arrows at such a high speed! Utthara Kumara now sees the real prowess of Arjuna and within seconds, Guru Dhronachaarya is being hit by arrows one after the other! At the end, Guru Dhronachaarya falls on the ground with multiple arrows around his body! He accepts defeat and slowly moves away from there! Subsequently, Bhishmachaarya comes forward for the battle. Arjuna pays his due respects towards them, and the battle begins between the two! Again, an intense and a fierce battle rages between the two and both are equally invincible! However, Arjuna’s “Gaandeepa” bow has the last laugh as he employs it with full throttle! Arrow after arrow pierces through the air like lightning as Arjuna exhibits who he really is! Bhishmachaarya at one stage, couldn’t resist Arjuna’s persistent firing of arrows as he succumbed to defeat slowly!
As the two veterans are defeated, Sage Kripachaarya comes forward and he too meets with the same result! Finally, Karna and Duryodhana come forward. Arjuna warns Karna to run away to safety instead of giving a fight and experiencing defeat! However, as Arjuna says thus, Karna’s ego gets hurt and he is up against Arjuna for a fight. Again, a marquee battle results and at the end, Karna falls unconscious on the ground, unable to bear Arjuna’s relentless pursuit. It is the same case with Duryodhana too next, as he too falls unconscious! However, Duryodhana quickly wakes up and he understands that there is no point in fighting Arjuna any further! Instead, Duryodhana now wants to resort to the second plan (Plan B). Now what is this plan B of Duryodhana? What is he going to do now? Let us wait till the next episode to find out! Stay tuned! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 