In the previous episode, we had witnessed a great revelation made by Bhishmachaarya when Duryodhana claims to have found out the whereabouts of Paandavas before the “Agnyaata Vaasam” period is over. As per the rule we might be aware that if the Paandavas are sighted before the end of the “Agnyaata Vaasam” period, they should once again go to the forest for the next 12 years, and subsequently they should undergo a thirteenth year of “Agnyaata Vaasam”. Now, more than winning the war against Arjuna, Duryodhana is steadfast in announcing to the entire “Kaurava” camp that he has found out Arjuna’s whereabouts before they complete the “Agnyaata Vaasam”. However, Bhishmachaarya thunders that as per the “Chandra-Panchaangam” calculation, the Paandavas have already finished their “Agnyaata Vaasam” five months ago! Bhishmachaarya also explains that he doesn’t understand the logic behind the Paandavas extending their “Agnyaata-Vaasam” period without any reason. This claim made by Bhishmachaarya sends shock waves across the “Kaurava” camp and Duryodhana is surely simmering with anger! Now what is Duryodhana’s reaction going to be? Let us continue witnessing today!
As Bhishmachaarya thunders thus, Duryodhana simmers with anger as expected! So now, Duryodhana cannot argue anything, as the arithmetic seems to be correct! Even if we look from the “Surya-Panchaangam” calculation, five days have passed by after the “Agnyaata Vaasam” period is over! Hence, according to both the calculations, it is now confirmed that the Paandavas have successfully completed the “Agnyaata-Vaasam” and are now completely eligible to return back to Indraprastha and stake claim for their kingdom. Duryodhana has completely missed a trick here! Hence, as per the advice of Bhishmachaarya, the only way now to stop Arjuna and Co. is to wage a battle! Anyway, Arjuna is out there in the middle and is singlehandedly taking on the Kaurava army, Bhishmachaarya asks Duryodhana to think of ways of defeating Arjuna, rather than making claims!
Thus, Duryodhana now focuses on how to defeat Arjuna. Now that all of them have individually tasted defeat in the hands of Arjuna, Duryodhana decides that it is time now to launch an all-out assault on him! He instructs his army to jointly attack Arjuna from all four directions! Till now we’ve seen Bhishmachaarya, Guru Dhronachaarya, etc. attacking Arjuna individually and everybody tasting defeat. Now Duryodhana wants all of them to attack Arjuna together. As the army surrounds Arjuna’s chariot, Utthara Kumara is damn scared! He doesn’t even understand what is happening around him! First of all, it was a rude shock earlier that the sober music and dance teacher in the Viraata Desha is none other than Arjuna himself! Secondly, Utthara Kumara has never seen such an intense war ever in his life! Arjuna is teaching him live lessons as to how to fight a war single handedly! Now, Arjuna is getting ready to face an all-out assault!
As Utthara-Kumara looks on, Arjuna flexes his powerful “Gaandeepa” bow and arrows are flying from it on all four directions! Within a wink of an eye, Arjuna changes the “Gaandeepa” bow from his left hand to his right hand (“Savya-Saachi” or Ambidextrous characteristic) and even before anyone predicts from which direction the arrow would strike, a flurry of arrows strike Bhishmachaarya, Guru Dhronachaarya, Sage Kripachaarya, Duryodhana, Karna, etc. All of them are struggling to face one man in the war! Even though the entire army plagues Arjuna with all its arrows, Arjuna is neutralizing all of them single-handedly and with ease! As time progresses, Bhishmachaarya, Guru Dhronachaarya, Sage Kripachaarya, etc. face defeat one after the other! However, given the prowess of all these people, they wake up again from defeat and start firing Arjuna with arrows from all directions! As Arjuna continues his fight, he quickly makes out a plan thus – “Oh! Why am I wasting time by fighting all these people with a flurry of arrows? I should make all of them fall unconscious on the ground and the purpose of this war is not to kill anyone. The main purpose is to retrieve all the cows of the Viraata Desha and hand them over to the king safely. Hence, the only way to go about it is to fire the “Mohana-Asthra” on all of them!
With this, Arjuna fires the “Mohana-Asthra” on the entire army! One arrow manifests into a thousand arrows with the powerful “Mantra” of the “Mohana-Asthra” and this makes the entire Kaurava army succumb at once! All of them including the veterans fall on to the ground unconscious! With this, Arjuna succeeds and defeats the entire Kaurava army single-handedly, and for today, let us understand up to this point! We shall continue this discussion further in the next episode to witness how Arjuna retrieved the cows from the clutches of the Kaurava army! Stay tuned for more updates! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 