In the previous episode, we had witnessed Yudishtra seeking blessings from King Shalya after Bhishmachaarya, Guru Dhronachaarya and Sage Kripachaarya. Yudishtra has only one request from King Shalya – To somehow keep Arjuna off Karna’s radar and to somehow prevent Karna from killing Arjuna. King Shalya too accepts Yudishtra’s request and decides that he would be the charioteer when Karna comes to the battlefield to fight Arjuna. We shall see at a later stage as to what King Shalya does to prevent Karna from killing Arjuna. But for now, we are about to commence the proceedings of day one of the war at Kurukshetra, wherein all of them have taken their pole positions. Throughout the discussion of the war proceedings, we’re going to witness several “Vyugam” (Strategies) that both the Paandava and the Kaurava camps formulated and implemented on the battlefield, which is extremely interesting and absorbing in nature. I’m sure all of us are looking forward for the same, and let us begin the proceedings.
So commencing with the day one proceedings – The “Vyugam” that is being formed by the Kaurava army is the “Vajra Vyugam”. In simpler terms, the Kaurava army shaped itself up in such a way that the Paandava army cannot breach their way inside to attack them. Several layers of security are being created one after the other, so that the task for the Paandava army is really cut out! As the signal for the war is given, the Paandava army rushes through the various layers of security with its own counter-strategies. In the beginning, a huge battle breaks out between Abhimanyu and Bhishmachaarya! Readers should note that Abhimanyu is the son of Arjuna and is the junior-most warrior in the entire battlefield, whereas Bhishmachaarya is the senior-most as all of us know! So it’s a fight between David and Golliath at Kurukshetra on Day one! 🙂
Thus, Bhishmachaarya and Abhimanyu come face to face in front of each other and it results in a huge faceoff between the two! Bhishmachaarya’s prowess with the bow and arrow is anyone’s guess, however, the youngster Abhimanyu is giving Bhishmachaarya a tough fight and a run for his money! Arrows are exchanged between the two at lightning speeds and both of them try to counter-attack each other! As this happens, Bhishmachaarya gets amazed with Abhimanyu’s expertise in handling weapons and thinks for a moment thus, “Oh wow! This child is much stronger and capable than I thought! Initially I was of the opinion that I can easily finish off Abhimanyu but it is not the case. This child is more powerful and trained than many of my students whom I’ve trained personally till now! Of course, I did not train his father Arjuna and the others till the end and I handed them over to Guru Dhronachaarya after a while. But this Abhimanyu is a class apart from all of them! Hence I do not want to kill Abhimanyu in this battle! He is a great resource to any army and he should be nurtured rather than being killed! The world needs warriors like him to stand up and perform!”
Thinking thus, Bhishmachaarya slowly moves away from that place, even as Abhimanyu wants to fight more and more. Meanwhile on the other side, a fierce battle endures between King Shalya and Utthara. We’ve seen earlier that this Utthara is the successor of the Viraata Desha and he is now getting killed on the first day of the war itself! Next in line is Utthara’s brother by name “Shweta”. This Shweta is intercepted by Bhishmachaarya from the other side and he is killed on the spot by the veteran Bhishmachaarya within no time! Thus, at the end of the first day, the Kaurava army seem to have the upper hand, without much losses on their side. However, the Paandava army, as we’ve seen now, has lost two important warriors from the Viraata Desha! Abhimanyu would also have been history, however, Bhishmachaarya decided to let him go! So for today, let us understand up to this point and we shall wait till the next episode to continue this important discussion further! Stay tuned! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 