In the previous episode, we had witnessed the proceedings of Day Seven of the Kurukshetra battle, wherein yet another day went down as a “draw” for both sides, with no significant results on record. However, the marquee event of Day Seven was the fight between Guru Dhronachaarya and King Virat’s son, wherein the latter gets killed by Guru Dhronachaarya. Meanwhile, Duryodhana and Drishtadhyumna come face to face with a fierce show of strength on either sides, only to finish with a draw! At the end of the seventh day thus, neither of the sides faced considerable destruction and it was an even contest.
Now moving forward thus, we go into the proceedings of the eighth day – The Kauravas come up with the “Koorma Vyuham” and the Paandavas come up with the “Shringaara Vyuham”. As both the armies clash with each other, Bheemasena starts with a bang in the morning itself! He goes on a rampage, killing several of Duryodhana’s brothers at a stretch! Meanwhile, a fierce battle ensues between Iraavaan and Alambusha. As many of us might know, Alambusha has a unique expertise of performing the “Maaya-Yuddham” (Illusionary warfare). He can suddenly vanish in the middle of the fight and re-appear from somewhere else, thus completely blinding the opposition. This Alambusha is motivated by Duryodhana to go for a fierce war against the Paandava army. As Alambusha is being asked by Duryodhana to enter the battlefield, Bhagawan Krishna decides that Iraavaan is the right person to tackle him. Thus Yudishtra, under the instruction of Bhagawan Krishna, requests Iraavaan to take over the battle for the day to tackle Alambusha. A fierce battle ensues between the two of them, which lasts for several hours without a break. None of them are willing to let go of the war and both of them perform an equivalent “Maaya-Yuddham” with each other! Finally at the end, Alambusha emerges more powerful and he kills Iraavaan, resulting in the first heavy loss for the Paandava camp.
It is to be noted that Iraavaan is an extremely powerful warrior, however, he was not able to match up completely to Alambusha’s illusionary war tactics beyond a point. Thus, the Kauravas draw their first blood in the form of Iraavaan. Meanwhile, Bheemasena sends Ghatodgaja to the battlefield once again for a fierce retaliation. Ghatodgaja destroys whoever comes in front of him, as he is on a full rampage mode right from the word “Go”! Bhagawan Krishna and Arjuna are witnessing this spectacular war from the other end. Ghatodgaja is extremely powerful and he joins hands with Bheemasena to run through the Kaurava army! As Ghatodgaja is walking in front, the Kaurava army is scared to bits upon seeing his huge form itself! Ghatodgaja captures several “Senapatis” with his huge hands, crushes them and throws them away! This infuriates Duryodhana and Co. who in turn launch an assault against Ghatodgaja. However, none of them are able to even come forward and stand in front of him even for a few minutes! Ghatodgaja’s job is very simple here – Capture the warriors, crush them and throw them away! Given his immense strength, Ghatodgaja does this with ease, as Bhishmachaarya feels scared of the unfolding disaster! Thus, Bhishmachaarya stops the war for the eighth day and the armies return back to the tents.
Thus, on the eighth day, even though the Paandavas lost Iraavaan, they have the upper edge – Thanks to the rampage of Bheemasena who managed to kill several Kaurava brothers on the trot, and to Ghatodgaja’s last-minute heroics! So for today, let us understand up to this point and we shall witness what happened next during the next episode! Stay tuned! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 