In the previous episode, we had witnessed Bhishmachaarya getting into an ego clash with Duryodhana, as the latter is somehow not convinced with the performance of the Kaurava army for the past eight days. Till now, nothing significant has been achieved by the Kaurava army, which prompts Duryodhana to change the strategy a bit. Thus, he wants to bring in Karna to fight the battle alongside Bhishmachaarya, which both Bhishmachaarya and Karna would not agree to because of a prolonged rivalry between the duo. Hence, Duryodhana makes a pitch that Bhishmachaarya should rest for a day or two and allow Karna to take over his position. As Duryodhana proposes this, Bhishmachaarya is shrewd enough to understand Duryodhana’s intention and thus takes a strong pledge that he would show his complete might on the battlefield the next day.
Thus, after all these heated conversations, Day Nine of the war commences the next day. This day is going to be an extremely decisive one for both the camps and let us see how. The Kauravas come up with a Vyugam called “Sarvatopatram”. The intensity of attacks from either side multiply several folds all of a sudden. Bhishmachaarya comes in front of Arjuna for the second time now. A huge war breaks out between the duo as Bhagawan Krishna is keenly watching this evenly-matched contest. We should remember that earlier when Bhishmachaarya confronted Arjuna, neither of the two could breach each other’s fortress and Bhishmachaarya’s fury turned towards Bhagawan Krishna, inflicting Him with several blows! Subsequently, when Bhagawan Krishna got furious with the approach from both of them, He Himself takes out the “Chakra-Aayudham” and rushes towards Bhishmachaarya, only to be stopped by Arjuna. So now, for the second time when this contest begins, Bhagawan Krishna is motivating Arjuna to go for the kill every time and as this happens, the fight becomes more and more intense. Arjuna and Bhishmachaarya trade several “Asthras” upon each other, but nothing ends up successfully upon each other. Arjuna is a great expert in tackling every kind of “Asthra” and he successfully puts them to waste! Similar is the case with Bhishmachaarya and if Arjuna has such amounts of prowess, there is no question about Bhishmachaarya’s capabilities as well.
As a token of motivation, Bhagawan Krishna says to Arjuna thus, “Oh Arjuna! Great going! Please remember the pledge that you’ve taken earlier. You’ve pledged in front of all of us that you’re the one who’s going to kill Bhishmachaarya! Hence, live up to your words and do not move away from them!” With these words of motivation, Arjuna’s anger increases manifold as he attacks with more and more intensity. However, the war that Bhishmachaarya does on the ninth day is nothing less than a spectacle in itself! The intensity shown by Bhishmachaarya on the battlefield makes the entire Paandava army run for shelter! Whoever comes in front of Bhishmachaarya at that moment is not spared by him. We’ve seen that Bhishmachaarya is already amidst a huge anger and frustration, and coupled with his infinite capabilities, the entire Kurukshetra battlefield is shivering with fear! This is a marquee war that is taking place and as time progresses, Bhishmachaarya is slowly emerging successful! The entire Paandava army is running here and there with fear. It’s chaos everywhere as Bhishmachaarya unleashes his war capabilities at full throttle!
Thus, it is evident here that Arjuna can’t handle Bhishmachaarya single handedly. The pledge that Arjuna had taken, stands exposed and he is struggling to contain Bhishmachaarya’s aggressive intent on Day Nine! Crossing over Arjuna thus, Bhishmachaarya launches a scathing attack on the rest of the Paandava army and kills thousands of soldiers and other artillery on the Paandava side, thus inflicting heavy losses! We can see here that for the entire ninth day, Bhishmachaarya is the hero and he single-handedly almost wins the battle for Duryodhana. Thus, at the end of the ninth day, it is evident that the Kaurava army under the leadership of Bhishmachaarya has finally found its feet again! The Paandava army is reduced to rubbles by Bhishmachaarya, which leaves a lot to ponder over after the war for the day comes to a close! So for today let us understand up to this point and we shall witness what discussions and strategic changes took place during the night, after the ninth day war is over! Stay tuned for an interesting accord! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 