In the previous episode, we witnessed an interesting conversation that happened between Bhagawan Krishna and Saatyaki. The content of the discussion was however the same – Why did Karna not employ the “Shakti-Aayudham” upon Arjuna for all these days? What made him reluctant to pick up a fight with Arjuna and why didn’t he use this powerful weapon then and there? For this, Bhagawan Krishna reveals yet another important secret to Saatyaki that it was His divine “Anugraha” upon Arjuna, which made Karna “forget” that he was possessing the “Shakti Aayudham” with him. In other words, from the eleventh day, all the way till the fourteenth, Karna wasn’t even aware that he had a powerful weapon with him, with which he could neutralize Arjuna within just a few minutes! Had he done so, the war would have been completed on the eleventh day itself wherein Arjuna would have died and Yudishtra might have been captured alive by Duryodhana. However, since this war is happening for the cause of “Dharma”, Bhagawan Krishna is playing an active role in this, not by fighting the war, but doing a lot of “background work” like this.
Moving on further thus, we come to the end of the “Ghatodgaja-Vadha Parva”. Now we are going to enter into the next “Upa-Parva” of the main “Dhrona Parva”, which is called “Dhrona-Vadha Parva”. As the name suggests, here is where Guru Dhronachaarya is going to be killed finally. Let us see what happens. Coming back to the war scene at Kurukshetra, we are currently in the night time of the fourteenth day. After Ghatodgaja was killed by Karna’s “Shakti-Aayudham”, the entire camp on both sides was tired and exhausted. Hence, Arjuna makes an announcement thus, “Oh Paandava and Kaurava camps! It is already late into the night and within the next few hours, we are going to witness the daybreak of tomorrow. We should continue the war tomorrow as well, during the daytime and hence, for now let us stop fighting and let us rest wherever we are right now. If we are on chariots, let us sleep in our chariot itself. If we are on top of animals, let us rest then and there. If we are soldiers on the ground, let us lie down on the ground then and there. Let us not waste time marching back all the way to our tents!”
The moment Arjuna says this, everybody in both the camps are very happy and satisfied! In this one aspect, both the Paandava and Kaurava camps come together! If it is sleep and food, we will also forget everything won’t we? If we’re extremely tired, we will just fall asleep wherever we are, irrespective of whether we are at an enemy’s place. If we’re extremely hungry at the same time, even if an enemy gives us food, we would only think of satisfying our hunger more than anything else. Thus, it doesn’t matter whether we are at a friend’s or at an enemy’s place if we’re overpowered by tiredness and hunger, isn’t it? This is exactly the same situation that unfolds at the Kurukshetra battlefield as well. Thus, both the camps fall asleep for a while wherever they are, and there is a pin-drop silence everywhere.
Next morning when people wake up, Duryodhana is feeling extremely sad. He is feeling the pinch now after fourteen long days wherein all his people around him are passing away every day. With this agitated mindset, he straight goes to Guru Dhronachaarya and says thus, “Oh Guru Dhronachaarya! You’ve been leading our forces for quite a while now, yet, there is no victory in sight for us till this moment. Hence I’m planning to do one thing – I’m going to split our forces into three – You lead one division of the forces and start fighting. Meanwhile, I shall ask my brother Ducchaasna and my friend Karna to lead the other two divisions. I shall go along with both of them here and there and fight. Ultimately if we do this, we might be able to win over Arjuna!”
As Duryodhana says thus, Guru Dhronachaarya becomes extremely unhappy! He is deeply pained at the way in which Duryodhana is insulting him time and again. This is not the first time that Duryodhana is saying such pin-pricking words. Hence, deeply pained by Duryodhana’s words of splitting the camp into several divisions and posing repeated questions on his leadership and style, Guru Dhronachaarya is now going to take an important pledge in front of Duryodhana now. Readers should remember that we’re at the commencement of the fifteenth day of the Kurukshetra war where this conversation is happening between the duo early in the morning. So for today, let us understand up to this point and we shall continue with Guru Dhronachaarya’s pledge and what is going to happen subsequently after that! Stay tuned! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 