In the previous episode, we had witnessed a timely intervention of Sage Vyaasa, as a dejected Ashwatthama is leaving the Kurukshetra battlefield. Shattered by the death of his father in an unethical and an unexpected fashion, Ashwatthama tried to counter attack Yudishtra and Co. with the “Narayana Asthram” and the “Aagneya Asthram”, but those attempts also ended up in a failure! At this stage as Ashwatthama leaves the battlefield, Sage Vyaasa advises him to shun this revengeful attitude as Bhagawan Krishna will never allow the Paandavas to lose this battle. No matter whatever Duryodhana and Co. strategise to win this war, they are going to end up in failure, as it is a question of “Dharma” vs. “Adharma”. Duryodhana, unfortunately has landed up on the side of “Adharma” and because of this, he is going to end up being on the losing side. Hence, Sage Vyaasa gives important advice to Ashwatthama to shun this “Adharma” path atleast now, so as to avoid further destruction and disaster to the Kaurava clan.
With this, we come to the end of the main “Dhrona Parva” and moving on further, we now enter into the next main “Parva” called “Karna Parva”. Here again, we start with the introduction given by Sanjaya to King Dhritarashtra, just like the previous “Parvas” which describe the war at Kurukshetra. Sanjaya says thus, “Oh King Dhritarashtra! As Guru Dhronachaarya is dead, Ashwatthama leaves the battlefield! Sage Vyaasa has rendered important pieces of advice to Ashwatthama, and with this, Duryodhana strategized what to do next! The entire group decides that Karna should lead the army on Day Sixteen at Kurukshetra. Accordingly, Karna takes over the responsibility. Day Sixteen and Seventeen witnessed huge fights and marquee events, but towards the end, Karna gets killed by Arjuna as his head is chopped off! King Shalya too had to breathe his last! Now Duryodhana is left with very little manpower as everybody around him are dead! Now what is your son going to do? He is left alone by all his people! This is the situation I dreaded for years now, and it has come true! Oh King Dhritarashtra! For all the “Adharma” that happened at Hastinapura courtroom, Bhagawan Krishna has given a befitting reply on the Kurukshetra battlefield!”
Saying thus, Sanjaya sheds tears, and this breaks King Dhritarashtra’s heart as well, upon hearing the fact that his son Duryodhana is left alone to defend himself! This is just the introduction that Sanjaya has given here. We’ve already witnessed in our previous episodes that Sanjaya has a unique way of narrating events. He first starts with the end-result and then goes into the details of how things unfolded! Here too, we’re witnessing the same thing. Now, as Sanjaya explains what happens to Karna, King Dhritarashtra requests Sanjaya to narrate things in detail, as to what exactly happened during Day Sixteen and Day Seventeen, along with all the circumstances that led to Karna’s demise on the battlefield.
This similar question is being asked by King Janame-Jaya to Sage Vaishampayana as well. Readers should carefully remember our earlier episodes here – This entire Mahabharata story is being narrated by Sage Vaishampayana to King Janame-Jaya, who is King Parikshit’s son. As we know, King Parikshit was the grandson of Arjuna, who ascended to the throne as Yudishtra’s successor, after the death of the Upa-Paandavas. Every incident in the Mahabharata story is important to be remembered and readers should make note of them to ensure continuity in understanding. Hence, King Janame-Jaya asks Sage Vaishampayana thus, “Oh Sage! Why have you finished the proceedings of Days Sixteen and Seventeen so quickly? Please explain how Karna fought the battle on these two days and how he was cornered to death? Who killed Karna and how?”
This question leads to the narrative of what conspired on Day Sixteen to begin with! So for now, the Kauravas and Paandavas are getting ready to commence the battle on Day Sixteen. Karna marks his attendance on the battlefield with a huge army, and a super-charged Arjuna is rearing to have a go at him. Now there is no Bhishmachaarya or Guru Dhronachaarya or Jayatrada or Ashwatthama to protect Duryodhana. The dynamics of the war has completely changed. How is Karna going to handle this deft situation? Let us wait till the next episode to commence proceedings of Day Sixteen at Kurukshetra! Stay tuned!
The Indian Dharma 