We’re in the midst of Day Eighteen, wherein we’ve witnessed three important people from the Kaurava camp, breathing their last – First to go was Sudarshana (Duryodhana’s lone surviving brother), second was Sahuni and the third was King Shalya himself! We’ve seen that for the Eighteenth Day, King Shalya had taken over as the “Senapati” and simultaneously all of them are getting killed one after the other. This leaves Duryodhana all alone to defend himself! Of course, a few people like Ashwatthama and Sage Kripachaarya are with him, but this is not enough to stop the mighty Paandavas, under the able guidance of Bhagawan Krishna. Narrating all this to King Dhritarashtra, Sanjaya explains that for all which Duryodhana and Co. did to the Paandavas on that gambling game episode, they are reaping the fruits of all their actions of “Adharma”. With this, we come to the end of the first “Upa-Parva” under the “Shalya Parva”.
Now moving on further, as we move on, Sanjaya explains to King Dhritarashtra further – “Oh King Dhritarashtra! Let me tell you further as to what happened at Kurukshetra after the demise of these three frontline warriors. Bheemasena and Arjuna teamed up together and wreaked havoc amidst an already depleted Kaurava army. When we began on Day One, we had eleven “Akshauhinis” of the army with us. But on Day Eighteen, we are hardly left with half an “Akshauhini”! Even within that, several foot soldiers, warriors seated over several animals like horses and elephants fled away from the battlefield, fearing Bheemasena’s Arjuna’s aggression. Both of them entered into the Kaurava army, which is currently leaderless, and destroyed all the horses, elephants, foot soldiers, second-rung warriors, etc. from several territories! The entire Kurukshetra battlefield currently is absolutely chaotic in nature, with nobody knowing whom they are attacking! As I mention about the mass destruction on the Kaurava side, it is not very good on the Paandava camp either. Only half “Akshauhini” of the army remained on their side too! This is the scale of destruction that we’re talking about at the moment! Oh King Dhritarashtra! Do you even realize atleast now, as to who is responsible for all these to happen? The sole responsibility is on you! As a king, you thwarted the responsibility of taming your son and bringing him on the path of “Dharma”. You encouraged Sahuni to play his games within the kingdom to his whims and fancies. You failed to ask a single question against him till date. Now see what has conspired! Afterall, who is Sahuni? He was just another “Praja” (person) in your kingdom, and the importance that you and Duryodhana gave to him was completely unwarranted! Several Maharishis including Sage Vyaasa himself came and rendered advice to you. However, you never paid heed to any of his words! Now what is the use of crying and fainting here? Accept the bad news and move on!”
Saying thus, Sanjaya slams King Dhritarashtra left, right and centre for his complete irresponsible behavior all these years, which has now cost his entire kingdom and his entire family! Not only this – Hastinapura has lost its successors and their subsequent generations as well! We’ve seen that Duryodhana’s sons, Karna’s sons, etc. were also killed in this war, isn’t it? Nobody was spared in this onslaught! Even on the other side, at the moment the Paandavas and their sons (“Upa-Paandavas”) are alive, but in some time, we’re going to see even the “Upa-Paandavas” being killed! Hence, this Kurukshetra war is nothing less than a huge “Pralaya-Kaala” created by Bhagawan Krishna to destroy the entire “Adharma” that was wreaking havoc in this world all this while! With this, we move into the next “Upa-Parva” called “Hrada-Pravesha Parva”, wherein Duryodhana is now going to hide himself inside a huge lake.
As the entire fiasco unfolds in Kurukshetra and when Duryodhana understands that there’s nobody to defend him any further, he is completely dejected beyond words! He is a man of broken heart at the moment! Unable to bear the loss of his dear uncle, brother and King Shalya, Duryodhana thinks that he has had enough of this fight! With this heavy feeling, he starts to walk slowly away from the battlefield, not knowing what to do! It is in the meantime Saatyaki captures Sanjaya and imprisons him for a while, until Sage Vyaasa himself comes down and requests Saatyaki to release Sanjaya. Sage Vyaasa has been observing that King Dhritarashtra has not been receiving updates from Kurukshetra for a while now. Only upon investigating through his “Tapas” (Power of penance), Sage Vyaasa realizes that Sanjaya is absent at the Hastinapura palace and he had been captured! Immediately thus, Sage Vyaasa makes his way to the battlefield at Kurukshetra and has a talk with Saatyaki. With Sage Vyaasa’s request, Saatyaki frees Sanjaya and he returns back to the Hastinapura palace.
So for today, let us understand up to this point and in the next episode, we shall continue this further! Stay tuned! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 