We’re at a very critical juncture amidst the “Clash of the Titans” wherein Bheemasena and Duryodhana are involved in a very intense fight with each other. The “Gadha Yuddham” between the duo goes on for several hours, but without any conclusion. Both of them exchange several fatal blows, but neither of them are able to neutralize the other. Bheemasena is not able to understand the secret behind Duryodhana’s escapism from all his blows, and vice versa. At one point, losing patience, Bhagawan Krishna passes on a subtle message to Arjuna and in turn, Arjuna appeals to Bheemasena, reminding him of the pledge that he had taken during the day of the gambling game. Arjuna passes on a coded message to Bheemasena to target Duryodhana’s thighs, which wanted Draupati to sit on them during the gambling episode. Accordingly, Bheemasena gets the message and tries to attack Duryodhana on his thighs with his “Gadha”. However, Duryodhana is smart enough to escape Bheemasena’s “Gadha” from hitting his thighs. This makes Bheemasena think again, as even this strategy doesn’t work! So now what does Bheemasena do?
Moving on thus, as the fight still goes on unabated, Duryodhana is getting stronger by the moment. He clearly has understood Bheemasena’s plot to attack his thighs to kill him. He ensures that Bheemasena doesn’t succeed in targeting his thighs by jumping up and ducking down whenever Bheemasena is trying to attack him. Now, Bheemasena has to reframe his strategy a bit. He thinks thus, “Ok! Now I’ve to fight as per the Yuddha-Neeti”, wherein I cannot legally target Duryodhana’s thighs. However, Duryodhana’s weakness lies in his thighs only. Maybe I should target his thighs when he is jumping up. If I do so, it would not be against the “Yuddha-Neethi”! This is because, given the normal condition when Duryodhana is standing on the ground and fighting, the “Gadha” would have targeted his stomach / waist, but since he’s jumping up, his thighs get “accidentally” hit by the “Gadha”. Hence, this will not be against “Yuddha-Neethi”! So the only chance for me to kill Duryodhana is to target his thighs as he is on the jump!”
Thinking thus, Bheemasena waits for the opportunity. Meanwhile, the fight continues intensely. Duryodhana is still showing gimmicks to escape Bheemasena’s wrath, and in turn he gives lusty blows to Bheemasena as well. Both of them are badly injured in the fight. At one point, Duryodhana is giving fatal blows on Bheemasena’s chest, and he collapses for a few seconds. Composing himself again, Bheemasena gets up once again and tries to target Duryodhana’s waist portion with his “Gadha”. Bheemasena intentionally does this, so that Duryodhana could not understand his strategy. He makes Duryodhana slightly confused. On one hand, Bheemasena was trying to target Duryodhana’s thighs, which he’s jumping up and down to tackle. However suddenly now, Bheemasena is avoiding Duryodhana’s thighs when he is on the ground! Now, as Duryodhana jumps up in anticipation of Bheemasena’s “Gadha”, Bheemasena sees this as the greatest opportunity and throws his “Gadha” towards his thighs, in the pretext of aiming for his stomach. Thus, the “Gadha” hits Duryodhana’s thighs and plunders through both of them! Unable to bear the impact of Bheemasena’s “Gadha”, Duryodhana falls on the ground with a huge squeal of pain! He is bleeding profusely from his broken thighs! Bheemasena has clearly targeted Duryodhana’s weak point. He was extremely powerful with his “Maaya-Shakti” everywhere else in his body, but not in his thighs. He had thought of securing his upper part of the body with his mother’s eye power, but did not anticipate getting hit below the waist. Thus, Bheemasena targets Duryodhana and hits him where it hurts the most!
Unable to bear the pain, Duryodhana lets out a huge cry as he experiences the pain of death! Narrating the entire set of proceedings, Sanjaya tells King Dhritarashtra thus, “Oh King of Hastinapura! Your son Duryodhana is thus hit by Bheemasena on his thighs and is now grimacing with pain! He is almost dead, but still, he is holding on to his breath! He’s refusing to give up! Of course, on one hand, I appreciate Duryodhana’s will power and determination as a warrior, however, the unfortunate reality is that he is on the wrong side, and all his determination doesn’t make any sense!” So for today, let us understand up to this point and we shall continue this discussion into the next episode as well! Stay tuned!
The Indian Dharma 