The Indian Dharma

In the previous episode, we had witnessed the commencement of the marquee battle between Arjuna and Karna. After dodging for nearly six to seven days, Arjuna and Karna come in front of each other for one final assault. Both of them are raring to go at each other and as Arjuna arrives in front of Karna, King Shalya tries once again to demotivate Karna and make him mentally weak. Unfazed by such repeated attempts from King Shalya, Karna advances forward to take on Arjuna. The battle commences as both of them exhibit extraordinary prowess with their “Asthras” and arrows upon each other. As the battle goes on, the entire “Aakaasha” (Sky) gets murky with intensity. The “Devas” stop and view this interesting and intense battle between the two of them. As the battle progresses, both of them do not know how to neutralize each other. However, Arjuna quickly thinks of a plan and turns his guns towards Vrishasena, who is Karna’s son. Vrishasena is also a great warrior, however, he had to succumb to Arjuna’s prowess. Upon seeing Vrishasena dead in front of his eyes, Karna’s confidence and motivation starts breaking down into pieces! Unable to bear the separation of his son, Karna breaks down into tears, even as Arjuna is standing in front of him, calling him for a fierce show of strength. Arjuna laments Karna in due course that he also had undergone the same pain when Abhimanyu was killed a few days ago in a ghastly manner, especially when he was weaponless. This taunt re-energises Karna and his ego gets hurt as Arjuna continues to abuse him. 

Thus, backing himself up, Karna gets up and gets ready for the ultimate round of battle. A huge war breaks out between the two, with a greater level of intensity now. Karna is pumped up to somehow kill Arjuna, as a token of revenge for Vrishasena’s demise. On the other hand, Arjuna is also pumped up, thanks to Bhagawan Krishna’s constant motivation from the side. Both of them engage in a huge exchange of arrows, even as the “Devas” (Celestial Beings) and the others gather above the skies to watch this marquee event. On one hand, the Devas want Arjuna to win this battle, and the others want Karna to win. So who is going to ultimately have the last laugh? The battle continues further! Karna now decides that normal arrows with high speeds aren’t going to serve the purpose. He turns to some of his powerful “Asthras” that he has in his kitty. One such powerful “Asthra” is the “Naaga-Asthra”, which is extremely poisonous in nature, just like how a snake bite can be! Karna decides that the only way to kill Arjuna is through the “Naaga-Asthra” and he takes out his arrow for this purpose. 

Realizing the intensity and the danger in the form of the “Naaga-Asthram” approaching Arjuna, Bhagawan Krishna has to now act fast, yet again. The “Naaga-Asthram” doesn’t have many counter options and hence, Arjuna wouldn’t be able to neutralize it. As Karna is about to release the “Asthram”, King Shalya plays a key part here – In fact, this is the moment that Yudishtra was wanting King Shalya to act swiftly! As Karna is aiming the “Naaga-Asthram” to hit Arjuna’s head, King Shalya mocks Karna and says thus, “Oh Karna! Look at the irony! A great warrior should know the proper methodology to employ “Asthrams”, and you seem to be completely clueless about the same! Does any good warrior aim any “Asthram” on to the head of the enemy? You should instead try and hit Arjuna on his chest and this will create more impact! I’m very surprised that you do not know even this basic lesson. Didn’t Parasurama teach you all these? Maybe he would have taught you, but your “Mandha-Buddhi” (blemish & lack of intelligence) did not grasp it properly from him!” 

In fact, the message that King Shalya conveys to Karna is extremely correct! Karna is making a mistake here by targeting Arjuna on his head and King Shalya is rightly pointing out his mistake. However, the way in which King Shalya is putting forth his argument hurts Karna’s ego once again. Irritated by King Shalya’s earlier demotivating narratives as well, Karna fails to grasp this important message hidden in this sarcastic narrative! His ego is being hurt and King Shalya clearly wins this mind-game here! Thus, Karna ignores King Shalya’s words and gives back a mouthful of banter to King Shalya! Now Karna is going to aim the “Naaga-Asthram” on to Arjuna’s head and on the other side, Bhagawan Krishna gets tensed up! He hasn’t probably anticipated Karna to take this “Naaga-Asthram” out of his kitty to attack Arjuna! Now what does Bhagawan Krishna do? He has to act extremely quickly here! Karna is now releasing the “Naaga-Asthram” and is coming towards Arjuna with great speed! 

Upon looking at the “Naaga-Asthram” approaching, Arjuna is scared too! He doesn’t have a counter to it, and tells the same to Bhagawan Krishna by once again surrendering to His divine lotus feet, seeking protection! Now the onus is on Bhagawan to protect Arjuna! Stay tuned for the next episode to witness what Bhagawan Krishna is going to do next! 

We’re at a very important juncture of Day seventeen at Kurukshetra, wherein the feud between Yudishtra and Arjuna comes to an end and Arjuna is once again back on the battlefield with a new rigour! He is on a savage resolution to take down Karna. Bhagawan Krishna also comes to a conclusion that this is the right time to make Arjuna face Karna face-to-face. We’ve seen earlier that from the eleventh day onwards till today, Karna and Arjuna never came in front of each other even once for a full-fledged confrontation. Bhagawan Krishna was somehow steering Arjuna away from Karna all these days, but today, as Karna’s strength in terms of the “Asthras” and weapons has come down, Bhagawan Krishna decides that Arjuna should take on Karna now! Hence, the stage is set for a spectacular battle to begin. As Arjuna approaches Karna’s vicinity quickly, King Shalya senses it and informs Karna. However, as usual, the “Shalya-Saarathyam” has its own role to play. King Shalya once again gives a very demotivating accord to Karna thus, “Oh Karna! Look at how all the good omens are appearing in the sky! This signifies that Arjuna isn’t far away from where we are. He is coming towards you! Now let me see whether you will have the will power and guts to fight him down. Till now you were talking about so many things, weren’t you? Now let me see how you put all your words into action! You were boasting about yourself unwantedly, weren’t you? Now it is time to prove every single word that you had spoken!”

King Shalya continues further thus, “Oh Karna! Even now it is not too late! Listen to my words – Arjuna and Bhagawan Krishna combine is very difficult to win over! Rather than indulging in this useless act of fighting against them, it is better to go and surrender at Bhagawan’s divine lotus feet. This will save not only your life, but also the Kaurava clan to a great extent. You are thinking that you’re doing good to Duryodhana by fighting against Arjuna. But please understand that you’re only creating more and more disaster for him. If you surrender to Bhagawan now, He will not only protect you, but also the Kaurava clan including Duryodhana. This is my opinion. I’m sure you won’t listen to my words. Hence, start the fight if you really want to move ahead with it!” 

As King Shalya says thus in a very demotivating and an irritating manner, Karna is feeling angry on one side. However, he’s also feeling disgusted with the situation in which he is in right now! He also knows that this is a useless war and this is going to result in his demise. King Shalya is right. But Karna still thinks that his words are more damaging to him rather than a piece of advice which he can follow! The way King Shalya put forth his opinion has hurt Karna beyond limits! It is at this stage, Arjuna comes in front of Karna – For the first time in seventeen days! This is the beginning of one of the most important marquee battles at the Kurukshetra battlefield! The war begins and a huge fight breaks out between the duo! As Arjuna attacks Karna more and more, Karna’s son Vrishasena comes to his father’s defence. Now Arjuna has to fight a duel battle – One with Karna and the other with his son, Vrishasena. Now, Arjuna decides that if Karna should be defeated, his resolve and will power should be broken! Hence, he turns his attention towards Vrishasena, ignoring Karna for a while! A huge battle breaks out between Arjuna and Vrishasena. Vrishasena is equally powerful, but at the end, Arjuna manages to kill Vrishasena in front of Karna’s eyes! 

As Vrishasena breathes his last, Karna struggles to contain his agony. He bursts into tears and cries over the corpse of his son, right at the middle of the battlefield! This is a very sad event wherein a father loses his son right in front of his eyes. Karna is now experiencing an untold misery and this hurts him beyond limits. This breaks Karna’s confidence big-time! As Karna cries in agony, Arjuna says thus, “Oh Karna! Why are you crying now? Did you think the same way when my son Abhimanyu was murdered brutally by all of you together? At that time you joined Duryodhana’s gang and laughed at Abhimanyu’s corpse, didn’t you? Now it is time for the payback! You should experience the same agony that I experienced a few days ago! Now do you understand the pain?” 

These words from Arjuna irks Karna to the core! He is in extreme anger on one side and in extreme pain on the other! How is Karna going to tackle this situation? It is to be remembered that Arjuna is still right in front of him in the battlefield, calling him for a fight! So for today, let us understand up to this point and in the next episode, we shall witness how Karna is going to buckle himself up for the next round of the marquee battle! Stay tuned!

In the previous episode, we had witnessed Bhagawan Krishna somehow dozing off a huge fight that breaks out between Arjuna and Yudishtra, wherein Arjuna rushes to kill Yudishtra for abusing the “Gaandeepa”. However, Bhagawan Krishna makes a timely intervention by pulling Arjuna back and making him understand the long-term implications of such an act. If Yudishtra is killed, there’s no point in fighting this war for all these days, and not only that – The entire narrative of the Paandava brothers standing for “Dharma” gets defeated. However, in order to protect Arjuna’s “Pratignya”, Bhagawan Krishna invokes the “Shaastras” and asks Arjuna to say a few disrespectful words towards Yudishtra, which would be equivalent to killing him. Arjuna does so, and in this, he finds himself to be getting into a soup wherein he abuses his elder brother. According to the same “Shaastras”, if a younger brother is abusing the elder one, the younger brother is deemed to be killed. Hence, Arjuna now takes the sword in his hands and proceeds to kill himself! 

Now this is another problem that arises! Initially Arjuna wanted to kill Yudishtra and Bhagawan Krishna somehow dozed it off! Now Arjuna wants to kill himself, and this shocks Bhagawan Krishna and Yudishtra! Now Bhagawan Krishna quickly reacts yet again and says thus, “Oh Arjuna! Please wait! According to the same “Shaastras” which we are referring to at the moment, if you want to proceed further, there is yet another solution – If you scold yourself disrespectfully, it is equivalent to killing yourself! Hence, rather than physically killing yourself, please do this. By doing so, your “Pratignya” will be fulfilled, as well as your ego clash coming to a close!” As Bhagawan Krishna says thus, Arjuna feels that this is a wise choice and obeys His words verbatim! With this, the fight between Arjuna and Yudishtra comes to an end and both of them patch up with each other. Yudishtra says to Arjuna thus, Oh Arjuna! I know that your “Gaandeepa” is your prowess. Our focus today should be to somehow tame Karna and put an end to him, rather than getting into such infights. This will spoil our long-term mission as Bhagawan Krishna rightly says! Hence, get back to the battlefield and go for the kill without wasting any further time. I shall take care of myself!” 

Saying thus, Yudishtra sends Arjuna back to the battlefield and in the meanwhile, Bheemasena is engaged in a huge confrontation with several of Duryodhana’s brothers on the seventeenth day. In Arjuna’s absence, Bheemasena is single handedly taking on the Kaurava camp, and with his unprecedented aggression, kills several of Duryodhana’s brothers! This seventeenth day is turning out to be fateful for Duryodhana in several ways. Bheemasena is on a rampage mode and is killing one after the other, whoever comes in front of him! In the meanwhile, Karna is fighting at his best, killing several swathes of the Paandava army at different locations on the battlefield. Meanwhile, as Arjuna storms back into the battlefield, Bhagawan Krishna decides that now is the time that Arjuna should finally take on Karna! Till now we’ve seen that Bhagawan Krishna was somehow avoiding the Arjuna-Karna confrontation for several reasons, but now, Bhagawan Krishna thinks that enough is enough! Karna has been given several opportunities to change his course, but now it is too late. Arjuna has to confront Karna and the time has come for that! 

Thus, Bhagawan Krishna drives the chariot swiftly, taking him to the vicinity of Karna. As Arjuna is advancing towards Karna, King Shalya spots him first. He says to Karna once again thus, “Oh Karna! Look! Your enemy Arjuna is on his way! Look at the way Bhagawan Krishna is swiftly taking Arjuna to your vicinity. This shows their level of confidence, isn’t it? See how Arjuna looks everywhere with a sense of pride and humility at the same time! He knows his strengths! Whereas, look at you! Now upon seeing Arjuna, I’m sure you would have started having fear! You might not tell me, but I’m able to sense it! Oh Karna! Still things aren’t out of control – Do you really want to fight Arjuna and end up on the losing side? Do you really think this is a viable option? Oh Karna! Please understand – Unless and until Bhagawan Krishna is near Arjuna, you will never be able to win over him. Also, it is not easy to separate Bhagawan Krishna from Arjuna! It’s virtually impossible! Hence, my suggestion to you is that, you put down your weapons, go to Bhagawan Krishna and surrender on His divine lotus feet, seeking refuge, rather than unwantedly getting yourself killed in this useless battle!” 

As King Shalya says thus repeatedly, Karna really has a tinge of fear within him! But is he going to change his stance atleast now? Is he going to obey King Shalya’s words, or is he going to go ahead with his decision to fight with Arjuna? Let us wait till the next episode to find out! Stay tuned! 🙂

In the previous episode, we had witnessed a very important “twist” of events, wherein an unusual fight happens between Yudishtra and Arjuna! We’ve seen that Yudishtra had abruptly left the battlefield owing to the heavy defeat and subsequent injury inflicted by Karna. Upon Yudishtra getting himself treated in the tent fending to himself all alone, Bhagawan Krishna thinks that Arjuna can assist him for a brief period and hence He brings Arjuna to the tent. Upon Arjuna’s arrival, Yudishtra assumes that Arjuna has won over Karna and starts congratulating him for the same! However, Arjuna explains that he had come here without fulfilling the mission, which makes Yudishtra angry! He starts abusing Arjuna and his “Gaandeepa” by saying that he is a total flop and should rightly pass on the “Gaandeepa” to Bhagawan Krishna, who can finish the battle with ease. Yudishtra hurls a lot of scoldings upon Arjuna that for the past seventeen days he wasn’t able to achieve anything worth saying! This irks Arjuna as he gets insulted. With this, Arjuna straightaway pulls out his sword and rushes towards Yudishtra to chop off his head! 

Upon seeing this, Bhagawan Krishna is stunned! He had brought Arjuna here to help Yudishtra, but this has turned disastrous in no time! How can Yudishtra and Arjuna fight amongst each other like this? As Arjuna rushes towards Yudishtra, Bhagawan Krishna quickly pulls Arjuna back by holding his hands tight. Bhagawan Krishna gives a huge scolding to Arjuna thus, “Oh Arjuna! What is happening to you? Do you even realize the purpose for which I brought you here? I wanted you to be of help to Yudishtra, but do you even realize what you’re doing? Please stop this nonsense!” As Bhagawan says thus, He forcefully pulls Arjuna back! Arjuna replies to Bhagawan Krishna thus, “Oh Bhagawan Krishna! Now that you’re instructing me to stop from proceeding further to chop Yudishtra’s head off, I’m backing out! However, I’ve made a pledge that I will chop off the head of whoever insults my “Gaandeepa”. Yudishtra has done it and his head should be rightfully chopped off. Now you’re pulling me back and by doing so, you are not allowing me to execute my pledge. I know that by killing Yudishtra, we are going to end up in a disaster. But at the same time, Yudishtra has committed a crime and he should be duly punished! You’ve to tell me a way such that Yudishtra should be protected and at the same time, my pledge should also be fulfilled. Is there any way for this to happen?”

Upon hearing this, Bhagawan Krishna gets angry once again and He says thus, “Oh Arjuna! Oh Yudishtra! Do you know why I get frustrated with all of you? You take a so-called pledge and keep revolving around it at all times, without knowing the consequences behind it. You do not have a long-term vision and a long-term thinking. As a leader if you do not possess this quality, how on earth will you succeed? I’m trying my best to lead you through in the midst of all your meaningless pledges. Oh Arjuna! Please understand one thing – Just because you’ve taken a pledge, it doesn’t mean that it can be fulfilled every time! There might be situations which may not be conducive for it. Short-term thinking will always fail you!” As Bhagawan Krishna fires a salvo upon both of them, Arjuna slowly asks back thus, “Oh Bhagawan Krishna! I understand your point. So what can be done in this case now?” 

Now Bhagawan Krishna gives a beautiful suggestion here. He says thus, “Oh Arjuna! If you’ve to kill Yudishtra, it need not be physically done every time. The “Shaastras” say that if a younger brother disrespectfully addresses an elder brother, this itself signifies that the younger brother is killing the elder one. Yudishtra is your elder brother isn’t he? You have great respect towards him and are seeing him in the position of a “Guru”, aren’t you? Now do one thing – Disrespect him and talk a few words. This would signify that you’ve killed Yudishtra!” Upon hearing this, Arjuna talks a few sentences with a lot of disrespect towards Yudishtra. He says thus, “Oh Yudishtra! You are the cause for the situation that we are in today! You played the gambling game with Duryodhana on that fateful day! You staked Draupati and played the game and because of this, Draupati was molested in public! You spoke about “Dharma” all the time when we were in the forest, however, I wonder whether you followed even a single aspect of “Dharma” yourself!” 

Saying thus, Arjuna spoke several disrespectful sentences towards Yudishtra, which signifies that Arjuna has killed him. However now, there is a different problem arising! How can Arjuna insult and disrespect his elder brother? This, according to the “Shaastras” is equivalent to killing himself! Hence, Arjuna takes out his sword and proceeds to kill himself! This once again stuns Bhagawan Krishna and Yudishtra! So what is going to happen next? How is Bhagawan Krishna going to handle this new problem? Let’s wait till the next episode to find out! Stay tuned! 🙂 

In the previous episode, we had witnessed Karna’s heroic battle on Day Seventeen at Kurukshetra. A rampaging Karna defeats Yudishtra in the battle leaving him severely bruised and injured. Unable to bear the onslaught from Karna, Yudishtra quickly leaves the battlefield and goes to his tent to recover from this shocking defeat! Had Yudishtra been in the battlefield for a few more minutes, Karna would have definitely killed him then and there. Similar is the fate with Nakula and Sahadeva as well. Both of them run away from the battlefield, unable to bear Karna’s fiery onslaught! At the same time, Karna single-handedly inflicts heavy damage in the Paandava camp, which leads to a huge panic. Bheemasena and Arjuna are left alone in the battlefield to take care of the Paandava camp. Enraged by Karna’s onslaught, Arjuna wants to give a befitting counter-reply to him, but strangely yet again, Bhagawan Krishna drives Arjuna away from there. Bhagawan Krishna apprises Arjuna that Yudishtra has left the battlefield midway, which is quite unprecedented. Hence, Bhagawan Krishna deputes Bheemasena to take care of the war proceedings and meanwhile takes Arjuna silently away to the tent where Yudishtra is sitting! 

Moving on further thus, as Arjuna comes to the tent, Yudishtra is of the assumption that Arjuna has won over Karna and killed him successfuly, and that he is coming to the tent to share the “good news”. It is to be noted here that Yudishtra does not know what is happening on the battlefield as he is away! As Arjuna comes towards him, Yudishtra is also surprised, because Arjuna is not someone who comes back midway, and this is unprecedented as well. Upon seeing Arjuna, Yudishtra asks a series of questions thus, “Oh great Arjuna! I’m so proud of your valour on the battlefield! Have you killed Karna so quickly? If such a thing had happened, it would have been possible only by you, and not by anybody else! I cannot heap more praise than this for the great achievement with which you’ve come here!” Saying thus, Yudishtra heaps praise upon Arjuna, thinking that he has killed Karna already in the war! Upon hearing this, Arjuna doesn’t understand anything! Thinking within himself as to why Yudishtra is talking like this, Arjuna bows down with respect and replies thus, “Oh elder brother Yudishtra! I think you’re mistaken here. I’ve not killed Karna yet. Bhagawan Krishna drove me here to enquire about your well-being. I was apprised by Bhagawan Krishna that you’ve been badly injured and are not keeping well. Hence, we came here in the middle of the battle to ensure that you are alright!” 

Upon hearing this, Yudishtra suddenly gets angry, which is quite unwanted at this moment. He shoots back at Arjuna thus, “Oh Arjuna! Why did you come in the middle of the battle? I’m a “Kshatrya” and won’t I know how to take care of myself?” Upon hearing this, Arjuna replies back thus, “Oh elder brother Yudishtra! Yes you are right! Now I’m going back to the battlefield and within a few hours I shall come back with the good news that Karna is no more! I shall ensure that I finish him with a fierce battle and the world will come to terms with Arjuna’s prowess today! As Arjuna says thus, Yudishtra suddenly gets irked too much! His anger goes beyond a point and angrily replies back thus, “Oh Arjuna! What are you saying? You’ve been taking several pledges now, and have you lived up to it even once? What is the use of having this big “Gaandeepa” in your hands? Have you done anything with it till now? You’re boasting everytime that you’re the greatest warrior of all times and you can defeat the opposition camp quite easily! Seventeen days have passed, and still you’ve not been able to do anything credibly! Hence, rather than holding the “Gaandeepa”, it is better you give it to Bhagawan Krishna and instead, sit on the chariot’s driver seat and become a charioteer!” 

Now, these are some unprecedented and unwanted words of insult that Yudishtra is pouring out on Arjuna! Upon hearing these heated words, Arjuna loses his cool! He replies angrily, “Oh Yudishtra! I’ve taken a pledge that I shall chop off the head of whoever talks ill about my “Gaandeepa”! You do not know the significance of the “Gaandeepa” that I hold! How will you know it? What is your proficiency in warfare? All of us have seen it over the past seventeen days! You are alive because I defended and protected you from all sides. If I or Bheemasena weren’t there beside you, several people would have killed you easily! Now that you’ve insulted and abused my “Gaandeepa” badly, I guess I’ve to live up to my pledge!” 

Saying thus, Arjuna quickly pulls up his sharp sword and rushes towards Yudishtra to chop off his head! A huge war of words breaks out between Yudishtra and Arjuna initially and this quickly escalates into a physical fight in no time! Upon seeing this, even Bhagawan Krishna is shell-shocked! He had brought Arjuna here to enquire about Yudishtra’s well-being, but such an unfortunate turn of events happened rather so quickly! Day Seventeen of the war is becoming more and more interesting! So for today, let us understand up to this point and we shall wait till the next episode to continue this further! Stay tuned! 🙂 

In the previous episode, we witnessed Karna lamenting over his two curses that he had received earlier during his younger days – One from his Guru, Parasurama and the other one from a Brahmana Rishi. Parasurama cursed Karna because Karna had apparently faked himself to be a Brahmana. Subsequently a Brahmana Rishi cursed Karna because he had killed the Rishi’s cow. Thus, as per the first curse, Karna would forget key lessons that he had learnt, during key moments of war. As per the second curse, Karna’s chariot will get stuck inside the ground while fighting, and he would be isolated by everyone, so that he has to fend for himself! Narrating all these, Karna says to King Shalya that he’s not bothered about anything else other than these two curses that he had obtained earlier. With this note, the proceedings of Day Seventeen commence, and the Kurukshetra battlefield is about to see an intense fight for yet another day! 

Thus, Karna enters the battlefield like a thunderstorm as King Shalya is driving his chariot. As Karna makes his way to the centre of the battlefield, he meets Yudishtra first. A huge battle ensues between the two of them. On this seventeenth day, it is all about Karna and how he led the Kaurava camp with a lot of grit and determination. Even though he knows that he’s on the losing side, Karna is not ready to give up so easily. He puts up a great show of strength and takes Yudishtra head-on! Even though Yudishtra fights with his full strength and prowess, he could not withstand Karna’s onslaught! Karna is at his fiery best today and he targets Yudishtra with back-to-back “Asthras”, from which Yudishtra could never recover! Finally, Yudishtra accepts defeat and he moves away from that place, in order to prevent himself from getting killed by Karna. Preventing the disaster, Yudishtra quickly leaves the battlefield and goes back to the tent! 

Next in Karna’s firing line are Nakula and Sahadeva. It is to be remembered by readers that on the previous day itself, Karna had defeated Nakula and made him run away! Now, Nakula comes once again in front of Karna for a battle. As the defeat and beatings are fresh in Nakula’s mind, he is trembling with fear upon facing a fiery Karna on the other side! With a meak battle, Nakula once again runs away from the battlefield and escapes from Karna’s wrath! However, Sahadeva puts up a brave fight against Karna for a brief period of time, however, as expected, Karna proves to be better on the given day! He brutally thrashes Sahadeva with enormous arrows back-to-back, which makes Sahadeva struggle completely! Karna makes sure that Sahadeva is completely cornered and is unable to give any sort of counter to his arrows! Thus at one point, Sahadeva too rushes away from the battlefield, leaving Bheemasena and Arjuna alone to face an impending danger! 

Now, as Karna makes his way towards Arjuna, the battlefield is set for a spectacular showdown! Arjuna realizes quickly that the entire Paandava camp is in grave danger from Karna and he wants to launch a scathing attack on Karna immediately! However, Bhagawan Krishna thinks otherwise! Bhagawan says to Arjuna thus, “Oh Arjuna! Perhaps, this is not the right time to take on Karna. Yudishtra has returned to the hut and we’ve to quickly go and see what happened to him and why he abruptly left the battlefield. This is unprecedented from Yudishtra and before taking on Karna, let us go immediately and check if he’s fine!” As Bhagawan Krishna says thus, Arjuna asks back thus, “Oh Bhagawan! As the war is going on full-fledged, how can we leave the battlefield at this moment? Karna is on a rampage and if we’re not here, how will our army survive his onslaught?” Saying thus, Arjuna turns towards Bheemasena and says thus, “Oh Bheemasena! Maybe you go to Yudishtra’s hut and see what happened to him. Meanwhile, I shall be on the battlefield and defend Karna till you’re back!” 

As Arjuna says thus, Bheemasena is not interested to leave. He says thus, “Oh Arjuna! I do not want to leave the battlefield right now. Just like how you have the responsibility to take on Karna, I have it too. Moreover, I do not want to earn a name tomorrow saying that I ran away from the battlefield fearing Karna!” As Bheemasena says thus, Bhagawan Krishna endorses his words and convinces Arjuna to leave the battlefield for a while. Meanwhile, Bhagawan Krishna instructs Bheemasena to go for the kill and continue the fierce battle without any mercy on the opposition camp! 

Obeying Bhagawan Krishna’s words, Arjuna returns back to the tent to see what happened to Yudishtra. Meanwhile, Bheemasena takes charge of the proceedings on the battlefield and continues the fight. A huge battle breaks out between the two camps, as Bheemasena leads from the front! Bheemasena first meets Ducchaasana and both of them engage in a huge confrontation. As Ducchaasana comes in front, all the past incidents of the gambling game and Draupati’s molestation runs through Bheemasena’s mind! With a savage resolution, Bheemasena hits Ducchaasana left, right and centre with his arrows, which makes Ducchaasana severely battered and injured! Unable to withstand a rampaging and an angry Bheemasena, Ducchaasana runs away from the battlefield! If he would have been there on the battlefield for a few more minutes, Bheemasena would have thrashed him to death! 

Thus, the seventeenth day war is proceeding at a very competitive pace, with Karna emerging extremely powerful on one end and Bheemasena tackling the Kaurava army single handedly from the other side! So for today, let us understand up to this point and in the next episode, we shall continue to witness what happened to Yudishtra and Arjuna on the other side! Stay tuned for an interesting accord! 🙂 

In the previous episode, we had continued witnessing the “Shalya Saarathyam”, wherein we’ve seen how King Shalya constantly keeps “demotivating” Karna whenever he makes a statement exuding confidence of winning the war single-handedly. Even though we see this outwardly as a sign of demotivation and discouragement from King Shalya, there is an in-depth meaning to it. King Shalya has a very good opinion on Karna internally and he knows who Karna really is. King Shalya somehow wants Karna to stop this disaster from happening and this is good for his future as well. However, Karna is not in a mood to listen to King Shalya’s words. This is happening even as King Shalya is trying to mock Karna of his gross “incapabilities”. If King Shalya would have directly told Karna to refrain from this war, he would not have listened to King Shalya’s words. Thus, King Shalya takes this route wherein he mocks Karna, in a bid to make him understand the reality. However, this also ends up in failure, as Karna gets ready to face the battle with Arjuna head-on! 

As Karna gets ready on Day Seventeen and as this conversation continues further, Karna laments about his weakness and the two curses that he had obtained earlier during his life. As Karna justifies his decision to support Duryodhana in this pursuit, he laments thus, “Oh King Shalya! I had done all my education under the great Parasurama. One day, Parasurama was sleeping on my lap. He was sleeping for hours together and I was not moving here or there all the time. At this point, Indra wanted to test my resilience. He took the form of a long worm and started to come closer to me. Parasurama was still fast asleep. The worm moved over my lap and started to sting me. Blood started to flow from my thighs but I still was sitting without any movement, so that Parasurama’s sleep was not disturbed. As a few drops of blood spilled over Parasurama’s face, he woke up suddenly and turned towards me. Upon looking at my face, Parasurama said thus, “Oh Karna! It seems that you’ve disguised yourself as a “Brahmana” and come to me for your lessons. A “Brahmana” will never have the strength and the resolve to resist so much blood flow and pain. You should be a “Kshatrya” and you’ve cheated me. You know very well that I’m against Kshatryas and I’ve killed thousands of them within a fraction of a second and have drunk all their blood! After this incident, I’ve taken a resolve not to teach anything for “Kshatryas”. My teaching is only for Brahmanas. Now that you’ve cheated me, I’m hereby cursing you – At a crucial time when you will need to remember certain important lessons that I’ve taught, you will tend to forget them!” 

This is the first curse that Karna had obtained in his life! We can see here that even though Karna has an enormous expertise with several warfare techniques and “Asthras”, he would not be able to employ them when it matters the most! We’re going to witness how this curse is going to come true during Day Seventeen of the war at Kurukshetra! This is just one side of the story. Earlier we’ve seen that Karna has not one, but two curses. We’ve seen one, but what is the second one and where did he get it from? Karna narrates further thus, “Oh King Shalya! There was once a Brahmana Rishi doing deep penance. He had a holy cow with him. I was passing through that area as part of my usual hunting spree. I had aimed an arrow at some other animal, but unfortunately it hit this holy cow and it died on the spot! Upon sensing his cow falling on the ground, the Brahmana Rishi gets disturbed! As he looked at what had happened, he saw me and quickly understood that I’m the reason for his cow’s demise. I apologised to him several times and even offered to donate a thousand cows to him. He was not convinced with all my apologies and offers. Finally the Brahmana Rishi cursed me that at a crucial time of war, my chariot’s wheels will get stuck up beneath the ground. At this point, nobody will come to help me. Moreover, even if I try to help myself out of this situation, I will fail because the Rishi further cursed me that I wouldn’t remember anything that I learnt!” 

Thus, Karna laments about these two curses that he’s possessing and he knows very well that these curses are going to come true very soon. However, apart from this, Karna says that he is confident that all other things will fall in place during the war in his favour. With this, the battlefield at Kurukshetra is all set for Day Seventeen proceedings to commence, and for today, let us understand up to this point. We shall wait till the next episode to commence the Day Seventeen proceedings! Stay tuned! 🙂 

In the previous episode, we had witnessed the continuation of the “Shalya Saarathyam” wherein we’re seeing how King Shalya constantly keeps discouraging Karna from advancing forward with his pursuit towards Arjuna. Whenever Karna makes a bold statement exuding confidence of winning, King Shalya mocks him and pulls him down with his negative statements. Even though whatever King Shalya says seems to be negative, there are in-depth meanings to it. He indirectly keeps warning Karna that there’s no point in fighting against Arjuna when Bhagawan Krishna is with him. He’s only trying to protect Karna by somehow taking him out of this war. For this, King Shalya tries his best by seemingly demotivating Karna with the story of the crow and the swan and wantedly saying that Karna is just like the crow which only talks and does nothing on the ground! However, inspite of all these insulting talks, Karna is determined to go for the fight and prove a point at Kurukshetra. 

Moving on further thus, as King Shalya completes the story of the crow and swan, he narrates the moral of the story very interestingly here. He says thus, “Oh Karna! Please understand – The crow which we were talking about is none other than you! The swans which we were talking about are none other than the Paandava brothers! The “Vaishyas” who gave a lot of food and kept encouraging the crow are none other than Duryodhana and Co.! Oh Karna! Duryodhana has unnecessarily given you a lot of luxuries and motivation, not knowing that you are just like the crow in this story! Your capabilities are no match to that of Arjuna! This unwanted motivation from Duryodhana makes you feel that you are like the “Hamsa” birds! Hence, Oh Karna! I’m telling this for your benefit only – Even now it is not too late. Please go to Arjuna and Bhagawan Krishna and seek surrender. Fall on Bhagawan Krishna’s divine lotus feet and seek forgiveness for all what you’ve done knowingly or unknowingly against the Paandava brothers! Bhagawan Krishna is extremely compassionate. He will accept you even now without any pre-conditions!” 

Thus we can see here how King Shalya guides Karna in the right direction, even though till now we might have thought that he is demotivating Karna constantly. The ultimate point here is that King Shalya wants Karna not to be on the side of Duryodhana. King Shalya knows that Karna is an extremely capable warrior and the country should not lose him. However, if he says this straight on his face, Karna wouldn’t accept. Hence, King Shlaya tries a different route of seemingly demotivating him, so that this may trigger Karna to change his mind from being on Duryodhana’s side, to being on Arjuna’s side. Hence, if we look at the entire “Shalya Saarathyam”, readers should not mistake the intent of King Shalya here. It is only that he’s trying his best to push Karna away from the impending danger to his life. 

As King Shalya says thus, is Karna going to pay heed to his words? The answer is “No”! Karna replies back thus, “Oh King Shalya! I did not want you beside me in my chariot to seek such advice. I know what I’ve to do. I know that my life is in danger. I know that I’m against Bhagawan Krishna, who is not going to let me win this war ever! However, my agenda of fighting this war is different – Duryodhana has done so much to me as a friend. At a time when I was deserted completely by everyone at the “Ranga-Bhoomi” during my childhood days, Duryodhana was the only person who came to my rescue! Oh King Shalya! You do not know how much I felt insulted and humiliated on that decisive day! Even though I had the talent, I was denied to exhibit my prowess, just because I was a charioteer’s son! It was Duryodhana who came to my rescue and made me the king of Anga Desha. Had Duryodhana not done this at that time, where would I have been today? Hence, as a token of gratitude to him, I’m fighting for him. I know that he’s going on the path of “Adharma”. But I’ll still give my life by fighting for him!” 

Saying thus, Karna decisively answers King Shalya and for today, let us understand up to this point. Continuing his accord further thus, Karna is now going to talk of his two impending curses that he had obtained earlier during his tenure with his Guru Parasurama. In fact, these two curses are going to haunt Karna during the upcoming war with Arjuna and it is believed that Karna lost the battle only because of these two curses that he possessed! We shall continue with what Karna is going to tell King Shalya further in the next episode! An important accord awaits us! Stay tuned! 🙂 

In the previous episode, we had witnessed the continuation of the “Shalya Saarathyam”, wherein King Shalya is constantly demotivating Karna from advancing forward. Whenever Karna makes a stubborn pitch, King Shalya mocks him and pulls him down! This irks Karna beyond a point and gives it back to King Shalya. Karna replies back saying that by constantly demotivating him always, he is only trying to betray Duryodhana, who had entrusted him with the role of an able charioteer. Saying thus, Karna goes beyond his limits in starting to abuse King Shalya – He says that King Shalya’s Madra Desha is an extremely bad place with people of very bad character, and hence, what can be expected out of a king of such a bad territory! Thus, a fully-blown war of words erupts between Karna and King Shalya, as both of them hurt their respective egos! 

As Karna abuses King Shalya, it is now time for King Shalya to return back the dues! He says thus, “Oh Karna! The way you’re abusing me and my territory exposes your complete incapability to achieve anything in life! I stand by my words – If Arjuna comes in front of you, you will not even be able to lift your bow in your hands! Anyway, now sit down! Let me narrate a story for you!” Saying thus, King Shalya continues thus, “Oh Karna! One day there was a crow, which was a pet for several people in the country. The crow was well-fed with all kinds of food items every passing day. That territory was full of people of the “Vaishya” community and they are extremely rich people. Hence, the standard of food that they consumed was of a very high level. Hence, the crow was fed with all sorts of food and drink that these people were having. As the crow is extremely healthy with a lot of high-quality food, the people who are feeding it everyday are also giving a lot of motivating talks! They say to the crow every day thus, “Oh my dear crow! Look how beautiful you are! You are the equivalent of a beautiful “Hamsa” (Swan) bird! Look at yourself in the mirror!” 

As people say this to the crow every now and then, the crow eventually believes their words and thinks that it is extremely beautiful like several others. However, the reality is that it is black in colour and because of over-eating, it is not even able to fly for ten metres continuously! It has become extremely lazy! However, after a few months, there are a few real “Hamsa” birds that pass by that area. Upon seeing these “Hamsa” birds flying past, the crow meets them and says thus, “Oh Hamsa birds! Look at me! See how beautiful I am! I’m also like all of you in terms of colour, body structure, etc.!” As the “Hamsa” birds listen to this, their ego gets hurt! They immediately reply back thus, “Oh black crow! How can you even imagine in your wildest dreams that you are as beautiful as us? Have you even seen yourself once in front of the mirror? Do you know how black you are and do you see how white we are in colour? In spite of this, how do you even proclaim that you are as beautiful as us? Oh crow! Can you even compare the mobility that we have and the one that you have? We are currently coming from the mountain ranges of Maanasarovar amidst the Himalayas! We are on a mission to go around the entire world and come back to the same Maanasarovar mountains. Can you even imagine what we’re doing? Can you even fly for ten metres at a stretch? So how can you even compare yourself with us?” 

Upon hearing this accord from the “Hamsa” birds, the crow replies back cleverly thus, “Oh Hamsa birds! Fine! I’m not like you! I agree! However, now let me change the narrative a bit – You are like me! :)” As the crow cleverly says thus, the Hamsa birds are surprised! They look up and down at the crow and reply back thus, “Oh crow! How can you even say this? Tell me one feature that resembles between you and us! You are completely a different breed of a bird, and we are totally different! We don’t even understand why you are making such weird comparisons!” As the Hamsa birds tell thus, the crow replies back – “Oh Hamsa birds! You’re not understanding my significance and hence you’re talking like this! You’ve not seen what my capability is! I can fly straight! I can fly in the reverse direction! I can fly in a circular format! I can fly upside down! I can fly vertically upwards towards the sky! I can similarly fly vertically downwards towards the ground! I’m extremely flexible with my physical body and my wings!” 

Upon hearing this interesting accord from the crow, the Hamsa birds were astonished! This crow has been bestowed with a very nice art of speech and communication! 🙂 One of the Hamsa birds thought that this is the time for making the crow prove its arguments in real! Hence, the Hamsa bird wanted the crow to come for a competition! Accordingly, the Hamsa bird started to fly high in the air and slowly entered into the sea! It was flying for a long distance into the ocean waters! Now this is the time for the crow to prove all what it had proclaimed! It tries to fly vertically, horizontally, upwards, circularly, downwards, etc.! However, when the Hamsa bird flies into the ocean, the crow starts trembling with fear! If the crow becomes tired after flying for a while, where will it land and rest amidst the water? Thus, after a while, the crow accepts its limitations and seeks the Hamsa’s help to save itself from the ocean waters! Having compassion towards the crow thus, the Hamsa bird safely brings back the crow to the land! 

Upon saying all this, King Shalya finally concludes thus, “Oh Karna! You are like this crow! 🙂 You are only good at proclaiming things, but when it comes to reality, you cannot do anything!” The moment King Shalya sarcastically mocks with the help of this story, Karna’s ego is extremely hurt and he starts fuming with anger! So what does Karna do next? Let us wait and witness in the next episode! Stay tuned! 🙂 

In the previous episode, we had witnessed King Shalya taking over as the charioteer for Karna, as the seventeenth day of the war at Kurukshetra was about to begin. Unlike Bhagawan Krishna who constantly motivates Arjuna to go for the kill against the Kaurava army, King Shalya tries to demotivate Karna in whatever he does, even before the start of the war. This makes Karna rethink whether he made a huge mistake in asking Duryodhana to approach King Shalya for this job. As Karna starts his journey towards the battlefield, there are so many bad omens that appear, which clearly indicate a disaster in the waiting. In fact, one of the horses of his chariot gives up and falls on the ground, unable to get up. This itself is a huge signal of something bad that is about to come by and King Shalya starts his demotivating talk. He says to Karna that he should retire from the battlefield to prevent any further disaster. King Shalya mocks Karna by saying that if he sees Arjuna in the battlefield he will start trembling with fear, and all his pep talks are only off the battlefield! This irks Karna and his ego is heavily hurt! 

Unmindful of all the bad omens that show up, and ignoring what King Shalya says, Karna once again roars like thunder thus, “Oh King Shalya! I’ve never been scared even when Indra came in front of me! I’ve always fought with a lot of valour against any enemy! Even Bhagawan Shiva will not dare to come and fight with me! I’ve directly learnt my warfare lessons from Parasurama, for whom there is no fear in his dictionary! Today’s war is going to be decisive – Whether it is me or Arjuna! Let all the Devas come together in the “Aakaasha” (Sky) and witness this intense battle today!” Even as Karna does this pep talk, King Shalya cuts him down every time with his counter demotivating talk! 

At this point, Karna says something unwanted to his army thus, “Oh army men! Whoever spots Arjuna and Bhagawan Krishna in the battlefield today, will get ten villages as “Dhaanam” from me! Whoever spots Arjuna’s chariot and his “Kireetam” in the battlefield, will get 10,000 gold coins as a reward!” Like this, there are around 20 shlokas! Karna goes on and on with his reward-proposing spree to everyone who spots Arjuna and Bhagawan Krishna in the Kurukshetra battlefield! This is something unwanted from Karna, and King Shalya couldn’t control his laughter upon hearing this! In return, King Shalya says thus, “Oh Karna! Why are you giving all these assurances and promises to people around you? Don’t you know you’re blabbering something? Arjuna and Bhagawan Krishna are coming right in front of you! In fact, rather than you searching for Arjuna, Arjuna is coming searching for you today! Rather than fighting the war face-to-face, why are you wasting your time and energy on all these false promises that you’re giving to people around? Moreover, why should someone else find your enemy for you? As a warrior, what is your job then? Don’t you have the guts to explore your way amidst the battlefield and find out your enemy and fight? What kind of an approach is this? Aren’t you ashamed to even talk this way? From this accord itself, I can clearly understand that you’re only interested in talking a lot and not in fighting or winning the war against Arjuna!” 

Hearing all these demotivating talks from King Shalya thus, Karna replies back – “Oh King Shalya! I had great respect and regard for you and this is the reason why I wanted you by my side. I thought you would be very intelligent and motivate me all through the battle, however, even before the battle begins, you’re constantly abusing me in whatever way possible! You seem to be an enemy in the form of a friend! You never seem to be interested in my welfare even for a minute!” Thus, Karna doesn’t stop here. He loses his cool and starts abusing not only King Shalya, but also his Madra Desha, his subjects, women, etc. as well! Karna continues thus, “Oh King Shalya! It is not that you’re only wicked and crooked in your thoughts and actions! Your people in Madra Desha are also like this only! Your country’s women are extremely ill-natured! Your country’s Brahmins are not cultured enough! These are the reasons that make you talk and abuse me like this! Oh King Shalya! Even though Duryoudhana trusts you a lot, you’re not living up to his expectations! You’re ditching him by being beside him! You’re an extremely opportunistic person, who only wants to score personal brownie points in everything that you do!” 

Saying thus, Karna fumes in anger against King Shalya! Thus, a huge war of words breaks out between the duo, even before the war commences on Day Seventeen at Kurukshetra! So for today, let us understand up to this point, and we shall continue this further in the next episode as well! Stay tuned! 🙂