Course of Mahabharat war

The Kurukshetra War lasted eighteen days. It was fought only during daylight hours; fighting

ceased at sunset. The armies met on a vast field in Kurukshetra; each day the battle was

characterised by numerous individual combats, as well as mass raids against entire enemy

divisions. The victor or the vanquished on each day was determined not by any territories gained,

but by the body count. This was a war to the death. The victor was the survivor.

Before the battle

It has been observed that the year in which the Mahabharata War took place, the year had

three eclipses on earth in a span of thirty days. Eclipses are considered ill for the life giving

planets such as Sun an as inhabitants on earth. It is widely noted that though such year with

three eclipses causes great harm, it can cause great benefit to mankind. This war, resulted into a

gift called Bhagavad Gitato the mankind.

On the first day of the war, as would be on all the following days, the Kaurava army stood facing

west and the Pandava army stood facing east. The Kaurava army was formed such that it faced

all sides: elephants formed its body; the kings, its head; and the steeds, its wings. Bhishma, in

consultation with his commanders Drona, Bahlika and Kripa, remained in the rear.

The Pandava army was organised by Yudhisthira and Arjuna in the Vajra formation. Because the

Pandava army was smaller than the Kaurava's, they decided to employ the tactic of each warrior

engaging as many enemies as possible. This involved an element of surprise, with the bowmen

showering arrows from hidden behind the frontal attackers. The attackers in the front were

equipped with short-range weapons like maces, battle-axes, swords and lances.

Ten divisions (Akshauhinis) of the Kaurava army were arranged in a formidable phalanx. The

eleventh was put under the immediate command of Bhishma, partly to protect him. The safety of

the supreme commander Bhishma was central to Duryodhana's strategy, as he had placed all his

hope on the great warrior's abilities. Dushasana, the younger brother of Duryodhana, was the

military officer in-charge of Bhishma's protection.

Krishna giving 'updesham' (advice) to Arjuna on the battlegrounds ofKurukshetra.

When the war was declared and the two armies were facing each other, Arjuna realised that he

would have to kill his dear great-granduncle (Bhishma), on whose lap he had played as a child,

and his respected teacher (Drona), who had held his hand and taught him how to hold the bow

and arrow, making him the greatest archer in the world. Arjuna felt weak and sickened at the

prospect of killing his entire family, including his 100 cousins, and friends such as Ashwathama.

Despondent and confused about what is religious, what is right and what is wrong, Arjuna turned

to Krishna for divine advice and teachings. Krishna, who Arjuna chose as his charioteer, advised

him of his duty. This conversation forms theBhagavad Gita, one of the most respected religious

and philosophical texts in the Hindu religion. Krishna instructs Arjuna not to yield to degrading

impotence and to fight his kin, for that was the only way to righteousness. He also reminded him

that this was a war between righteousness and unrighteousness (dharma and adharma), and it

was Arjuna's duty to slay anyone who supported the cause of unrighteousness, or sin. Krishna

then revealed his divine form and explained that he is born on earth in each aeon when evil

raises its head. It also forms one of the foremost treatise on the several aspects of Yoga and

mystical knowledge.

Before the battle began, Yudhisthira did something unexpected. He suddenly dropped his

weapons, took off his armour and started walking towards the Kaurava army with folded hands in

prayer. The Pandava brothers and the Kauravas looked on in disbelief, thinking Yudhisthira was

surrendering before the first arrow was shot. Yudhisthira's purpose became clear, however, when

he fell on Bhishma's feet to seek his blessing for success in battle. Bhishma, grandfather to both

the Pandavas and Kauravas, blessed Yudhisthira. Yudhisthira returned to his chariot and the

battle was ready to commence.

Day 1

Shalya kills Uttara

When the battle commenced, Bhishma went through the Pandava army wreaking havoc

wherever he went. Abhimanyu, Arjuna's son, seeing this went straight at Bhishma, defeated his

bodyguards and directly attacked the commander of the Kaurava forces. The Pandavas suffered

numerous losses and were defeated at the end of the first day.Virata's sons, Uttara and Sweta,

were slain by Shalya and Bhishma. Krishna consoled the distraught Yudhisthira saying that

eventually victory would be his.

Day 2

The second day of the war commenced with a confident Kaurava army facing the Pandavas.

Arjuna, realising that something needed to be done quickly to reverse the Pandava losses,

decided that he must try to kill Bhishma. Krishna skillfully located Bhishma's chariot and steered

Arjuna toward him. Arjuna tried to engage Bhishma in a duel, but the Kaurava soldiers placed

around Bhishma to protect him attacked Arjuna to try to prevent him from directly engaging

Bhishma. Arjuna and Bhishma fought a fierce battle that raged for

hours. Drona andDhristadyumna similarly engaged in a duel during which Drona broke

Dhristadyumna's bow numerous times. Bhima intervened and rescued Dhristadyumna.

Duryodhana sent the Kalinga forces to attack Bhima and most of them lost their lives at his

hands. Bhishma immediately came to relieve the battered Kalinga forces. Satyaki, who was

assisting Bhima, shot at Bhishma's charioteer and killed him. Bhishma's horses, with no one to

control them, bolted carrying Bhishma away from the battle field. The Kaurava army had suffered

great losses at the end of the second day.

Day 3

Arjuna Wijaya statue in Central Jakartadepicting Krishna and Arjuna riding a chariot.

On the third day, Bhishma arranged the Kaurava forces in the formation of an eagle with himself

leading from the front, while Duryodhana's forces protected the rear. Bhishma wanted to be sure

of avoiding any mishap. The Pandavas countered this by using the crescent formation

with Bhima and Arjuna at the head of the right and the left horns, respectively. The Kauravas

concentrated their attack on Arjuna's position. Arjuna's chariot was soon covered with arrows and

javelins. Arjuna, with amazing skill, built a fortification around his chariot with an unending stream

of arrows from his bow.Abhimanyu and Satyaki combined to defeat the Gandhara forces

of Shakuni. Bhima and his son Ghatotkacha attacked Duryodhana in the rear. Bhima's arrows hit

Duryodhana, who swooned in his chariot. His charioteer immediately drove them out of danger.

Duryodhana's forces, however, saw their leader fleeing the battlefield and soon scattered.

Bhishma soon restored order and Duryodhana returned to lead the army. He was angry at

Bhishma, however, at what he saw as leniency towards the five Pandava brothers and spoke

harshly at his commander. Bhishma, stung by this unfair charge, fell on the Pandava army with

renewed vigour. It was as if there were more than one Bhishma on the field.[16] The Pandava

army soon began to retreat in chaos.

Arjuna and Krishna attacked Bhishma trying to restore order. Arjuna and Bhishma again engaged

in a fierce duel, however Arjuna's heart was not in the battle as he did not like the idea of

attacking his great-uncle. During the battle, Bhishma killed numerous soldiers of Arjuna's armies.

Day 4

The fourth day battle was noted for the valour shown by Bhima. Bhishma commanded the

Kaurava army to move on the offensive from the outset. Arjuna's son, Abhimanyu, was

surrounded and attacked by a number of Kaurava princes. Arjuna joined the fray in aid of

Abhimanyu. Bhima appeared on the scene with his mace aloft and started attacking the

Kauravas. Duryodhana sent a huge force of elephants at Bhima. When Bhima saw the mass of

elephants approaching, he got down from his chariot and attacked them single handedly with his

iron mace. They scattered and stampeded into the Kaurava forces killing many. Duryodhana

ordered an all-out attack on Bhima. Bhima withstood all that was thrown at him and attacked

Duryodhana's brothers, killing eight of them. Bhima was soon struck by an arrow on the chest

and sat down in his chariot dazed.

Duryodhana was distraught at the loss of his brothers. Duryodhana, overwhelmed by sorrow at

the loss of his brothers, went to Bhishma at the end of the fourth day of the battle, and asked his

commander how could the Pandavas, facing a superior force against them, still prevail and win.

Bhishma replied that the Pandavas had justice on their side and advised Duryodhana to seek

peace.

Days 5-9

When the battle resumed on the fifth day, the slaughter continued. The Pandava army again

suffered against Bhishma's attacks. Satyaki bore the brunt of Drona's attacks and soon could not

withstand them. Bhima drove by and rescued Satyaki. Arjuna fought and killed thousands of

soldiers sent by Duryodhana to attack him. The unimaginable carnage continued during the

ensuing days of the battle. The sixth day was marked by a prodigious slaughter. Drona caused

immeasurable loss of life on the Pandava side. The formations of both the armies were broken.

On the eighth day Bhima killed eight of Dhritarashtra's sons and Arjuna's son Iravan was killed by

the Kauravas. On the ninth day Krishna, overcome by anger at the apparent inability of Arjuna to

defeat Bhishma, rushed towards the Kaurava commander, but Arjuna stopped him. Realising that

the war could not be won as long as Bhisma were standing, Krishna suggested the strategy of

placing a woman in the field to face him.

Day 10

Bhishma on a deathbed of arrows, from a collection of the Smithsonian Institution

On the tenth day the Pandavas, unable to withstand Bhishma's prowess, decided to

put Shikhandi, who had been a woman in a prior life in front of Bhishma, as Bhishma has taken a

vow not to attack a woman. Shikhandi's arrows fell on Bhishma without hindrance. Arjuna

positioned himself behind Shikhandi, protecting himself from Bhishma's attack, and aimed his

arrows at the weak points in Bhishma's armour. Soon, with arrows sticking from every part of his

body, the great warrior fell from his chariot. His body did not touch the ground as it was held aloft

by the arrows protruding from his body.

The Kauravas and Pandavas gathered around Bhishma and, at his request, Arjuna placed three

arrows under Bhisma's head to support it. Bhishma had promised his father, King Shantanu, that

he would live until Hastinapur were secured from all directions. To keep this promise, Bhishma

used the boon of "Ichcha Mrityu" (self wished death)given to him by his father. After the war was

over, when Hastinapur had become safe from all sides and after giving lessons on politics

and Vishnu Sahasranama to the Pandavas, Bhishma died on the first day of Uttarayana.

Day 11

With Bhishma unable to continue, Karna entered the battle field, much to Duryodhna's joy. He

made Drona the supreme commander of the Kaurava forces. Karna and Duryodhana wanted to

capture Yudhisthira alive. Killing Yudhisthira in battle would only enrage the Pandavas more,

whereas holding him as hostage would be strategically useful. Drona formulated his battle plans

for the eleventh day to this aim. He cut down Yudhisthira's bow and the Pandava army feared

that their leader would be taken prisoner. Arjuna rushed to the scene, however, and with a flood

of arrows made Drona retreat.

Day 12

With his attempts to capture Yudhisthira failed, Drona confided to Duryodhna that it would be

difficult as long as Arjuna was around. The king of Trigartadesa, Susharma along with his 3

brothers and 35 sons who were fighting on the Kaurava side made a pact that they would kill

Arjuna or die. They went into the battle field on the twelfth day and challenged Arjuna. Arjuna

gave them a fierce fight in which the brothers fell dead after fighting a brave fight. Drona

continued to try and capture Yudhisthira. The Pandavas however fought hard and delivered

severe blows to the Kaurava army.

Day 13

Duryodhana summoned King Bhagadatta, the monarch of Pragjyotisha (modern day Assam,

India). Bhagadatta had thousands of gigantic elephants in his stable and was considered the

strongest warrior on this planet in elephant warfare. Bhagadatta attacked Arjuna with his gigantic

elephant named Suprateeka. It was a fierce battle in which Bhagadatta matched Arjuna astra for

astra.

On the other side of the battlefield, the remaining four Pandavas and their allies were finding it

impossible to break Dronacharya's Chakravyuha formation. As Arjuna was busy fighting with the

Trigartadesa princes and the Prajayogastha monarch on the other side of the battlefield, he could

not be summoned to break the Chakravyuha formation, which could only be broken by entering

and exiting the formation. Yudhisthira instructed, Abhimanyu, one of Arjuna's sons to break the

Chakravyuha formation. Abhimanyu knew the secret of entering the Chakravyuh formation, but

did not know how to exit it. Eventually he was trapped in the Chakravyuha, which led to his death.

Upon learning of the death of his son, Arjuna vowed to kill Jayadratha on the morrow before the

battle ended at sunset, otherwise he would throw himself into the fire.

Day 14

Karna kills Ghatotkacha

While searching for Jayadratha on the battlefield, Arjuna slew an akshouhini (hundreds of

thousands (109,350)) of Kaurava soldiers. The Kaurava army tightly protected Jayadratha,

however, preventing Arjuna from attacking him. Finally, in late afternoon, Arjuna found

Jayadratha guarded by the mighty kaurav army. Seeing his friend's plight, Lord Krishna raised

his Sudarshana Chakra to cover the sun, faking a sunset. Arjuna fought a powerful battle with

Jayadrtha and finally defeated him. Then, Arjuna shot a powerful arrow decapitating Jayadratha.

The battle continued past sunset. When the bright moon rose, Ghatotkacha, son

ofBhima slaughtered numerous warriors, attacking while flying in the air. Karna stood against him

and both fought fiercely until Karna released the Indrastra, a celestial dart given to him by Indra.

Ghatotkacha increased his size and fell dead on the Kaurav army killing thousands of them.

Day 15

After King Drupada and King Virata were slain by Drona, Bhima, and Dhristadyumna fought him

on the fifteenth day. Because Drona was very powerful and inconquerable having the irresistible

brahmadanda, Krishna hinted to Yudhisthira that Drona would give up his arms if his son

Ashwathama was dead. Bhima proceeded to kill an elephant named Ashwathama, and loudly

proclaimed that Ashwathama was dead. Drona approached Yudhisthira to seek the truth of his

son's death. Yudhisthira proclaimedAshwathama Hatahath, naro va Kunjaro va, implying

Ashwathama had died but he was nor sure whether it was a Drona's son or an elephant, The

latter part of his proclamation (Naro va Kunjaro va) were drowned out by sound of the conch

blown by Krishna intentionally (a different version of the story is that Yudhisthira pronounced the

last words so feebly that Drona could not hear the word elephant). Prior to this incident, the

chariot of Yudhisthira, proclaimed as Dharma raja (King of righteousness), hovered a few inches

off the ground. After the event, the chariot landed on the ground as he refused to obey Lord

Krishna's instructions.

Drona was disheartened, and laid down his weapons. He was then killed by Dhristadyumna to

avenge his father's death and satisfy his vow. Later, the Pandava's mother Kunti secretly met her

abandoned son Karna and requested him to spare the Pandavas, as they were his younger

brothers. Karna promised Kunti that he would spare them except for Arjuna.

Day 16

On the sixteenth day, Karna became supreme commander of the Kaurava army, killing countless

warriors during the day.

Karna fought valiantly but was surrounded and attacked by Pandava generals, who were unable

to prevail upon him. Karna inflicted heavy damage on the Pandava army, which fled. Then Arjuna

successfully resisted Karna's weapons with his own, and also inflicted casualties upon the

Kaurava army. The sun soon set, and with darkness and dust making the assessment of

proceedings difficult, the Kaurava army retreated for the day.[17] On the same day, Bhima swung

his mace and shattered Dushasana's chariot. Bhima seized Dushasana, ripped his right hand

from shoulder and killed him, tearing open his chest and drinking his blood and carrying some to

smear on Draupadi's untied hair, thus fulfilling his vow made when Draupadi was humiliated.

Day 17

Karna (right) confronts Arjuna, who will later kill Karna, in the Kurukshetra war.

On the seventeenth day, Karna defeated the pandava brothers Sahadeva and Yudhisthira in

battle but spared their lives. Later, Karna resumed duelling withArjuna. During their duel, Karna's

chariot wheel got stuck in the mud and Karna asked for a pause. Krishna reminded Arjuna about

Karna's ruthlessness unto Abhimanyu while he was similarly left without chariot and weapons.

Hearing his son's fate, Arjuna shot his arrow and decapitated Karna. Before the day's battle,

Karna's sacred armour ('Kavacha') and earrings ('Kundala') were taken as alms by Lord Indra,

which resulted in his death by Arjuna's arrows.

Day 18

On the 18th day, Yudhishthira killed king Shalya,Sahadeva killed Shakuni, and Bhima killed

Duryodhana's remaining brothers. Realizing that he had been defeated, Duryodhana fled the

battle field and took refuge in the lake, where the Pandavas caught up with him. Under the

supervision of the now returnedBalarama, a mace battle took place

between Bhima and Duryodhana in which Duryodhana was mortally wounded. Ashwatthama,

Kripacharya, and Kritavarma met Duryodhana at his deathbed and promised to avenge him. They

attacked the Pandavas' camp later that night and killed all the Pandavas' remaining army,

besides Dhristadyumna, Shikhandi, Udhamanyu and Uttamauja.

Aftermath

At the end of the 18th day, only Twelve warriors survived the warthe

five Pandavas, Krishna, Satyaki, Ashwatthama, Kripacharya,Yuyutsu, Vrishakethu(son and

enemy of Karna) and Kritvarma. Vrishakethu was the only son of Karna who survived the horrific

slaughter. He later came under the patronage of the Pandavas. During the campaign that

preceded the Ashvamedha yagna, Vrishakethu accompanied Arjuna and participated in the

battles with Sudhava and Babruvahana. During that campaign Vrishakethu married the daughter

of king Yavanatha (perhaps a king of the western regions). It is said, Arjuna developed great

affection for Vrishakethu, his nephew. Yudhisthira was crowned king of Hastinapur. He

renounced the throne after ruling for 36 years, passing on the crown to Arjuna's

grandson Parikshit. He then left for the Himalayas with Draupadi and his brothers in what was to

be their last journey. Draupadi and four PandavasBhima, Arjuna, Nakula, and Sahadevadied

during the journey. Yudhisthira, the lone survivor and being of pious heart, was invited

by Dharma to enter the heavens as a mortal.