War Continues(14)

When Yudhishthira got the news, he felt responsible for the death of Abhimanyu.. Arjuna had not heard as yet of his valiant son’s death until the end of the day. He immediately broke down and fell senseless on the ground. It was an unjust fight. The code of the war called for a fair fight between two soldiers and not a ganging up against a single soldier. Arjuna vowed to kill Jaidratha, the person who had plotted the Chakra Beuha. He swore he would either kill Jaidrata the next day before the sunset, or else, he would kill himself.

When Jaidratha heard of Arjuna’s vow, he wanted to run away from the battlefield. Drona assured him that he would make such a Byuha next day, keeping him in the center of the Byuha that Arjuna would not able to get to him. All the warriors of the Kauravas were also alerted that the following day might prove to be the decisive battle. If Arjuna could not kill Jayadratha, he would kill himself and thus the Kauravas would be able to get rid of one of the most powerful warriors of the Pandavas.

The fighting resumed the next day. Arjuna penetrated into the Byuha but was unable to reach Jaidratha until close to sunset. Krishna was alarmed.

“Arjuna it seems that you will not be able to get to Jayadratha before sunset.” Krishna said, “Let us work jointly and when I will give you the cue, you will get your last chance to kill Jayadratha.”

Soon Krishna created an illusion by which the sun set on the west and the Kaurava army began to rejoice, relaxed in their effort to resist Arjuna any longer. Krishna asked Arjuna not to loose his only opportunity to kill Jayadratha. Arjuna lost no time and Jayadratha was beheaded. Soon Krishna removed his illusion and the Kaurava army was surprised to see that the sun was still up. They realized that Krishna had tricked them and the Pandava army rejoiced.

Duryodhana was furious and blamed Drona for not being able to keep his promise and, therefore, he should now step down. Drona promised to end the war the next day by killing Arjuna. Krishna was alerted. He conferred with the Pandavas and revealed a secret that would allow Arjuna to win against Drona.

“Drona once promised to himself that he would stop fighting if his only son Aswathama was killed in the battle field. As Aswathama was practically invincible, Krishna would have to trick him in to believing this. Yudhishthira would have to tell a lie that Ashwathama was dead. As Yudhishthira never told a lie, Drona would believe him. Drona would stop fighting and Drithadyumna would get the chance to behead Drona..”

On the following day, Drona attacked Arjuna, his former student. Arjuna successfully defied his attack and fought with equal strength. When the time came to act on Krishna’s plan Yudhishthira was hesitant to lie to Drona. Bheema acted promptly. He killed an elephant with the same name Ashwathama and Yudhishthira informed Drona that Aswathama is dead without clarifying that it was not his son but an elephant. As soon as Drona dropped his arms, Dhrishthadyumna beheaded him and Drona was dead. On the other side of the battlefield Bheema killed Dushashana to fulfill his vow for insulting Draupadi.

Ashwathama hearing of his father’s death at the end of the day was furious and promised to kill Drishthadyumna the next day to avenge his father's death.

Karna was chosen as the next commander in chief of the Kaurava army and he took over the command with great zeal. His superior fighting skills completely baffled the Pandava army and this ended with great losses for the Pandavas. Bheema called his son Ghatotkacha to fight for the Pandavas. Ghatotkacha attacked the Kauravas at night creating an illusionary air. Duryodhana asked his army to put on the light and continue to fight through the night. The code of war, as agreed upon, was broken. The weapons from Gatotkacha were coming from the sky but no one could locate Gototkacha. The army fled in panic and Karna could not get them back to fight. Finally, Duryodhana used up his most powerful weapon, Brahmastra, which he was holding to kill Arjuna.

When Bheema heard of his son’s valiant death, he broke down. Krishna said in consolation, “Bheema, you should be proud of your son’s valiant death. Single handedly, he pushed back the Kaurava army. He has also sacrificed his life to save Arjuna otherwise Brahmashtra would have surely have killed him.”

The army mourned the death of Gatotkacha and prepared themselves to fight again on the following day. It was the day when Karna was in command of the Kaurava army. He decided to have his final battle with Arjuna that day. Arjuna was also ready for him. The armies of the Kaurava and Pandava were skeptical of the outcome as both were equally powerful. When Karna proceeded towards Arjuna on the battlefield, Yudhishthira came in between and Karna cut his weapons in pieces.

He spared Yudhishthira’s life as he had promised to Kunti. Karna soon stood face to face with Arjuna. Suddenly Karna’s charioteer was killed and one of the chariot’s wheels broke down. Karna requested Arjuna to stop fighting while his wheel was fixed. Karna was unarmed and it was unethical for Arjuna to attack Karna in that situation. But Krishna spoke otherwise, “Karna, this war itself is unethical. It will be foolish of Arjuna not to take this opportunity to kill you.”

Krishna encouraged Arjuna to kill Karna instantly. Thus Karna was killed mercilessly in the hands of his brother Arjuna. The Kaurava army began to flee away from the battlefield.

Duryodhana was shocked to hear of Karna’s death. He felt helpless. He could not find anyone to replace Karna or get his army organized. His vanity did not prompt him to accept defeat . So he chose to run away from the battlefield along with his maternal uncle Shakuni. Sahadeva located Shakuni and killed him but Duryodhana escaped. It was the sixteenth day of war. The battlefield was nothing but heaps of corpses.

On the eighteenth day of the Mahabharata war, Duryodhana was missing and the Kaurava army chose to surrender. Duryodhana was finally located inside a tank from where he was pulled out. Bheema challenged Duryodhana to a mace fight. Duryodhana was noted for his mace fights. Everyone witnessed the great fight between Bheema and Duryodhana, which went on for many hours until Krishna convinced Bheema to hit Duryodhana on his thigh in order to win. Hitting an enemy below the navel was not allowed in a fair mace fight. But 

Bheema took Krishna’s advice thus he kept his vow of breaking Duryodhana's thigh to punish him for insulting Draupadi by asking her to sit on his lap after that ill-fated dice game.

The Pandavas then left Duryodhana in the battlefield and started to return to their camp. Before their departure, the Pandavas thanked Krishna for bringing victory to them through his valuable advice.

Although the war was over on the eighteenth day, three warriors of the Kauravas were still missing at large – Aswathama, Kripacharya and Kritaverma. Kripacharya and Kritaverma accepted their defeat and went to the forest to spend their time in prayers. Ashwathama, however, desired revenge. He planned to wipe out the Pandava family. The Pandavas were on their way home after the war. Ashwathama stealthily entered the camp at night, killed the guard and then killed all of Draupadi’s sons , one by one, in cold blood. Then he came to Duryodhana before the daybreak where he was lying in pain. He described the heinous crime that he had just committed . Duryodhana breathed his last breath and Aswathama fled into the forest.

When the Pandavas returned to camp, they witnessed the crime incurred by Aswathama. Draupadi was lost in grief and bewailed loudly. Consoling her to be pacified, the five Pandavas set out in search of Ashwathama. He was soon located but Draupadi asked the Pandavas to release him as he was the son of their guru Drona.

Thus at the end of the war, there was no one left to claim the throne of Hastinapur after the Pandavas, except the unborn baby of Uttara, the son of Abhimanyu.