Reading Notes: The Mahabharata Part D

 

Arjuna at the War: Flickr

Yudhishthira makes one final plea for peace and sends Krishna as an emissary. Dhritarashtra hears of this and wants to host a lavish reception; however, many of his advisors tell him that Krishna has come for peace, not for a party. His son, Duryodhana, also hears of this and plans to take Krishna captive. When he meets with Krishna, he refuses to give peace and ignores the please of his mother. Krishna then transforms into his divine form at the reception, thus Duryodhana cannot capture him. Before returning to the Pandavas, Krishna tells Karna of his true heritage and tries to get him to ditch Duryodhana. However, he promises to only attack Arjuna and not the other four brothers.

Now, it is time for the war to begin. Draupadi's brother is made the commander for the Pandavas while Bhishma is made the commander for Duryodhana's troops. Before the war begins, Arjuna is horrified at the thought of fighting his old master, Drona, and members of his own family; thus, Krishna manifests into his cosmic form, showing all being, creation, and destruction. After seeing this, Arjuna is ready to fight. Now, the war begins.

Draupadi's brother tries to attack Drona, but he escapes. Bhishma attacks Krishna and actually draws blood, which thoroughly angers Arjuna; however, he still begs Krishna not to kill him. Arjuna eventually shoots Bhishma from behind, leaving him fatally wounded. Now that Bhishma had fallen, Karna agrees to fight. Drona replaces Bhishma as the commander. He attempts to capture Yudhishthira as well as tries to lead Arjuna away from the battle. Arjuna's son penetrates the enemies formation, but cannot escape and is killed. When Arjuna learns of this, he vows to kill his son's murderer before the day is over. He does this. Karna uses his invincible weapon that he was saving to use against Arjuna in order to kill Ghatotkacha. The Pandavas then trick Drona into thinking his son is dead so that they can cut his head off.

Arjuna and Karna begin to battle when Karna's wheel becomes stuck in the mud. Karna begs for mercy until his wheel is freed, but Arjuna kills him anyway. Duryodhana is then fatally wounded; however, while he was dying he still remained defiant of his actions.

Now that the battle was over, the Pandavas returned to the Kingdom. Dhritarashtra is distraught when he hears of his sons' deaths and smashes a statue of Bhima (one of the brothers). His wife personally curses Krishna. The Pandavas then perform a ritual for the dead, as they bear no happiness for what had occurred. Yudhisthira eventually becomes king, even though he does not really want to.

Bibliography: Narayan, R K. The Mahabharata. The University of Chicago Press, 1978.