Thread by @sri9011

Day 13 ended with the heroic Abhimanyu attaining the warrior's heaven above after holding off the mighty Kaurava Army headed by Dronacharya and arrayed in Chakravyuha. The 16 year old made Karna flee on foot twice before unfair and foul tactics contrary to rules of war++

++adopted by Kaurava veterans pulled him down. He collapsed shortly before sunset and breathed his last. However, Kauravas were bleeding and clutching at their wounds. They forgot all about taking Yudhishthira prisoner and dashed off to their tents to treat their wounds

Krishna and Arjuna had been drawn away from the battlefield by Trigarta King Susarma. And this 16 year old boy ensured that Pandavas didnt miss them. Drona's masterstroke failed. Yudhishthira not taken

Filling up the boots of Krishna and Arjuna for a whole day and holding the Kauravas arrayed in Chakravyuha at bay was great achievement. Dhritarashtra learnt from Sanjaya how the boy was killed by foul tactics and how Kauravas exulted++

++ and the old blind king's reaction was like spectators getting up and leaving the stadium when they know for sure their favourite team lost. What was it the blind old king saw which all stalwarts in Kaurava Army saw?

Krishna and Arjuna reached the Pandava camp after destroying the forces of Susarma. Silence greeted them. They learnt that Drona arrayed Kaurava army in Chakravyuha but then Pandava flag was flying atop the Pandava camp. In short, Drona's masterstroke failed.

Then why the eerie silence? Why the Abhimanyu with his 5 brothers the Upapandavas or sons of Draupadi were not running out to great them. Something was amiss

As he reached his tent, the sight of Abhimanyu's mortal remains greeted his sight. What Arjuna failed to comprehend was this lad had no equals . None could kill him in fair fight except Bhishma, Krishna and Arjuna

He examines and cross-examines his brothers, his disciple and friend Satyaki , Drupada..just everyone and truth dawns on him. Abhimanyu wasnt felled by numbers, not by superior prowess of enemies but by their foul tactics.

Now he saw something that his grief-stricken tear filled eyes had failed to see but the old king Dhritarashta had seen clearly. Monumental incompetence of Drona, Karna & co to battle this fellow fairly and knock him down something which Bhishma would have done.

Even in his moment of immense grief, he saw that Kauravas had no warrior of the class of Bhishma and others were overrated and were monuments of incompetence

He saw that Drona, Karna & Co were frustrated that they could nothing to him(Arjuna) and so settled the scores by knocking down Abhimanyu . They thought that Abhimanyu's loss would shatter Arjuna

But morons that they were, they failed to see that the manner of killing Abhimanyu had revealed their weakness and monumental incompetence ..something which didnt escape even the blind monarch Dhritarashtra.

Jayadratha's role in this was minimal. He denied passage to other Pandavas to rush to Abhimanyu's rescue..something that was expected of an ordinary soldier. But he was the husband of Duryodhana's sister Dushhala. So, Duryodhana would do everything to protect him

The real culprits like Drona and Karna...Duryodhana would bat half an eyelid if they perished. But Jayadratha was to be protected by Duryodhana at all costs. He thought there must be a way whee he could go on all out offensive instead of having to protect Yuidhishthira++

++from being captured by Drona. HE decided to SEIZE THE MOMENT as was his habit(like how as a child he rushed to Bhishma and disrupted the meeting of King and the Council to tell him what he saw about Drona's amazing feats of pulling the ball out of the well)

He decided to go after Jayadratha and set himself up as troll-bait to troll Dronacharya. He picked up his Gandiva, string it and twanged it and made the vow to slay Jaydaratha by next sunset if the latter did not flee or he didnt seek Arjun's refuge

He added further in his terrible oath that if he failed to do so by sunset the next day, he would enter fire. Krishna was appalled. He taunted Arjun, you proved you are grandson of Bhishma . Why fetter yourself with "Pratigya" ?

Krishna pointed out that if Arjuna fulfilled his vow by sunset he would die as Jayadratha's father Vruddakshtara had cursed that anybody rolling his son's head to the ground would die. If he didnt fulfil his vow, he would enter the fire as per his vow or live in ignominy

To all that Krishna said Arjun's reply was "A bowman like me can accomplish anything with a bow like Gandiva with you as charioteer and Hanumanji in my banner" Krishna was wondering where was this Arjun hidden for past 13 days of war except for a brief period when he knocked ++

++the great Bhishma down on Day 10 when he protected all his brothers and Abhimanyu from Bhishma's deadly arrows and matched his fire with fire and fought with great wrath and knocked him down

Now, Duryodhana was salivating at the prospects of Arjun going down the next day if he protected Jayadratha till sun set as that would seal his win. Great warriors like Srutayuddha were lined up in defence of Jayadratha.

Drona arrayed his army in complex formation which was impregnable and placed Jayadratha behind this impregnable formation. Arjun nonchalantly left to hunt down Jayadratha with just his two rear wheel guard warriors..Yudhamanyu and Uttamaujas and took no troops with him

Rest of the Pandava army was tasked to protect Yudhishthira. Arjun unleashed a fearsome offensive. Wickets fell in a heap. Srutayu, Asrutayu of Aavnti, their Sons Nityayush, Deerghayush, then Shakuni's brothers Vrusha and Aschala. Then Srutaydha came up before Arjun

The relentless pressure exerted by Arjun resulted in an unforced fatal error from Srutayudha. He hurled his divine mace at Krishna . But Krishna was unarmed. That mace came with a condition of not using it against someone unarmed. If that was violated, mace would boomerang

One more wicket down of Kauravas. The Kaurava Maharathis shot all weapons at Arjuna and Krishna. Krishna became numb for a moment . Such was the shower of weapons. He recovered and called out "Arjuna, are you alive?"

Arjuna recovered from his swoon, and responded to Krishna and shot down all arrows and cleared the crowd. Then he attacked Durmarshana's elephant division and caused a stampede. Duryodhana went to Drona who was focussed on capturing Yudhishira

Dronacharya was caught in a bind. Every time Yudhishthira looked within grasp, entreaties came to stop Arjun. He fell between the two stools

Meanwhile Yudhishthira felt concerned that Arjun's bow twang or conch was not head and only Krishna's conch Panchajanya was heard. He sent Satyaki to check Arjun's whereabouts

Drona sought to prevent Satyaki from advancing. A mighty battle ensued between the two. The disciple of Arjuna shot down 101 bows of Drona without the latter being able to shoot an arrow,

Then Satyaki proceeded to where Arjun was . In the meantime, Yudhishthira didnt hear Satyaki's conch and sent Bheema after both of them to know their whereabouts and to sound his lion roar when he sighted Arjun

Drona sought to intercept Bhima. But Bhima smashed eight chariots of Drona hurling his maces at them. Then he proceeded further

He saw the best of Kaurava Maharathis lined up to protect Jaydratha and Drona's attention divided between Yudhisthira and Arjuna. He opened up a third front. 5 brothers of Duryodhana slain. Karna couldnt bear it. He was looking to go after Arjun but ++

++seeing Bhima go after Durodhan's brothers he rushed at Bhima. Bhima proved to be a grossly underrated Archer. He gave Karna a torrid time and put him in dire straits. Duryodhan sent a batch of 5 brothers to rescue Karna. Bhima slew them right in front of Karna under his nose

The fleeing Karna returned circumambulated the fallen Kaurava brothers. Then attacked Bhima again. Duryodhana sent another batch of brothers to rescue Karna they too slain by Bhima

Thus, 31 brothers of Duryodhna slain by Bhima right in front of Karna's very eyes. (And what calumnies Duryodhana heaped on Bhishma on Day Eight when he was tackling Arjuna and in the meanwhile Bhima slew 17 Kauravas away from his sight? How he said make way for my friend Karn)

In cricketing terms, it was a No,.11 (Bhima) flogging an ace fast bowler to all corners of the Park. Finally, ace fast bowler finds his yorker and bowls the No.11. Tells him "loser thats the way to pavilion". No,11: "loser, see the scoreboard" & points to 199 against his name

Naturally, Bhima's spirited fight not only gladdened Krishna, Arjuna and Satyaki but also Kaurava Maharathis who applauded his archery fight with fancied Karna just as tailender hitting massive sixers and fours provides great entertainment

Karna puts his bowstring around Bhima's neck and taunts him 'glutton' and all that. Bhima responds: all great kings of your army are witness. You come for an unarmed hand to hand wrestling match and I would crush you like that wretched Keechaka

Karna couldnt say anything. He was weary and bleeding after the fight., Arjuna saw him taunting Bhima and shot snake-like arrows at Karna forcing him to flee

Bhima complained that Arjuna looked on while he was being taunted., Arjun immediately shouted at Karna " I will avenge the taunts heaped on Bhima by killing your son Vrushasena in front of your eyes before killing you. When he is killed, know that next is your turn"

Bhima killed 13 more brothers of Duryodhana that day (Day 14) till sunset taking that day's hunt to a record 44. Thus, by Day 14, 70/100 Kauravas eliminated and 44 on Day 14.

Of the 44 killed, Bhima grieved for Vikarna who alone objected to Draupadi's disrobing. He didnt feel any remorse for the other 43

We lost track of Arjun and Krishna...The two were moving on relentlessly. Arjuna was mowing down warriors in great numbers with his arrows.

Kavi Bhushan describes this in poem on Shivaji comparing his valour to 'Kaurav ke ang par paarth jo pekhiye"

Horses of Arjuna's chairot had taken hits from arrows shot at them. They were thirsty. Krishna said Chariot cant proceed further. Kauravas thought as Arjuna had dismounted the chariot, this was the best opportunity to kill his horses, smash his chariot and kill him and Krishna

Arjuna built a fortress around the chariot with his arrows. Then he shot arrows on the ground and created a pool of water. In that pool, water lilies grew and swans came visting. Cool breeze blew. Devarishi narad came to meditate there.

Krishna tended to the horses in the fortified enclosure with pool and attended to their injuries made them drink water and refreshed them. Kauravas marvelled at Arjuna's feets.

But seeing him on the ground without chariot, they felt tempted to attack him and attacked him with all their might(Chariot-deprived Abhimanyu/Arjun can be attacked but not Chariot-deprived Karna!!!! Libtards were in abundance then too)

Arjun stood his ground, fought them off with unremitting fury littering the battlefield with broken weapons, severed heads, severed limbs, broken chariots, slain animals

Two formations protecting Jayadratha broken. Third broken . Krishna and Arjuna had reached Jayadratha and fight with Jayadratha had started with some time left for sunset. Then Drona, Karna, Vrushasena,Shalya,Ahswattham, Kripa make a combined attack on Arjun to protect Jayadrath

It was this adharma of so many warriors attacking Arjuna at a time which infuriated Krishna. Arjuna was no inexperienced Abhimanyu. Nevertheless , this
adharma will delay him and there was no time to lose

It was then that Krishna creates illusion of sunset and tells Arjun that his hands must not stop no matter what and when he severs Jayadrath's head it should go and fall in the lap of Vruddakshtra(Jaydratha's father) who is meditating in Ashram and head should not roll on ground

As everyone's eyes were on the sun, Jaydratha comes out from the formation and taunts Arjuna.Immediately, Krishna dispels the illusion and sun is seen on the horizon.Arjun's arrow severs Jayadrath's heads but shameless maharathis Drona, Karna etc kept up combined attack on Arjun

They had not the least shame that they failed to save Jayadratha but thought cynically if his head rolls to the ground Arjun will be slain. Arjun kept parrying the shafts of these Maharathis and at the same time shot shafts at Jayadratha's head so the head flew and fell in ++

++Vruddakshatra's lap. The old king now a hermit opened his eyes from meditation and was horrified to see his son's head on his lap. He pushed it away in horror and it rolled on the ground and as per his own curse his head burst into a hundred fragments

Thus ended the earthly sojourn of father and son. Then Karna rushed towards Arjun. Seeing Karna rush towards Arjun, Satyaki rushed to meet Karna. Seeing that Yudhamanyu and Uttamaujas who were protecting Arjun's rear wheels charged forward to support Satyaki

Seeing Satyaki charging to attack Karna, Arjuna urged Krishna to take his chariot towards Karna saying "My boy Satyaki..My boys Yudhamanyu and Uttamaujas" Krishna said "Your boys are competent to handle Karna . Dont fear. I will take you around the field to see what you achieved"

Then , Krishna drives Arjun around the battlefield showing rivers and pools and streams of enemy blood. Literally Arjun could have done "tarpan" for his departed son Abhimanyu with his enemies' blood several times over as the son of Jamadagni had done

When Bhishma was knocked down in Day 10 by Arjun ,he told Arjun in the hearing of all warriors "Sages tell me you are born in this earth to annoint it with the blood of warrior community like my guru Parashuramji" What Bhishma said had come true

Krishna showed around mighty warriors felled by him. Then Krishna rises in his charioteer's seat and gives Arjun a hug (like Sri Rama had hugged his brother Lakshman when he slew Indrajit)

Krishna told Arjuan "You slay that Karna and I will give you another hug like this. Great was the feat achieved by you O Dhananaya. Even Indra and his Gods couldnt have achieved what you did against host of warriors equal or superior to you in might"

" Know this Or Arjuna, there is nothing in three worlds that you would want to achieve but cannot achieve. You by yourself have taken down 7 Akshaunis"

That was 7 of the 11 divisions of Kaurava Army (almost 70% ) and that was the size of Pandava Army!!

Kavi Bhushan compares Shivaji Raje's exploits against "Mleccha Chaturanga sena" to Arjuna's Day 14 heroics "Kaurava ke Ang par paarth jo pekhiye"

Arjuna's plight on Day 13 after loss of Abhimanyu was no different from our plight after losing 40 plus of our worthy sons. Even in that condition, his tear-filled eyes searched for what was wrong with the enemy. He SEIZED THE MOMENT, made a vow & forced Kauravas on defensive,

,took calculated risks, relentlessly mounted pressure on the stronger and larger Kaurava Army after strategically lining them up, and refused to bow down to any hurdles on the way

Hopefully, PM Modi will also SEIZE THE MOMENT by taking a leaf out of Arjuna's example which even Kavi Bhushan has eloquently described

Day 14 scorecard of Kauravas..7 Akshauinis gone (ie 70% of army gone), Shrutayu, Ashrutayu, Srutayuddha, Bhurisrvas, Jaydratha down
44 of Durydhana's brothers slain by Bhima taking the tally to 70/100
Second turning point after fall of Bhishma on Day 10

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