Kurukshetra War Days

The Kurukshetra war was the great war between the Kauravas and the Pāṇḍavas. Two parts of it are told here. The first is the ten days in which Bhīshma Pitāmaha led the Kaurava army, told in the Bhīshma Parva of the Mahābhārata. The second is the seventeenth day, told in the Karṇa Parva, when Karṇa led the Kaurava army and was killed by Arjuna.

The first ten days under Bhīshma

Before the battle

Before the first blow, Yuyutsu crossed over to the Pāṇḍava side. He was a son of Dhṛtarāshṭra by a Vaiśya woman, so he was a half-brother of all hundred Kauravas. He could not fight in support of adharma (the opposite of dharma). He came before Yudhishṭhira and was accepted. He was the only son of Dhṛtarāshṭra who lived through the war.

The armies were drawn up in careful formations (vyūha). The Kaurava army, with Bhīshma Pitāmaha as supreme commander, formed the Śākatavyūha (a chariot or wedge formation). The Pāṇḍava army, under the command of Dhṛshṭadyumna, formed the Vajra-Vyūha. The Kauravas faced west. The Pāṇḍavas faced east, toward the rising sun.

Bhagavān Kṛshṇa drove Arjuna’s great chariot, the Nandighosha. Before the battle began, Arjuna sang the Durgā Stotra (a hymn of praise) at Kṛshṇa’s instruction and received the blessing of Devī Durgā. Then Kṛshṇa and Arjuna blew their conches, Pāñcajanya and Devadatta. This announced the start of the war.

Day 1

Two great events marked the first day: the courage of Śveta and the terror of Bhīshma’s weapons.

Śveta, the eldest son of Virāṭa, fought with great courage to defend his aged father from the Kaurava attack. He held back many Kaurava warriors. But when he met Bhīshma Pitāmaha, the grandsire used divine weapons of great power, and Śveta fell. He was one of the first great warriors allied with the Pāṇḍavas to die in the war.

All through the day Bhīmasena attacked the Kaurava formations with great force. Arjuna fought with his usual skill and struck down Kaurava commanders from a distance. Both sides lost many men. The Kaurava army, with Bhīshma’s almost unbeatable archery, had the better of the day.

Day 2: the Kaliṅga battle

On the second day Bhīma did his greatest destruction. The Kaliṅga army had been brought to Kurukshetra by Bhānumanta, their king, and it fought on the Kaurava side. Bhīmasena fell on the Kaliṅgas like a storm. He killed Bhānumanta, king of Kaliṅga, and his son Śakradeva in the same fight. The Kaliṅga army was shattered. Its elephants were broken and its leaders were destroyed.

At the same time Bhīshma cut through the Pāṇḍava formations with his divine archery. He kept Arjuna busy and guarded the main body of the Kaurava army. The fights between Arjuna and Bhīshma grew fiercer. They were two great archers, one the disciple and the other the grandsire. In these early days Arjuna plainly did not want to strike his elder with his full strength.

Day 3

On the third day Bhīshma drew up the Kaurava army in the Garuḍa-Vyūha, the eagle formation, with himself at the beak. The Pāṇḍavas answered with the Ardhacandra-Vyūha, the half-moon formation. As the fighting went on, the formations shifted and broke. The great vyūhas were openings for strategy, not fixed shapes.

Bhīma kept pressing into the Kaurava right side and caused great havoc. Arjuna held the Pāṇḍava left and fought one wave of Kaurava commanders after another. The Trigarta warriors, the Saṃśaptakas, began on these early days to trouble Arjuna steadily and to draw him away from the main battle. At one point Yudhishṭhira came under heavy pressure, and Arjuna had to come to help him.

Day 4

The fourth day brought Bhagadatta, king of Prāgjyotisha, to the front. He rode his great war elephant Suprātīka into the Pāṇḍava formations. The elephant had great strength. Its charge caused terrible slaughter. Ordinary weapons and chariots could not easily stop Suprātīka, and Bhagadatta guided it with the skill of a lifetime of war with elephants.

Bhīma fought to check Bhagadatta’s elephant, in the close and fierce combat at which he was best. Arjuna moved across the field and met many threats at once. Bhīshma’s archery from the Kaurava side kept up a steady deadly pressure on the Pāṇḍava commanders.

Days 5 to 7

In the middle days of Bhīshma’s command, the fighting was fierce, and the lead passed from one side to the other. Droṇa fought with great skill beside Bhīshma, and his archery went well with the grandsire’s. Kṛpa, Kṛtavarma, Duryodhana and his brothers pressed into different parts of the Pāṇḍava army.

Bhīma went on killing Kaurava princes in great numbers. His vow to kill all hundred sons of Dhṛtarāshṭra was being fulfilled day by day. The Saṃśaptakas, the Trigarta warriors who had sworn either to kill Arjuna or to die, kept Arjuna away from the main battle, so he had to leave the central fights to deal with them.

On Day 7 Bhīshma gave Duryodhana the herb Viśalyakaraṇī, the plant that removes arrows and heals wounds. The grandsire was bound by duty and fought with skill, yet he also cared for those he served, even in the middle of war.

Day 8: the death of Irāvanta

The eighth day brought a great loss to the Pāṇḍavas: the death of Irāvanta, the son of Arjuna by the Nāga princess Ulūpī. Irāvanta had fought bravely for the Pāṇḍavas. On Day 8 he was killed by the rākshasa Alambusha, who overwhelmed him with māyā (illusion). Alambusha was a rākshasa warrior on the Kaurava side and a master of unearthly combat.

Irāvanta’s death moved Ghaṭotkaca, a son of Bhīma by the rākshasī Hiḍimbā, to fight Alambusha, rākshasa against rākshasa. The fight was fierce on both sides. The two fought through the night with māyā and raw force.

Day 9: Kṛshṇa’s threat

On the ninth day Bhīshma’s archery was at its most terrible. The grandsire knew the war could not go on forever and felt the crisis coming. He fought with great fury. His arrows fell like rain on the Pāṇḍava formations, warriors fled before him, and even Arjuna could not fully check his advance.

Arjuna still held back from attacking Bhīshma with full force. He could not bring himself to strike his elder. Seeing this, Bhagavān Kṛshṇa took the extraordinary step of threatening to take up weapons himself. He leapt from the chariot, seized his Sudarśana Cakra, and went toward Bhīshma, seeming to mean to kill him. This broke Kṛshṇa’s own pledge not to fight, which he had made to Duryodhana before the war. Kṛshṇa was ready to break that pledge to keep his word to Bhīshma, who had said he would make Kṛshṇa himself take up arms.

Arjuna ran after Kṛshṇa, caught him, and begged him to turn back. He promised that from then on he would fight Bhīshma without holding back. Kṛshṇa went back to the chariot.

Day 10: the fall of Bhīshma

The tenth day was the day Bhīshma fell. Earlier, Yudhishṭhira had come to Bhīshma secretly by night to ask how he could be killed. Bhīshma Pitāmaha told him that no male warrior could kill him. He also told Yudhishṭhira that Śikhaṇḍin, born a woman and later changed into a man, would be the means of his fall, because Bhīshma would not raise his bow against one who had been born a woman.

With this knowledge the Pāṇḍavas put Śikhaṇḍin in front as the one who seemed to attack, with Arjuna behind him. When Bhīshma faced this arrangement he saw Śikhaṇḍin and lowered his weapons, keeping his own vow not to fight one born as a woman. From behind Śikhaṇḍin, Arjuna loosed a great stream of arrows with full force and full purpose. Bhīshma fought all his other opponents, but he took Arjuna’s arrows without striking back.

Arjuna’s arrows struck Bhīshma with such force and in such numbers that his whole body was covered. When he at last fell from his chariot, the shafts that had pierced him held his body above the ground. This became the śaraśayyā, the bed of arrows. He did not touch the earth. The arrow-shafts were his support.

Bhīshma was awake and alive. His death was his to choose, because of the vara (boon) of icchā-mṛtyu (death at will) that he had received. He chose to wait on his śaraśayyā until the Uttarāyaṇa, the sun’s northward journey. He would give up his breath only when that auspicious time began.

The fall of Bhīshma brought the Kaurava army to a brief standstill. Duryodhana came to the śaraśayyā. Karṇa came too, and now he was free to join the war at last. The picture of the greatest warrior of the age lying on arrows, waiting to die at the moment of his own choosing, became the defining image of the opening phase of the war.

The vyūhas of Days 1 to 10

The commanders changed their formations many times over the ten days as the fighting changed.

• Day 1: Kaurava, Śākatavyūha. Pāṇḍava, Vajra-Vyūha.
• Day 3: Kaurava, Garuḍa-Vyūha. Pāṇḍava, Ardhacandra-Vyūha.
• Various days: Maṇḍala-Vyūha, Śyena-Vyūha, Makara-Vyūha, Krauñcāruṇa-Vyūha, Śṛṅgāṭaka-Vyūha, Sarvatobhadra-Vyūha.

Commanders and notable warriors, Days 1 to 10

On the Kaurava side, under Bhīshma’s overall command:

• Bhīshma Pitāmaha, supreme commander
• Droṇācārya
• Kṛpācārya
• Kṛtavarma
• Bhagadatta, with Suprātīka
• Bhūriśravas
• Vikarṇa
• Alambusha
• The Trigarta warriors, the Saṃśaptakas
• Duryodhana and his brothers

On the Pāṇḍava side:

• Dhṛshṭadyumna, supreme commander
• Arjuna, with Kṛshṇa as his charioteer
• Bhīmasena, with Viśoka as his charioteer
• Yudhishṭhira
• Sañjaya, who told the war to Dhṛtarāshṭra
• Sātyaki
• Śikhaṇḍin
• Irāvanta, killed on Day 8
• Ghaṭotkaca

The seventeenth day: the fall of Karṇa

The seventeenth day is the most weighty single day of the Karṇa Parva. It holds the whole career of Karṇa as supreme commander (sarvasenāpati) of the Kaurava army and ends with his death at the hands of Arjuna. On this day Yudhishṭhira was wounded and left the battle. The crisis over the Gāṇḍīva broke out in the Pāṇḍava camp. Bhīma killed Duḥśāsana. Arjuna killed Vṛshasena. Karṇa and Arjuna fought their last great duel. After this day the Kaurava side was no longer an army with a strong chief warrior. It was a broken remnant.

Overview of the day

Karṇa led the Kaurava army for his second day. His first day of command had ended with Yudhishṭhira going back wounded to camp. That had set off the events in the Pāṇḍava camp.

The Karṇa Parva describes how the powers of the world took sides. The devas stood with Arjuna. The asuras and certain other forces stood with Karṇa. Indra favoured Arjuna and Sūrya favoured Karṇa. Brahmā and Śiva both confirmed that Arjuna would win. Kṛshṇa encouraged Arjuna with these truths before the great fight began.

Several streams of battle ran side by side across the field:

• The wide battle between the Kaurava and Pāṇḍava armies
• Bhīma’s advance toward Duḥśāsana and the keeping of his thirteen-year vow
• Arjuna’s advance toward Vṛshasena, the killing meant to wound Karṇa
• The great duel between Karṇa and Arjuna at the centre of the day

Morning: Yudhishṭhira is wounded and withdraws

In the morning Yudhishṭhira fought but was badly wounded by Karṇa’s arrows. He was struck in vital places and suffered terrible pain. He could not go on fighting at full strength, so he withdrew to the Pāṇḍava camp to rest on his golden cot. His withdrawal was not cowardice. It was bodily need, because Karṇa’s arrows had left him unable to fight.

The Gāṇḍīva crisis (Chapters 65–71)

Arjuna and Kṛshṇa came to the camp. They found Yudhishṭhira wounded and angry that Karṇa was still alive. His rage had built up through the whole day and through years of suffering. It burst out against Arjuna. His speech ended with the command: “Give away your Gāṇḍīva to someone worthier.”

This set off Arjuna’s secret vow that he must kill anyone who insulted the Gāṇḍīva. He drew his sword against his elder brother. Kṛshṇa stepped in with the Balāka Ākhyāna and the Kauśika Satya Ākhyāna. He taught that dharma is not the mechanical use of rules but the wisdom to serve the good. He gave Arjuna a substitute: speaking harshly to Yudhishṭhira with the disrespectful form “tvam” (you). This kept the spirit of the vow without the killing of a brother.

After Arjuna’s harsh speech and his praise of himself, which is a substitute under the dharmaśāstra for self-killing, the brothers were reconciled. Arjuna swore before all who were present that he would kill Karṇa before sunset or die trying. Dāruka is named among those present at this reconciliation.

The death of Duḥśāsana (Chapters 82–83)

On the seventeenth day Bhīma and Duḥśāsana met face to face. Bhīma struck Duḥśāsana down from his chariot with his mace. He got down and kept his most terrible vow, the one he swore in the gambling hall after the attempt to strip Draupadī of her clothes. With his bare hands he tore Duḥśāsana’s arm from his body. He split open his chest and drank his blood before the gathered armies of both sides. Warriors on both sides, Karṇa among them, saw the act with horror.

Over the fallen Duḥśāsana, Bhīma spoke of every wrong done to the Pāṇḍavas: the dice game, the exile, the Lākshāgṛha (the house of lac), and the dragging of Draupadī by her hair. He declared the first of his two vows kept. He said he meant to keep the second vow, about Duryodhana.

The death of Vṛshasena (Chapters 84–85)

Vṛshasena, Karṇa’s son, guarded the rear of his father’s chariot. On the seventeenth day he fought with great skill. He fought Nakula directly. He broke Nakula’s bow, killed his horses, and shattered his chariot. He wounded Nakula badly. He also struck Bhīma, Arjuna and Kṛshṇa with arrows.

When Arjuna saw Nakula in distress, he drove toward Vṛshasena. Before the fight, he called out to Karṇa as a deliberate taunt. Six mahārathas (great chariot warriors) had joined together to kill Abhimanyu when he was alone and unarmed. Now Arjuna would kill Vṛshasena before Karṇa’s eyes. He fired ten arrows into Vṛshasena’s vital points. With two arrows he cut off both his arms, and with a third he cut off his head. Vṛshasena fell from his chariot.

Karṇa saw his son die. His grief turned at once into rage and drove him straight at Arjuna and Kṛshṇa. This began the last and deciding phase of the great duel.

The great final duel (Chapters 86–91)

The powers of the world take sides (Chapter 86)

Before the duel began, Kṛshṇa encouraged Arjuna with the knowledge of how the powers stood. The devas, the ṛshis and the divine order stood with Arjuna. Sūrya stood with Karṇa. Indra stood with Arjuna. Brahmā and Śiva both confirmed that Arjuna would surely win. Brahmā made known that Karṇa stood on the dānava side of the war’s line between right and wrong.

The exchange of astras (Chapters 87–89)

The duel was a great contest of divine weapons. Karṇa and Arjuna exchanged the Āgneya, Vāruṇa and Vāyavya astras and astras of the Brahma kind. Karṇa used the Bhārgava astra, the great weapon given to him by Paraśurāma, with terrible effect. Arjuna’s bowstring broke several times during the exchange. Śalya, who was Karṇa’s charioteer, gave steady counsel.

The Nāgāstra (Chapter 90)

The nāga Aśvasena, who had lived through the burning of the Khāṇḍava forest, entered the shaft of one of Karṇa’s arrows. This made it a deadly nāga weapon aimed at Arjuna’s head. Kṛshṇa pressed his foot on the chariot and sank it into the earth. The arrow struck Arjuna’s kirīṭa, the divine crown given by Indra, and knocked it off instead of cutting off his head. Karṇa would not fire the same arrow twice. Arjuna killed Aśvasena with six arrows.

Also in Chapter 90, the śāpa (curse) of the brāhmaṇa came true as Karṇa’s chariot wheel sank into the earth. The Bhārgava astra left Karṇa, in fulfilment of Paraśurāma’s śāpa for the earlier deception. Karṇa got down from his chariot to lift the wheel. He called to Arjuna to wait, appealing to the warrior’s rule against striking a helpless enemy. Kṛshṇa answered with his great reply, naming Karṇa’s acts of adharma: the Draupadī episode, the poisoning of Bhīma, the plot of the Lākshāgṛha, and the killing of Abhimanyu.

The death of Karṇa (Chapter 91)

Karṇa stood on the ground beside his sunken chariot. Arjuna took up the Āñjalika astra, the arrow he had always kept with ritual care. He called on the Brahma mantra and released it from the Gāṇḍīva. The Āñjalika struck Karṇa at the neck and cut his head from his body. As Karṇa fell, a great shining form rose from his body and entered the disc of the sun. All beings saw this divine departure. The Kaurava army broke up and fled.

After the death of Karṇa (Chapters 92–96)

After Karṇa’s death, Śalya went back to Duryodhana and told him. Duryodhana was crushed. Karṇa had been his anchor and his greatest hope. The rest of the Kaurava army fell into shock and grief. Śalya described the battlefield in vivid terms and urged Duryodhana to withdraw.

Arjuna and Kṛshṇa returned to the Pāṇḍava camp. Kṛshṇa embraced Arjuna with deep joy and honour. They reported to Yudhishṭhira, who came to the battlefield and offered a prayer of joy and thanks. The Karṇa Parva ends with the Śravaṇa Mahimā, the puṇya (merit) of hearing this parva, and the formal close of the text.

Key events of Day 17

Sources

• Mahābhārata, Bhīshma Parva, Chapters 43–122
• Mahābhārata, Karṇa Parva, Chapters 65–96