Introduction
We started tracing the story of Mahabharatam from Santanu of the Kuru dynasty. Bhishma was his first born son. He had a nephew by name Somadatta who had a son bearing the name, Bhurisravas. These two were warriors of great fame and they joined the Kaurava side in the epoch making war against the Pandavas. Bhishma, who had listed the outstanding warriors on either side to Duryodhana in the beginning of the war, had specially mentioned Bhurisravas as one of the star fighters in his side. Bhurisravas and his father, Somadatta, played important roles in the Mahabharata war.
On the Pandava side we already have come across Satyaki who belonged to the Vrishni clan of the Yadavas. Being a Yadava, he was a distant relation of Krishna. Satyaki was a good friend of Krishna and was one of the outstanding warriors on the Pandava side.
Dhritarashtra laments
The blind Kuru king lamented as usual at the end of the fourth day’s war. Sanjaya, then, reminded him of the origin of Arjuna and Krishna from Nara and Narayana who were great ancient sages and invincible warriors. The two were also good friends. The story was retold by Bhishma to Duryodhana to point out how futile it was to fight a war against the two. (We have already covered the story earlier).
The Kauravas arranged their forces in the shape of a shark (Makara) in the beginning of the fifth day. To counter this, the Pandavas got into a falcon (Shyena) formation. Bhima stood at the face of the falcon and Shikhandi and Dhrishtadyumna guarded the eyes. Satyaki stood at the head and Arjuna stood guarding the neck. The left wing was supported by Drupada with his contingent (Akshauhini) of army. The right wing was guarded by the king of Kekaya with his own Akshauhini. The back was guarded by the sons of Drupada and by Abhimanyu. Yudhishthira stood at the tail along with his two young brothers, Nakula and Sahadeva.
Duryodhana tried to inspire Drona by saying how great a warrior he was and how even the entire Pandava forces would not be a match for him. The Acharya was touched by the praises showered on him by the Kaurava prince and made great thrusts into the Pandava formation. Satyaki tried to check the advance of Drona, but, soon was in trouble. Bhima noticed the predicament of Satyaki and came to his aid. Then, Bhishma and Salya joined the fight on the Kaurava side. That brought Sikhandi on the opposite ranks. Seeing Sikhandi, Bhishma, true to his word, turned away from the scene as he would not face a warrior who was born as a girl.
Several great battles were fought on the day where the warriors on either side faced the enemy jointly. Many were duels. There was a fierce battle between Bhishma and Arjuna and between Bhishma and Virata. Arjuna faced the sons of his teacher, Drona. Abhimanyu, the son of Arjuna fought a pitched battle against Lakshmana, the son of Duryodhana. Bhima attacked Duryodhana in a separate battle. Great was the destruction in the two armies as a result of all these battles.
Satyaki against Bhurisravas
It was the afternoon on day five of the war. The Vrishni warrior, Satyaki, was fighting a fierce battle against the Kauravas. Duryodhana sent hundreds of able warriors to check Satyaki. But, the Vrishni hero sent them all to the abode of the dead. It was then that Bhrisravas drove his chariot towards Satyaki. The two fought fiercely for a while. Soon, all those who were fighting in support of Satyaki were scattered in all directions, unable to face the brave Kaurava.
Satyaki’s ten sons noticed the predicament of the Pandava forces and came in support of their father. They challenged Bhurisravas to face them. Bhurisravas welcomed the young Vrishni princes to the battle and turned to them by showering sharp arrows on them. One by one, all the ten sons of Satyaki fell down dead, pierced by the deadly shafts coming from the Kaurava bow.
Satyaki went into a rage seeing the fate of his dear sons. He drove his chariot straight into that of Bhurisravas with the result that the two chariots crumbled into pieces. He, then, took out his sword and was about to face Bhurisravas in a do or die duel. But, Bhimasena arrived on the seen at that moment and carried Satyaki away in his chariot, unwilling to risk the life of his important ally.
Elsewhere, Arjuna made large scale destruction of the Kaurava army. Duryodhana deployed several contingents of his superior men to face the Pandava. But, they all perished by the swift arrows coming from Arjuna’s Gandiva.
The sun was about to set in the western sky. The Kaurava forces were exhausted by the fierce battles fought all day long. So, Bhishma withdrew his forces and called off the fight on the fifth day of war.
