The War – Day 12 (Part 2)

The focus of war on the twelfth day was to catch Yudhishthira alive. The main hurdle was Arjuna with his Gandiva. How to keep him away from his brother was the task on hand for the Kauravas. It was then that the Trigarthas formed a suicide squad sworn to kill Arjuna or to die in the process. When that battle raged elsewhere Drona closed on Yudhishthira.

But, several brave Pandava warriors were keeping close guard of Yudhishthira. They challenged the advance of the Acharya by sending showers of arrow on him. Duryodhana did not want to take any chances and sent reinforcements for Dronacharya.

This resulted in several individual battles between those who guarded Yudhishthira and those who tried to break into their defenses. Among them, Bhima stood like a pillar thwarting all attempts to get near his brother.

The Brave Bhagadatta

Duryodhana wanted to remove this main obstacle in getting his prize catch and attacked Bhima with a huge elephant mounted army. The Pandava dispersed their attack sending sharp arrows on the tuskers. Then, Bhagadatta came on the scene mounted on his specially trained elephant, Supratikam. The king of Pragjyotisha managed to crush the chariot of Bhima with the help of his elephant. Bhima continued to fight standing on his foot. The elephant harassed the Pandava for a while. Bhima managed to remain unhurt through some careful manoeuvres under the elephant. The Panchala princes arrive just on time to divert the attention of the elephant. They encircled Bhagadatta and his elephant and started sending sharp arrows.

Several other Pandava warriors soon came on the scene. But, Bhagadatta managed to dispel their attacks displaying exceptional skill with his elephant. The king of Pragjyotisha, then, dispersed the surrounding Pandava army in all directions.

Arjuna noticed what was happening to his army at the hands of Bhagadatta. He requested Krishna to take him to Bhagadatta. But, those who were left in the suicide army would not leave the Pandava alone. Arjuna was in two minds. Was it right to turn back on the challenging enemy? Can he let his army continue to be punished by the king of Pragjyotisha?

The end of Bhagadatta

Finally, he decided to finish the work on hand, of putting an end to the challenge of the Trigarthas. He sent a large number of well aimed arrows from his Gandiva that virtually finished what was left of the Trigartha forces. Then, he turned to Bhagadata.

There was a fierce battle between the two brave warriors. Bhagadatta, soon, realized that he was facing a formidable enemy. Finding no other way out, he took out the Vaishnava Astra (the weapon of Vishnu) and hurled it against Arjuna.

Krishna knew that he, being the incarnation of Vishnu, alone could face the weapon. So, he blocked the way of the arrow with his own chest. It is said that the weapon turned into a garland of flowers on Krishna’s chest.

Arjuna was angry with his mentor for intruding into his territory. He said. “Krishna, your duty was to drive my chariot. Why did you not leave it to me to face the weapon and destroy it my own way?” Krishna consoled the Pandava by explaining how fatal the weapon would have become, if it hit Arjuna.

Now, Bhagadatta had lost even his last weapon against his formidable enemy. Arjuna wasted no time to send sharp arrows against his twin opponents, the king and his elephant. His arrows broke through the protective armour borne both by the elephant and its master. In the very next instant another pair of arrows pierced through the head of the elephant and cut the head of Bhagadatta down.

Thus ended an important part played by the king of Pragjyotisha and his powerful elephant.

Sakuni’s Defeat

Sakuni, the uncle of Duryodhana wasted no time to fill in the gap left by the death of Bhagadatta. The king of Gandhara was supported by several of his brothers. Arjuna killed the brothers of Sakuni one by one. This enraged the son of Subala (Sakuni). He took resort to illusion making warfare in which he was an expert. Arjuna could see through each of Sakuni’s tricks and defeated each by appropriate counter weapons. Sakuni was exposed at the end with all his weapons of illusions destroyed. The king of Gandhara ran with his life from the scene. This caused the Kaurava army to flee in panic.

There were several other battles on that day. The most important was between two arch rivals, Arjuna and Karna. Karna was supported by three of his brothers. In the fierce battle that ensued Arjuna killed all the three brothers of Karna. Karna had to be saved from the scene by Drona, Duryodhana and Jayadratha.

The war on the twelfth day thus ended without Drona capturing Yudhishthira. The chapter on the “Killing of the Suicide Army (Samsaptaka Vadha Parvam)” also ends here.