The War – Day 18 (Part 4)

The next chapter, titled “the battle with maces (gadaayuddha parvam)” starts with the conversation between Dhritarashtra and Sanjaya in the background. We get a good picture of the character of Duryodhana from his own father. The king asks his minister. “How did my son react to such insulting words from the Pandava? No one has ever talked that way in front of him before. The whole world once stood by his command. He is so proud that he does not tolerate someone saying even that his royal umbrella protects him from the sun’s scorching rays. (yasyaatapatra cchaayaapi swakaa bhanostathaa prabhaa khedayaivaabhimaanitvaad sahed saivam katham girah? ) He thinks that he is capable of taking care of himself. How did my son bear the insults that too, from the Pandavas! What reply did he give?”

Sanjaya, then continues with the story. “Duryodhana, standing in the water, threw his arms up in anger, breathed heavily and replied…..”

Duryodhana’s reply

The Kaurava prince replied. “You are many and are all well armed and mounted on your vehicles. I am without weapons and chariot. My armour is broken and I am wounded all over. How can I meet you in so unequal a battle? You offer me fight, one by one. I am not scared of any of you, yourself, Bhima, Arjuna or Krishna. I shall meet you all in turn as the year touches all the seasons or the sun visits every star in the morning. I shall kill you all and thus pay my dues to those like Bhishma, Drona and Karna who have fallen fighting for me”.

With those words, Duryodhana came out of the pool and walked towards the battle field. He appeared like the god of death holding his mighty mace in hand. There were widespread cheers from the Pandava soldiers finding Duryodhana coming to fight. Mistaking that for mockery Duryodhana was infuriated even further.

Yudhishthira said. “Lucky that you know righteousness (Dharma) and that you still want to fight. You say that it is not fair for many to fight against one. Where was your sense of justice when all of you cornered Arjuna’s young son, Abhimanyu, and killed him after he had lost all his weapons? But, let it be your way. You chose any one among us and win over him. We shall all accept defeat and make you king in that case.”

Krishna angry

Krishna lost his temper when he heard Yudhishthira make such a reckless offer to Duryodhana. He said. “Why did you say so to the Kaurava? What, if he had chosen you or Arjuna? I do not see any one other than Bhima who stands any chance against Duryodhana fighting with his mace. You committed yourself as foolishly as you did at the game of dice. It seems that you are destined to live in the forest for ever”.

Bhima intervened at that time. He said. “Krishna, have no fear. I shall face Duryodhana and surely kill him at the end”.

Then, he turned to the Kaurava and spoke harsh words meant to infuriate him even further. “You have sinned against us right from our early days. You were the one who poisoned me when I was a child. It was your crooked mind that plotted to kill us in the house of wax. The cheating in the game of dice was your idea. Then, you asked your brother to pull dear Draupadi by her into the open assembly. There is no doubt that I shall smash you into pieces with my mace today and settle the score for all your evil deeds”.

As expected, Duryodhana turned wild with fury. He burst out. “Why do you talk? Come and face me in battle. You are no match for me in a straight fight. If you cheat, then that will be a blot on your image for ever”.

Even the supporters of Pandavas applauded those words of Duryodhana.

The arrival of Balaraama

Balaraama, the elder brother of Krishna, had gone on a pilgrimage when the war between the Pandavas and Kauravas became certain. He returned just when that terrible battle between Duryodhana and Bhima was about to commence. Yudhishthira embraced him by way of welcome. Krishna and the other Pandavas bowed before him.

Krishna must have anticipated his brother objecting to the battle. He always knew how to tackle his senior. Krishna said. “Welcome, brother. You can now watch the skill of your two dear disciples in battle”, as though it was a friendly combat.

Krishna’s words excited Balarama with prospects of watching a good fight between two equals, both groomed by him. So, he replied. “Yes, I do want to see how my disciples fight”.

Both Duryodhana and Bhima lifted their maces and paid obeisance to their teacher. Then, the fighting began.

As we said in the very beginning of the Mahabharata, the story was told by VaiSampaayana, the disciple of Vyasa to Janamejaya, the grandson of Abhimanyu at the great serpent sacrifice held at the Naimisha forests. Janamejaya requested VaiSampaayana to tell him all about the pilgrimage of Balaraama. Accordingly, the sage went into the details, describing the places the mighty Yadava prince visited. We shall (try and) cover the journey in a few episodes in www.kunjunny.blogspot.com.