SIX
It is high noon when Bhagadatta dies. Soon, the fighting resumes, fiercer than ever. The Kauravas surge forward to avenge their slain warrior. But now Arjuna leads the Pandava army: resplendent in his chariot, inspired by his triumph over the Trigartas and Bhagadatta. He kills hundreds of enemy soldiers, burns them with many fires. Shakuni’s brothers ride to challenge Arjuna. From two sides, they attack him at once. They are gifted archers. But the ambidextrous Arjuna switches the Gandiva from hand to hand and he kills both in a moment, so you cannot tell which one dies first: the one whom he shot through the heart, or the other whose neck he severed.
Roaring shrilly to see his brothers die, Shakuni flies at Arjuna. Serpent’s eyes glinting, he raises a soft hand and casts a spell at the Pandava. The earth cracks open; a pride of lions leaps from the fissure and surrounds Arjuna’s chariot! But Shakuni’s maya has no power over the Gandiva. A gleaming arrow dissolves the beasts and the moment’s fright they brought.
Arjuna roars at Shakuni, “This is war, not a game of dice! Come, fight me if you dare.”
He covers Shakuni’s chariot with flames from the Gandiva. His rage forgotten, Shakuni bolts, the Pandava soldiers laughing at him. Arjuna pulls on his bowstring and Kurukshetra trembles with that sound, even as Lanka did when Rama once pulled on the Kodanda at the gates of that evil city. The Kaurava soldiers run to Drona to save them from the dreadful Pandava.
Bheema, Satyaki, Dhrishtadyumna, Abhimanyu, Nakula, Sahadeva, Shikhandi and Draupadi’s sons are beside Arjuna at the head of the army. Drona rides against his invincible sishya. Dhrish-tadyumna sallies to meet him, unnerving the master. With Arjuna back, Yudhishtira comes to fight again. Some of Dhritarashtra’s sons confront him. Seeing his father unsure of himself before Dhrish-tadyumna, as bright as the fire from which he was born, Aswatthama dashes to his side. Drona’s son fights like another Arjuna. In fury at all the death inflicted on the Kaurava army today and for the honor of his father who commands Duryodhana’s legions, Aswatthama fights like ten kshatriyas.
Neela, prince of Mahishmati, a splendid archer, has killed five hundred Kaurava soldiers. Aswat-thama rounds on him. Valiantly though that prince fights, he is no match for Drona’s son. Aswat-thama cracks his bow and, without waiting for Neela to pick up another weapon, cuts his head off with a scythe-tipped shaft. In rage, the Pandavas surround their guru’s son. At once, twenty Kaurava warriors appear at his side and the battle spreads evenly again.
Mace in hand, Bheema leaps out of his chariot and fells anyone foolish enough to stand before him. Drona turns to the son of Vayu and now Karna goes with him. Seeing Karna, Krishna steers Arjuna’s chariot straight at him. At once, the fighting stops everywhere; all eyes are on the two sworn enemies. Their rivalry has been a legend for so long. For so long millions of men have waited for the moment when Arjuna and Karna would meet on Kurukshetra.
Karna wastes no time, or paltry weapons; he greets Arjuna with an agneyastra. Quicker than seeing, Arjuna extinguishes the weapon of fire with one of the blue sea, a varunastra like a river from his bow. It is a breathless moment on Kurukshetra, when the two astras meet like a wave and an island of flames and subside against each other. But then, as if the time for these two heroes to fight has not yet come, other warriors join the fray and the battle becomes diffuse again.
Still buoyed by his victories of the morning, Arjuna kills Shatrunjaya, in a carmine flash. Dhrishtadyumna rages as if he is in contention with Arjuna, to see which of them can kill more of the enemy. Now they fight in knots of kshatriyas: Dhrishtadyumna, Satyaki, Arjuna and Abhimanyu against Drona, Karna, Aswatthama and Duryodhana. The sun sinks, at last, on the frenetic spectacle and conches boom to call an end to the twelfth day of the war.
There is no doubt to whom the day belongs. Arjuna has destroyed the Trigarta army and a thousand other Kaurava soldiers; and Drona could not take Yudhishtira. A red-eyed Duryodhana comes to his Acharya, his Senapati. He does not come alone, but with many of his brothers and some of the other kings, his allies.
When he speaks to his master, Duryodhana’s voice is soft, but his words are like knives. “Sush-arma lured Arjuna away from Yudhishtira and he lost most of his army and his brothers. You had all morning to take Yudhishtira, but you did not. Either you are no more the warrior you once were, or your love for the Pandavas prevents you from keeping your oath. I never asked you to do anything special for me; you made the offer. We pinned our hope on you, Acharya. Susharma sacrificed his army and his brothers’ lives; but you broke your word.”
Bheeshma had grown used to Duryodhana’s sharpness. But Drona is not his Pitama. The Acharya rasps, “You know I did everything I could! And I would have had him, but Yudhishtira fled. Before he returned, Arjuna was back.”
Duryodhana says nothing to this, but his mood does not change. If anything, his silence is more contemptuous that his words were. His face burning, Drona cries, “I swear I will kill one of their best warriors tomorrow. I will kill a maharathika for you. There is a vyuha for such hunting: the chakra. Tomorrow, we will form our legions in the chakra vyuha and snare a great kshatriya. None of the Pandavas, except Arjuna, knows how the chakra vyuha is breached. He must be lured away again and I will kill you an archer who has killed ten thousand of our men!”
A slow smile breaks on Duryodhana’s face. He turns to Susharma, who says, “I will take Arjuna far away and tomorrow he won’t escape us.”
Duryodhana hardly believes this. But he is happy to allow Susharma to sacrifice himself for the life of one of the Pandava maharathikas. One warrior who had killed ten thousand men was worth Susharma’s life and his brothers’. Drona nods curtly, turns on his heel and walks away. Within him, he seethes; he even thinks fleetingly of renouncing his command. But he was not born a kshatriya and being Senapati of the army of Hastinapura is not a charge the ambitious Acharya will easily relinquish. He swallows his pride and promises himself he will prove worthy of his position. Tomorrow, Duryodhana would lavish his praise on him. Drona’s vow is to cost the Pandavas dearly.