Battle of Kurukshetra: Summary of Drona (Episode-2)
Eleventh day of battle: Strategic victory of the Pandavas
On the eleventh day of the battle of Kurukshetra, Dronacharya formed a ‘chariot’ with the Kaurava soldiers; that is, he equipped the Kaurava forces in the form of a chariot/vehicle. To counteract this, the Pandavas formed the ‘Crouchvyuh’, which means arranging the Pandava forces in the form of a buck. After the formation of tactics on both sides, a fierce battle ensued.
At the beginning of the war, Dronacharya, with his subordinates, launched a fierce attack on the Pandavas. Many Pandava soldiers were killed on its shores, and the Pandava forces began to disperse. Dronacharya chanted mantras and started using various weapons against the Pandava forces, and as a result, the Pandavas suffered huge losses. Dhrishtadyumna then chant the mantra, use the counter divyastra, and resist the divyastras applied by Dronacharya. Dhrishtadyumna’s attack caused chaos in different parts of Dronacharya’s army. Dronacharya then reorganized his troops and launched a counter-attack against the Pandavas. He rained arrows on Dhrishtadyumna, a large number of Pandava soldiers were killed on its shores. As a result of Dronacharya’s fierce attack, various parts of the Pandava forces began to disperse.
In this situation, the top warriors of the Pandavas army led by Yudhisthira advanced towards him to resist Dronacharya, and the top warriors of the Kaurava army advanced towards them to resist them. During this time, some dual battles took place between the top warriors on both sides, but the lion’s share of the results was not mentioned in the Mahabharata.
The vulture engaged in a double battle against the Sahadeva. However, after a brief battle, the Sahadeva’s arrow struck the vulture’s bow and chariot flag, and the charioteer of his chariot was killed. Sahadeva shot an arrow and cut the vulture’s chariot into pieces. In this situation, the vulture jumped down from his wrecked chariot with a hammer in his hand and ran towards Sahadeva and killed the charioteer of his chariot by hitting the hammer. Sahadeva then jumped down from his crippled chariot with a hammer in his hand and engaged in a hammer fight against the vulture. But the outcome of this battle is not mentioned in the Mahabharata.
Bibingshati (Duryodhana’s brother) engaged in a dual war against Bhima. After a brief battle, the horses attached to Bhima’s chariot were killed by the arrows of the twentieth century, and his bow and chariot flags were cut off. The enraged Bhima throws a hammer at Bibingshati’s chariot, which kills the horses attached to the chariot. Twenty-two then jumped out of his crippled chariot with a shield and a sword in his hand and ran towards Bhima’s chariot. But what happened next is not mentioned in the Mahabharata.
Kripacharya engaged in a double war against Drishtaketu, the king of Chedi. Drishtaketu resists the arrow shot by Kripacharya towards him with the help of the arrow and the flag of Kripacharya’s chariot is cut by the blow of his arrow. Kripacharya then continued to shoot arrows at Drishtaketu, but the consequences of this duality are not mentioned in the Mahabharata. Similarly, Kritavarma fought against Satyaki, against Bhurishrava Shikhandi, against Alambush Ghatotkach, against Anubinda Chekitan and against Lakshmana Kshatradeva, but the results of these dualities are not mentioned in the Mahabharata.
Dronacharya engaged in a dual war against Drupada, but it was soon seen that Drupada was fighting against Bhagadatta. Elsewhere, Shalya engaged in a double battle against Nakul. However, after a brief battle, Nakul’s arrow struck Shalya’s chariot rider and the horses attached to the chariot, killing him and cutting off his bow and chariot flag. After defeating Shalya, Nakul sighed. Meanwhile, the king of the kingdom of Matsya, Virat, with his entire army, went to war against Karna. But Karna alone continued to fight against Virat and his army, and on the banks of the Karna, a large number of the soldiers of the fish kingdom were killed.
Paurab engaged in a double battle against Abhimanyu, but Abhimanyu’s arrow struck the flags and bows of Paurab’s chariot after a brief battle. Abhimanyu then aimed a special arrow at Paurab to kill him, but Kritavarma cut the arrow and Abhimanyu’s bow with the help of the arrow. Abhimanyu then jumped down from his chariot with a shield and a sword in his hand and hurried towards the eastern chariot. He climbed on the chariot of the East and the charioteer of the chariot of the East was killed by his footsteps. He then grabbed Paurab’s hair, pulled him into the air and tried to kill him.
Seeing this, Jayadratha summoned Abhimanyu to a duel and jumped out of his chariot with a shield and a sword and ran towards the chariot of the East. Then Abhimanyu left Paurab and jumped down from his chariot. The Kauravas threw many spears, axes and swords at Abhimanyu from all sides, but Abhimanyu either repulsed them with his shield or cut them off with his sword. He then engaged in a sword fight against Jayadratha. After a fierce battle, Jayadratha struck Abhimanyu’s shield, breaking his sword, and Jayadratha retreated swiftly into his chariot. After the defeat of Jayadratha, Abhimanyu rode in his own chariot, and a large number of Kaurava soldiers were killed on its shores.
In this situation, Shalya engaged in a double battle against Abhimanyu and shot a special kind of arrow at Abhimanyu. But Abhimanyu jumped up, grabbed the arrow and threw it at Shalya’s chariot. The arrow killed the chariot driver of the chariot. Enraged, Shalya jumped down from his crippled chariot with a hammer in his hand and hurried towards Abhimanyu’s chariot. Seeing this, Bhim rushed towards the surgery with a mace in his hand. Abhimanyu was also ready to fight Shalya, but Bhima repulsed him and engaged himself in a fight against Shalya. Then a fierce battle took place between Shalya and Bhima. At one battle stage, Shalya and Bhim fell unconscious due to each other’s blows. Immediately Kritavarma appeared there, picked up Shalya in his chariot and took her away. In the meantime, Bhima regained his composure and launched a vicious attack on the Kauravas. As a result, the Kaurava forces dispersed and started retreating.
In this situation, Brishsen, the son of Karna, advanced against the Pandava forces and a large number of Pandava soldiers were killed on its shores. Thousands of chariots, cavalry, infantry and elephants of the Pandava army were killed on the banks of the Brishsen. In this situation, the top warriors of the Pandava forces surrounded Brishsen from all sides. Shatanik (son of Nakula and Draupadi) rushed towards Brishsen and engaged in a double war against him. But soon, the arrow of the bull and the chariot’s flag was cut off by the arrow of the bull. Then the other four sub-Pandavas (Pratibindhya, Sutsom, Srutakirti and Srutakarma) attacked Brishasena simultaneously. In this situation, a group of Kauravas led by Ashvatthama rushed to the aid of Rathi Brishsen and attacked the sub-Pandavas. Seeing this, the Panchpandavas set out to save their sons.
Then a fierce battle took place between the Kauravas and the Pandavas. Many Pandava soldiers were killed on the banks of Dronacharya, Karna, Ashvatthama and Kripacharya. Similarly, many Kaurava soldiers were killed on the banks of Bhima, Satyaki and Dhrishtadyumna. At this time, the Kauravas started retreating in the face of intense attacks by the Pandava troops. Dronacharya Kaurava tried to stop the troops but failed. Then the angry Dronacharya entered the Pandava army and killed many Pandava soldiers. Yudhisthira shot an arrow at Dronacharya, but Dronacharya’s arrow cut Yudhisthira’s bow.
Seeing Dronacharya approaching Yudhisthira, Kumar, the prince of Panchal, attacked Dronacharya, but Dronacharya’s arrow soon killed him. Dronacharya then proceeded towards Yudhisthira, shooting at the top warriors of the Pandavas forces. Pandava Rathi Jugandhara advanced to stop Dronacharya, but Dronacharya’s arrow killed him. Then the top warriors of the Pandava forces surrounded Dronacharya from all sides. Vigrahadatta, the prince of Panchal, and Singhasena attacked Dronacharya simultaneously, but they were both killed by Dronacharya’s arrow.
Then Dronacharya advanced and appeared in front of Yudhisthira’s chariot. But then Arjuna rushed towards him and shot a huge arrow at Kaurava’s forces. Arjuna shot so many arrows that scattered all around his shore, and just then, the sunset. At this point, Dronacharya started withdrawing troops from the battlefield, and then the Pandavas also started withdrawing troops from the battlefield. The main goal of the Kauravas in that day’s battle was to capture Yudhisthira, but that goal was not achieved. Therefore, on the eleventh day of the battle of Kurukshetra, the Kauravas suffered a strategic defeat.