3415) The Mahabharat War: A Day to Day account as narrated in the Epic" (Part IV):

3415) The Mahabharat War: A Day to Day account as narrated in the Epic" (Part IV):

Links:

1) Mahabharat: A set of 18 Stamps issued by India Post depivting scenes from the great Indian Epic Poem issued on 27.11-2017

2) "The Mahabharat": A Brief (Part One): About the Smriti Text compiled by the Sage Vyas:

3) "Akshauhini" (or "Battle Formations") (Part II) during the Mahabharat War

4) 50 Deadly Weapons used in the Mahabhart War (Part III)

5) The Mahabharat War: A Day to Day account as narrated in the Epic (Part IV)

The Bhagavad Gita:

Krishna displays his "Vishvarupa" ("Universal Form") to Arjun on the battlefield of Kurukshetra.

When the war is declared and the two armies face each other, Arjun realises that he would have to kill his dear granduncle Bhishm and his respected teacher Drona. Despondent and confused about what is right and what is wrong, Arjun turns to Krishna for divine advice and teachings. 

Krishna, who Arjun chose as his charioteer, advised him of his duty. Krishna instructs Arjuna not to yield to degrading impotence and to fight his kin. He also reminds him that it is a war between righteousness and unrighteousness (dharma and adharma), and it is Arjuna's duty to slay anyone who supported the cause of unrighteousness, or sin. Krishna reveals his divine form and explains that he is born on earth in each eon when evil raises its head. 

Before the battle begins, Yudhishthir drops his weapons, takes off his armor, and walks towards the Kaurav Army with folded hands in prayer. 

He falls on Bhishm's feet to seek his blessing for success in battle, and he is blessed. 

Yudhishthir returned to his chariot and the battle was ready to commence. 

Day 1:

The Pandavs suffered heavy losses and are defeated at the end of the first day. Virata's sons, Uttara and Sweta, are slain by Shalya and Bhishm. 

Krishna consoles Yudhishthir saying that eventually, victory would be his. 

Day 2:

Arjun, realising that something needs to be done quickly to reverse the Pandav losses, decides to kill Bhishm. 

Krishna locates Bhishm's chariot and steers Arjun toward him. 

Arjuna tries to engage Bhishm in a duel, but the Kaurav soldiers protect him and attack Arjun. 

Arjun and Bhishm fight a fierce battle over hours. Drona and Dhrishtadyumna similarly engage in a duel, and Drona defeats Dhrishtadyumna, who is saved by Bhim. 

Duryodhan sends the troops of Kalinga to attack Bhim and most of them, including the King of Kalinga, are killed. 

Bhishm comes to relieve the battered Kalinga forces. Satyaki, who was assisting Bhim, shoots at Bhishm's charioteer and kills him. 

Bhishm's horses bolt and carry Bhishma away from the battlefield. 

Day 3:

The Kauravs concentrate their attack on Arjun, whose chariot becomes covered with arrows and javelins. 

Arjun builds a fortification around his chariot with an unending stream of arrows from his bow. 

Abhimanyu and Satyaki join forces to defeat Shakuni's Gandhara forces. 

Bhim and Ghatotkacha attack Duryodhan in the rear. Bhim's arrows hit Duryodhana, who collapses in his chariot. 

His charioteer drives him off the battlefield, and Duryodhan's forces scatter. Bhishm restores order and Duryodhana returns to lead the army. 

He is angry at Bhishm for what he saw as leniency towards the five Pandav brothers, and spoke harshly to him. Bhishma, stung by this unfair charge, returns to the battlefield. 

Arjun attacks Bhishm to restore order. Arjuna and Bhishm duel again. 

Day 4: 

Bhishm commands the Kaurav Army to move on the offensive. 

When the Kauravs form a chakravyuha, Abhimanyu enters it but is surrounded and attacked by Kaurava princes. 

Arjun joins to help him. Bhim appears and attacks the Kauravs. Duryodhan sends a huge force of war elephants at Bhim, who leaves his chariot and attacks them singlehandedly with his iron mace. 

The elephants scatter and stampede into the Kaurav forces. 

Duryodhan orders an all-out attack on Bhim, who kills eight of Duryodhan's brothers before being struck by an arrow from Dushasan, the second-eldest Kaurav, in the chest and sits down in his chariot dazed. 

At the end of the fourth day, Duryodhan goes to Bhism and asks him how could the Pandava, facing a superior force against them, have the upper hand. 

Bhishm says that the Pandavs have justice on their side and advises Duryodhan to seek peace. 

Day 5:

The Pandav Army suffers from Bhishm's attacks. Satyaki is being beaten by Drona, but Bhim drives by and rescues him. 

Arjun kills thousands of soldiers sent by Duryodhan to attack him. Bhim engages Bhishm in a duel with no clear winner. 

Drupad and his son Shikhandi go to help Bhim, but they are stopped by Vikarna, one of Duryodhan's brothers, who attacks and injures them badly. 

Day 6:

Drona kills many Pandav soldiers and both armies' formations are broken. Bhim penetrates the Kaurav formation and attacks Duryodhan, who is defeated but rescued. The Upapandavs (sons of Draupadi) fight against Ashwatthama and destroy his chariot. 

Day 7:

Drona kills Shanka, one of Virat's son. Yuyutsu is injured by Kripa in a sword fight. Nakul and Sahadev fight Duryodhan's brothers but are overwhelmed by the number of them. 

Day 8:

Bhim kills 17 of Dhritarashtra's sons. Iravan, the son of Arjun, kills five of Shakuni's brothers. Duryodhan deploys the Rakshas warrior Alambush, who kills Iravan. 

Day 9:

Bhishm destroys the Pandav armies. Arjun heads to Bhishm but fights him half-heartedly. 

Krishna, overwhelmed by anger at the apparent inability of Arjun to kill Bhishm, rushes towards the Kaurav commander. Ghatotkacha kills the rakshas Alambush. 

Realising that the war could not be won as long as Bhishm was standing, Krishna suggests placing a transgender in the field to face him. 

Day 10: 

The Pandavas put Shikhandi, who had been a woman in a prior life, in front of Bhishm, as Bhishm has taken a vow not to attack a woman. 

Shikhandi's arrows fell on Bhishm without hindrance. Arjuna positions himself behind Shikhandi, protecting himself from Bhishm's attack and aimed his arrows at the weak points in Bhishma's armor and defeats him. 

The Kauravs and Pandavs gathered around Bhishm and at his request, Arjun places three arrows under Bhishm's head to support it. 

Bhishm had promised his father, King Shantanu, that he would live until Hastinapur was secured from all directions. 

To keep this promise, Bhishm used the boon of "Ichcha Mrityu" ("self-wished death") given to him by his father. 

After the war ended, when Hastinapur had become safe from all sides and after giving lessons on politics and Vishnu Sahasranama to the Pandavas, Bhishma dies on the first day of Uttarayana. 

Day 11:

With Bhishm unable to continue, Karna joins the battlefield. 

Duryodhan makes Drona the Commander of the Kaurav forces according to Karn's advice. Duryodhan wants to capture Yudhishthir alive; killing Yudhishthira in battle would only enrage the Pandavs more, while holding him as a hostage would be strategically useful. Drona cuts down Yudhishthir's bow, and Arjun stops Drona from capturing Yudhishthir. 

Day 12:

Drona tells Duryodhan that it would be difficult to capture Yudhishthir as long as Arjun is present. 

He orders the Samsaptaks (the Trigarta warriors headed by Susharma, who had vowed to either conquer or die) to keep Arjun busy in a remote part of the battlefield, an order which they readily obey on account of their old hostilities with the Pandav scion. 

Arjun defeats them before the afternoon, then faces Bhagadatta, who had been creating havoc among the Pandav troops, and defeated Bhim, Abhimanyu and Satyaki. 

Arjun and Bhagadatta fight and the latter is killed. Drona continues his attempts to capture Yudhishthir, however his attacks were repelled by Prativindhya that day. 

The Pandavs, however, fought hard and delivered severe blows to the Kaurav Army, frustrating Drona's plans. 

Day 13:

Drona's goal remains to capture Yudhishthir. Among the Pandavs, only Arjun and Krishna knew how to penetrate this formation, and to prevent them from doing so, the Samsaptakas led by Susharma challenge Arjun and keep him busy at a remote part of the battlefield the whole day. 

On the other side of the battlefield, the remaining four Pandavs and their allies find it impossible to break Drona's chakra formation. 

Yudhishthir instructed Abhimanyu to break the chakra/padma formation. Abhimanyu knows how to enter the chakra formation, but not know how to exit, so the Pandav follow to protect him from any potential danger. 

As soon as Abhimanyu enters the formation, Jayadrath stops them with help from a boon obtained from Shiva, and defeats Bhima and Satyaki. 

Inside the chakra/kamala formation, Abhimanyu kills many warriors, including Vrihadvala (the king of Kosala); the king of Asmaka, Martikavata (the son of Kritavarma); Rukmaratha (the son of Shalya); and Shalya's younger brother, Lakshmana (the son of Duryodhana) and Dushasana's second son, Dushmanara. 

The Kaurava commanders devise a strategy to prevent Abhimanyu from causing further damage to their force. Following Drona's instructions, six warriors attacks Abhimanyu and deprived him of his chariot, bow, sword, and shield. 

Abhimanyu picks up a mace; smashes Ashwatthma's chariot (upon which the latter fled); and slays one of Shakuni's brothers numerous troops, and elephants before being killed by the son of Dushasana in a mace-fight. 

Upon learning of the death of his son, Arjuna vows to kill Jayadrath. 

Day 14: 

Karn kills Ghatotkach:

While searching for Jayadrath on the battlefield, Arjun kills seven Akshauhinis of Kaurav soldiers. 

By Shakuni's plot, Duryodhan hides Jayadrath in their camp. Arjun uses divyastra to carry Jayadratha's head to his father leading to his own father's death. 

Many maharathis including Drona and Karna try to protect Jayadrath but fail to do so. Arjuna warns that everyone who supported adharma would be killed. 

While Arjuna destroys the rest of the Shakatavyuha, Vikarna, the third eldest Kaurav, challenges Arjuna to an archery fight. 

Arjun asks Bhim to kill Vikarna, but Bhim refuses because Vikarna had defended the Pandavs during the Draupadi Vastrapaharanam. 

Bhim and Vikarna shoot arrows at each other, before Bhim kills Vikarna with his mace. Drona kills Vrihatkshatra, the King of Kekeya, and Dhrishtakethu, the King of Chedi. 

Dushasan's first son, Drumsena, is slain by Prativindya, the eldest son of Draupadi and Yudhishthir, in a duel. 

When the bright moon rose, Ghatotkach killed warriors like Alambush and Alayudh while flying in the air. 

Karn fights him and releases Vasava Shakti, a divine weapon given to him by Indra. Ghatotkach grows in size and falls on the Kaurav Army as he dies, killing an Akshauhini of them. 

Day 15:

After Drupad and Virat are killed by Drona, Bhim and Dhrishtadyumna fight him. 

Because Drona has the Brahmanda astra, Krishna tells Yudhishthir that Drona would give up his arms if his son Ashwatthama were dead. 

Yudhishthir lies to Drona. Which disheartens Dronacharya, and he lays his weapons down before being killed by Dhrishtadyumna to avenge his father's death and satisfy his vow. 

Kunti secretly meets Karn and asks him to spare the Pandavs, as they were his younger brothers. 

Karn promises Kunti that he would spare them except for Arjun, but also added that he would not fire the same weapon against Arjun twice. 

Day 16: 

Karna is made the Commander of the Kaurav Army. He is surrounded and attacked by Pandav generals, who are unable to defeat him. Karn inflicts heavy casualties on the Pandav Army. 

Day 17: 

Karna's son Banasen is killed by Bhim then Bhim swings his mace and shatters Dushasan's chariot. Vrishasen defeats Bhim, Sahadev and the Upapandavs. 

Bhim seizes Dushasan, rips his right arm from his shoulder, and kills him, tearing open his chest, drinking his blood, and carrying some to smear on Draupadi's untied hair, fulfilling his vow made when Draupadi was humiliated. 

Nakul killed Karna's sons, Chitrasen, Satyasen and Sushen. Sahadev killed Karna's sons, Dvipata, Shatrunjaya and Prasena. 

Arjun kills Susharma, Trigartas, and Samsaptakas and Karna's first son, Vrishasena. 

Karn later defeats Satyaki, Shikhandi, the Pandav brothers Nakula, Sahadeva, Yudhishthira and Bhima in battle but spares their lives. 

Karna kills multiple Akshauhinis of the Pandav Army and kills the Panchals. 

Karna resumes dueling with Arjun. During their duel, Karna's chariot wheel gets stuck in the mud and Karna asks for a pause. 

Krishna reminded Arjun about Karna's ruthlessness on Abhimanyu while he was similarly left without chariot and weapons. Hearing his son's fate, Arjun shoots an arrow that decapitates Karna. 

Day 18:

Shalya takes over as the Commander of the remaining Kaurav forces. 

Yudhishthir kills him in spear combat and Sahadev kills Shakuni. Nakul kills Shakuni's son Uluk. 

Realising that he had been defeated, Duryodhan flees the battlefield and takes refuge in the lake, where the Pandavs catch up with him. 

Under the supervision of the now-returned Balaram, a battle between Bhim and Duryodhan begins. Bhim breaks the rules under instructions from Krishna and strikes Duryodhan below the waist, leaving him mortally wounded. 

Ashwatthama, Kripa, and Kritavarma gather at Duryodhan's deathbed and promise to avenge him. With Ashwatthama as general, they attack the Pandavs' camp later that night and kill all the Pandavs' remaining army including their children. 

Aftermath:

Only eleven major warriors survive the war: the five Pandavas, Krishna, Satyaki, Ashwatthama, Kripa, Yuyutsu and Kritavarma. 

Yudhishthir is crowned King of Hastinapur. 

After ruling for 36 years, he renounces the throne and passes the title on to Arjun's grandson Parikshit. Draupadi and four Pandavs—Bhim, Arjun, Nakul and Sahadev - die during the journey. 

Yudhishthir, the lone survivor and being of pious heart, is invited by Yama to enter the heavens as a mortal.