The moment Duryodhana agrees to Shalya's conditions, Karna's chariot is made ready. Shalya climbs up in the front and Karna occupies the rear. Duryodhana speaks to Karna, 'I had thought that Bheeshma and Drona, the great warriors, would kill Bheema and Arjuna, but it is now for you to perform this heroic task. Capture Yudhisthira, if not kill Bheema and Ajuna and destroy the pamdava army. Come back victorious and good luck to you!'
The chariot moves forward to sounds of instrumental music. As it moves the earth shakes, meteors fall, fires are visible at the end of the horizon, fierce winds blow, birds and animals come from inauspicious directions, horses stumble, flags flutter. In spite of such inauspicious portents, kaurava kings make way for the chariot with shouts of victory!
As they near the pandavas formation, Shalya observes, 'Karna! Can you hear the sound of Arjuna's chariot wheels? Can you see his flag? He is on his way to fight the volunteers again! He is fighting valiantly.' Karna visibly annoyed replies, 'Yes! I see that surrounded by angry warriors, he has disappeared like the sun behind the clouds!' Shalya responds, 'If it pleases you can talk this way! But will anyone beat the rain god Varuna, make him fall by throwing water at him? Put out fire, agni, by using wood? Tie up Vayu, the air? Or drink the ocean? Even Devas and Asuras cannot beat Arjuna!'
They near the pandava army and the fight begins! Karna penetrates the enemy army and defeats Dharmaraja. Bheema comes forward and there is a fierce fight between the two and Bheema makes Karna unconscious and is about to kill him. Shalya reminds Bheema about Arjuna's vow to kill Karna, so Bheema spares Karna and reserves him for Arjuna! Shalya takes Karna away from the war field. Then kauravas attack Bheema with a vengeance and many of Duryodhana's brothers are killed in the fracas.
Ashwatthama engages Arjuna, who is fighting with warriors, and is defeated. In the meanwhile, Karna regains consciousness , manages to scatter the pandava army and renews his fight with Bheema. Meanwhile Arjuna hears that Yudhisthira is injured and is worried. He stops his fight and goes to the camp to check on his brother. Yudhithira is not seriously injured, but is hurt and is lying down on his bed. He is overjoyed to see Krishna and Arjuna. He mistakenly thinks that they have come to tell him about Karna's death and starts complimenting them.
Blogging again after taking a break. Actually it was tiring to read about the constant killings! In fact, it is the seventeenth day of the war and the conflict seems very desperate and it is just an eighteen-day war!
Compare this with second world war. It began with the invasion of Poland to the dropping of the atom bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Hitler invades Poland on 1 September, 1939. Britain and France declare war on Germany two days later. Germany surrendered unconditionally on 7 May, 1945 and the following day was celebrated as VE (Victory in Europe) day
...... on 6 August, 1945 one of the atom bombs was dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. Three days later another was dropped on Nagasaki.... and the Japanese surrendered on 14 August, 1945. Totally it lasted about 120.6 times longer than the Mahabharata war!
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