As the fourteenth day of the great war hastened toward its fateful close, when every passing moment carried Arjuna nearer either to immortal glory or to the terrible necessity of self-destruction should he fail to slay Jayadratha before sunset, the battlefield trembled beneath the urgency of destiny. Perceiving Arjuna’s unstoppable progress, Kritavarma advanced in battle formation and barred his path with resolute determination. At the same time, Dronacharya, finding no alternative, pressed toward the front lines to impede his beloved disciple.
Kritavarma discharged ten sharp arrows at Arjuna and twenty at Krishna. Arjuna’s bow was shattered by the force of this assault, yet with the effortless speed of long practice he seized another celestial bow and resumed the contest without the slightest hesitation. Observing that the precious hours of daylight were slipping away, Krishna spoke with grave urgency: “Time hastens onward, O Partha. Delay no longer. However, worthy this kinsman may be, strike him down and proceed.”
Obeying the counsel of his divine guide, Arjuna lost a torrent of arrows that struck Kritavarma with irresistible force, causing him to swoon unconscious upon his chariot. Without pausing to confirm the result, Arjuna surged forward like a river bursting through a weakened embankment. After some time, Kritavarma regained consciousness and encountered Arjuna’s wheel-guards, Yudhamanyu and Uttamaujas. He restrained them with a shower of keen shafts, but they retaliated by breaking his bow. The king of the Bhojas swiftly took up another weapon, and a fierce combat arose between them, while Arjuna, far ahead, continued his relentless advance.
Then the valiant king Shrutayudha, son of Varuna, confronted Arjuna. With seventy arrows he pierced Krishna and with three shafts struck Arjuna, momentarily arresting the onward movement of their chariot. He severed Arjuna’s banner and covered both warrior and charioteer with dense volleys of arrows. Arjuna, unshaken, pierced his armour and drenched him in blood. Still the king fought on with undiminished ferocity.
Arjuna then slew Shrutayudha’s charioteer, cut down his horses, and transfixed the king’s body with seventy-five arrows. Bereft of his chariot, Shrutayudha seized a mighty mace and hurled it against Krishna. This weapon had been sanctified by Varuna and endowed with a formidable boon: no warrior who faced its bearer in battle could prevail against him. Yet there was a solemn condition. If the mace were hurled against one who was not personally engaged in combat, it would fail to injure its target and instead return to slay the wielder himself.
Blinded by haste and the confusion of war, Shrutayudha forgot the condition attached to the boon. Though Krishna guided Arjuna’s chariot amidst the battle, he bore no weapon and was not an active combatant. The mace struck the Lord and, by the mysterious power of the Supreme, was transformed into a fragrant garland adorning his neck. In the next instant it recoiled with the force of the thunderbolt and crushed Shrutayudha himself. The king fell to the earth like a mountain summit uprooted by a celestial tempest.
The Kaurava warriors, beholding this wondrous and terrifying spectacle, were seized with astonishment and fear. Yet Sudakshina, the king of the Kambojas, advanced boldly to challenge Arjuna. Arjuna struck him with seven arrows. Sudakshina replied by piercing both Krishna and Arjuna with fifteen shafts each. Provoked by his audacity, Arjuna shattered his banner, slew his charioteer and horses, and pierced his breast with deadly arrows. The king fell like a great tree torn from the earth by raging winds.
Thereafter the rulers of the Surasena, Sibi, and Vasati kingdoms encircled Arjuna. The son of Pandu cut them down with such rapidity that they seemed to vanish beneath a rain of steel. Then two mighty warriors, Shrutayu and Achyutayu, assailed him from either side and sorely harassed him with incessant arrows.
Krishna, discerning the need for swift destruction, advised Arjuna to employ the celestial Aindrastra. Instantly Arjuna invoked that heavenly missile. With the brilliance of Indra’s own wrath, it annihilated both warriors along with their entire retinues. The sons and followers of the slain kings rushed forward in desperation, only to be exterminated in turn by Arjuna’s unfailing shafts.
The movement of Arjuna through the battlefield resembled Mount Mandara revolving amidst the cosmic ocean, stirring all creation into tumult. At Duryodhana’s command, the Kalingas from the east, the Angas from the south, and innumerable forest tribes accompanied by massive elephants surrounded him on all sides. But Arjuna cut off heads, arms, and limbs with such speed that bodies fell like birds struck from the sky. Soon the earth was transformed into a dreadful landscape—heaps of bones, torrents of blood, shattered weapons, mangled elephants, and riderless steeds. It resembled the chosen playground of Yama, lord of departed spirits.
Then the fierce warriors of the Yavanas, Paradas, and Sakas converged and fought with desperate courage. Yet Arjuna moved among them like a maddened elephant trampling reeds, or like a wildfire consuming a parched forest. Krishna, urging him onward as the wind fans a blazing conflagration, inspired Arjuna to devour the hostile forces with ever-increasing intensity. So complete was the destruction that the earth itself disappeared beneath the bodies of the slain and the writhing forms of wounded men and beasts.
Pressing onward with astonishing speed and precision, Arjuna was next confronted by the king of the Ambasthas. He destroyed the king’s horses and shattered his chariot. The warrior leapt to the ground and hurled a mace toward Krishna, but before the blow could take effect, Arjuna severed his head with a razor-edged arrow. It fell to the earth while his lifeless body collapsed beside it.
Thus did the battlefield become a haunt for spirits, jackals, and birds of prey. Arjuna had crossed the defensive cordon of Dronacharya, struck down Shrutayudha and Sudakshina, subdued Kritavarma, and scattered the vast supporting armies. He penetrated the Kaurava host as a sharpened blade rends cloth or as an axe cleaves dry wood.
Witnessing this fearful carnage, Sanjaya said to Dhritarashtra, “Arjuna is inhaling the very life-breath of your army.” Overwhelmed by anxiety and despair, your son Duryodhana then approached Dronacharya with great difficulty and poured forth his anguish, as the destruction of his forces unfolded before his helpless eyes.
