At the break of dawn, a strange and terrible enthusiasm seized the Kaurava hosts. Adorned with glittering ornaments, clad in shining armour, bearing shields and keen-edged weapons, they advanced under the supreme command of Bhishma. Their movement resembled the surging of oceanic waves, vast and unrestrained, rolling toward inevitable collision. So splendid was their ordered…
The son of Hidimba, the mighty Ghatotkacha, master of demonic arts and peerless in martial discipline, pondered for a moment whether he should cast a spell upon the Kauravas and plunge them into bewildering illusion; yet, setting aside that design, he advanced in open combat and assailed Bhagadatta, who rode upon the noble elephant Supratika….
Bheemasena, bursting forth like a consuming inferno, advanced with terrible resolve, crushing elephants and their riders beneath the sweep of his mighty mace, intent upon scattering the Kauravas and their supporting hosts in that dreadful march of ruin. Abhimanyu and the valiant sons of Drupada guarded him on every side with their chariots, keeping distant…
The warriors of the Kaurava ranks, enraged and stung by the fierce resistance of Abhimanyu, pressed forward in wrath. O King, though they were proficient archers and veterans in the craft of war, they could not equal the son of Arjuna. Thus reported Sanjaya. Arjuna, beholding the splendid valour of his son as he contended…
When unrighteousness rose in arrogance, and the balance of dharma trembled upon the field, Sri Krishna, seized by virtuous fury, leapt down from the chariot, the radiant discus blazing upon his right hand. Clad in soft and resplendent silken garments that shimmered amidst the dust of war, he advanced with unrestrained resolve. The Sudarshana shone…
When the tide of battle had grown fierce and the words of reproach had fallen harshly from the lips of the king, the order of kinship stood dissolved upon the field. Duryodhana was no longer a grandson before an elder, nor was Bhishma merely a grandsire; the former reigned as sovereign of the Kauravas, and…
When the third dawn broke upon the field of Kurukshetra, Sanjaya thus addressed the blind monarch, describing in solemn cadence the movements of that fateful morn. At daybreak, the grandsire Bhishma, commander of the Kaurava host, assembled the vast divisions of the sons of Dhritarashtra and arranged them in the mighty formation of the eagle….
The venerable Bhishmacharya stood encircled by the forces of the Pandavas, while many valiant warriors advanced to engage him with arrows keen and rapid as lightning. With shafts discharged in unceasing succession, he afflicted all who approached him, sparing none in his wrath save Sikhandi, whom he deliberately refrained from striking. Bhimasena, observing the tumult…
After the fierce onset of Dronacharya upon Drustadyumna, the charioteer and the noble steeds of the latter were struck down, and his car was rendered useless amidst the tumult. Bereft of his vehicle yet unshaken in spirit, he seized a mighty mace and, like a famished lion springing upon its prey, advanced swiftly toward his…
As the second day of the war stood poised to begin, the sons of Pandu arranged their hosts in the crowned-bird formation, placing warriors of noble chivalry at points of greatest strength and resolve. Across the field the enemy camp burned with the sharpness of the previous day’s encounters, and Prince Duryodhana, addressing Bhishma, Drona,…
