Bheeshma then launched a ferocious attack, causing panic in the Pandava ranks. Krishna then led Arjuna to Bheeshma, and the two great warriors fought fiercely. Krishna observed that Arjuna was fighting mildly and got angry. With the sudarshana chakra in his arm, he moved fast towards Bheeshma in anger. Arjuna ran behind him and fell at his feet, requesting him to come back.
Hearing Arjuna’s promise to fight to the best of his ability, Krishna returned. Arjuna then charged towards Bheeshma and thousands of Kaurava soldiers attacked him. He then invoked the Aindrastra that caused a shower of fiery arrows from the sky. Thousands of Kauravas lay dead even as a river of blood flowed through the Kurukshetra.
On the fourth day, Bheeshma formed a Vyuha that resembled a great cloud. The Pandavas prepared the Makara vyuha. Arjuna again fought ferociously with Bheeshma, while Abhimanyu fought with Ashwatthama, Shalya, Bhurishravas, and Chitrasena.
When Shalya seemed to be on the verge of defeating Dhristadyumna, Abhimanyu came to his support. The Kaurava brothers came to Shalya’s support, and Bheema came to Abhimanyu’s support. As the battle increased in intensity, Bheema charged towards the Kauravas. Seeing him with his club, many of the Kauravas fled, but Duryodhana attacked Bheema with an elephant brigade.
Bheema smashed the elephant brigade with his club in the same way as Shiva destroyed the rakshasas with his Pinaka bow. Then Duryodhana charged at Bheema and struck him on the chest, making him fall into his chariot. The Pandava archers with Abhimanyu came to defend Bheema. Waking up, Bheema attacked the Kauravas and killed eight of Duryodhana’s brothers.
Duryodhana then sent Bhagadatta of Pragjyotisha to attack the Kauravas. Bhagadatta injured Bheema and a furious Ghatotkacha attacked Bhagadatta. The battle became fierce. Bheeshma then decided that it was difficult to face Ghatotkacha in the dusk when his powers of illusion increased. The Kauravas withdrew for the day.
After the war, Duryodhana met Bheeshma and wanted to know why the Kauravas were losing repeatedly. To this, Bheeshma replied, narrating how Vishnu descended to earth as Krishna to uphold dharma. Bheeshma again asked Duryodhana to sue for peace before retiring for the night.
On the fifth day, Bheeshma formed the Makara Vyuha while Dhrishtadyumna formed the Syena vyuha. As the battle raged, Shikhandi attacked Bheeshma who ignored him and moved on. Again it was the Pandavas who dominated, led by Arjun and Bheema. They created mountains of dead bodies with rivers of blood flowing through them.
Bheeshma and Satyaki fought fiercely and Bheeshma killed Satyaki’s charioteer, after which Bheeshma went on a rampage. There was an extremely intense battle between Ashwatthama and Arjuna, both of them striking each other repeatedly. Arjuna out of respect for Drona’s son withdrew from the battle. Abhimanyu fought with Duryodhana’s brother Chitrasena and defeated him. He then fought with Duryodhana’s son Lakshmana. Abhimanyu killed Lakshmana’s horses and cut down the lance he threw at him. Kripa came quickly and saved Lakshmana.
Bhurishravas fought with Satyaki’s ten sons and killed them all. Satyaki then destroyed Bhurishravas’ chariot, and both fought with swords. As the sun started to go down, Arjuna’s vicious attack caused the death of twenty-five thousand Kaurava soldiers. The day ended with the Kauravas returning disappointment of their faces.
…. to be continued
