The next day, Duryodhana put his strongest warriors to protect Bheeshma so he could slaughter the Pandavas. The battle was fierce. Abhimanyu killed hundreds of Kaurava warriors, causing panic in the Kaurava ranks. Duryodhana then asked Alambusha to kill Subhadra’s son. The fight that ensured saw thousands of arrows being shot at by both warriors at each other.

Overwhelmed by Abhimanyu’s attack, Alambusha released a dense fog, causing the battlefield to become dark. Abhimanyu used the Bhaskara weapon to dispel the fog. He then showered arrows on the demon son of Rishyshringa, causing him to flee. Meanwhile, Arjuna fought with Drona. The Trigartas also attacked Arjuna, and he used the Vayavya astra to blow them away.

Drona used the Shaila astra to stop the gale of wind. There was then a fierce fight between Bheeshma and Arjuna supported by warriors from both sides. Bheeshma began to massacre the Pandava soldiers. Arjuna then shattered Bheeshma’s bow, but he continued fighting. Arjuna continued to fight mildly. This made Krishna angry.

Getting down from his chariot, he charged towards Bheeshma with a whip in his hand. While Bheeshma welcomed him asking him to kill him, Arjuna fell at his feet and requested him to return. Arjuna promised to bring down Bheeshma. Hearing this, Krishna returned to his chariot. The battle continued, but Bheeshma was unstoppable and kept killing Pandavas until the end of the day.

Worried about their inability to stop Bheeshma, the Pandavas took the advice of Krishna. They then went to meet Bheeshma at night. They asked Bheeshma how to defeat him and end the war. Bheeshma then told Yudhishtira to use Shikhandi to attack him standing in front of Arjuna. They took the blessings of Bheeshma and left.

Arjuna was upset that he had to kill his own grandfather. Krishna then counselled him to do his duty by killing Bheeshma as per his advice.

On the next day, the Kauravas use the Sarvatobhadra vyuha to protect Bheeshma. The Pandavas launched a powerful attack with all their warriors massacring Kauravas. Seeing this, Bheeshma went on the warpath slaying Pandava warriors and soldiers.

Shikhandi then attacked him, but Bheeshma smiled at him, saying he would never fight with him. Arjuna whose chariot was stationed behind Shikhandi then attacked Bheeshma. The entire assemblage of Kaurava warriors came to Bheeshma’s defence while the Pandava warriors took them on. The battle went on long and hard, with both sides fighting fiercely, knowing something big would happen by the end of the day.

Shikhandi then launched a fierce attack on Bheeshma that he ignored. Arjuna then shot a volley of arrows that broke Bheeshma’s bow. Bheeshma took up bows one after the other, but Arjuna broke them all. As the arrows kept striking Bheeshma, he told Dusshasana that these were not Shikhandi’s arrows, but were the powerful darts of Arjuna.

… to be continued