Course of Mahabharat war

The Kurukshetra War lasted eighteen days. It was fought only during daylight hours; fighting
ceased at sunset. The armies met on a vast field in Kurukshetra; each day the battle was
characterised by numerous individual combats, as well as mass raids against entire enemy
divisions. The victor or the vanquished on each day was determined not by any territories gained,
but by the body count. This was a war to the death. The victor was the survivor.
Before the battle
It has been observed that the year in which the Mahabharata War took place, the year had
three eclipses on earth in a span of thirty days. Eclipses are considered ill for the life giving
planets such as Sun an as inhabitants on earth. It is widely noted that though such year with
three eclipses causes great harm, it can cause great benefit to mankind. This war, resulted into a
gift called Bhagavad Gitato the mankind.
On the first day of the war, as would be on all the following days, the Kaurava army stood facing
west and the Pandava army stood facing east. The Kaurava army was formed such that it faced
all sides: elephants formed its body; the kings, its head; and the steeds, its wings. Bhishma, in
consultation with his commanders Drona, Bahlika and Kripa, remained in the rear.
The Pandava army was organised by Yudhisthira and Arjuna in the Vajra formation. Because the
Pandava army was smaller than the Kaurava's, they decided to employ the tactic of each warrior
engaging as many enemies as possible. This involved an element of surprise, with the bowmen
showering arrows from hidden behind the frontal attackers. The attackers in the front were
equipped with short-range weapons like maces, battle-axes, swords and lances.
Ten divisions (Akshauhinis) of the Kaurava army were arranged in a formidable phalanx. The
eleventh was put under the immediate command of Bhishma, partly to protect him. The safety of
the supreme commander Bhishma was central to Duryodhana's strategy, as he had placed all his
hope on the great warrior's abilities. Dushasana, the younger brother of Duryodhana, was the
military officer in-charge of Bhishma's protection.

Krishna giving 'updesham' (advice) to Arjuna on the battlegrounds ofKurukshetra.
When the war was declared and the two armies were facing each other, Arjuna realised that he
would have to kill his dear great-granduncle (Bhishma), on whose lap he had played as a child,
and his respected teacher (Drona), who had held his hand and taught him how to hold the bow
and arrow, making him the greatest archer in the world. Arjuna felt weak and sickened at the
prospect of killing his entire family, including his 100 cousins, and friends such as Ashwathama.
Despondent and confused about what is religious, what is right and what is wrong, Arjuna turned
to Krishna for divine advice and teachings. Krishna, who Arjuna chose as his charioteer, advised
him of his duty. This conversation forms theBhagavad Gita, one of the most respected religious
and philosophical texts in the Hindu religion. Krishna instructs Arjuna not to yield to degrading
impotence and to fight his kin, for that was the only way to righteousness. He also reminded him
that this was a war between righteousness and unrighteousness (dharma and adharma), and it
was Arjuna's duty to slay anyone who supported the cause of unrighteousness, or sin. Krishna
then revealed his divine form and explained that he is born on earth in each aeon when evil
raises its head. It also forms one of the foremost treatise on the several aspects of Yoga and
mystical knowledge.
Before the battle began, Yudhisthira did something unexpected. He suddenly dropped his
weapons, took off his armour and started walking towards the Kaurava army with folded hands in
prayer. The Pandava brothers and the Kauravas looked on in disbelief, thinking Yudhisthira was
surrendering before the first arrow was shot. Yudhisthira's purpose became clear, however, when
he fell on Bhishma's feet to seek his blessing for success in battle. Bhishma, grandfather to both
the Pandavas and Kauravas, blessed Yudhisthira. Yudhisthira returned to his chariot and the
battle was ready to commence.

Day 1

Shalya kills Uttara
When the battle commenced, Bhishma went through the Pandava army wreaking havoc
wherever he went. Abhimanyu, Arjuna's son, seeing this went straight at Bhishma, defeated his
bodyguards and directly attacked the commander of the Kaurava forces. The Pandavas suffered
numerous losses and were defeated at the end of the first day.Virata's sons, Uttara and Sweta,
were slain by Shalya and Bhishma. Krishna consoled the distraught Yudhisthira saying that
eventually victory would be his.

Day 2
The second day of the war commenced with a confident Kaurava army facing the Pandavas.
Arjuna, realising that something needed to be done quickly to reverse the Pandava losses,
decided that he must try to kill Bhishma. Krishna skillfully located Bhishma's chariot and steered
Arjuna toward him. Arjuna tried to engage Bhishma in a duel, but the Kaurava soldiers placed
around Bhishma to protect him attacked Arjuna to try to prevent him from directly engaging
Bhishma. Arjuna and Bhishma fought a fierce battle that raged for
hours. Drona andDhristadyumna similarly engaged in a duel during which Drona broke
Dhristadyumna's bow numerous times. Bhima intervened and rescued Dhristadyumna.
Duryodhana sent the Kalinga forces to attack Bhima and most of them lost their lives at his
hands. Bhishma immediately came to relieve the battered Kalinga forces. Satyaki, who was
assisting Bhima, shot at Bhishma's charioteer and killed him. Bhishma's horses, with no one to
control them, bolted carrying Bhishma away from the battle field. The Kaurava army had suffered
great losses at the end of the second day.

Day 3

Arjuna Wijaya statue in Central Jakartadepicting Krishna and Arjuna riding a chariot.
On the third day, Bhishma arranged the Kaurava forces in the formation of an eagle with himself
leading from the front, while Duryodhana's forces protected the rear. Bhishma wanted to be sure
of avoiding any mishap. The Pandavas countered this by using the crescent formation
with Bhima and Arjuna at the head of the right and the left horns, respectively. The Kauravas
concentrated their attack on Arjuna's position. Arjuna's chariot was soon covered with arrows and
javelins. Arjuna, with amazing skill, built a fortification around his chariot with an unending stream
of arrows from his bow.Abhimanyu and Satyaki combined to defeat the Gandhara forces
of Shakuni. Bhima and his son Ghatotkacha attacked Duryodhana in the rear. Bhima's arrows hit
Duryodhana, who swooned in his chariot. His charioteer immediately drove them out of danger.
Duryodhana's forces, however, saw their leader fleeing the battlefield and soon scattered.
Bhishma soon restored order and Duryodhana returned to lead the army. He was angry at
Bhishma, however, at what he saw as leniency towards the five Pandava brothers and spoke
harshly at his commander. Bhishma, stung by this unfair charge, fell on the Pandava army with
renewed vigour. It was as if there were more than one Bhishma on the field.
[16]
The Pandava
army soon began to retreat in chaos.
Arjuna and Krishna attacked Bhishma trying to restore order. Arjuna and Bhishma again engaged
in a fierce duel, however Arjuna's heart was not in the battle as he did not like the idea of
attacking his great-uncle. During the battle, Bhishma killed numerous soldiers of Arjuna's armies.

Day 4
The fourth day battle was noted for the valour shown by Bhima. Bhishma commanded the
Kaurava army to move on the offensive from the outset. Arjuna's son, Abhimanyu, was
surrounded and attacked by a number of Kaurava princes. Arjuna joined the fray in aid of
Abhimanyu. Bhima appeared on the scene with his mace aloft and started attacking the
Kauravas. Duryodhana sent a huge force of elephants at Bhima. When Bhima saw the mass of
elephants approaching, he got down from his chariot and attacked them single handedly with his
iron mace. They scattered and stampeded into the Kaurava forces killing many. Duryodhana
ordered an all-out attack on Bhima. Bhima withstood all that was thrown at him and attacked
Duryodhana's brothers, killing eight of them. Bhima was soon struck by an arrow on the chest
and sat down in his chariot dazed.
Duryodhana was distraught at the loss of his brothers. Duryodhana, overwhelmed by sorrow at
the loss of his brothers, went to Bhishma at the end of the fourth day of the battle, and asked his
commander how could the Pandavas, facing a superior force against them, still prevail and win.
Bhishma replied that the Pandavas had justice on their side and advised Duryodhana to seek
peace.
Days 5-9
When the battle resumed on the fifth day, the slaughter continued. The Pandava army again
suffered against Bhishma's attacks. Satyaki bore the brunt of Drona's attacks and soon could not
withstand them. Bhima drove by and rescued Satyaki. Arjuna fought and killed thousands of
soldiers sent by Duryodhana to attack him. The unimaginable carnage continued during the
ensuing days of the battle. The sixth day was marked by a prodigious slaughter. Drona caused
immeasurable loss of life on the Pandava side. The formations of both the armies were broken.
On the eighth day Bhima killed eight of Dhritarashtra's sons and Arjuna's son Iravan was killed by
the Kauravas. On the ninth day Krishna, overcome by anger at the apparent inability of Arjuna to
defeat Bhishma, rushed towards the Kaurava commander, but Arjuna stopped him. Realising that
the war could not be won as long as Bhisma were standing, Krishna suggested the strategy of
placing a woman in the field to face him.

Day 10

Bhishma on a deathbed of arrows, from a collection of the Smithsonian Institution
On the tenth day the Pandavas, unable to withstand Bhishma's prowess, decided to
put Shikhandi, who had been a woman in a prior life in front of Bhishma, as Bhishma has taken a
vow not to attack a woman. Shikhandi's arrows fell on Bhishma without hindrance. Arjuna
positioned himself behind Shikhandi, protecting himself from Bhishma's attack, and aimed his
arrows at the weak points in Bhishma's armour. Soon, with arrows sticking from every part of his
body, the great warrior fell from his chariot. His body did not touch the ground as it was held aloft
by the arrows protruding from his body.
The Kauravas and Pandavas gathered around Bhishma and, at his request, Arjuna placed three
arrows under Bhisma's head to support it. Bhishma had promised his father, King Shantanu, that
he would live until Hastinapur were secured from all directions. To keep this promise, Bhishma
used the boon of "Ichcha Mrityu" (self wished death)given to him by his father. After the war was
over, when Hastinapur had become safe from all sides and after giving lessons on politics
and Vishnu Sahasranama to the Pandavas, Bhishma died on the first day of Uttarayana.

Day 11
With Bhishma unable to continue, Karna entered the battle field, much to Duryodhna's joy. He
made Drona the supreme commander of the Kaurava forces. Karna and Duryodhana wanted to
capture Yudhisthira alive. Killing Yudhisthira in battle would only enrage the Pandavas more,
whereas holding him as hostage would be strategically useful. Drona formulated his battle plans
for the eleventh day to this aim. He cut down Yudhisthira's bow and the Pandava army feared
that their leader would be taken prisoner. Arjuna rushed to the scene, however, and with a flood
of arrows made Drona retreat.

Day 12
With his attempts to capture Yudhisthira failed, Drona confided to Duryodhna that it would be
difficult as long as Arjuna was around. The king of Trigartadesa, Susharma along with his 3
brothers and 35 sons who were fighting on the Kaurava side made a pact that they would kill
Arjuna or die. They went into the battle field on the twelfth day and challenged Arjuna. Arjuna
gave them a fierce fight in which the brothers fell dead after fighting a brave fight. Drona
continued to try and capture Yudhisthira. The Pandavas however fought hard and delivered
severe blows to the Kaurava army.

Day 13
Duryodhana summoned King Bhagadatta, the monarch of Pragjyotisha (modern day Assam,
India). Bhagadatta had thousands of gigantic elephants in his stable and was considered the
strongest warrior on this planet in elephant warfare. Bhagadatta attacked Arjuna with his gigantic
elephant named Suprateeka. It was a fierce battle in which Bhagadatta matched Arjuna astra for
astra.
On the other side of the battlefield, the remaining four Pandavas and their allies were finding it
impossible to break Dronacharya's Chakravyuha formation. As Arjuna was busy fighting with the
Trigartadesa princes and the Prajayogastha monarch on the other side of the battlefield, he could
not be summoned to break the Chakravyuha formation, which could only be broken by entering
and exiting the formation. Yudhisthira instructed, Abhimanyu, one of Arjuna's sons to break the
Chakravyuha formation. Abhimanyu knew the secret of entering the Chakravyuh formation, but
did not know how to exit it. Eventually he was trapped in the Chakravyuha, which led to his death.
Upon learning of the death of his son, Arjuna vowed to kill Jayadratha on the morrow before the
battle ended at sunset, otherwise he would throw himself into the fire.

Day 14

Karna kills Ghatotkacha
While searching for Jayadratha on the battlefield, Arjuna slew an akshouhini (hundreds of
thousands (109,350)) of Kaurava soldiers. The Kaurava army tightly protected Jayadratha,
however, preventing Arjuna from attacking him. Finally, in late afternoon, Arjuna found
Jayadratha guarded by the mighty kaurav army. Seeing his friend's plight, Lord Krishna raised
his Sudarshana Chakra to cover the sun, faking a sunset. Arjuna fought a powerful battle with
Jayadrtha and finally defeated him. Then, Arjuna shot a powerful arrow decapitating Jayadratha.
The battle continued past sunset. When the bright moon rose, Ghatotkacha, son
ofBhima slaughtered numerous warriors, attacking while flying in the air. Karna stood against him
and both fought fiercely until Karna released the Indrastra, a celestial dart given to him by Indra.
Ghatotkacha increased his size and fell dead on the Kaurav army killing thousands of them.

Day 15
After King Drupada and King Virata were slain by Drona, Bhima, and Dhristadyumna fought him
on the fifteenth day. Because Drona was very powerful and inconquerable having the irresistible
brahmadanda, Krishna hinted to Yudhisthira that Drona would give up his arms if his son
Ashwathama was dead. Bhima proceeded to kill an elephant named Ashwathama, and loudly
proclaimed that Ashwathama was dead. Drona approached Yudhisthira to seek the truth of his
son's death. Yudhisthira proclaimedAshwathama Hatahath, naro va Kunjaro va, implying
Ashwathama had died but he was nor sure whether it was a Drona's son or an elephant, The
latter part of his proclamation (Naro va Kunjaro va) were drowned out by sound of the conch
blown by Krishna intentionally (a different version of the story is that Yudhisthira pronounced the
last words so feebly that Drona could not hear the word elephant). Prior to this incident, the
chariot of Yudhisthira, proclaimed as Dharma raja (King of righteousness), hovered a few inches
off the ground. After the event, the chariot landed on the ground as he refused to obey Lord
Krishna's instructions.
Drona was disheartened, and laid down his weapons. He was then killed by Dhristadyumna to
avenge his father's death and satisfy his vow. Later, the Pandava's mother Kunti secretly met her
abandoned son Karna and requested him to spare the Pandavas, as they were his younger
brothers. Karna promised Kunti that he would spare them except for Arjuna.

Day 16
On the sixteenth day, Karna became supreme commander of the Kaurava army, killing countless
warriors during the day.
Karna fought valiantly but was surrounded and attacked by Pandava generals, who were unable
to prevail upon him. Karna inflicted heavy damage on the Pandava army, which fled. Then Arjuna
successfully resisted Karna's weapons with his own, and also inflicted casualties upon the
Kaurava army. The sun soon set, and with darkness and dust making the assessment of
proceedings difficult, the Kaurava army retreated for the day.
[17]
On the same day, Bhima swung
his mace and shattered Dushasana's chariot. Bhima seized Dushasana, ripped his right hand
from shoulder and killed him, tearing open his chest and drinking his blood and carrying some to
smear on Draupadi's untied hair, thus fulfilling his vow made when Draupadi was humiliated.

Day 17

Karna (right) confronts Arjuna, who will later kill Karna, in the Kurukshetra war.
On the seventeenth day, Karna defeated the pandava brothers Sahadeva and Yudhisthira in
battle but spared their lives. Later, Karna resumed duelling withArjuna. During their duel, Karna's
chariot wheel got stuck in the mud and Karna asked for a pause. Krishna reminded Arjuna about
Karna's ruthlessness unto Abhimanyu while he was similarly left without chariot and weapons.
Hearing his son's fate, Arjuna shot his arrow and decapitated Karna. Before the day's battle,
Karna's sacred armour ('Kavacha') and earrings ('Kundala') were taken as alms by Lord Indra,
which resulted in his death by Arjuna's arrows.

Day 18
On the 18th day, Yudhishthira killed king Shalya,Sahadeva killed Shakuni, and Bhima killed
Duryodhana's remaining brothers. Realizing that he had been defeated, Duryodhana fled the
battle field and took refuge in the lake, where the Pandavas caught up with him. Under the
supervision of the now returnedBalarama, a mace battle took place
between Bhima and Duryodhana in which Duryodhana was mortally wounded. Ashwatthama,
Kripacharya, and Kritavarma met Duryodhana at his deathbed and promised to avenge him. They
attacked the Pandavas' camp later that night and killed all the Pandavas' remaining army,
besides Dhristadyumna, Shikhandi, Udhamanyu and Uttamauja.

Aftermath
At the end of the 18th day, only Twelve warriors survived the warthe
five Pandavas, Krishna, Satyaki, Ashwatthama, Kripacharya,Yuyutsu, Vrishakethu(son and
enemy of Karna) and Kritvarma. Vrishakethu was the only son of Karna who survived the horrific
slaughter. He later came under the patronage of the Pandavas. During the campaign that
preceded the Ashvamedha yagna, Vrishakethu accompanied Arjuna and participated in the
battles with Sudhava and Babruvahana. During that campaign Vrishakethu married the daughter
of king Yavanatha (perhaps a king of the western regions). It is said, Arjuna developed great
affection for Vrishakethu, his nephew. Yudhisthira was crowned king of Hastinapur. He
renounced the throne after ruling for 36 years, passing on the crown to Arjuna's
grandson Parikshit. He then left for the Himalayas with Draupadi and his brothers in what was to
be their last journey. Draupadi and four PandavasBhima, Arjuna, Nakula, and Sahadevadied
during the journey. Yudhisthira, the lone survivor and being of pious heart, was invited
by Dharma to enter the heavens as a mortal.