Krishna’s peace mission

• When Sanjay failed to convince Duryodhana to come to a

compromise with the Pandavas and prevent a battle, Krishna
decided to go to Hastinapur himself as a messenger of the
Pandavas and persuade Duryodhan.He had hoped that duryodhan
would agree to a mutual agreement of giving atleast 5 kingdoms
to 5 of the pandavas.
• Duryodhana,on the other hand denied krishna’s
proposal and didn’t want to give even a single inch
of land to the pandavas and instead gave orders to
capture Krishna.Angered by duryodhan’s
disrespectful behavior,Krishna came to his cosmic
form. Krishna’s virat roop
 War preparations

 Duryodhana and Arjuna both went to Krishna at Dwarka to ask for his help.
 Duryodhan asked for the army of Krishna and arjun chose Krishna
himself,unarmed.
 Seeing that there was now no hope for peace, Yudhishthira, the eldest of the
Pandavas, asked his brothers to organize their army. The Pandavas accumulated
seven Akshauhinisarmy with the help of their allies. Each of these divisions were
led
by Drupada, Virata, Dhrishtadyumna, Shikhandi, Satyaki, Chekitana and Bhima.
After consulting his commanders, the Pandavas appointed Dhrishtadyumna as the
supreme commander of the Pandava army.
A manuscript illustration of
 The Kaurava army consisted of 11 Akshauhinis. Duryodhana requested Bhishmato the Battle of Kurukshetra,
command the Kaurava army. Bhishma accepted on the condition that, while he fought between the
would fight the battle sincerely, he would not harm the five Pandava brothers Kauravas and the
Pandavas, recorded in
the Mahābhārata
 Eighteen days of war

 In the context of mahabharat,eighteen is an important number.Duryodhan had

11 akshauhinis and Pandavas had 7,making a total of eighteen.There are
eighteen chapters in the epic and lastly, the war lasted for exactly eighteen
days

A war scene showing krishna

alongside arjuna Krishna and Arjuna blowing the
Shankh.(starting of the war)
 The important highlights of the war
Day one and two

 Uttara and Sweta, sons of Virata, were killed on day one of Mahabharata
war. Shalya killed Uttara and Bhishma killed Sweta. This day belonged to
Kauravas. Second day belonged to Pandavas and Satyaki killed Bhishma’s
charioteer. Bhishma dazzled in kurukshetra and Yudhishthira was forced to
thinking that how would they conquer this army which has warriors like
Bhishma.

Day Three-Day eight Shalya killing

uttara,son of virata

On day three, Bhishma killed many soldiers of Pandava army. On fourth day,
Bhima killed eight brothers of Duryodhana. Day eight spelled some misery for
pandavas, as Arjuna’s son Iravan was killed.
 Day ten(bhishma’s downfall)

 On ninth day, Shri Krishna lost his patience and intended to attack
Bhishma. Bhishma so far was proving too much for pandavas army,
but Arjuna pacified him. He devises a strategy to cause Bhishma’s
downfall. Interestingly, the secret of his downfall was given by
Bhishma only. This was made possible by Shikhandi facing him and
Arjuna using Shikhandi as shield. (Tenth day). Pandava’s chances
only improved after Bhishma was removed from the equation.
 On Twelfth day, Susharma engaged Arjuna. Susharma was part of
the Duryodhana’s plan to capture Yudhishthir to win the war. On
thirteenth day, while Arjuna was fighting Bhagdatta and Susharma,
Drona made Chakravyuha formation. Nobody in pandavas knew
the key to this apart from Arjuna. Abhimanyu knew how to enter but
did not know how to come out of it. Once he entered, Jayadrath
ensured that no pandava could follow him. Trapped, Abhimanyu
fought valiantly before dying in hands of son of Dushasana,
Durmashana.
 on Day fifteen, Drupad and Virata were killed by Drona. This was indeed Drona’s day, as
he was decimating pandava’s army with the help of brahmadanda. Bhima killed an
elephant, named Ashwaththama, and claimed that Drona’s son was killed. Drona
dropped his arms after Yudhishthira confirmed this and was killed by Dhristdyumna.
 On sixteenth day, Dushashana was killed by Bhima. Bhima tore his arm and drank the
blood from his heart. Draupadi could finally tie her hairs with the blood from Dushashana’s
heart.
 Day seventeenth saw the demise of Karna in hands of Arjuna. He was killed in the same
way as Abhimanyu, helpless. Earlier that day, Karna spared Sahdev and Arjuna. Nakula,
the most handsome of kuru clan, killed Shakuni’s son Uluka. He took this oath during the
gambling loss of killing Uluka. Nakula also killed three of Karna sons, Chitrasena, Sushena
and Satyasena. Shalya became the commander of Kaurava’s army on seventeenth day
of Mahabharat war
 . On final (eighteenth) day, Shalya, who acted as the charioteer of Karna, was killed by
Yudhishthir. Sahdev killed Shakuni to avenge the events which followed dice game.
Seeing his eminent defeat, Duryodhana sought refuge in a lake. Pandavas found him
there and Yudhisthira made a mistake. He offered Duryodhana to pick any of the
Pandavas for a duel. Duryodhana chose Bhima. Balrama also watched this great duel
between strength and agility. Bhima finally breaks Duryodhana thighs which enrages
Balrama as this was against the rules of the war. Dhrishtdyumna killing drona