The Gurus of Hastinapur - Part 17

Drona was angrily pacing his tent. ‘All I wanted was that you keep Arjuna away from Yudhishtara!’ he shouted at Duryodhana who was sitting grumpily in the side of the tent. ‘I had Yudhishtara right in my sight!’ Drona yelled angrily. ‘Just….’ Drona took a deep breath trying to control himself. ‘And do you know that if the sun had not set, Arjuna would have finished the war today!’ Drona said seething with anger unable to stop himself.

‘WHAT DO YOU PROPOSE WE DO?’ Duryodhana asked loudly just to stop his teacher from continuing his ranting. Drona angrily opened his mouth and then let out another breath controlling himself. ‘We need people who would draw Arjuna far away from the battlefield! Not one or two warriors....An entire division! So that even if Arjuna wants to get back to Yudhishtara, he should not be able to….’

Nobody said anything, because presumably everyone realized that it was a suicide mission. Since the war started, Arjuna had fought with all the people who had challenged him and Arjuna had never been unsuccessful in killing his opponent....

Duryodhana realized almost with despair how much he missed his grandfather - Bhishma. Though Bhishma had promised that he would never kill the Pandavas....Arjuna had not seemed such a big threat with the grandsire around....

Duryodhana took a deep breath trying to control himself when, Satyakarman, the ruler of the Trigarthas came forward boldly. ‘Me and my brothers would do that!’

Duryodhana and Drona both looked slightly shocked at the man as his four brothers – Satyaratha, Satyavarman, Satyavratha and Satyeshu also came by his side and nodded their heads. 

‘We did nothing to Arjuna, yet in the battlefield, he has humiliated us….again and again.....So we all are burning for revenge against the man!’ Satyaratha said angrily.

Satyakarman looked at his brothers and then back at Drona and Duryodhana. ‘We, the Trigarthas swear that all of us will attack Arjuna and bring him down… or atleast try to bring him down….’

Duryodhana’s eyes shone with anticipation as Satyakarma pronounced firmly. ‘The world would be either without Arjuna or without us!’

The five brothers with their ten thousand chariots promised to lead Arjuna away from Yudhishtara.

Seeing the bravery of the Trigarthas, others also joined them. First to join them was Susharman, the ruler of Prasthala and then the tribes of Mavellakas, Lalithas and Madrakas also joined the Trigarthas.

So now there were a total of thirty thousand soldiers on chariots fighting only against Arjuna and his charioteer – the Dark Lord, Krishna. Their only aim was to make sure Arjuna was not near Yudhishtara....

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The faithful spies of the Pandavas reported these developments to the generals of the Pandava army.

Yudhishtara looked troubled as he eyed Arjuna.

‘If I am challenged than I will have to accept it…and because of the sheer numbers of soldiers…I would be away from you!’ Arjuna murmured.

‘What are we supposed to do, without you?’ Yudhishtara asked worried.

‘Satyajit!’ Arjuna said firmly pointing at the warrior who was sitting there. ‘Satyajit will protect you….’

Yudhishtara whipped his head head around as Arjuna led the warrior Satyajit, towards Yudhishtara.

Looking at the confident and proud face of Satyajit, Yudhishtara nodded quietly to himself...his worried almost melting away. If Arjuna trusted Satyajit, Yudhishtara saw no reason to doubt the warrior.

Satyajit smiled as Arjuna continued. ‘This brave warrior will protect you no matter what….As long as he is alive, not one person would be able to do anything to you!' Yudhishtara nodded as Arjuna continued in an almost angry tone, '....And brother remember one more thing....’

Yudhishtara frowned as Arjuna continued. ‘If Satyajit falls….no matter what, you will leave the battlefield, immediately!’

‘WHAT?’ Yudhishtara asked shocked as Arjuna nodded. 

'You want me to run away from the battlefield?' Yudhishtara asked in an aghast tone.

'Should anything happen to Satyajit....even if every single warrior from the Pandava army is surrounding you, you will come back to the camp!' Arjuna repeated. ‘Do you understand?’ Arjuna asked sharply as Yudhishtara looked like he was going to argue.

Looking at the ferocious look on Arjuna’s face, Yudhishtara realized that his brother was not in a mood to listen to his talk and solemnly nodded his head.

And it was after extracting this promise from Yudhishtara that Arjuna started his battle with the Samshaptakas.…. (Samshaptakas are the soldiers who have promised to either win or die in the battlefield.)