The Gurus of Hastinapur - Part 37

Thanks to both Arjuna and Satyaki who had entered the Vyugha before him, Bhima had a relatively easy time inside the Vyugha.

Bhima razed through the Bhoja division and after destroying that division, he massacred the Kamvoja division. Bhima knocked out the last soldier in the Kamvoja division, when he let out a shout of victory.

And Bhima was shocked at the sight which met him. Because standing before him was Satyaki who was fighting with the Kaurava enemies.

Grinning, Bhima passed Satyaki and within some time, he saw Arjuna with Krishna…..

Bhima let out a roar of happiness, which was heard almost all over the battlefield.

Yudhishtara who was on the other side of the Vyugha, heard Bhima's roar and let a glorious smile cover his face. Bhima...My Bhima..He is a source of joy. He had never said no to me and he ploughed through this field, just for me and now he has given me the best news that a man could hope for. Bhima has spotted both Satyaki and Arjuna and they are both fine.

Yudhishtara closed his eyes, blessing his brothers and praying that Arjuna fulfilled his vow today….

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Hearing Bhima's shout almost terrified the Kaurava soldiers, as they ran away from there.

Karna angrily, came forward towards Bhima, trying to stop Bhima's carnage.

Bhima saw Karna and Bhima felt like he was going to burn up in his anger. This Karna….This very Karna was the reason for this war...This man misbehaved with his wife….

Bhima thought no more as Karna and Bhima exchanged arrows with great ferocity.  

Karna shot repeatedly and fired close to a thirty arrows at Bhima. However Bhima cut off the arrows and in no time at all, managed to even cut off the bow of Karna. As Karna was hastily picking up another bow, Bhima killed Karna's charioteer. Angrily Karna pulled a golden arrow and aimed it at Bhima and let go….That arrow should have killed Bhima. But today, Bhima fought marvelously well. Bhima shot seven successive arrows one after the other and cut off Karna's arrow.

Soon it became so bad that the area where Karna and Bhima were fighting, nothing was visible. Nothing other than a throng of arrows going in both directions….

Looking ferociously angry with each other, the two warriors were determined that there was going to be only one survivor in this battle….And Bhima now was completely filled with the battle rage. And that was when Bhima broke Karna's bow for the second time! As Karna pulled out another bow, Bhima killed Karna's charioteer (Bhima had already killed one charioteer. So probably, all chariots had two charioteers or someone from Karna's division had come to drive his chariot, after the death of the first charioteer.) and Bhima also killed all the four horses of Karna.

Duryodhana was speechless, as he saw Karna struggle against Bheema. He shouted to his brother Durjaya. 'Karna needs you, now! Go!'

After the dice game, Bhima had promised that he was going to kill all the sons of Dhirdarashtra and Gandhari. And on this day, Duryodhana himself provided an opportunity to Bhima by sending his own brother to fight Bhima. The battle between Bhima and Durjaya was ridiculously short.

Karna watched in horror as Bhima let out a roaring shout and killed Durjaya. Karna watched the dying man, grief blinding in his eyes and now he turned his attention back to Bhima. And Karna now wanted nothing more than to kill the Pandava….

Bhima did not even care as he pulled out his mace and threw it at Karna. The mace broke Karna's chariot.

Duryodhana could not believe it and foolishly sent another of his brother – Durmukha to protect his friend. The only thing that did happen after that, was that Duryodhana lost Durmukha to Bhima.

Karna continued to fight Bhima, but that day belonged to Bhima and Bhima defeated Karna….

Karna abandoned his chariot and ran towards the chariot of his brother – Vrishasena, who led him away from Bhima. Bhima felt like he had vanquished Karna and let out a roar of happiness.

Yudhishtara on the other side of the Vyugha smiled again, when he heard his brother's roar…..

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Duryodhana could not believe the mess in the Vyugha. Arjuna and Krishna themselves were unstoppable. Now that they were joined by both Satyaki and Bhima, the Kaurava soldiers had nowhere to run. No matter where the Kaurava soldiers ran, the Kaurava soldiers were caught by one of the three fighters and killed mercilessly.

Duryodhana ran towards his teacher – Dronacharya.

'What do we do?' Duryodhana asked breathlessly. 'I do not know what to do against them?' Duryodhana looked at Dronacharya with sudden anger. 'HOW COULD YOU LET BOTH BHIMA AND SATYAKI INSIDE?' Duryodhana shouted. 'You are Drona! You are our teacher! You are meant to be invincible and you have failed!' Duryodhana ranted for some more time. But then he realized that his shouting was doing nothing good to the morale of his men. 'What should we do?' Duryodhana asked finally, in a strangled whisper.

'It is not me!' Drona said. 'The dice that you let your uncle play, in the Kuru assembly! That is the dice which is coming back to you, in the form of these arrows!' Drona said watching Duryodhana without any expression.

'What should I do?' Duryodhana repeated as he watched Drona with a stone cold expression.

'Jayadratha!' Drona said quietly. 'We have to put all our soldiers to protect that man!'

As Duryodhana was proceeding towards Jayadratha, two familiar faces met him – Yudhamanyu and Uttamaujas. They were the princes of Panchala and were the protectors of Arjuna's chariot wheels. It was just that today Arjuna and Krishna proceeded so fast inside the Vyugha that neither Yudhamanyu nor Utamaujas could accompany Arjuna. But they were making all efforts to get back to Arjuna.

Duryodhana angrily, let out a shout of anger as he attacked the two princes. In quick succession, Duryodhana cut off Yudhamanyu's standard and Yudhamanyu's charioteer. Yudhamanyu, jumped off from the chariot as he broke Duryodhana's bow. Duryodhana picked up another bow and attacked Uttamaujas. Duryodhana destroyed Uttamajas's horses. Angrily, both Yudhamanyu and Duryodhana picked up their maces and fought with each other. Duryodhana rendered both the princes without their chariots and without horses with his mace as he got on the chariot of Shalya and drove away.

Yudhamanyu and Uttamaujas angrily got on other chariots and tried to go towards Arjuna...