At the edges of the kingdom of Matsya, as if in rehearsal for the war to come, the plundering Kuru army and Arjuna engage in battle. Arjuna’s belligerence is full of conviction, and on many occasions, there are signs to support the notion that he is fighting to kill. One wonders, then, as to why he will need a serious dispelling of doubts through discourses with Krishna when the actual war begins. In fact, Arjuna causes several fatalities, some of which might be crucial. He kills Karna’s younger brother, Samgramajit, by slicing off his head with an arrow. On seeing his brother dead, Karna joins the battle. His fiery arrows harm the horses in Arjuna’s chariot, responding to which, Arjuna fires arrows that pierce Karna himself.
What follows next isn’t surprising: Karna flees the scene battle. This is, of course, the second time that Karna has had to flee. The first time was during the great cattle excursion when the Kuru army met strong resistance from an army of Gandharvas. Karna’s propensity to flee is definitely something that is not given much coverage in popular representations of the Mahabharata. After Karna, Arjuna battles Kripa.
Missiles are hurled from either side. When Kripa launches a javelin towards Arjuna, he uses his arrows to slice it into ten pieces. Such precision in archery is evidenced not just by Arjuna but by Kripa as well, and Arjuna is pierced several times, but the general descriptions of all battles here make it abundantly clear that Arjuna is superior to everyone. Kripa is eventually retracted from the face-off with Arjuna by others in the Kuru army. The next to fight Arjuna is Drona. If you are wondering why an entire army, when confronted by a hostile warrior on a chariot, lets the warrior pick up opponents one by one, no answer shall be easy to come. This is just how things happen in the epic, or at least in this chapter. Arjuna announces that he will not attack Drona lest he is attacked first, a request that is immediately fulfilled by his guru.
Watching the two supreme archers battle, others in the battleground stare in awe. This passiveness indicates that the Kuru army knows that this is not a big battle, that no big harm will come from it; though this view is contradicted by the fact of Karna’s brother’s death at the hands of Arjuna; also, many soldiers in the Kuru army do indeed die by Arjuna’s hand. When Arjuna begins to dominate his teacher, Asvatthama pulls Arjuna towards himself, till he too is subdued by the Pandava.
Arjuna then again faces Karna, who by now has, presumably, recovered his strength. A brief battle ensues, the end of which is again Karna fleeing from the scene. Then comes the turn of Bhishma. And then Duryodhana. Arjuna defeats all, and at the end, having subdued everyone, asks Uttara to collect the garments of some of the warriors (for the Matsya princess’ dolls).
Tanuj Solanki
@tanujsolanki
The writer is reading the unabridged Mahabharata