"Please grant your permission to fight and give us your blessings". Thus spoke Yuddhistira to Bhishma and the other elders.
Arjuna was now convinced that fighting was his nature just like it was the Sun's nature to give light. With Krishna as his charioteer, he returned to his spot. At that time, Yuddhistira got down from his chariot and proceeded towards the Kouravas. All his four brothers were surprised and asked him what he was doing. He did not utter a single word. The soldiers of the Kourava camp thought he was coming to surrender. They even uttered "Shame on such a kshatriya".
Yuddhisthira proceeded towards Bhishma and asked for his consent and blessings. Bhishma was happy to see this. Bhishma said, "If you had not come to me and paid the respect as should be paid to one's elders before a war, I would have cursed you to be defeated. But now, I wish you to be victorious. Everyone is a slave to money but money is slave to no one. It is my bad fortune that I have to fight this war against you." Yuddhistira asks Bhishma for his counsel stating, "You are undefeatable. Please let me know how we can be victorious". To this Bhishma replies, "There is no one who can kill me. Time of death is not here yet. Ask me later".
Then Yuddhistira proceeds to Drona and takes his consent and blessings. Drona too wished him best. Drona confirms, "Where Krishna is, there is Dharma. Where there is Dharma, victory too will be." When asked for his advise, he responds, "I will drop all my weapons if I receive a very bad message".
Yuddhistira receives Kripa's and Salya's consent and blessings as well.
After that, Yuddhistira returns to his chariot. Then he proceeds to announce to everyone present, "This is not an ordinary war. This a Dharma Yudh (War for Righteousness). If there is anyone in this camp who thinks that the Kouravas are right, then they should feel free to go there. If there is anyone from Kouravas who thinks we are right, we welcome them to our camp if they want to join our ranks". At that time, to everyone's surprise, Yuyutsu left the Kourava camp and joined the Pandava camp. Duryodhana was disgusted.
The conches were blown, trumpets were blown to announce the commencement of the war.
In the epic, the Gita and the war starts in the Bhishma Parva. The Parva itself starts with the news of Bhishma's death and Sanjaya recounting the events leading to it.
In this blog, I will not go much into detail about the war except for the most important events.
PS: Yuyutsu was Duryodhana's step brother and the only one among the sons of Dhritharashtra to survive the war. During Gandhari's extremely long maternal period, Dhritharashtra was attended to by a maid. Gradually, he bedded her and Yuyutsu was born of that union. Yuyutsu, much like Vidur, was ideal to be a king but could not be due to his maternal lineage. Duryodhana never liked him much. Yuyutsu was well versed with Dharma and has tried to convince Duryodhana to side with the Pandavas much like Vikarna (Duryodhana's brother and Gandhari's son). But Vikarna does not leave the side of Kauravas though he knew that Duryodhana was in the wrong. In so many ways and characters, Mahabharata always showcases the existence of the difference in Individual dharma and social dharma. Maybe, both Yuyutsu and Vikarna were right in their stance. Maybe, we need to accept such a possibility in our normal lives as we have in the present and in the future. Can we that wise?
Arjuna was now convinced that fighting was his nature just like it was the Sun's nature to give light. With Krishna as his charioteer, he returned to his spot. At that time, Yuddhistira got down from his chariot and proceeded towards the Kouravas. All his four brothers were surprised and asked him what he was doing. He did not utter a single word. The soldiers of the Kourava camp thought he was coming to surrender. They even uttered "Shame on such a kshatriya".
Yuddhisthira proceeded towards Bhishma and asked for his consent and blessings. Bhishma was happy to see this. Bhishma said, "If you had not come to me and paid the respect as should be paid to one's elders before a war, I would have cursed you to be defeated. But now, I wish you to be victorious. Everyone is a slave to money but money is slave to no one. It is my bad fortune that I have to fight this war against you." Yuddhistira asks Bhishma for his counsel stating, "You are undefeatable. Please let me know how we can be victorious". To this Bhishma replies, "There is no one who can kill me. Time of death is not here yet. Ask me later".
Then Yuddhistira proceeds to Drona and takes his consent and blessings. Drona too wished him best. Drona confirms, "Where Krishna is, there is Dharma. Where there is Dharma, victory too will be." When asked for his advise, he responds, "I will drop all my weapons if I receive a very bad message".
Yuddhistira receives Kripa's and Salya's consent and blessings as well.
After that, Yuddhistira returns to his chariot. Then he proceeds to announce to everyone present, "This is not an ordinary war. This a Dharma Yudh (War for Righteousness). If there is anyone in this camp who thinks that the Kouravas are right, then they should feel free to go there. If there is anyone from Kouravas who thinks we are right, we welcome them to our camp if they want to join our ranks". At that time, to everyone's surprise, Yuyutsu left the Kourava camp and joined the Pandava camp. Duryodhana was disgusted.
The conches were blown, trumpets were blown to announce the commencement of the war.
In the epic, the Gita and the war starts in the Bhishma Parva. The Parva itself starts with the news of Bhishma's death and Sanjaya recounting the events leading to it.
In this blog, I will not go much into detail about the war except for the most important events.
PS: Yuyutsu was Duryodhana's step brother and the only one among the sons of Dhritharashtra to survive the war. During Gandhari's extremely long maternal period, Dhritharashtra was attended to by a maid. Gradually, he bedded her and Yuyutsu was born of that union. Yuyutsu, much like Vidur, was ideal to be a king but could not be due to his maternal lineage. Duryodhana never liked him much. Yuyutsu was well versed with Dharma and has tried to convince Duryodhana to side with the Pandavas much like Vikarna (Duryodhana's brother and Gandhari's son). But Vikarna does not leave the side of Kauravas though he knew that Duryodhana was in the wrong. In so many ways and characters, Mahabharata always showcases the existence of the difference in Individual dharma and social dharma. Maybe, both Yuyutsu and Vikarna were right in their stance. Maybe, we need to accept such a possibility in our normal lives as we have in the present and in the future. Can we that wise?
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