Kurukshetra: The defining Krishna-Arjun journey

ℂ𝕙𝕒𝕡𝕥𝕖𝕣 𝟡: 𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝕦𝕟𝕥𝕣𝕦𝕥𝕙

Arjun's pov

Battle resumed in the evening of the fifteenth day, and Dronacharya, accused over and over of partiality towards the Pandavas, brought a fearful bloodlust onto the field. Within the first hour, while he wreaked havoc, King Drupad and King Virata rushed to defend their allies, and soon they both lay slain.

Out of his mind with grief as he saw his father's prone body on the ground, Drishtadyumna screamed in an awful voice, "May I lose all religious merit if I do not slay Dronacharya today!"

"Why," muttered Madhav, "why must each one of you proclaim these oaths?"

"But Madhav," said Arjun in desperation, unable to put his horror into words.

Losing all religious merit was as good as death, and a fate he never wanted on his brother-in-law, but the alternative--

"Focus on the fight, Parth," said Madhav blandly.

Bheem coaxed Drishtadyumna from grief to rage; together they broke into Dronacharya's protective formations. Krishna and Arjun's chariot followed them in.

Soon, it fell to a duel between Guru Drona and his favourite pupil. The former used celestial weapons by the minute. Arjun countered them all with the ones his teacher himself had taught him long ago.

Somewhere nearby, Kritavarma and his three brothers surrounded Drishtadyumna, who was fighting like a madman. Nakul and Sahadev's chariots zoomed in to help him. Elsewhere, Satyaki took on Duryodhan.

"Curse on my anger and greed, my friend." The shocking words in Duryodhan's voice drew Arjun's attention away from his duel. "Remember how we played together in our Teacher's house? What, but anger and greed would compel me today to fight you, the one with whom I share so many childhood memories?"

"Duryodhan and Satyaki--" Arjun spluttered to Madhav, as the two began to duel.

"Were friends long ago," said Madhav, wistfully. "It is pitiful the way things change with time, wouldn't you say?"

As dawn broke, an enormous army of Panchal, urged on by Yudhishthir, had charged in to attack Dronacharya. The great old warrior peacefully went about slaughtering them all, and more.

***

Krishna's pov

When the carnage spread by him had reached a peak, Krishna addressed Arjun with unusual seriousness.

"He cannot be killed by fair means, Parth. He is invincible at the moment. If we are to stop the deaths on our side, we must resort to something underhand."

"Like what?" asked Arjun.

"Like letting him know Ashwatthama is slain. He will lay down his weapons if he hears of his son's death."

"Well, for that we have to kill Ashwatthama," said Arjun, "which hasn't proved easy so far."

"No, we don't," said Krishna. "We will just tell him, without killing him. We will, well, lie."

"What?" said Arjun in disbelief. "You can't mean that--what kind of lowly trick is that? Tell a father his son his dead just so you can kill him?"

"Yep."

"I can't believe you, Madhav."

"You better do, because you're the one who has to go tell him, Arjun. He'll believe you in a heartbeat."

"I am not going to do it," said Arjun loudly. "I would die before doing it to him. He is my teacher. He is my guide, he is my God, he is--"

"Oh, for Indra's sake, stop the drama," said Krishna impatiently.