Kurukshetra: The defining Krishna-Arjun journey

ℂ𝕙𝕒𝕡𝕥𝕖𝕣 𝟙𝟙: 𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝕚𝕟𝕕𝕚𝕘𝕖𝕤𝕥𝕚𝕓𝕝𝕖 𝕧𝕚𝕔𝕥𝕠𝕣𝕪

Arjun's pov

The funeral grounds and the medical tent both overflowed that evening; before his death, the King of Anga had slain and maimed in numbers beyond imagination.

Madhav joined Arjun and Bheem as they sat beside Drishtadyumna, who had been badly injured.

"Drish, all fine?" he asked cheerily.

Drishtadyumna grimaced. "Do something about those limbs of yours, Arjun," he advised.

Arjun brushed it aside. After his victory in the famous duel with his arch-rivals, his brothers, allies and friends had been passing comments nonstop.

"Why haven't you had someone tend to you till now?" said Madhav, sounding shocked as he looked Arjun up and down. "Don't tell me you have been just standing here all this while." 

Arjun glanced down at his arms and feet. They had been pierced by several hundred arrows of the King of Anga, but how could he, foremost of their side's warriors, exhibit such weakness?

"It doesn't matter," he said, and pulled Madhav aside. "Madhav, listen..."

"Listening..."

"I wish you had not got me to kill the King of Anga when he was down from his chariot," said Arjun. "I had thought it would feel nice to defeat him, finally. But it doesn't feel nice at all; I feel like a sinner."

"You are nothing close to a sinner, Parth, your opponent was fighting back on foot, was he not? You have fought on foot before during this war, too, have you not?" 

Madhav absent-mindedly traced a cut down Arjun's forearm; with a momentary chill, it healed in front of their eyes.

"You can heal by your touch?" said Arjun, startled.

"Er, yeah, sometimes," said Madhav sheepishly.

"Sometimes?" A skeptical Arjun dragged him over to Srutakarma, who had also sustained a bloody puncture on his knee. "Heal this--"

"It does not work like that, Parth." Madhav patted a baffled Srutakarma on the head and led them back to the corner. "I can't heal simply any wound. I can't even heal all of Dau's wounds--I doubt it would work on anyone but you."

Madhav always knew the right thing to say. Arjun never realized when he forgot his unaccountable uneasiness about the King of Anga's death.

***

The eighteenth day of the battle was, to some extent, a formality. With most of their prominent Maharathis dead, the Kaurava army could do little to prevent themselves from being annihilated. While Bheem, Nakul and Arjun cut down their numbers, Yudhishthir killed their new commander Shalya and Sahadev killed ones of the banes of their existence, Shakuni.

Towards the end of the day, as Duryodhan realized his ranks were practically empty, he disappeared. For some time, the five Pandava brothers attempted to hunt him down, but he was nowhere to be found.

Battle ceased.

Yuyutsu, realizing he was now the last surviving son of Dhritarashtra, took permission to return to Hastinapur with Duryodhan's womenfolk.

In the evening, a trio of hunters bringing along Bheem's enormous supply of meat arrived bursting with news. They had heard the last three survivors of the Kaurava camp, Kritavarman, Aswatthama and Kripacharya talking to Duryodhan, who was apparently inside a lake with solidified water.

"Shall we go and finish off the final task?" Bheem asked Yudhishthir and Krishna, both of whom nodded.

The five brothers and Krishna set off for the lake.