SrI: SrImathE satakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImath varavaramunayE nama: SrI vAnAchala mahAmunayE nama:
After bhagavAn gave gIthOpadhESam, the war began. It was a huge war with many great warriors participating in it. This war occurred for eighteen days. It was organised in such a manner that the warriors will fight in the day time and will rest in the night time.
pANdavas’ army was headed by dhrushtadhyumna as the commander-in-chief. kauravas’ army was headed by bhIshma as the commander-in-chief.
krishNa remained the best companion for pANdavas and protected them in all ways. With the ability to ride the chariot, he protected arjuna from great dangers on many occasions. He accepted the arrows shot by bhagadhaththa which were aimed at arjuna, on his chest.
Every day some great warriors died in the war. bhIshma’s strength increased day by day. One day, bhIshma started attacking ferociously. Beyond a point, arjuna could not compete with him. At that time, krishNa became very angry towards bhIshma. He jumped out of his chariot, picked up a chariot wheel and marched towards bhIshma to attack him. Seeing that, bhIshma became blissful and said to krishNa “Oh one with lotus leaf like eyes! Come on! Attack me”. Then, krishNa pacified himself.
On the tenth day, with the help of SikhaNdi, bhIshma was defeated. ambA who was snatched away by bhIshma in the past, was born as SikhaNdi in the next birth. She became a male with the help of a yaksha. As arjuna had her in front of him while fighting with bhIshma, bhIshma disarmed himself saying he will not fight with a woman. arjuna then shot him with a lot of arrows and felled him. He made him lie on a bed of arrows. Due to the boon he had, bhIshmA could leave his body at the time he wished. By the divine thought of krishNa, sahasranAma was given by bhIshma to pANdavas. We will see that in the next article.
AzhwArs have explained about mahAbhAratha yudhdham in many pAsurams.
- pEyAzhwAr in his mUnRAm thiruvandhAdhi says “aivarkkAy anRu midaindhadhu bAradha vem pOr” (In the past, he conducted vehemently the rigorous bhAratha battle).
- nammAzhwAr in his thiruvAymozhi says “kollA mAkkOl kolai seydhu bhAradhap pOr ellAch chEnaiyum iru nilaththaviththa endhAy” (Oh my lord and master who destroyed all the armies (irrespective of their belonging to the enemies or pANdavas, those who are causing burden to the earth) in the mahAbhAratha yudhdham (battle) in the vast land (of dharmakshEthra – the righteous place of kurukshEthra) with the thorny stick (as said in “mayaivaithE nihathA:“, purely through his will) which is meant to drive the horse and not to kill!).
- periyAzhwAr in his periyAzhwAr thirumozhi says “mechchUdhu sangamidaththAn nalvEyUdhi poychchUdhil thORRa poRaiyudai mannarkkAy paththUr peRAdha anRu bhAradham kai seydha aththUdhan appUchchi kAttuginRAn ammanE! appUchchi kAttuginRAn” (krishNa who plays his beautiful flute, who blows his conch SrI pAnchajanyam to be glorified by all, remained as companion for the compassionate pANdavas who lost in the gambling game, at that time organised the mahAbhAratha war. That messenger of pANdavas is showing appUchchi (frightening others with folding the eyelids)).
- thirumangai AzhwAr in his periya thirumozhi says “panniya bAram pAr magatku ozhiyap pAradha mA perum pOril mannargaL madiya maNi nedundhiN thEr maiththunarkku uyththa mAmAyan” (To eliminate the great burden of bhUmi dhEvi, krishNa remained on the beautiful, huge, firm chariot and conducted the mahAbhAratha war to kill the kings).
Essence in this incident:
- krishNa’s divine thought is such that even at the expense of his vow, he will ensure that the vow of his devotee remains true. Though he had vowed that he will not take up arms, he ensured that bhIshma’s vow of ensuring krishNa take up arms, remained true.
- Just by riding the chariot, he won the whole war. But he ensured that arjuna got the credit for the victory.
- Whenever arjuna was faced with dangers, he accepted the arrows on his divine face, divine shoulders and divine chest, and protected arjuna. Even today, he is greatly glorified in archA (deity) form as pArthasArathy.
Source – https://granthams.koyil.org/2023/10/29/krishna-leela-53-tamil/
adiyen sarathy ramanuja dasan
archived in https://granthams.koyil.org
pramEyam (goal) – https://koyil.org
pramANam (scriptures) – https://granthams.koyil.org
pramAthA (preceptors) – https://acharyas.koyil.org
srIvaishNava Education/Kids Portal – https://pillai.koyil.org