Heads that fell and those that split

Arrow to chest

For those of us who grew up watching B.R. Chopra’s Mahabharatha, the war was extremely sanitised and simple. It seemed like the only vyuha formed during the entire 18 days of the war was to trap Abhimanyu. The rest of the time it was just soldiers rushing towards each other, arrows piercing their chests and them falling down dead. Even our idea of an arrow was limited to the only type shown...

But the actual war was strategically complex in its planning and execution and was extremely bloody and violent.

Heads that fell

One of the commonly used arrows in the war were those with a crescent-shaped head meant for decapitation of the enemy. Heads rolled everywhere. This was the practice of the times and not unique to the Kurukshetra war. Among the innumerable heads that fell to the ground, a few, broke rules, created disgust and saddened the sun-god himself.

Bhurisravas

On the fourteenth day of the war, Satyaki was defeated by Bhurisravas, a Kaurava commander. Just as Satyaki was about to be killed, Arjuna cut off Bhurisravas’s hand. Satyaki had fallen unconscious when Bhurisravas gave up arms and began to meditate. Roused from unconsciousness, Satyaki was maddened by anger and rushed towards an unarmed Bhurisravas and decapitated him. This act did not go well with the Pandavas and everyone was upset with Satyaki.

Drona

When Krishna orchestrated the grand deception of proclaiming that Ashwaththama was dead, after getting Bheemasena to kill an elephant by the same name and drowning Yudhishtira’s ‘whether man or elephant’ comment, by blowing his conch, Drona lost all interest in the war. He gave up fighting and immediately went into a deep meditative state. Krishna saw the life depart from his body before Dhristadhyumna seized his hair and beheaded him. This act was viewed as a transgression as an armed warrior attacked an unarmed praying brahmin and guru. But Krishna upheld the action.

Karna

When Karna appealed to Arjuna to wait for him to release the wheel of his chariot before resuming fighting, it was Krishna who told Arjuna to go ahead and kill Karna. Arjuna used the Anjalikastra granted to him by Shiva to behead Karna. Arjuna also poured in all the merit he had acquired by truth and righteousness along with the astra. This was the seventeenth day of the war. With Karna’s death Duryodhana lost interest in the war or winning.

Those that split

When Krishna pulled off his cosmic stunt by hiding the sun, the Kauravas were thrilled that Arjuna would now have to enter a fire to give up his life. Jayadratha relaxed and lowered his guard. Then, as per Krishna’s orders, Arjuna acted as if he was about to enter a fire but cut off Jayadratha’s head with an arrow. Krishna told Arjuna “Do not allow his head to fall on the ground.” This was because Jayadratha’s father Vruddhakshatra had granted him a boon – ‘Whosoever causes your decapitated head to fall on the ground will have his own head broken into a thousand pieces'. Arjuna, using the power of the Pashupatastra, created a stream of arrows back to back and held the head in suspension. Krishna then told him, “Make this fall on his father’s hands.” Arjuna immediately made Jayadratha’s head fall on the lap of his father who was performing his evening worship. Shocked, the father unthinkingly threw the head on the ground. Vruddhakshatra’s head burst into a thousand pieces, fulfilling his boon. Krishna then lifted the darkness and the sun became visible again.