Kalingaveera Varunaputra Shrutayudha

The Second Battle of Kalinga

The outright defeat of the combined forces of Hastinapur, Sindhudesh and Northern Panchal created ripples in the political outlook of the world . The Kuruvanshis had been humbled once over again as this defeat meant something that wasn't easy to digest . The mighty army of two established kingdoms alongside those under the leadership of the son of Drona were thrashed by a single defendant without any allies . The news of the deaths of all the sons of Gandhari baring the second one too wrecked havoc in the courtroom . The captivity of the sole alive one was the only silver lining for the blind king .

Gandhari was absolutely inconsolable as she swooned in the arms of Kunti . Dushala , the only princess of the land had just lost one of her brother and now was left with just one . Her potential marital alliance for which her brothers were really excited was now broken with the death of the the King of Sindhudesh . This was a dual blow to the political think-tank of Hastinapur who were searching for options to salvage the situation . The close confidante of Dhritarastra were of opinion to resort to diplomacy as one of their princes was still breathing alive in the dungeons of Kalinga. Pandavas , however weren't keen on accepting defeat to the coastal kingdom .

In all this mess , the ever clear headed son of Ganga was trapped between the pride and the future of his lineage . He didn't want to make any decision in haste for which he had to regret . Gandhari had only one living son alive and the son of his charioteer was trapped there as well . Their next deep could drastically affect them as well . Shakuni however worried for his sister was enjoying the troubles of the illustrious lineage . He wanted to add more oil into the fire and make the political turmoil flame into complete anhillation of his tormentors . The arrival of a disheveled son of sage Bharadwaja suited his agenda even further.

The illustrious teacher of the princes of Hastinapur and king of Sindhudesh was absolutely shattered with the news of the dead of his invincible son . The information from the war was correlated with various sources with same effect . Yet he didn't want to believe the same and hence rushed into the court of the Kurus . The son of Ganga however had only consolation to offer . The state of their teacher wasn't bearable for the sons of Kunti who wanted to step into the war immediately to avenge his loss . The mighty patriarch however wanted to prevent any further escalation . This was perhaps the perfect time for the shrewd king of Gandhar to play his part .

Shakuni instigated the dejected Dronacharya and his pupils to resort to weapons inorder to avenge his sons . Though indifferent in the beginning , the words of the cunning man was fuelling the anger inside the old man . Bheeshma was somewhat skeptical about his shrewd political sdversary and hence opposed this idea of revenge vehemently . But it was too late as the words of Shakuni had triggered the fire already . Drona rose up to roar a battle cry and his disciples too regrouped themselves . The son of Bharadwaja demanded before the king the permission to let his students follow him in the mission to which the king was somewhat not ready owing to his fear for his son in captivity . Bheeshma however had the last say as he himself was ready to go to war this time while preventing any further damage to his lineage .

The sons of Pandu were debarred from participating in the upcoming battle under strict orders of Bheeshma . The fiasco had made them lose the future of the illustrious clan and hence Bheeshma wasn't keen on risking his grandsons this time around . Though dissatisfied in the beginning , the father of Aswathama accepted the arguments of his senior colleague . The entire remaining army of Northern Panchal was recruited into this battle along with a strong regiment from Hastinapur and few troops from Anga . The army led by the disciples of Parshurama were ready to unleash their wrath on the kingdom which was cause of their agony . Few allies were contacted but the terror of Kalinga was enough to decline any association with the Kurus . Only Dwarka remained their last hope in case of any exigencies .