Sun TV Mahabharatham

Gandhari decides to transfer to Duryodhana the power she has gained through strict adherence to pativrata dharma and harden his body to be as strong as a diamond. She asks Duryodhana to come naked before her, after taking bath in the morning. Krishna comes to know of Gandhari's plan. He takes the form of Dushala and appears before Duryodhana. Dushala tells Duryodhana that it is disgusting that an adult should appear naked before his mother and advises him to cover his loins with a banana leaf. Gandhari, who has kept her eyes covered ever since her marriage, now opens her eyes. She gazes at Duryodhana starting from his head and lowers her eyes gradually. The light from her eyes make Duryodhana's body very strong. When her eyes rest upon his mid region she is shocked. She scolds Duryodhana for not following her instructions. Now Durdhana's body is left with portions vulnerable to attack. Duryodhana tells about Dushala's advice. Just then, the real Dushala comes and denie...

Shakuni tells his sister to bless Duryodhana with victory. As she has divinity in her, her blessings are sure to fructify. Gandhari, being righteous in thoughts, is only able to say "Dharma will be victorious". Duryodhana asks her in frustration, "is that invisible and unseen dharma more important to you than your own son who is standing right in front of you?" Gandhari says she believes the invisible dharma she adheres to will protect him day and night. Duryodhana leaves in despair. Shakuni is proud of his sister's moral rectitude, but she ought to think of her son's predicament as well, he requests before leaving her. Krishna asks why the Pandavas didn't display much emotion as compared to Duryodhana over Karna's death. Yudhishtra replies that they were too stunned to react.What is upsetting to Yudhishtra is why Kunti didn't reveal it to them earlier. Krishna tells the Pandavas the story how she became an unwed mother and how she was forced to...

After Karna's failure in using Nagastra, another calamity falls on him. His chariot's wheel sinks into the ground. Karna remembers the curse that a bereaved Brahmin father lays on him when his arrow accidentally kills the son. At this critical juncture, Shalya deserts Karna and goes away. Karna gets off the chariot to pull the wheel out of the ground. On Krishna's exhortation, Arjuna shoots an arrow at Karna while he is trying to extricate the wheel from the slushy ground. Karna asks Arjuna to give him time. Krishna tells Arjuna that it is the most opportune time to kill Karna without any compunction about the propriety of attacking an unarmed man. So Arjuna continues to shoot. Karna now attempts to use Brahmastra, but is unable to do so. Again another of the curses working its magic – Parashurama cursing that Karna forget the mantra when he needs it most. Arjuna is amazed that all the divine astras he is using against Karna are garlanding him with flowers. Krishna expla...

Before Karna can recover from the shock of his son's death, he hears about Dushasana's death. Brushing aside his rage towards Arjuna, Karna rushes to comfort Duryodhana. Duryodhana is woe-begone recalling how devoted and obedient Dushasana was, and carried out every command of his without questioning. The respect and love Dushasana had for Duryodhana was unparalleled. He was his veritable shadow. The gory sight of his brother's mangled body fills him with crazy fury. Gandhari cries out with inconsolable grief. She tells Kunti that she should have killed Dushasana the same day when he had disrobed and humiliated Draupadi. Her failure to do so has led to this tragedy. Karna faces Yudhishtra and blames him as the cause for the war. Had he not pledged Draupadi in the game of dice, the war would not have happened. He inflicts deep wounds on Yudhishtra, leaving him gasping and staggering. Remembering the promise he has made to Kunti, Karna spares Yudhishtra's life and tells h...

Karna is offering worship to Shiva. A young boy called Ashwasena appears and expresses his solidarity with him as both of them share a common cause: that of killing Arjuna. Ashwasena is Takshaka's son who had escaped from the fire that blazed through Khandava forest in which his mother had perished. Along with Duryodhana, Karna meets Kunti to seek her blessings. Krishna and Arjuna arrive at the same time. Kunti blesses all of them with long life. She asks Krishna in private if it is possible to save both Karna and Arjuna. Krishna asks Kunti if she is willing to reveal Karna's true identity to Arjuna but Kunti isn't ready. Arjuna chides Kunti for being self-centered. The seventeenth day of battle begins. Arjuna is eager to confront Karna, but Krishna counsels him to have patience. Karna requests Shalya to take him to where Arjuna is. Shalya uses every possible occasion to humiliate Karna and undermine his skill. In the meanwhile, Karna's son Vrishasena defeats Satyaki...

Duryodhana is confused by the barrage of accusations Shakuni lays on Karna. He is speechless, unable to affirm his faith in Karna, much as he would like to. After all, there is substance in Shakuni's questioning why Karna should gift away his kavacha kundala s to an unknown Brahmin. Does Karna value his own fame as a philanthropist over his loyalty to his benefactor and friend Duryodhana? Karna promises to kill Arjuna the next day. He has only one condition to be fulfilled. He needs a competent charioteer, the lack of which has led to his being taken to Nakula, instead of Arjuna, on the battlefield that day. Duryodhana is overjoyed. Karna desires the services of Madra King Shalya, whose horses are world renowned. Shakuni jeers with the remark that Shalya will like to associate only with nobles and aristocrats. Duryodhana is willing to negotiate with Shalya on his friend's behalf. Shalya is reluctant to accept Duryodhana's request. He then remembers what advice Krishna gave...

Yudhishtra is worried over Karna assuming power as a Kaurava war chief for the 16th day war. As usual, Bhima takes it lightly and Arjuna is over-confident of his prowess. Krishna provides the reality-check by reminding them of the deadly Nagastra that Karna possesses. Bhishma is happy to learn of Karna's rise as commander-in-chief of the Kaurava army. He blesses Karna and asks him to carry on fighting without thinking of the outcome, as they cannot direct the drama unfolded by Time ('Kala'); they can merely witness it as a spectator. On the battle field, Duryodhana cheers up the army with the news of Karna being at the helm of affairs and Karna is given a rousing welcome. On the sixteenth day, Ashwathama fights with Drishtadhyumna and Bhima. Bhima kills a dozen Kauravas and then faces Vikarna. Bhima remembers Vikarna's lone voice berating Kauravas for dishonoring Draupadi at the assembly. He also remembers Vikarna's charitably sparing his life in the battle. Bhim...

Ashwathama hears the news about his father's death from Dushasana and rushes to the scene. He is distraught by the fact that Drishtadhyumna beheaded his father when he had thrown away all the weapons. He shoots the Narayanastra skyward with the aim of exterminating all the Pandavas. Krishna tells the Pandavas to throw down their weapons, recite Narayana mantra and seek refuge in Him. The Astra returns to Krishna without harming anybody. Krishna offers solacing words to Ashwathama that Drona willingly embraced death. Ashwathama protests that Drona was killed in a non-dharmic way. Though technically Yudhishtra did not utter a lie, the objective of his uttereances was to deceive Drona. Krishna explains that to establish Dharma, sometimes small deviations have be made to certain rules, but the noble end justifies the means! Shakuni tries a new angle to trap Pandavas. He says the Pandavas should accept defeat, because they had bowed to Aswathama. He asks Duryodhana to order imprisoneme...

Ashwathama is deeply distressed by Duryodhana'words that cast aspersions on Drona's loyalty and integrity. He rushes to kill Duryodhana, but is stopped in time by Karna who drags and presents him before Drona. When Durna hears about has just transpired, he chides his son and tells him emphatically that what we was about to do is disloyal to Dritarashtra and Duryodhana who have been sustaining them all these years. Aswathama pointedly asks his father Drona if they should switch loyalties and join the Pandavas especially since he acknowledges that Duryodhana's acts are against dharma. Drona recalls the time when Dushasana dragged Draupadi to the royal court and tried to disrobe her. His mind had been so turbulent then and he had wanted to kill all those who indulged in this despicable act. But thoughts of loyalty had bound him then and they do more so, now. That's why he has decided to prove his loyalty by using Brahmastra against Arjuna. He advises Aswathama to contin...

Karna aims the Shakti astra on Ghatotkacha. The astra wounds Ghatotkacha fatally. Krishna asks Ghatotkacha to bloat up and fall on the Kaurava army in order to cause maximum damage. Ghatotkacha bows to Krishna and does as instructed. Finding his son dead, Bhima is just about to take up oath against Karna, but Bhima stops him! He reminds that Ghatotkacha's birth as well as death were divine plans as indicated by Sage Vyasa. Having used Shakti astra on Ghatotkacha, Karna cannot use it on Arjuna; thus the danger to Arjuna from the Shakti Astra has been averted. Both Prishati (Drupada's wife) and Sudeshna (Virata's wife) wail over their husband's death. Drishtadhyumna cries too, and Draupadi, who has been grim so far, flares up and demands to know why he hasn't killed Drona so far. And their father, who lived all his life with the sole object of seeing Drona being killed by his son, has been killed by Drona himself. Drishtadhyumna protests meekly that he is working un...

The Kaurava army is totally demoralized as Ghatotkacha breathes out fire and crushes soldiers under his feet. The ease with which Ghatotkacha butchers the enemy leaves Duryodhana at his wit's end. Shakuni calls for Alambusha, the son of demon Bakasura, who was killed by Bhima while the Pandavas lived at Ekachakrapura . As commanded by Shakuni, Alambusha clashes fiercely with Ghatotkacha, but is finally killed by him. To appease the rattled Duryodhana, Drona decides to use celestial weapons to kill Ghatotkacha, but Lord Indra intervenes and declines to give permission to Drona. Draupadi visits Dushala. Dushala is very rude to Draupadi and insults her by insinuating her morality in marrying five men. Kunti and Gandhari try to calm Dushala but can't. In one big outburst, Gandhari declares her son Duryodhana as evil. She admits her first mistake is to let Shakuni stay on in Hastinapura, the second one is to let Duryodhana live and not heed to Vidura's advice to discard him at...

Dushala is the only daughter amidst the hundred sons of Dritarashtra and the five Pandava sons. Her becoming a widow is deeply and truly mourned by all. When Kunti is informed of Jayadratha's death by Vidura's wife Sulabha, she wants to visit the Kauravas. Yudhishtra feels that they must visit the Kauravas and express their condolences to Dushala. Krishna agress that it is the right thing to do. Dushala wants to see the face of Jayadratha for one last time. Duryodhana dissuades her from uncovering the cloth over Jayadratha's corpse. Nevertheless, Dushala uncovers the shroud. She is shocked to see the beheaded body of her husband. She is incensed over the loss of dignity to Jayadratha even more than his death. Kunti cannot console her. At this time, the Pandavas too arrive. Kunti admonishes Arjuna, saying she is ashamed to call him her son. Krishna intervenes to explain that the mode of death has been determined by Jayadratha's father. Dushala wants to be burned along wi...

The sun has begun to set. Not having heard any news about the Pandavas, Yudhishtra and his brothers decide they too would join Arjuna in self immolation. Duryodhana, Shakuni and others rush to give the happy tidings to Jayadratha who is hiding in a nearby cave. Shakuni is wary though. Unless Arjuna actually leaps into the fire, anything can change, he feels. Duryodhana sees merit in Shakuni's words and advises Jayadratha not to stir out of the cave, even though he desires to witness Arjuna's death. He requests Somadatta to be with Jayadratha and see that he doesn't stir out. Everyone goes back to enjoy the spectacle of the Pandavas immolation. Draupadi reasons with Arjuna and asks him not to be hasty. They are now joined by the Kauravas. Duryodhna scoffs at Arjuna and calls him a coward eunuch, unworthy of being killed in a battle. Suddenly Jayadratha appears on the horizon. Finding him on the peak of a nearby hillock, Duryodhana and Shakuni are shocked. Jayadratha...

The Fourteenth Day war continues. As directed by Yudhishtra, Satyaki reaches near Arjuna who is rushing to confront Jayadratha. Just then, Bhurishravas , the prince of Bahlika, intercepts Satyaki and challenges him to a fight. They fight fiercely, but Bhurisravas has an upper hand. Satyaki's bows are broken and he gets knocked down. Krishna exhorts Arjuna to go to the helpless Satyaki's aid. Since Arjuna is a bystander and hasn't been called to fight, he hesitates. Krishna states it is important to take care of his friend and disciple. Bhurisravas tries to attack an unconscious Satyaki, but Arjuna shoots a shaft that cuts off Bhurishravas' arm. Bhurisravas condemns Arjuna's act as being adharmic . He loses all interest in fighting a war that doesn't adhere to rules. He sits down in meditation. Satyaki regains consciousness and seizing the opportunity, quickly beheads the meditating Bhurishravas. Arjuna is aghast at this dastardly act and attempts to kill Satya...

Duryodhana reckons that if they could somehow protect Jayadratha from Arjuna, Arjuna would kill himself and his brothers would follow him. He asks Drona to ensure Jayadratha's protection. Droṇa plans to arrange the Kaurava army in the sakata-vyuha within which is padma-vyuha formation that encircles a needle-like formation called suchi-vyuha . At the end of the suchi would be Jayadratha; and Kritavarma, Duryodhana, and Karṇa would guard at the front of the needle. Droṇa himself is set to stand at the front of the sakata . Draupadi puts veer tilak on Arjuna's forehead and wishes that Jayadratha be killed before Abhimanyu's mortal remains are consigned to fire. Arjuna asks Bhima and Satyaki to protect Yudhishtra. Krishna asks Bheema to kill as many Kauravas as possible. The fourteenth day of battle begins. Drona intercepts Arjuna and tells him to fight him before seeking Jayadratha. Arjuna fights for sometime, but doesn't want to waste time. As per Krishna's...

Dushala is anguished by Arjuna's vow. She is pretty sure that Jayadratha cannot withstand Arjuna's attacks. Kunti is unable to alleviate her fears; Jayadratha's life would mean Arjuna's death but Jayadratha's death would make her beloved Dushala a widow. Kunti and Gandhari decide to leave everything to God and to pray for His intervention. Jayadratha is wondering if he should not come to the battle field the next day. This is disapproved by Duryodhana and Karna as an act of cowardice. Duryodhana asks Jayadratha if he is scared of Arjuna's oath and his might. Jayadratha replies that he is concerned more about the wily Krishna. Jayadratha feels that if he can stave off his own death even by a day, that would spell a sure death for Arjuna. Drona is pensive. He has planned a needle-shaped formation for the next day, and he assures that it would be well nigh impossible for Arjuna to reach Jayadratha, with the tight protection that they have planned for him. In th...

After slaying Susharma, Arjuna and Krishna are on the way to the home camp. They see a boy laid on the pyre with a man wailing over the death and insisting on dying along with the dead son, and another man pacifying the grieving father. Seeing Arjuna, the man (Narada) who was pacifying the father (Indra), requests that he bring the father to his senses. Arjuna consoles the father and says that he has to come to terms with the death, because it is irreversible. With some persuasion, the father accepts to face the situation. Krishna, who is a part to the drama, smiles knowingly. The air is grim at the camp. Subhadra and Uttara are inconsolable. Subhadra asks why the Pandava elders let a mere boy face a grave situation alone. No explanation, no 'eye for eye' talk can calm her. Arjuna and Krishna arrive. It takes some time for Arjuna to realize that his son has been killed. As the entire episode is narrated to him, Arjuna is infuriated beyond measure. He blames Yudhishtra for ga...

At the same time as the Kaurava's launch of the simultaneous offensive against Abhimanyu, Arjuna feels an ominous foreboding and with an inexplicable sense of despondency, he discards his bow and sits down fatigued. Krishna warns that this would be taken by Susharma as a sign of cowardice and reminds Arjuna of his duty to fight. The warfare against the Samsaptakas is a prolonged bloody affair and Arjuna forces himself to concentrate. Abhimanyu protests that all warriors concurrently fighting him is against dharma. Duryodhana retorts that the first adharmic act was done by Arjuna by bringing in an eunuch to fight Bhishma who was unwilling for a combat with him. Duryodhana, Dushasana, Karna, Shakuni, Ashwatamma, Drona and Kripacharya attack Abhimanyu together. Shakuni kills Abhimanyu's charioteer and Drona breaks the wheels of the chariot. His charioteer killed and the chariot broken, Abhimanyu leaps from the chariot holding swords in both the hands and stands on the ground. Ev...

On the thiteenth day of Kurukshetra war, Arjuna proceeds rapidly towards the center of the Kaurava sena, but is stopped by Susharma who challenges him to fight with him before proceeding further. Arjuna hesitates, but Susharma heckles him with provocative words detracting his gallantry. With Krishna's encouragement, Arjuna follows Susharma out of the battle-field. Once Arjuna is out of sight, Drona fires an astra skyward, which sends fiery sparks spiralling brilliantly. The Kaurava army moves fast and all of a sudden, the troops array themselves in a chakra vyuha. Yudhishtra, Satyaki and Bhima watch in amazement. To continue to fight, they should now enter the vyuha, but the trio do not know the procedure. Abhimanyu reveals that he knows how to enter the vyuha, since he has heard his father Arjuna describing the technique to his mother Subhadra while he was still in her womb. As a baby, he listens intently and absorbs the knowledge, but by the time Arjuna starts explaining ...

Ashwathama's uproarious laughter stirs up all the bottled up emotions of Drupada. Drupada's life mission has been the death of Drona. He is now defiant, bitter and sarcastic. He berates the Pandavas; he regrets being on the side of Pandavas in a war where they are not only loved by their adversaries like Drona and Bhishma who would never think of killing them, but are also protected by divine boons. It is his family that is caught in this web and have to pay with their lives. He turns to Krishna for an answer. Krishna reassures Drupada that his sacrifices would not go waste. He turns to the Pandavas and extracts the promise that they would treat Drona as their foe who wouldn't be shown any mercy. Drupada is now convinced that Pandavas would treat Drona as their adversary and not hesitate to kill him. Duryodhana is livid with rage that Drona's mission of bringing Yudhishtra as a hostage is not successful. He demands to know why, despite Susharma's luring Arjuna...

The samsaptakas take oath to kill Arjuna or be killed by him. They sat before the fire, and went through funeral ceremonies for themselves as if already dead, and took their oath. On the twelth day of the war, Arjuna is eager to fight Karna, and asks Krishna to steer the chariot accordingly. Just then Satyaki brings the news of Susharma planning to attack with Samsaptakas. Arjuna is confused about which course of action he should take and surrenders to Krishna and promises to follow his directives. They reach the battle ground where the Pandavas have assembled the troops in the Mandala form and the Kauravas have countered it with the Garuda formation. A determined Drona smacks into Yudhishtra at the start itself and pumps volleys of shafts at him. Arjuna wants to go to Yudhishtra's aid but the king of Pragjyotisha named Baghadatta, who is the son of Narakasura, challenges Arjuna to kill him first. After a stiff fight, in which Arjuna counters all the weapons thrown at him, the ...

Duryodhana tells Drona that he need not kill Pandavas, but he should bring Yudhishtra as a hostage. Drona is taken aback and wonders why Duruyodhana wants him alive, and not dead. He asks Duryudhana whether he is thinking of brokering a peace deal. Duryodhana explains, "It's not logical to believe that Yudhistira's death will cause the end of the war. If Yudhishtira were slain, Partha or any of the Pandava who survives, will exterminate us. If Yudhishthira, is captured and brought here alive, and defeated once more at dice, the Pandavas will once more go to the woods, for they are all obedient to Yudhishtira. It is evident that such a victory will be an enduring one." Drona agrees to the plan. Kripacharya warns Drona that he would have to face the same problems as Bhishma did: Duryodhana would always speak cruel words, suspect his integrity and belittle all his achievements. Drona replies that as soon as he accepted the leadership of the Kaurava army, he has prepare...