As the Kauravas saw Arjuna's chariot moving towards the south, where Trigartas had lured him away, they went all out to make the plan of Drona a success. Arjuna was in a hurry to finish off the Trigartas. He was very perturbed about Yudhisthira. Arjuna went in to the fight with the Trigartas with a great sense of urgency. He did not like the huge army of the Trigartas, but he started the massacre. His arrows were shooting in all the directions. The driving skills of Krishna were also put to excellent use that day. Susarma was the main warrior among all his brothers. Some other kings like Subahu, an excellent marksman's and Sudhanva, had come to help the Trigartas. Sudhanva by the others, but Susarma was proving himself to be a formidable foe. To Arjuna's chagrin, Krishna's Narayani army, had also joined the Trigartas army, against him.

Arjuna was quite baffled. He wanted to put an end to his fight with Trigartas, to rush to Yudhisthira aid, but the Trigartas army was unending. Arjuna used many divine astras on an attempt to subdue the Trigartas.

On the other Drona was again trying to capture Yudhisthira. But, today, he met the defences set up by Dhristadhyumna. It was with great difficulty and efforts the acharya was able to sneak past the defence line created by Dhristadhymna. Satyajit, who was given the charge to defend Yudhisthira met his end at the hands of Drona. Drona also killed another brother of Drupada, Vvika.

Kekaya brothers and Drupada rushed to Yudhisthira defence. Drona also killed one more brother of Drupada, Sataonika. The Pandavas army was getting panicky after killing of three great warriors. Shikhandi, Satyaki and Vasudhana came to face Drona, next. The deadly arrows of Drona tamed them. Drona was almost able to capture Yudhisthira when he jumped from his chariot and took a horse to escape from the battleground. Drona was again frustrated in his attempt to capture Yudhisthira.

Then Bhima came and launched a fierce attack on Drona. Satyaki and Dhristadhyumna joined him. Watching this from the middle of the field Karna told Duryodhana that Drona needed help. Duryodhana and his brothers went to Drona's help. Seeing Duryodhana, Bhima, fury was doubled. Before Bhima could inflict any further damage, Bhagadatta came there on his magnificent elephant, Supritika. The elephant was quite invincible and had been a scourge to the Pandavas army. It was unstoppable and so was the old Bhagadatta who was a friend of Indra. The elephant crushed the chariot of Bhima. Bhima could barely escape being crushed under the elephant. But the trunk of the elephant caught Bhima and he could extricate himself with great difficulty. Bhagadatta was throwing a lot of javelins to kill the Pandavas army.

THE FALL OF BHAGADATTA

Hearing the cries of the agonised soldiers of his side and the terrible noise made by the elephant, Arjuna wanted to come to the rescue of his side but the trigartas would not let him move. Irritated Arjuna invoked Indra's favourite astra, Vajra and send it on the Trigartas army. Krishna was pleased with Arjuna's Skill. Only Susavma and a few of his soldiers and his brothers remained. Arjuna soon subdued them and they ran away.

Now, Arjuna rushed to his army's help. He was too shocked to see the havoc caused by the evil elephant of Bhagadatta. Arjuna went for the both, Bhagadatta as well as for his elephant. Bhagadatta tried to smash Arjuna's chariot with his elephant. But he could not succeed before Krishna's skills. Bhagadatta tried all his astras and javelins, which were cut to pieces by Arjuna. Arjuna cut the bow of Bhagadatta and all the javelins thrown by him. Now, Bhagadatta was raging like a madman. He threw the goad of elephants towards Arjuna. It was no ordinary astra, he had invoked Vaishnav astra, it's the astra of lord Vishnu. It was the most terrible astra in the whole universe. Everyone froze with dread

Suddenly Krishna stood up and the goad hit him at his chest. Before everyone could see the terrible result of the astra, it was transformed into a garland and was wrapped around Krishna's neck. Arjuna asked Krishna that why did he come between the astra aimed at him? He was not to participate actively in the war. It was also not the prescribed duty of a charioteer. Krishna smiled and said, I gave this astra to the mother of Narakasura and when I killed him, he gave it to the Bhagadatta. The astra is sure to kill the person at whom it is aimed. Nothing could stop him. Since I did not want to lose you, I had to come between the astra and you. And since the Vaishnava astra is back with me, Bhagadatta is no longer immune from all the astras and weapons. His dreaded elephant too has become like any ordinary elephant. Now be quick . Do not lose time.

Arjuna's sharp arrows killed Supritika. Then Arjuna's arrow pierced the chest of Bhagadatta and he fell down and died. Arjuna came down from his chariot and went around the fallen Bhagadatta by way of 'pradakshina'. He paid his last respects to the great manw ho had been a friend of his father. He was one of the best and the oldest king. He was famous in all the three worlds.

After the fall of Bhagadatta, Arjuna was back again in the battle. This time he took on the brother of Shakuni. They were valiant fighters and Arjuna had a tough time. But finally, Arjuna was successful in killing them. Then Shakuni came. While Shakuni used Maya to perplex Arjuna but before the astras of Arjuna his maya was no avail. Shakuni could not face Arjuna for long and gave way. Drona came to face Arjuna but he was intercepted by Dhristadhyumna. Ashvatthama killed prince Neela of Mahismati. The Pandavas arrayed by the young princes death attacked Ashvatthama from all sides.

Arjuna and Karna came face to face and everyone was watching them fascinated. They used various astras like 'agneyastra', 'varunastra' etc. Arjuna killed Shatrunjaya, a good fighter on the Kaurava side. Dhristadhyumna, Satyaki, Arjuna and Abhimamyu were facing the combined onslaught of Drona. Karna, Ashvatthama and Duryodhana. The Sun was setting down, Today's' fight highlight was Arjuna's victory over Samasaptakas and the killing of Bhagadatta and his terrible elephant. The Kauravas suffered greatly.

Duryodhana was again in Drona camp complaining bitterly that Arjuna had been lured away by Samasaptakas and they died in the process, yet Drona could not fulfill his promise of capturing Yudhisthira. Drona was hurt by the tones of Duryodhana. He said that he could not do so as Yudhisthira had ran away. He promised to arrange a Vyuha called Chakravyuha or Padmavyuha to kill Maharathi of the Pandavas side, provided Arjuna was again lured away from the field as he was the only one who could break the formation. The remaining Trigartas once again decided to challenge Arjuna.