It was an eerie day when the two armies approached the fields of battle. Both sides in a hot rage ready to battle it out till the end. We were approaching from the West while the armies of Kanto approached from the East. Our general was Arjuna, and he was the fiercest warrior that the land had ever known. He was swift with his arrows and graceful with a sword, his slowest move was quicker than your fastest. He was leading us into battle and under his command we were eager to fight.
But something strange happened that morning of the battle. I heard General Arjuna speaking to his charioteer in this small opening of rocks. I was just on the other side listening to the exchange of words and my heart became heavy because I did not think that my general was going to fight. I was born to fight this was my class, this was my duty; if we turned back now I would have felt the shame of a nation falling onto my shoulders. So I listened intently waiting to hear whether or not we were going to ride into battle against the army of Kanto. I did not know much about this army but as I listened, I understood. They were cousins, uncles, nephews, this was a battle between family, a civil war. As I listened I heard my general say to his charioteer, “Why would I fight these men? They are my family, my cousins, uncles, all of which are friends of mine! My heart is heavy, friend, I cannot kill these men who taught me all that I know!” Arjuna cried toward his charioteer.
“You must not look at these men as your family anymore, they are warriors and you are a warrior. It is your duty that you must fight these men, whether you live or die, it is your duty sir!” his charioteer spoke back to him.
“I hear your words, but my heart is heavy. I grew up with these men, I grew up learning from them, playing with them, they are family! How can I kill my own blood?” My general spoke back. With every word the charioteer spoke my heart grew happy, I wanted to fight so bad that I was secretly cheering him on.
“Sire, fight these men. Fight for your honor, fight for your pride, fight so that you can go back to your kingdom and rule with your brothers. You are the fiercest warrior in the world, fight to protect that sir.” The charioteer answered him. In that moment I saw the most marvelous thing ever. The charioteer was transfigured into a god. Not just any god, but Krishna. My mouth fell open and my eyes widened, I could not believe what I was seeing. “If you do not fight Arjuna, your men will be disappointed” and with a swish of his hand the rock that I was hiding behind was moved to expose me eavesdropping on the conversation.
The general, stunned at the transfiguration and that I was hiding behind the rock, couldn't hold his head steady, changing his glare between myself and Krishna he finally spoke, “Lord, I will fight for you, I will fight for my honor and duty, and I will fight for my men. Are you ready son?” Arjuna asked me.
Stunned that the general was speaking to me I answered, “Sir, yes sir!”. And he told me to hop onto his chariot and we rode to the frontline of the army to announce our attack.
The Bhagavad Gita
The Mahabharata
Sources used: Arnold, Besant, Devee, Dutt, Ganguli, Kincaid, Macfie,Mackenzie, Nivedita, Seeger, and Tagore.
Authorts note:
In most of this story it always talks about the main characters. While taking the actions that happened in the story during the part of the Bhagavad Gita, I decided to take a look at what it would have looked like to have been part of the army, a soldier, none of the main characters. This story is kind of his journal, his thoughts as to what was going on during the war. I thought this would give a twist compared to what I have mostly done and what most people in the course have done, at least that I have read. I changed the name of the kingdom that was fighting so that we could have some difference, but I wanted to make it the majority the same.
