[Quick links] [Pause] That is what happened to Karna, the great friend of the Kaurava King Duryodhana. Karna was actually an abandoned child brought up by a poor charioteer. So, all through his life, he was ridiculed as a ‘Soota Putra’, meaning a charioteer’s son.

[Quick links] [Pause] After the slaughter of great warrior Abhimanyu by deceit, the saga of deceit continued with either side resorting to all kinds of unfair means to kill each other.

[Quick links] [Pause] At least that is how the saying goes and many of us really think so! But not so in a war that was meant to be a war of righteousness – or Dharmayuddha.

[Quick links] [Pause] Today we are all familiar with the procedure called In-Vitro Fertilization, which has come as a boon to many a mother who cannot conceive naturally.  In common parlance, the babies born by such a procedure are called ‘test tube babies’, though they are really not born in a test tube per se. Only the fertilization of ovum by the sperm takes place outside the body of the would be mother, in a Petri dish – ‘test tube’ under controlled conditions. But not so, in the case of Drona – if you believe what the story says. Drona was a true test tube baby!

[Quick links] [Pause] After the fall of Bhishma, there was some hope that the war would end. Bhishma tried his best to dissuade the Kauravas from further massacre. But the evil Kauravas were far from reforming. They somehow wanted to eliminate the Pandavas ‘by hook or crook’ as they say.

[Quick links] [Pause] Having come to know about Bhishma’s decision not to confront Shikandi, or Amba in her previous birth, both sides, Kauravas as well as Pandavas were charting out their way ahead.

[Quick links] [Pause] Even great people commit heinous mistakes. So did Bhishma. And the result was Shikandi. In his previous birth, Shikandi was the eldest of the three daughters of King of Kashi. In that birth his name was Amba. How Amba became Shikandi is a sad story which we will discuss now.

[Quick links] [Pause] As promised to the Kauravas, Bhishma continued to wreak havoc on the Pandava army day in and day out. Thousands of soldiers and great warriors on the Pandava side were killed by raging Bhishma.

[Quick links] [Pause] When you are in difficulties and when your life itself is at stake, you pray to God for help. What if God himself tries to attack you? You have no one else to turn to. Nor you can do anything to protect yourself. That is what exactly must have happened to Bhishma.

[Quick links] [Pause] In the previous episode we were discussing the strange behavior of Bhishma. On one hand he was all for the Pandavas. But at the same time, he was hell bent on vanquishing them by siding with their opponent. Why?  Let us dig a bit into Bhishma’s past.