Dhristadyumna Is Appointed Commander
The sun was setting when Krishna, having rested, informed the allied kings, who in the meantime had become very anxious, about what had happened in Hastinapura.
“I tried to make him think,” Krishna said after telling everything in detail, “but it was useless. In Duryodhana’s dark heart there is no place for pure thoughts or feelings and therefore we must prepare. Now the only reality is war.”
Everyone’s warrior spirit flared up to the point that they uttered high-pitched screams and lion roars. After a long wait, there would finally be war. Bhima looked terrifying as he swayed his huge warrior mace.
They immediately began to discuss the strategies to follow during the clashes; one of the topics covered was the appointment of the commander in chief of the whole army. Each proposed someone they thought best suited for that task: Sahadeva proposed Virata, Nakula proposed Drupada, Arjuna proposed Dhristadyumna and Bhima proposed Shikhandi. Yudhisthira, instead, suggested Krishna despite his position as an unarmed participant. In the end, the choice fell on Dhristadyumna, and the same day the son of Drupada was appointed commander in chief of the seven akshauhinis at the disposal of the Pandavas. All the soldiers cheered him eagerly.
The same day the great Pandavas army set out in the direction of Kuruksetra.
As soon as the soldiers sighted the holy place where their Kurus ancestors had made rigid asceticisms, and where Parasurama had gathered rivers of blood from the slaughtered Kshatriyas, they blew hard into their shells and gave loud cries. There was an atmosphere of great enthusiasm.
When they reached the place chosen to set up the camp, the tents were erected by the helpers very quickly and skillfully. That evening the spectacle of the millions of torches that illuminated the placid waves of the Ganges was impressive.
This is a section of the book “Maha-bharata, Vol. 2”.
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