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When the eighth day dawned, Bhishma arrayed his army in tortoise
formation. Yudhishthira said to Dhrishtadyumna:
"See there, the enemy is in kurma vyuha. You have to
answer at once with a formation that can break it."
Dhrishtadyumna immediately proceeded to his task. The Pandava forces
were arrayed in a three-pronged formation.
Bhima was at the head of one prong, Satyaki of another, and
Yudhishthira at the crest of the middle division. Our ancestors had developed the science
of war well.
It was not reduced to writing but was preserved by tradition in the
families of kshatriyas. Armour and tactics were employed suitably to meet the weapons of
offence and the tactics which the enemy used in those days.
The Kurukshetra battle was fought some thousands of years ago. Reading
the story of the battle in the Mahabharata, we should not, having the practice and
incidents of modern warfare in mind, reject the Mahabharata narrative as mere myth with no
relation to fact.
Author : Shri C. Raja Gopalachari
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