A play based on 'Abhimanyu badha parva'

The earliest reference of India's mixed unit warfare is seen in the Drona Parva (where Dronacharya takes command of the army of Kauravas) of Mahabaratha. One of India's most revered epics, written by Veda Vyasa, the tale revolves around the brethren of Kuru Vamsha (Kuru clan) and their strife for the throne of Indraprastha (Delhi). I have been more than fascinated by the vivid descriptions of battle sequences, right from numbers of various units and their formations, to the battle colors and standards carried by the famous commanders who led the carnage machine. My inclination to military history had been coddled by the very sinews of the battle images blushered by the verses of Mahabaratha. What follows is my sincere effort to make a play of the battle sequence of Abhimanyu (son of Arjuna and Subhadra) who against supreme odds breaks through a well formed Kaurava army. Amidst foes he finds himself alone cut off from the army of Pandavas. Refusing to surrender, he fights to death and sets stage and reason for all the 'adharma yudha' that would follow(war won on bent rules; adharma - lawlessness).

Prelude
With a bosom kissed by hundred arrows, the Gangaputra (son of Ganges - Bheeshma) lies marveling Arjuna's well aimed shots that cleaved his immortal flesh. His senile physical self not touching the fuddled ground of 'adharma' (grave injustice), is held aloft by a bed of arrow-heads. His head hanging down in mid air, finds a heroic rest in another smartly placed arrow off Gandeeva(Arjuna's bow). The pain, burning through his flesh creates an unquenchable thirst. Arjuna's bow sings again and the arrow bores down into the strata of Kurukshetra and up comes Ganga herself beseeched by her son's thirst. The cornucopic trickle easing his pain, Bheeshma awaits his end...
With the mightiest of the archers down, it has fallen to Dronacharya(Guru of the whole Kuruvamsha) to bear the brunt of the onslaught as the new commander. He now held the reins steering the war to a much greater slaughter. Hoping to end the war with the capture of Yudhishtra (eldest of the Pandavas), he devises a plan and draws Arjuna away form the main field of combat; in his absence, devices a formation none can challenge. Arjuna's son Abhimanyu knows only to break the formation; not to break out of it. Urged by a desire to win, Yudhishtra asks Abhimanyu to penetrate the enemy's arrayed ranks.

Sequence
Act 1
Scene 1
Says Yudhishtra, "O young one! May thy be blessed with victory! O mighty heart! It is known that none can break this formation of foes save Arjuna and the great lord Krishna. Youngest of us all! You know the passage into this fray. Our men start to waver; we are losing. In their (Arjuna and Krishna) absence, this is your chance for a great deed worthy of songs!"
Replies Abhimanyu, "O king of kings! I know the passage into this well formed army. But once I'm inside and surrounded by foes innumerable, I will fail to find a way to break out."
Assures Yudhishtra, "O little one! Eternally blessed be thy soul! Myself, Bheema, Nakula, Sahadeva, Saathyaki, Kunthiboja, Drishtadhyumuna, sons of Paanchali, Vindha, Anuvindha, Chekitana and all great charioteers are ready to follow you. Break the organised foe and we shall enter with you. This deed will make your father (Arjuna) and uncle (Krishna) proud!"
Abhimanyu emboldened at Yudhishtra's promise, looks at the Kaurava army. Red battle standards flying in the morning wind, they formed as a bright lotus under a starless sun(Padma Vyooha).
Says he, "Today I will enter the array of Drona's defenses. The Kaurava army will fall like dead flies before a forest fire. This I promise on my uncle and father."
Blesses Yudhishtra, "May your strength and prowess in battle shine! You seek to enter the formation of our foes and hence O son of Arjuna, may the length of your days be increased!"

Scene 2
Hearing Yudhishtra's words Abhimanyu encourages his charioteer, "Steer faster! Still faster!"
Says Abhimanyu's charioteer, "O great one! May thy be blessed with eternal life! What Yudhishtra has laid on you is a burden too heavy for your young shoulders. Standing in front of you are seasoned, battle tested warriors, who have seen countless wars led by mighty Dronacharya. With all due respect, reconsider, O young one!'
Replies Subhadraputra(Abhimanyu), "With Arjuna as my father and lord Krishna as my uncle, what do I have to fear? And who is this Drona? What is this Kshatriya host that stands before me? Hath Indhra himself on his white elephant cast his spear at me, I shall face him. Of what measure is this host that would not scale to a sixteenth of my strength? You shall hold the reins firmly and steer me to victory!"


Act 2
Scene 1
As Abhimanyu breaks through the Kaurava army, Jayadradha, the ruler of Sindh, with great agility checks the rest of the Pandavas and closes the gap in the formation. In vain the Pandavas, try breaking through. Inside stranded from the Pandavas, fights Abhimanyu. Slaying men, elephants and charioteers in thousands, he approaches the key members of the Kaurava army. Drona, Aswathama, Duriyodhan, Karna, Kripacharya, Shalya, Shakuni, Dushasana surround him. Undaunted he defeats each one of the great charioteers surrounding him. Dushasana faces him and is defeated.

Battle-weary and having slain thousands of foes, Abhimanyu roars, "Thou hath insulted Yudhishtra and dishonored Draupadi by dragging her clad in a single cloth to a court of men. O son of the blind king! You live today, since my uncle Bheemsena, has vowed to avenge thee by drinking thy blood. To all that stood in the court aiding the wicked Duriyodhan, death shall come swift by my shafts borne by the wind. Surrounding me from all sides, you fight against an unaided opponent. Who taught you this form of warfare? This injustice will not go unpunished! Doubt naught for I shall fight and I fight naught to find a way out!"
Drona admiring Abhimanyu's valor, counsels the Kauravas assembled around him, "This son of Arjuna, hath by far surpassed in prowess his father. He alone exemplifies the true Kshatriya spirit. I stand spellbound at the nimbleness of his hand that holds the bow. I cannot by far, find a flaw in his tact."
Hearing this and enraged Duriyodhan retorts, "It is indeed my ill fate, bound to be helped by you. Of all the love you garner for you dear student Arjuna, you fail to see a way to kill his son. Its thy love for thine student that hath indeed blinded you. O great acharya! It is ridiculous that someone so naive could stand upto you in a battle, save for your heart that refuses to slay the son of Arjuna!"
Dronacharya with great remorse says, "His art of war is flawless. His armour cannot be pierced. You can but cut his bowstring and his bow. Kill his horses and bring down his chariot."

Scene 2
With all his weapons broken, Abhimanyu resorts to holding a wheel from his broken chariot aloft; fighting all the supreme warriors of the Kaurava clan. With the dust from the wheel falling on him and his body red with the wounds of battle he is seen by his foes as an incarnation of Lord Vishnu at dusk. In a split second the wheel is shattered from his hand and he is hit on the back of his head with an iron warhammer by a son of Duriyodhan. He falls succumbing to his wounds and dies instantly.

Act 3
At Hastinapur, Sanjaya narrates the events of the battle to the blind king Dhridhrashtra.
Scene 1
Sanjaya laments, "Grave injustice has been done! Nine warriors, urged by your son's desire to win, surrounded and killed the young son of Arjuna! O great king! Mightiest of the race of Kuru! This is not a time to celebrate. With a great warrior of the Pandava's, killed, your sons danced and rejoiced over his fallen corpse like a wolfpack after a hunt. For hunt they did as lays slain the son of Subhadra not by one, but by many! Yudhishtra and his followers grieved in mourning leave the field with heads bowed low. Even the birds at sundown seemed to sing the praise of Abhimanyu against the shameful acts of your sons.
True spirit of a Kshatriya was the son of Arjuna and Subhadra; slayer of thousands of foes; the better of all of your sons put together! Honor him! O great king of the line of Santanu! He shall find a fitful place in heaven."

Dhridhrashtra and Sanjaya bend their heads in silence and mourning.

Curtains close!

Nallathor Veenai - Translation

Having created a beautiful Veena, do you throw it away to dust?
Tell me, O Shivashakthi!
You have blessed me with a fiery intellect
Would you not bestow upon me the strength,
So that my fibre be of a purpose to this land?
Tell me, O Shivashakthi!
Would you make me a live burden on this earth?

Like a ball that darts past,
I beseech you for a body that obeys the command of my heart,
An impregnable mind,
A life that glows anew.
The mortal flesh, be it set afire,
I bespoke for a soul that would still sing your praise.
A stabile mind, I pleaded for
What checks you from blessing me with these?

Subramaniya Bharathi's work depicting his vanity and an outcry at his own incapability to rid the world of anguish. This work of his finds no parallels and stands aloft in the genre of lamentation with self-esteem.
The original song in Tamizh: http://www.sas.upenn.edu/~vasur/nallatoor.html

Pegasus deserved to live

When your dad gives you a Mercury class Battlestar to command, what do you do?
Throw it away rashly to save him, pitted against a foe that outnumbers you four times or find a way to earth as your dad himself commanded?
Since when did human emotions cloud military strategies?
How did the creators of Battlestar Galactica choose to overlook on the above fact?

Situation:
The aging Battlestar Galactica is surrounded by 4 enemy Basestars and is taking one hell of a pounding. While the rest of the civilian fleet has been rescued and is jumping away, Galactica in a frantic attempt to cover their retreat, is on a sacrificing run. When all hope fades the wise all knowing admiral William Adama calls for a final 'all hands' call and says "Its an honor (to have lived and to die by your side)". Suddenly out of the thin blue his son's (Lee Adama's) Battlestar Pegasus jumps into orbit taking the nearest cylon Basestar out with salvo fire. As Bill orders priority repairs on Galactica's FTL drives, Pegasus sacrifices itself positioning right in the middle of the cylon fleet and guarding good old daddy's grand old Galactica.

Pegasus was worth more than 3 cylon Basestars and not to forget Battlestar Galactica.
What were the creators thinking when they had decided to scuttle Pegasus?

Being a Mercury class Battlestar did it take more frames to render on the television set?
Or did James Olmos suggest that managing two Battlestars was cumbersome as an actor?!
The reason is obvious.
They wanted to retain Galactica for the title they put up for the series.

The destruction of Pegasus was needless, even though you have to show so huge a sacrifice one needs to make to save mankind. The fleet with the Pegasus, as the one and only Battlestar would have been much stronger than it is of now.

Moral: Without Galactica there is no BSG :P

And forth marched the Old Guard...

The oracle echoed thundering vows, as salvo after salvo whizzed and flashed. They lit the aurora skies, as did some million candles set ablaze by a despondent heathen tide.
Molten metal ricocheting against steel, clinging onto mud and cleaving through flesh spewed all along the field, tiny personal graves for men and animal alike. To the dismay of the Britons that stood ground, on marched the old guard. Thrown into disarray with rest of the army having lost all quarter, on marched the imperial guard.
They had known no defeat; none of them fell defeated. Cause after cause the Little Corporal had them bent upon. Writhed and anguished beyond all human tolerance, as canisters thundered, with shrapnel wounds bleeding white with arson, on marched the invincible guard.
None had excruciated so great a pain on a troop so small. Distant history reflected the sundering horn calls of Hannibal's army as he crossed the Alps to face a mighty Roman foe, twice a thrice outnumbered. With smoke from collapsed shells disfiguring the slope and with bayonets locked and ribbons pinned, on marched Napoleon's guard.
Lined up as they took the first volley against a foe that spread thin along a single file, they fired on unison with no call to direct the fire. This was an army that bathed in the blood of not ordinary soldiers, but generals. As the first line reeled and fell, they marched ahead, save some who glimpsed Wellington stand up on his stirrup. On the cliff that perilously sloped downward, British heads popped up. Deceivingly Wellington had ordered a core to lie hidden behind the slope, spinning his final trap on the ever victorious guard.
Shot after shot ripped open a uniform, blurred vision, burnt a ribbon and pierced a heart that chivalrously held high France's true fighting spirit. All that was Napoleon, all that was left of the grand corporal, was now taking fire undaunted from a foe too numerous to counter. As the Prussians charged down, the surviving Guard turned back and on they marched towards Napoleon and to France.

The lesser One...

The empty spaces were filling. The cacaphony of letters herded to words; words that challenged and clashed; some standing erect and some drooping low, mounted, a burden of their unfathomable correctness...
As the long fingers traced a rhythm on
a dented panel, clanging mild metal on a hardened polymer,
he stooped, bowing in anguish,
writhing in pain as numbness swept past his flexed knuckles.
Having saved his two final strokes; bridged from gasps of nuptial pleasure,
his palms stretched shielding all delusions of fornication.
Nearing the inevitable climax, "...what now?" he muttered;
the final strokes falling perfect, on and bracing together, Ctrl and F9...
He furrowed his forehead, gratified...
As the count of errors turned to nothingness,
the warmth of a code well written, traversed a million veins,
relieving his strained knuckles... "Habit!", said I...

Dedicated to Vinoth, the only Programmer I've met...

To Bill Adama... From a planet called Earth...

And when they jeered as the last cylon raider engulfed flames, from a battered and bleeding Galactica; the blue horizon left unscathed with all that remained of a race, to a populace otherwise non extant, William Adama is a hero. Thousands of Yahrens hence, victimized by the tyranny of time Adama exists; he commands, he searches, he plots courses, he jumps galaxies and he battles the ever present fear of being subdued; put down by the very creation of his own race, CYLONS...

To all that live, the mythical existence of a 13th colony of humans and possibly the last haven for Galactica, is the definitive hope. Breaking into New Caprica's atmosphere as it grudgingly enters, burning and falling on a starless day, unread pages of future's history were being written as it would begin and end; the valiant search and rescue of those trapped on the new planet.

Shimmering with hope on the small triumphs of their very survival, they search unnamed galaxies, reap unexpected star clusters, invade fictionally realistic territory... In a space where we believe decibels don't count, time varies with frames of reference and distances contorted by light; a silent deference unravels as the landing party awaits to set their space-sore foot on Earth... And we...

"This is earth! And we are standing on it...", as Capt. Kara Thrace surges forth in sympathetic agony, we do stand on it, we breathe and we await; we await the horns of dawn and we await to behold the sight of Galactica and we await to embrace our brothers, those that were and are...


- 'So dedicated to all' who love Battlestar Galactica, the best Television Serial ever realized.