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HTML clipboardThe Hindu epic, the Mahabharata, describes the
struggle between the Pandavas and the Kauravas, two rival clans who, in the
climax, fight the Battle of Kurukshetra in northern India. This 49m section of
the W Gallery relates the battle, with the Kauravas advancing from the left and
the Pandavas from the right. At the extreme N and S, the two armies march in an
orderly fashion, with commanders riding horse- drawn chariots and elephants, and
with musicians, but the action accelerates towards the centre. At the heart of
the battle, the fighting is hand-to-hand and intense. As you walk along from the
N, after 5ni and near the top you can see Bhishma, the commander-in-chief of the
Kauravas, laid dying on a bed of arrows at the end of the 10th day of fighting,
15m beyond this and also near the top, the brahmin Dronacharya, with his hair
tied back in a topknot and wielding a bow, leads the Kauravas after Bhishma's
death. 2m further on, near the bottom, Kama turns round in his chariot and tries
to free the stuck wheel; as he does so he is killed by Arjuna, whom you can see
4m beyond and near the top, at the head of the Pandava army, firing an arrow
from his chariot. His charioteer has four arms, identifying him as Krishna. You
are now in the thick of the fighting, with hand-to-hand combat on all sides.
Note the lunging horse between Kama and Arjuna. From here on are the Pandavas,
and 8m further Bhima rides an elephant and carries a shield bearing the face of
Rahu. The battle ended after 18 days, with all the combatants killed signifying
the end of that yuga, or world cycle.
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