We began the class with opening prayers and covered Guru Stotram shlokas 6-10. Most kids were able to repeat the shlokas quite well. We then covered Bhagavad Gita Chapter 2 shlokas 11,12.
We continued with the story of Mahabharate starting with Drona Parva.
Drona takes on the mantle of commander in chief after Bhishma is wounded and is laying on the bed of arrows.
He promises Duryodhana that he will capture Yudhishtira alive and this greatly angers the Pandavas.
The Trigarta army challenges Arjuna relentlessly and pull him away from the main war day after day. On the third day of Drona's command, exasperated by the taunts of Duryodhana for not capturing Yudhishtira, he promises that at least one Maharathi on the Pandava side will die. He creates the Chakravuyha formation and fights fiercely and the Pandava forces are under severe pressure. Since Arjuna is fighting the Trigarthas, Abhimanyu takes on the role of breaking into the Vyuha but tells his uncles that he doesnt know how to get out. They promise him that as soon as he makes an opening in the vyuha, they will follow him and break the formation. As he enters the Chakrayvyuha, Jayadhrata begins to fight the Pandavas. He is unbeatable due to a boon from Lord Sankara that he would beat the Pandavas for one day. He prevents them from following Abhimanyu and the Vyuha closes. Abhimanyu fights valiantly and finally six Maharathis on the Kaurava side get together and kill him with deceit. Arjuna is heart broken and takes an oath that he will kill Jayadhratha by the following night or jump into a fire himself. Krishna is worried about this oath. In Arjuna's sleep, he dreams of going to see Lord Shiva with Krishna and is given the boon of Pashupatastra and shown how to use it.
The next day, Arjuna breaks through the Kaurava army and reaches Jayadhratha. Satyaki and Bhima follow him also destroying a large portion of the Kaurava army as well. As the sun begins to set, Krishna invokes his Sudarshana Chakra and covers the sun momentarily. The Kauravas lose their focus assuming that the Sun has set. As they break ranks, Krishna uncovers the Sun and asks Arjuna to use the Pashupatastra and cut off Jayadhrata's head. As he does so, he also directs him to make sure that the head lands of the lap of Jayadhrata's father who is meditating by a river. When Vridhakshatra stands up, his son's head falls to the ground and his head explodes into a thousand pieces. This is because of a boon given to Jayadhratha by his father.
