The war at Kurukshetra runs eighteen days under four successive Kaurava commanders, and the epic keeps careful track. This page walks the whole thing day by day — who commanded, what formation was used, who fell — and does two other things worth having: it sets out the rules of dharma-yuddha the two sides agreed to on the eve of battle, and then records every occasion on which they were broken, and by whom. That second list is the epic's own accounting, and it does not favour the winners.
⚔️ The War at a Glance
Duration: 18 days
Kaurava commanders: Bhishma (1–10) · Drona (11–15) · Karna (16–17) · Shalya (18)
Pandava commander: Dhrishtadyumna throughout
Forces: 11 akshauhinis to 7
The Gita: spoken between the armies before day 1
Survivors: 3 on the Kaurava side, 8 on the Pandava
📑 Table of Contents
📜 The Rules They Agreed
Before the fighting begins the two sides settle terms — the conventions of dharma-yuddha. As set out in the epic, in substance:
- Fighting stops at sunset and resumes at sunrise.
- Equals engage equals: chariot against chariot, elephant against elephant, foot against foot.
- No striking one who has surrendered, who is fleeing, who is disarmed, whose chariot is destroyed, or who is engaged with another.
- No striking a charioteer, a drummer, or one carrying arms for another.
- No striking below the navel in a mace duel.
- No attacking the unaware, the unarmed or those not fighting.
📌 Why the epic states them at all
Because it intends to record their destruction. Almost every rule listed above is broken before the eighteen days are out, and in most cases by the side that wins. The Mahabharata sets up the code so that the reader can watch it fail — that is the argument the war books are making.
🏹 Days 1–10: Bhishma
| Day | What happens |
|---|---|
| 1 | Bhishma devastating. Shveta, Virata's son, killed by Bhishma. Heavy Pandava losses; Yudhishthira despairs by evening. |
| 2 | Arjuna engages Bhishma; Drona checks Dhrishtadyumna. Bhima destroys the Kalinga contingent. |
| 3 | Bhishma forms the Garuda vyuha, the Pandavas the crescent. Bhishma unstoppable — Krishna dismounts and takes up his chakra, and Arjuna restrains him. |
| 4 | Bhima at his most destructive; Ghatotkacha enters and scatters the Kaurava ranks. |
| 5 | Heavy losses on both sides; Satyaki and Bhurishrava engage. |
| 6 | Bhima breaks into the Kaurava formation and is surrounded; Dhrishtadyumna and Drona duel. |
| 7 | Multiple set duels; Virata against Shalya. |
| 8 | Bhima kills eight sons of Dhritarashtra. Iravan, Arjuna's naga son, killed by Alambusha. Ghatotkacha routs Duryodhana. |
| 9 | Bhishma at his most terrible; Krishna takes up a weapon a second time and is again restrained. |
| 10 | The Pandavas ask Bhishma how he can be killed and he tells them. Shikhandi is placed before Arjuna; Bhishma will not raise a weapon and falls on the bed of arrows. |
💡 The ninth night
The Pandavas go to Bhishma's tent and ask him directly how he may be brought down. He tells them — the Shikhandi condition — and the epic does not soften what that means. The commander of the opposing army supplies the method of his own defeat, because he holds that his oath binds him to the throne and his conscience binds him to the truth.
🛡️ Days 11–15: Drona
| Day | What happens |
|---|---|
| 11 | Drona takes command; Karna enters the war, having stayed out while Bhishma led. Attempts to capture Yudhishthira alive begin. |
| 12 | Bhagadatta and the elephant Supratika nearly break the Pandava line; Arjuna kills him. |
| 13 | The chakravyuha. Arjuna is drawn away by the Samshaptakas; Abhimanyu enters, cannot exit, and is killed by seven commanders acting together against an unarmed man on foot. Jayadratha holds the gate on a boon from Shiva. |
| 14 | Arjuna's vow to kill Jayadratha by sunset or enter fire. Krishna causes a darkness taken for sunset; Jayadratha falls. Fighting continues into the night: Ghatotkacha devastates the Kauravas and Karna spends the Vasavi Shakti on him — the weapon he had saved for Arjuna. Bhurishrava and Satyaki. |
| 15 | Drona's death. Bhima kills an elephant named Ashwatthama and proclaims it; Yudhishthira says “Ashwatthama is dead” and adds “the elephant” inaudibly under the conches. Drona lays down his weapons, sits in meditation, and Dhrishtadyumna beheads him. |
☀️ Days 16–18: Karna, then Shalya
| Day | What happens |
|---|---|
| 16 | Karna commands. Bhima kills Dushasana and fulfils the vow made in the dice hall. |
| 17 | Karna's death. Shalya, his reluctant charioteer, undermines him throughout. His chariot wheel sinks; he cannot recall the Brahmastra; he is without kavacha and kundala and has spent the Vasavi Shakti. He dismounts to free the wheel and asks for the rule to be observed. Krishna answers for Arjuna, and Arjuna shoots. |
| 18 | Shalya commands and is killed by Yudhishthira. Sahadeva kills Shakuni. Duryodhana flees to a lake and is drawn out; the mace duel with Bhima follows, and Bhima strikes him below the navel, breaking his thigh — fulfilling the second dice-hall vow and breaking the mace rule. Balarama, watching, is enraged and has to be restrained. |
That night comes the Sauptika Parva — Ashwatthama's raid on the sleeping camp, which kills Draupadi's five sons, Dhrishtadyumna and Shikhandi, and empties the victory of most of its content.
⚖️ Every Rule That Was Broken
The epic's own accounting. It does not favour the Pandavas.
| Day | The breach | By |
|---|---|---|
| 13 | Seven commanders against one; attack from behind; attack on a warrior whose chariot was destroyed; attack on the unarmed and on foot | Kaurava side — on Drona's counsel |
| 14 | Fighting continued after sunset | Both |
| 14 | Bhurishrava struck while engaged with another, having disarmed Satyaki | Arjuna, at Krishna's urging |
| 15 | A deliberate half-truth to disarm a commander; killing of one seated in meditation | Pandava side — Krishna's counsel, Yudhishthira's words |
| 17 | Karna struck while disarmed and freeing his chariot wheel | Arjuna, on Krishna's instruction |
| 18 | Mace blow below the navel | Bhima, on Krishna's signal |
| 18 (night) | Killing of sleeping men; use of the Brahmashira on an unborn child | Ashwatthama |
📌 The order matters
The Kaurava side breaks the code first and most comprehensively, on day 13, against a sixteen-year-old. Every Pandava breach comes afterwards. The Mahabharata places Abhimanyu's killing before Drona's, Karna's and Duryodhana's deaths deliberately, so that the reader judges what follows against it — and then still does not let the Pandavas off, because the breaches are recorded either way.
👤 Who Survived
| Side | Survivors |
|---|---|
| Kaurava | Ashwatthama · Kripacharya · Kritavarma — three |
| Pandava | The five brothers · Krishna · Satyaki · Yuyutsu, the Kaurava who crossed over before day one — eight |
Out of eighteen akshauhinis. The five Pandavas survive the night raid only because they were absent from the camp, and Draupadi's five sons — who were not — do not.
❓ Frequently Asked Questions
Who commanded the Kaurava army and for how long?
Four in succession: Bhishma (days 1–10), Drona (11–15), Karna (16–17) and Shalya (18). Karna stayed out entirely while Bhishma led and entered only on day eleven. Dhrishtadyumna commanded the Pandava army throughout.
What were the rules of dharma-yuddha at Kurukshetra?
Fighting stops at sunset; equals engage equals; no striking one who has surrendered, fled, been disarmed, lost his chariot or is engaged with another; no striking charioteers or drummers; no striking below the navel in a mace duel; no attacking the unaware or unarmed. The epic states them precisely because it intends to record their destruction.
Which side broke the rules first?
The Kaurava side, on day thirteen, and comprehensively — seven commanders against Abhimanyu, from behind, after his chariot was destroyed, while unarmed and on foot, on Drona's counsel. Every Pandava breach comes afterwards. The epic records all of them either way and does not let the winners off.
How did Bhishma fall?
On day ten — after the Pandavas asked him directly on the ninth night how he could be brought down, and he told them. Shikhandi, whom he knew to be the reborn Amba and against whom he had vowed never to raise a weapon, was placed before Arjuna's chariot. He would not shoot. The commander supplied the method of his own defeat.
Who survived the Kurukshetra war?
Eleven out of eighteen akshauhinis. Kaurava side: Ashwatthama, Kripacharya, Kritavarma. Pandava side: the five brothers, Krishna, Satyaki, and Yuyutsu — the son of Dhritarashtra who crossed over before day one. The Pandavas survived the night raid only because they were absent from the camp.
Why did Karna not fight for the first ten days?
Because Bhishma refused to have him in the army while he commanded, on grounds of a long quarrel and of Karna's status. Karna stayed out entirely for ten days and entered on day eleven, when Drona took command — one of several ways the epic keeps its most dangerous fighter off the field until the war is half decided.
🙏 Conclusion
The eighteen days are best read with the rules in front of you, because the epic wrote them down in order to record their collapse. The Kauravas break the code first, on the thirteenth day, seven commanders against a boy of sixteen who was already unarmed. Everything the Pandavas do afterwards — the half-truth that kills Drona, the arrow that takes Karna off his feet, the mace below the navel — is offered to the reader with that sequence established and no excuse attached. By the end there are eleven men alive out of nearly four million, and the night after the last day removes most of what winning was for.