Shalya, king of Madra, planned to ally himself with the Pandavas, as his daughter Madri had been Pandu's wife.

Duryodhana, however, learned about this and put up pavilions filled with food and drink along the Madra highway. Shalya assumed this was Yudhishthira's doing. "I promise my host a boon of his choosing!" Shalya proclaimed.

To Shalya's surprise, Duryodhana claimed the boon and asked Shalya to fight in his army.

"You are bound by your promise," Yudhishthira said later, "but when Karna and Arjuna confront each other in battle, help Arjuna if you can."

Shalya agreed to do as Yudhishthira asked.

Duryodhana rejected all proposals of peace. "I will kill the Pandavas and rule the world," he declared, "or the Pandavas will kill me. There is no other way."

"My guru Parusharama taught me the mantra of the Brahmastra," Karna added. "With this weapon I can destroy the Pandavas myself."

"Your conceit deceives you," Bhishma said to Karna. "You know nothing of what awaits you."

"I know that I will not fight so long as you are fighting!" Karna shouted at Bhishma, and he then stormed out of the assembly.

Bhishma scoffed. "With such allies, Duryodhana brings disaster upon us all."

As Yudhishthira contemplated the coming war, he despaired. "Is there no way to obtain peace?" he asked Krishna.

"I myself will go to Hastinapura," Krishna offered. "I have no hope of changing Duryodhana's mind, but this way you will know we tried every option."

Sahadeva, alone among his brothers, rejected peace. "For what Duryodhana tried to do to Draupadi," he said, "we must kill him, and Shakuni too."

Draupadi agreed. "I too hope Krishna's mission will fail," she admitted.

"The wrongs you have suffered will be avenged," Krishna promised her. "The war is coming, and no one can stop it."

When he learned of Krishna's visit, King Dhritarashtra rejoiced. "We must greet this emissary with gold and jewels and every honor!" he exclaimed.

Vidura rebuked his brother's exuberance. "Just give the Pandavas their five villages," he said. "That will please Krishna more."

But, as before, Dhritarashtra ignored Vidura's advice.

Meanwhile, Duryodhana had a plan of his own. "I think we should capture Krishna and hold him prisoner."

His words shocked Dhritarashtra, and he rebuked his son. "You must not say such things. You must not even think them!"

But Duryodhana thought of nothing else as he eagerly awaited Krishna's arrival.

Bhishma, Drona, and all the elders of Hastinapura escorted Krishna to the palace.

There Krishna visited Kunti, who hadn't seen her sons for thirteen years. "Tell them they must act now," she said. "The time has come for them to destroy their enemies."

Duryodhana invited Krishna to a banquet, but Krishna refused.

"You hate the Pandavas," he said, "so you hate me. I won't eat the food of hatred with you. I will go to Vidura's house instead."

At dinner, Vidura warned Krishna of Duryodhana's plans, but Krishna only smiled. "I fear nothing," he said, "nor should you, my friend."

"Five villages for the Pandavas," Krishna announced to the assembly. "That's all they ask."

"No! They lost their kingdom!" Duryodhana shouted. "I will give them not so much as a needlepoint of land."

Duryodhana then summoned his allies to seize Krishna, but Krishna laughed and revealed himself in his divine form containing the sun and moon and stars, with all the world's armies around him.

Dhritarashtra even regained his sight at that moment; he too saw God.

Duryodhana could not seize Krishna because Krishna was... everything.

Krishna then put on mortal form again and left the assembly in stunned silence.

Before leaving Hastinapura, Krishna sought out Karna. "Because I love you," Krishna said, "I tell you the truth: you are Kunti's first-born son, Yudhishthira's elder brother. Yudhishthira doesn't know this, but if you tell him, he will gladly make you king. Go to him, Karna. It is the right thing to do."

"It cannot be right for me to betray Duryodhana," Karna replied. "Duryodhana is my friend, and the Pandavas are my enemies. The truth of my birth changes nothing."

"And your loyalty is Duryodhana's doom," Krishna said sadly.

Thus Krishna's mission failed: he could not stop the coming war.

"It is war then," said Yudhishthira, and he appointed generals to lead his seven armies, including his brother Bhima, along with Draupadi's father Drupada and Drupada's sons Dhristadyumna and Shikhandin.

Duryodhana had eleven armies to Yudhishthira's seven, and Bhishma was his supreme commander. Karna, however, had vowed that he wouldn't fight while Bhishma was in command, so he bided his time on the sidelines.

The armies marched to Kurukshetra, the battlefield where they would meet.

Dhritarashtra's charioteer Sanjaya, by a divine gift, could see what was happening on the battlefield, and thus he narrated to Dhritarashtra everything as it occurred.

This was not the first time Kurukshetra tasted kshatriya blood. The brahmin-warrior Parashurama had dug five lakes there, the Samanta-Panchaka, filled with the blood of the kshatriyas he killed.

Shortly before the war began at Kurukshetra, there was a solar eclipse, and the great kings had all come to purify themselves by bathing in the Samanta-Panchaka. The Pandavas were in exile then, but the other kings who would later fight at Kurukshetra attended the ritual.

As Krishna watched the kings bathing, he had a vision of them all covered in blood. War was coming, and these kings would not survive.

Long ago, the earth-goddess Bhudevi took the form of a cow. She generously gave her milk to the people of the earth.

The kings of the earth, however, milked her so greedily that her udders became sore, and she groaned in pain.

The god Vishnu heard her cries. "I will teach those greedy kings not to treat you this way," he promised. "I will come as Parashurama and spill the blood of kings on the earth, and you will drink their blood like a lioness. I will do the same as Rama, and again as Krishna. That is my promise."