"To win this war, " Krishna said, "we must sacrifice to the goddess Kali." Then he pointed to one of the soldiers. "We must sacrifice you!'

"But who is he?" asked Arjuna, surprised.

"I am Iravan, your son," said the soldier to Arjuna. "My mother is Ulupi, the naga princess. I gladly offer myself, but I don't want to die a bachelor. Let me marry first!"

No woman would marry this man fated to die, so Krishna became Mohini, a beautiful woman, and Mohini married Iravan. The next morning, they sacrificed Iravan to Kali, and Mohini wept for her dead husband.

To satisfy Kali, Iravan cut himself into thirty-two pieces, each marked with a sacred sign, and Yudhishthira offered this flesh to the goddess.

When Iravan was done, only his head and spine remained.

Krishna then spoke to the dead warrior. "Pray to Shesha-Naga, your grandfather, and he will restore your flesh."

Iravan's lips moved in prayer, and Shesha appeared, coiling around Iravan's spine and restoring flesh to his corpse.

Iravan's eyes were still open, and Krishna realized he wanted to watch the war, so they placed Iravan's corpse high in a tree where he could look down upon the battlefield.

Krishna had said he would not fight, but he did agree to be Arjuna's charioteer, and so he drove Arjuna out onto the battlefield.

When Arjuna saw the enemy lines filled with kinsmen and friends whom he loved, Drona and Bhishma and many others, he fell to his knees in despair.

"I cannot fight this war," he moaned.

Krishna then lectured Arjuna about duty and about the yoga of action; this was the Bhagavad-Gita. "Seek not the fruits of action," Krishna said, "but you must act, Arjuna! You are a kshatriya, and now you must fight. This is your dharma."

Krishna then revealed himself as God to Arjuna: he had mouths, eyes, faces, bodies beyond counting. He was the whole universe, birth and death without beginning or end. He was everything, stretching from earth to sky, horizon to horizon. Everywhere.

Arjuna prayed. "I see all beings, all weapons, all war, all peace, all worship, all fear. I see!"

"Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds," Krishna said. "The warriors you see are already dead, slain by their own karma. You are that karma. Arise and fight, Arjuna. It is time."

Arjuna took up his bow, ready to fight.

"Anyone fighting for the Kaurava side may come to us now!" shouted Yudhishthira before the battle began.

"And I say the same!" shouted Duryodhana. "Anyone on the Pandava side may join me now."

Of the warriors present at Kurukshetra, only one changed sides at that time: Yuyutsu, Duryodhana's brother. He was the son of Dhritarashtra and Gandhari's maid.

Among Duryodhana's other brothers, the hundred sons of Gandhari, none deserted him, although Vikarna pressed him one last time to make peace. "The Pandavas are our cousins," he said to Duryodhana. "We should not fight them."

But Duryodhana was eager for war.

The armies of warriors on both sides were ready to begin the great war, but then Yudhishthira stepped forward and, setting aside his armor and weapons, he walked to the Kaurava side.

"Is he surrendering already?" Duryodhana wondered. "Coward!"

But Yudhishthira was not surrendering. Instead, he saluted Drona, his guru, then his great-uncle Bhishma, and all the Kaurava elders.

His purpose accomplished, Yudhishthira returned to the Pandava side, took up his weapons and armor again, and gave the signal. "Begin!"

So the war began, and it lasted eighteen days.

Millions died, and their blood washed over Kurukshetra like a flood.

On the first day, Bhima and Arjuna attacked the Kaurava armies relentlessly.

"Those two will destroy us," Duryodhana shouted, "and we don't even have Karna to help us."

Bhishma glared at Duryodhana. "Do you want me to die?"

"No, no," Duryodhana stammered, "I just meant someone must stop Arjuna and Bhima!"

Bhishma then shot an arrow that struck Krishna, drawing blood, but this only served to make Arjuna fight even more fiercely.

Elsewhere on the battlefield, Dhrishtadyumna chased down Drona, his father's mortal enemy, but Drona killed his charioteer and nearly killed Dhrishtadyumna too; Bhima barely rescued him in time.

"I see you hesitating to kill Bhishma," Krishna said to Arjuna, "but you must not hesitate. Kill him!"

Krishna then raced the chariot towards Bhishma, and Arjuna rained arrows down upon him, while Bhishma only smiled. "Well done!" he shouted, praising his great-nephew.

"I'll kill him myself then," said Krishna, leaping from the chariot and raising his discus.

"O God," Bhishma prayed, "death at your hands is salvation."

"No!" Arjuna pulled Krishna's arm back. "You vowed not to fight; it is for me to do."

But Arjuna did not kill Bhishma that day, and the battle raged on and on.

Duryodhana attacked with elephants, but Bhima killed them all. "You elephants and you evil-minded Kauravas, meet your destroyer!" he shouted. "My mace will show you all the way to Yama's world!"

On that day alone, Bhima killed eight of Duryodhana's brothers. "Dhritarashtra may have sired one hundred sons," Bhima snarled, "but I vow that I will kill them all."

Duryodhana then landed a blow that knocked Bhima to the ground, whereupon Bhima's rakshasa son Ghatotkacha materialized out of nowhere, rescuing his father and joining the battle.

"We can't defeat the rakshasa!" Duryodhana shouted, retreating.

Thus ended another day of battle.

Barbarika, a mighty warrior, was the son of Bhima and a naga princess, but he had an unexpected loyalty. "I always join the losing side," he proclaimed.

Krishna realized this shifting loyalty would prolong the war forever. "If you help the losers," Krishna said, "help me by beheading someone who threatens the whole world!"

"Show him to me!" said Barbarika.

Krishna held up a mirror.

Barbarika was true to his word. "Still, I wish I could see the war," he said as he beheaded himself.

Afterwards, Krishna breathed life into the head so Barbarika could watch the war after all.