Their exile over, the Pandavas were free to make preparations for the
great war which they had determined to wage against the Kauravas. Both
parties, anxious to enlist the services of Krishna, sent envoys to him at
the same time. When Krishna gave them the choice of himself or his armies,
Arjuna was shrewd enough to choose the god, leaving his hundreds of
millions of soldiers to swell the forces of the Kauravas.

When their preparations were completed, and the time had come to wreak
vengeance on their cousins, the Pandavas were loath to begin the conflict.
They seemed to understand that, war once declared, there could be no
compromise, but that it must be a war for extinction. But the Kauravas
received their proposals of peace with taunts, and heaped insults upon
their emissary.

When the Pandavas found that there was no hope of peace, they endeavored
to win to their side Karna, who was really a son of Kunti, and hence their
half-brother, though this fact had not been made known to him until he had
long been allied with the Kauravas. In anticipation of this war, the gods,
by a bit of trickery, had robbed Karna of his god-given armor and weapons.
However, neither celestial artifice, the arguments of Krishna, nor the
entreaties of Kunti were able to move Karna from what he considered the
path of duty, though he promised that while he would fight with all his
strength, he would not slay Yudhi-sthira, Bhima, and the twins.

The forces of the two armies were drawn up on the plain of Kuruk-shetra.
The army of the Kauravas was under the command of the terrible Bhishma,
the uncle of Pandu and Dhrita-rashtra, who had governed the country during
the minority of Pandu.

Each side was provided with billions and billions of infantry, cavalry,