The eleventh day's battle began with a terrifying display of Dronacharya's power. Freed from the constraints of fighting under Bhishma, and goaded by Duryodhana's demands, the old preceptor fought with the fury and energy of a young man. He was a whirlwind of destruction, his red chariot a blur of motion as he plunged into the Pandava ranks, his arrows flying in an unending stream. He specifically targeted the forces of his sworn enemy, the Panchalas, and the carnage he wrought was terrible to behold. The Pandava army, which had grown accustomed to the more measured warfare of Bhishma, was stunned by the sheer ferocity of Drona's assault and began to fall back in disarray.
The battlefield erupted into a series of vicious duels as the Pandava champions desperately tried to stem the tide. King Shalya of Madra engaged his own nephew, Nakula, in a fierce but brief duel before Nakula managed to disable his uncle's chariot. The two Yadava kinsmen, Satyaki and Kritavarma, met once again in a bitter, evenly matched contest of equals. The brilliant Abhimanyu, fighting with a skill that continued to astonish both armies, took on the King of Paurava. In a dazzling display of all-around martial prowess, he first broke the king's bow, then disarmed him of his sword and shield, and finally dragged the king from his chariot, preparing to behead him. He was only stopped by the timely intervention of Jayadratha, the king of Sindhu. Abhimanyu then engaged Jayadratha, and their duel was so fierce that it drew the attention of King Shalya, who hurled a deadly javelin at the young hero. In a move of breathtaking skill, Abhimanyu caught the javelin in mid-air and hurled it back with such force that it killed Shalya's charioteer and knocked the powerful Madra king unconscious.
Bhima, seeing Shalya about to be killed, intervened to save his uncle, but then engaged him in a furious mace duel that left Shalya wounded and forced his retreat. Meanwhile, Karna's son, the valiant Vrishasena, was proving to be a formidable warrior in his own right, single-handedly holding back the five sons of Draupadi and Nakula's son, Shatanika.
But through all this chaos, Drona never lost sight of his primary objective. He fought his way through the Pandava defenses, his eyes fixed on the royal banner of Yudhishthira. He cut down the Panchala prince Kumara, who was one of Yudhishthira's chief protectors, and then killed two more princes, Vyagradatta and Simhasena. He shattered Yudhishthira's bow and killed his horses, leaving the king of Dharma stranded and defenseless. The Kaurava army roared in triumph, surging forward to capture him. The war seemed to be on the verge of ending.
It was at this absolute crisis point that a sound was heard that froze the blood of the Kaurava soldiers—the thunderous, terrifying twang of the Gandiva bow. Arjuna, who had been engaged in a fierce duel with the Trigarta king Susharma on the flank, saw his brother's desperate plight. With a sharp command to Krishna, his chariot turned and flew across the battlefield with the speed of thought. He arrived like a divine storm, a golden blur of motion from which death rained down. He unleashed a torrent of arrows so thick and so fast that it created an artificial darkness over the battlefield, a cloud of steel that blotted out the sun. The Kaurava soldiers, who had been charging forward in triumph, now broke and fled in terror. Drona, seeing his most brilliant pupil before him, knew that his chance was lost. He was forced to abandon his attempt on Yudhishthira and engage Arjuna in a duel that raged until the sun began to set. Arjuna had saved the day.
The sun set on the eleventh day, bringing an end to a battle that had left both sides battered and exhausted. The Pandavas had been victorious, but it was a victory that had been snatched from the very jaws of defeat. Their camp was filled with a sense of profound relief, and Yudhishthira, his life saved by his brother's timely intervention, embraced Arjuna, his eyes filled with tears of gratitude. "You have saved me today, my brother," he said. "You have saved our cause. As long as you are here to protect me, Drona's vow can never be fulfilled."
In the Kaurava camp, the mood was one of black fury. Duryodhana was incandescent with rage. He stormed into Drona's tent, his face contorted with suspicion and contempt, his words a venomous echo of the accusations he had hurled at Bhishma. "You have failed me, Acharya!" he screamed. "You gave me your vow, and you have broken it! You had him in your grasp, and you let him go! Your love for Arjuna is greater than your loyalty to me! You are no different from the grandsire, your heart is also with them! If you cannot keep your promise, then say so, and I will entrust this war to Karna, who fights with a true heart!"
Drona, the venerable teacher, was stung to the quick by this public humiliation. His face flushed with anger. "Do not insult my integrity, you foolish boy!" he retorted. "I fought with all my might! But you saw what happened. As long as Arjuna is on the field, Yudhishthira is invincible. I told you this would be the case. Unless you can find a way to remove Arjuna from the main battle, my vow can never be fulfilled."
Drona's words, though spoken in anger, gave Duryodhana a new, desperate idea. He turned to the assembled kings, and his eyes fell upon Susharma, the king of the Trigartas, a man who held a deep and bitter grudge against Arjuna. "King Susharma," Duryodhana said, his voice now cold and calculating, "you and your brothers have long sought vengeance against Arjuna. I will give you your chance. Tomorrow, you will challenge Arjuna to a duel. You will draw him away to the southern end of the battlefield and keep him engaged there for the entire day. While he is occupied with you, Drona will be free to capture Yudhishthira. Do this for me, and you will have my eternal gratitude and a share of the spoils of this war."
Susharma and his four brothers, their hearts burning with the memory of past humiliations at Arjuna's hands, readily agreed. That night, they and their most loyal warriors gathered around a sacred fire. They performed their own funeral rites and took a terrible oath, the oath of the Samsaptakas—the "Sworn Ones," or "the ones who will not retreat." They vowed that on the morrow, they would either kill Arjuna or they would die in the attempt, but they would not, under any circumstances, flee the field. The eleventh night ended with this dark, suicidal vow, a desperate gambit upon which the entire fate of the Kaurava army now rested. The stage was set for the complex, multi-fronted battles of the twelfth day.