On 5th day. Night passed, morning broke. Bheeshm organized his army in Makar (fish) Vyooh and Dhrishtdyumn organized his army in the form of a hawk. Bheem was at the beak of the bird, at the head was Saatyaki, the two eyes were Shikhandee and Dhrishdyumnn, in the neck was Arjun, at the left wing were Drupad and Viraat, at the right wing were Kaikaya brothers, at the back of the bird were Abhimanyu and Draupadee's sons, and at the tail were Yudhishthir with Nakul and Sahadev.

Duryodhan came to Drone and said - "O Guru, Relying on you and Bheeshm I hope to defeat Paandav. So act in such a way that Paandav may be slain." So Drone entered Paandav;s army. Bheeshm has already begun his destruction, so Arjun hurried towards him as he was the only one who could counteract his Divine Astra. Duryodhan went to  and Drone asked him to fight properly so that Paandav could be defeated. But Drone said angrily - "You are foolish to expect us to defeat them. Even now can't you guess that they are invincible? It is not possible to do more than that what we are doing now." He did not wait for Duryodhan's answer and proceeded towards Paandav army.

The then Drone saw Shikhandee ready to fight with Bheeshm, he remembered the words of Duryodhan that "Bheeshm must be protected from Shikhandee" so he rushed towards that side. Bheeshm has already moved from there because he could not have fought with Shikhandee. Then Arjun and Viraat hurt Bheeshm; and Ashwatthaamaa fought with Arjun, but Arjun did not enjoy the fight with his Guru's son so he moved somewhere else. Abhinamnyu fought first with Satyasen and Chitrasen then with Lakshmanaa (son of Duryodhan) and wounded him. Kripaa had to take him from the battlefield. Bhoorishravaa killed Saatyaki's sons. By the evening Arjun had killed 25,000 warriors. The Sun was to set so Bheshm withdrew his army and all retired to their tents. Arjun was very unhappy today as he had to fight with his grandfather. He hated to wound his Guru also. How he hated the war and Duryodhan because of whom all this was happening

War Day 6: Bheeshm as Commander-in-Chief-Day-6
6th day of War - the 6th day under the leadership of Bheeshm.

On 6th Day, Paandav arranged their army in Makar (fish) formation. Arjun and Drupad were at the head of Makar. Nakul and Sahadev were its two eyes. Bheem was its beak. Abhimanyu, Ghatotkach, Saatyaki, Yudhishthir and Draupadee's sons were at the neck. And Viraat was at its back. Seeing Paandav's army arranged in Makar Vyooh Bheeshm arranged their army in Crane Vyooh. In its beak was Drone; Ashwatthamaa and Kripaa were its two eyes; Kritvarmaa was at its head; Paandav started the war. Bheem ran towards Drone and killed his Saarathee (charioteer)."

Dhritraahtra said - "O son, Our army is very well-built, skilled, well-versed in weapons, it is very well protected, it is being killed in this way so it seems that it is only due to predestined fate, other what it can be other than the fate? Indeed what Vidur said was beneficial to all but my wicked son didn't accept it. Sanjaya, I think all this is pre-arranged by Him so it has to happen as ordained and cannot be otherwise." Sanjaya said - "This is all because of your misconduct towards Paandav, Duryodhan didn't see it, so it is your fault only. And it is because of you this battle is taking place. So you reap the fruits of your action. Although overtaken by this calamity, be calm and listen.

Bheem came to your sons - Duryodhan and others. Coming him there they said among themselves - "Let us take his life." But in the meantime other warriors came to Bheem so he killed many of them disregarding your sons. Dhrishtdyumn went to help Bheem. He saw empty chariot of Bheem, he couldn't see Bheem there. He got worried, but Bheem's Saarathee Vishok told him that he had gone inside Kaurav's army to fight on foot. Dhrishtdyumn loved Bheem very much. He could not have thought about his life without Bheem. So he also joined Bheem. Duryodhan got worried seeing this. He called upon his brothers to fight with Dhrishtdyumn. Dhrishtdyumn invoked Pramohan Astra and Made Kaurav army being senseless. Many of them ran away.

In the meantime Drone and Drupad met in a duel. Drupad was not strong enough to defy Drone, so Drone defeated him and blew his conch. The then he heard that Dhrishtdyumn sent an Astra called Pramohan which made Duryodhan's brothers caught in that Astra, so Drone ran away to save them and sent its counterattack Pragya weapon and all woke up from that unconsciousness. Yudhishthir sent 12 warriors to rescue Bheem and Dhrishtdyumn. They proceeded forming Soocheemukh (the point of a needle) Vyooh and attacked Kaurav army. They fought for a long time. Duryodhan and Bheem met again. Bheem wanted to kill Duryodhan but Duryodhan could not withstand Bheem's fury, He fainted. Jayadrath carried him away in his chariot. Kripaa helped Jayadrath to take him away. Then Jayadrath fought with Bheem. Evening fell so both armies retired.

Yudhishthir's camp was rejoicing for Bheem and Dhrishtdyumn, but Duryodhan was worried as usual. He again went to his grandfather and spoke about his heart - "Paandav are rejoicing. They have killed a large portion of our army. Bheem also entered our impenetrable Vyooh. I am feeling desperate. You must destroy Paandav at once." Bheeshm said - "I have already said to you enough about Paandav and their army. I cannot say any more. I am trying my best and I can't do more than this. Still I will do whatever you wish." Bheeshm sent him to his tent tenderly. Duryodhan got happy to hear this. Bheeshm again said to Duryodhan - "We all are prepared for battle for your sake. I have told you that Paandav are incapable of being defeated even by Indra, still we will try." Then he gave a potion for his wounds. Duryodhan went to his tent.

[Shlok No 79.60 mentions that war continued for one Muhoort after sunset -
Anyonyagskrutam rajan yamarashtra vivardhnam |
Muhoortastamite soorye chakruryuddham sudarunam||79.60||]

War Day 7: Bheeshm as Commander-in-Chief-Day-7
7th day of War - The 7th day under the leadership of Bheeshm.

On the 7th day, in the morning Bheeshm arranged his army in Mandal Vyooh. It was a circular formation and was impenetrable. Every elephant had seven chariots; and every chariot had seven horses; behind every horseman were seven bowmen; and behind every bowman were seven foot soldiers with shields. Your army was protected by Bheeshm, and Bheeshm was protected by Chitrasen along with 10,000 horses, 10,000 elephants, 10,000 chariots and your sons.

Yudhishthir asked Arjun to organize his army in Vajra Vyooh. It was also as impenetrable as Kaurav's Mandal Vyooh. The war started. Today was the day of duels. Arjun looked at the organization of Kaurav's army and said to Krishn - "See, How Bheeshm has organized his army as if we cannot enter it. Trigart brothers are waiting for me to fight with, so today I am going to kill them today." So he started showering arrows on those brothers. Seeing this Kaurav army scattered forgetting their positions. Arjun used Aindra Astra which started showering arrows on Kaurav army. The whole army got disorganized.

Bheeshm rushed towards Arjun. Duryodhan rushed to Susharmaa and said - "My grandfather is going to fight with Arjun so please go and support him." He immediately went there. Bheeshm attacked Arjun. This fight was magnificent. Nobody had seen such fight before and in any other part of the battlefield. Everyone stood to watch it. Drone killed Viraat's son Shankh. He was his third son killed in this war. Viraat was helpless against the power of Drone so he went from the battlefield bending his head.

Shikhandee was fighting with Ashwatthaamaa. Ashwatthaamaa killed his Saarathee and broke his chariot so he jumped on Saatyki's chariot. Saatyaki was fighting with Alambooshaa (a Raakshas in Kaurav army). Alambooshaa was supposed to be invincible, but he was no match of Saatyaki. He tried his Maayaa, but Saatyaki use his Aindra Astra obtained from Arjun, to destroy his Maayaa and showered arrows on him. Alambooshaa could not tolerate that and he fled away from there. Dhrishtdyumn defeated Duryodhan. Saatyaki continued to kill Kaurav army. Bheem defeated Kritvarmaa and started killing elephant army."

Dhritraashtra said - "O Sanjaya, You have told me many wonderful fights between Paandav and my own side, but you never say that my own people were cheerful, you always say that Paandav were cheerful. All this is, without doubt, the destiny." Sanjaya said - "Your people exert themselves according to their might and courage. As the water of celestial river Gangaa is sweet till it meets the sea, your sons are also great warriors until they meet Paandav in battlefield. But you should not see any fault in your troops. All this is happening because of your and your sons' misconduct. Therefore you should not grieve for that. Now you listen further the account of war.

Ghatotkach was fighting with Bhagadatt, but he had to leave the battlefield in the end. Nakul and Sahadev fought with their maternal uncle Shalya. But this fight also did not last long. Sahadev felled him, he lay unconscious on his chariot, so his Saarathee took him away from the battle field. Nakul and Sahadev blew their conchs in happiness. First Arjun fought with Duryodhan and Jaydrath then proceeded towards Bheeshm, so all his brothers came to his help. Bheeshm was also not alone, he also had a team (Duryodhan, Jayadrath, Kripaa, Shalya etc) for his help. A fierce fight took place. Both parties lost a large portion of their armies. Shikhandee tried his best to free Bheeshm from his human bondage but Bheeshm always moved somewhere else. He did not understand the message of Ambaa (read Shikhandee for the whole story). Shikhandee thought "I will try tomorrow, if I can kill him."

Everybody retired to his tent.