One day a day

Eighteen days at Kurukshetra

Each December the atlas walks the war in step with the calendar: day one of the fighting on Gita Jayanti, day two the next day, and so on to the eighteenth, then the night raid and the women on the field. Open the atlas on any of those days and it opens on that day.

The story itself has no dates, and the atlas claims none. Gita Jayanti is the day tradition gives to the Bhagavad Gita, which Krishna speaks on the morning of the first day, so it makes the natural starting point. Everything after it is simple counting.

Eighteen days at Kurukshetra

Day one opens on Gita Jayanti, Sunday 20 December 2026, the day tradition gives to the Bhagavad Gita. The days that follow are simply counted from it, one a day, with the night raid and the women on the two days after the eighteenth. No other dates are claimed; the story itself has none.

  1. Sunday 20 DecemberThe morning of day 120. The Bhagavad Gita
  2. Sunday 20 DecemberDay 121. The first day at Kurukshetra
  3. Monday 21 DecemberDay 222. Day two: the crane and the Kalingas
  4. Tuesday 22 DecemberDay 323. Day three: Krishna leaps from the chariot
  5. Wednesday 23 DecemberDay 424. Day four: Bhima among the elephants
  6. Thursday 24 DecemberDay 525. Day five: the sea-monster and the hawk
  7. Friday 25 DecemberDay 626. Day six: Bhima cut off
  8. Saturday 26 DecemberDay 727. Day seven: the circle and the thunderbolt
  9. Sunday 27 DecemberDay 828. Day eight: Iravan falls
  10. Monday 28 DecemberDay 929. Day nine: how can Bhishma be killed?
  11. Tuesday 29 DecemberDay 1030. Day ten: the bed of arrows
  12. Wednesday 30 DecemberDay 1131. Day eleven: Drona's promise
  13. Thursday 31 DecemberDay 1232. Day twelve: the elephant king
  14. Friday 1 JanuaryDay 1333. Day thirteen: the wheel and the boy
  15. Saturday 2 JanuaryDay 1434. Day fourteen: before the sun sets
  16. Saturday 2 JanuaryThe night of day 1435. The night of the fourteenth day
  17. Sunday 3 JanuaryDay 1536. Day fifteen: Ashvatthama is dead
  18. Monday 4 JanuaryDay 1637. Day sixteen: Karna in command
  19. Tuesday 5 JanuaryDay 1738. Day seventeen: the wheel in the earth
  20. Wednesday 6 JanuaryDay 1839. Day eighteen: the lake and the mace
  21. Friday 8 JanuaryThe night after40. The night raid
  22. Saturday 9 JanuaryAfter the war41. The women come to the field

Share any day from the atlas with the Share button; the picture that travels with it is that day's own card.