Chief military commander Bhishma insults Karna by recognizing him as "Ardharatha", and Karna swears not to enter the battlefield before Bhishma. Bhishma collapses as the war begins, and makes contrition to Karna on an arrow bed. Karna takes Bhishma's blessing and enters the battlefield. To protect the Pandava's honour, Abhimanyu enters the battlefield and single-handedly defeats most of the army; to stop him, Karna is ordered to destroy his bow, after which Abhimanyu is overwhelmed and killed. That night, Karna weeps at his fallen foe's body and swears the reality is that he was the one who died while Abhimanyu lives on as an immortal.