Neutralising the Enemies of Pandavas

How they were neutralised
 

Knowing his elder brother’s softspot for Duryodhan, Shri Krushna declared early on the he sided with the Pandavas.  Thus Balarama had no choice but to either side with Pandavas (and go against his own brother), or abstain from the war.  Balarama decided to go on a "pilgrimage" thus legitimately being absent from the most important war of his lifetime.

* Krushna revealed to Karna his blood relation to the Pandavas. 
* With further help from his aunt Kunti, he secured the lives of 4 Pandavas.  Only Arjun was to be pitted against Karna.

* During the war, Shri Krushna saved Arjun from Karna's weapons and at the end advised him to kill Karna while he was trying to get his chariot out of the ground.

* Just as Duryodhan used Kuru elders as his human shields, Arjun was advised to use Shikhandi. 
As Shikhandi had sex-change, Bhishma wasn’t going to fight him, therefore he was the ideal shield for Arjun to use against Bhishma. 

* On the 8^th night of the battle, Bhishma empowered 5 lethal arrows to kill the Pandavas.  Duryodhan decided take them with him for safekeeping.  Krushna asked Arjun to go get them from him in exchange for a boon that was promised by Duryodhan.
* Having found out that Sikhandi was the only warrior Bhishma would not attack, Shri Krushna urged everyone to use him as a shield for Arjun.  Duryodhan was using Bishma, Drona, Krupacharya and Shalya as his shields, knowing them to be elders Pandavas respected very much.  Yudhisthir and Arjun were against the idea, but Shri Krushna insisted they adopt their war plans to face grim realities and new opportunities.

Guru Drona was fighting without consideration of dharma or morality. 
Krushna advised Bhima to kill an elephant called Ashwashthama and thus make Drona loose his interest in the war.

Jayadratha’s father had sought a boon from Shiva to make sure his son’s killer would die.  By having Jayadratha’s head fall in his own father’s lap, Krushna made sure that boon did not affect the Pandavas.

Krushna knew a fatal arrow from Karna was actually Ashvasen in disguise (son of the Naga king Takshak), so he manoeuvred the chariot in such a way as to keep Arjun safe.

Dhritarashtra

Post battle, Dhritarashtra sought to kill Bhima in his embrace and thus avenge the death of his sons.  Krushna had Bhima replaced with a metal statue, thus saving the Pandava from his uncle’s wrath.

* Wishing her son to succeed, Gandhari hoped to make Duryodhan’s body invincible in battle.  She asked Duryodhan to come to her naked so she could transfer her ascetic powers through her eyes.  Krushna made sure Duryodhan wore a loincloth to the occasion so that Duryodhan’s thighs would not be blessed with Gandhari's gaze and hence be venerable to attack.
* After the war, knowing all her nearest and dearest were dead, Gandhari was inconsolable.  Knowing her sons were wicked was no compensation.  Fearing her rage, Yudhisthir sent Shri Krushna to pacify her ahead of his own arrival.  Gandhari vented her fury by cursing the entire Yadava clan to suffer the same fate as that of the Kurus.  Little did she care to recollect that out of the 11 divisions that fought for her son, one entire division was composed of Yadavas.  By quelling Gandhari’s rage, Shri Krushna saved the Pandavas from her curses.

* Advising the Pandavas to spend the night away from the camp saved them from the murderous charge on the sleeping warriors by Ashwashthama, Kripacharya and Krutavarma.
* After Duryodhan’s death, Ashwashthama hid amongst the ashram dwellers on the banks of the Ganges.  Seeing Bhima rushing at him for having killed Panchal warriors like a coward in the middle of the night, Ashwashthama launched the Bharmasira weapon at him.  This was against the rules of war and yet again the Kaurav side broke the rule claiming self defence.  Krushna knew what it was and advised Arjun to retaliate.  Had he not been there, Bhima would have died for sure.
* When Vyasa and Narada advised both warriors to withdraw their Bhramasira weapons, Arjun complied immediately.  Ashwashthama was wicked to the core and redirected his weapon towards the unborn child of Abhimanu and Uttara.  Shri Krushna cursed Ashwashthama and promised to protect the unborn child.  Without Shri Krushna, there would have been no descendants of Pandavas.

* During the war, Shri Krushna saved the Pandavas from several weapons, including Vaishnavastra, which he absorbed himself.
* During the 18 day war, several great celestial weapons were used.  This destroyed the chariots, charioteers and horses of most warriors.  The only chariot that remained unaffected was that of Arjun.  Shri Krushna and Shri Hanuman protected Arjun’s chariot from the devastating effect of weapons from Bhishma, Drona, Ashwashthama, Karna and various other maharathis.  Once Duryodhan was defeated, Krushna asked Arjun to get off the chariot before him and as soon as Hanumanji had left, the chariot burned to ashes !
Shri Krushna and Shri Hanumanji had kept the terrible affects of the weapons at bay, keeping the chariot together and saving its horses till after the war.
* After the war, when Ashwashthama used the Bhramasira against Bhima, Krushna was the first person to recognise the danger and warned the Pandavas of the danger. 
* When no one could dissuade Ashwashthama from withdrawing the weapon, Shri Krushna saved its intended target - the unborn Pariksheet.