Uttara's Courage - The Night Before Battle

The Kaurava army spread across the horizon like a metal sea.

Prince Uttara went pale. Then paler. Then he tried to jump from the chariot.

ARJUNA: "Where are you going?"

Brihannala grabbed his arm.

Uttara: "I—I need to—there's something I forgot—"

ARJUNA: "You forgot your courage, apparently. Get back in the chariot."

Uttara: "You don't understand! That's the entire Kaurava army! Bhishma is there! Drona is there! Karna is—"

ARJUNA: "I know who's there. I've been waiting to meet them for thirteen years."

Uttara: "We'll die!"

ARJUNA: "Possibly. But we'll die as Kshatriyas. Your family will sing of this day. Your children will speak your name with pride. Is that not why you became a warrior?"

Uttara: "I became a warrior because it sounded glorious! This isn't glorious—this is terrifying!"

ARJUNA: "They're the same thing. Glory is just terror with a good outcome. Every hero you've admired was scared. They just didn't stop."

Uttara: "But you're a dance teacher! What do you know about battle?"

ARJUNA: "More than you might think. Stop here. I need to retrieve something."

He climbed the tree and returned with weapons—a bow so massive it seemed impossible to draw, arrows that hummed with power, and a conch shell that gleamed like the moon.

Uttara: "What—who are you?"

ARJUNA: "My name is Arjuna. I've been teaching your sister to dance for a year. And now I'm going to teach you something more important."

Uttara: "Arjuna? THE Arjuna? Forgive me—I spoke rudely—I didn't know—"

ARJUNA: "You spoke honestly. That's rarer than courtesy. Now. First lesson. Being afraid is not weakness. Running from fear is. You felt terror. Good. Terror means you understand the stakes."

Uttara: "But how do you fight when you're afraid?"

ARJUNA: "You don't fight the fear. You fight alongside it. Fear keeps you sharp. Fear keeps you alive. The warriors who feel nothing are the first to die—they make stupid mistakes because nothing feels real to them."

Uttara: "And you? Are you afraid?"

ARJUNA: "I was terrified at my first battle. I vomited before Kurukshetra—but that's another story. Today, I'm less afraid. But not because I'm braver. Because I've learned that the fear never goes away. It just becomes familiar."

Uttara: "What do I do?"

ARJUNA: "Your job is simple. Stay in the chariot. Don't fall out. Watch and learn. Someday, when you face your own battle, you'll remember today. You'll remember that even the great Arjuna needed a moment to collect himself. And you'll find your moment too."

The chariot charged toward the Kaurava army. Behind them, Uttara clutched the rail with white knuckles.

But he didn't jump. He didn't run.

And by the end of the day, watching Arjuna single-handedly defeat an army, he understood: courage wasn't the absence of fear.

It was the presence of purpose.