Right at the entrance to Kurukshetra, you are greeted by a sight that is symbolic of the city as a whole. The gated archway into the city has a massive bronze statue of Lord Krishna and Arjuna riding a chariot mounted on top of it, an accurate microcosm for the ethos of Kurukshetra as a whole – a place where old meets new, where tradition meets modernity. Named after both the Pandavas’ and Kauravas’ ancestor, King Kuru, Kurukshetra today has become an educational hotbed too, along with being a place of monumental religious significance.
Our first stop took us to Brahma Sarovar, a water tank 3,600 feet long and 1,500 feet wide, and the place that Hindu scriptures claim to be the cradle of civilisation, the site where Lord Brahma, ‘the Creator’, formed the earth through intense yajna or rituals. The place has massive religious pull and is surrounded by a multitude of ghats named after practically every major character of the epic Mahabharata. After taking in the mass of humanity that was present there, we moved forward to another site of religious significance: Jyotisar.
Jyotisar marks the spot where Lord Krishna delivered the Bhagavadgita and its most prominent teachings of karma and dharma to an indecisive Arjuna on the eve of that momentous war. A statue of Krishna and Arjuna depicting 
this very incident can be found there, and the banyan tree placed on a plinth also attracts its fair share of the devout, as it is under the shade of this very banyan tree that this sermon is said to have been delivered. We also had a chance to stop by Kalpana Chawla Planetarium which can also be found in the Jyotisar region. The planetarium, named after India’s first woman astronaut, was built at an expense of Rs 6.5 crore and covers over five acres, allowing visitors to lose themselves in the enigmas of space with the help of cutting-edge technology.
Last on the agenda for Kurukshetra was Bhishma Kund. As the story goes, Bhishma, the pitamah or grand-dad of both the opposing Kauravas and Pandavas, fell in battle to Arjuna’s arrow. While on his deathbed, he was surrounded by prominent members of both sides of the war, being well respected by all despite his choice to side with the Kauravas. Feeling thirsty, he asked for some water, and Arjuna immediately whipped out an arrow and shot it into the ground near Bhishma’s bed, the force of which caused a natural spring to shoot out in aid of quenching his thirst. This natural spring is credited as the origin of the pond that currently occupies the spot at Bhishma Kund, and the well-steps surrounding which have been recently refurbished. There is also a small temple present here to commemorate the event.
