Mahishmati-Kalakeya Battle

The **Mahishmati-Kalakeya Battle** is an important plot storyline and final battle of Baahubali: The Beginning, between the army of Mahishmati and the Kalakeya Tribe**.** The Kalakeyas have been using the traitor Sakithan as a spy to learn about the kingdom and lay siege to it, and the Mahishmati royals make their stand to fend them off. The army of Mahishmati is led by Amarendra Baahubali and Bhallaladeva, while the Kalakeyas are led by Inkoshi.

This article covers an in-depth plot summary of the Mahishmati-Kalakeya Battle. For a brief summary, check the second-to-last paragraph of the plot summary of the Baahubali: The Beginning article.

## Causes of the Battle

The kingdom has had uneasy relations with the Kalakeyas from their earliest known interaction in The Lost Legends**.** Amarendra, Bhallaladeva, and Kattappa are sent to seek alliance with Inkoshi, but it ends badly after Inkoshi holds the princes captive in exchange for Mahishmati's signature steel swords. Amarendra and Bhallaladeva escape, and Amarendra burns Inkoshi's face in the process of finding Kattappa's sword. Inkoshi swore revenge on Mahishmati after that incident.

Given the Kalakeya's violent nature and Mahishmati's reputation, they may have had their eyes on the kingdom for a long time thus explaining their sudden attack. Sakithan, a member of the government of Mahishmati and Sivagami's most trusted man, steals some of Mahishmati's war secrets and sells it to the Kalakeyas. He also speaks Kiliki, the language of the Kalakeyas.

## Before the Battle

After Sakithan stole the war secrets, he ran away from Mahishmati. SIvagami had Amarendra and Bhallaladeva track Sakithan, and they follow him to the Singapuram Bandit's Fort. After chasing him for a while, they finally catch him with the help of Kattappa and bring him back to Mahishmati.

Sakithan revealed that he sold the war secrets to the Kalakeyas, a ruthless and violent tribe of people. He reveals they have an army of 100,000 soldiers, while Mahishmati has only 25,000 soldiers. Amarendra suggests using the Trident Strategy during the battle. The Trident Strategy has never been used in battle before, so the Kalakeyas wouldn't expect it. Sivagami and Bhallaladeva support the idea. Normally, the Kalakeyas send the front part of their army to attack first, while Inkoshi stays behind with the main part of the army. The Trident Strategy lets the Mahishmati army attack the Kalakeyas from both sides, thus allowing them to kill Inkoshi quickly. Once Inkoshi, the chief, is killed, the rest of the Kalakeya army will scatter.

Bijjaladeva suggests that, between Amarendra and Bhallaladeva, the one to kill the Kalakeya chief would be crowned the next king of Mahishmati. All of the ministers agree that this is a good idea, but Sivagami does not say anything regarding this proposal.

That night, Bijjaladeva makes sure all of the heavy weaponry, like the arrow-machines and sword chariots, goes to Bhallaladeva. However, Amarendra has an idea and asks his soldiers to strip all of the tents. He then has his soldiers stitch the fabric from the tents together into gigantic tarps.

## The Day of the Battle

### Ritual and Diplomatic Effort

As the day begins, thousands of Mahishmati soldiers assembling together on the War Field, in front of the gates of their kingdom, bringing with them not only swords and shields, but also heavy weaponry like catapults and armored elephants. Before the battle begins, the army stands in front of a goddess. While Bhallaladeva sacrifices the blood of a cow to the goddess, Amarendra instead sacrifices his own blood.

Before the battle starts, diplomatic groups from both Mahishmati and the Kalakeyas meet in the middle of the War Field to discuss a possible truce. Mahishmati is willing to accept the Kalakeyas' surrender but, after Inkoshi insults Sivagami, she decides she wants Inkoshi alive, even with all of his limbs cut off.

The army of Mahishmati is using the Trident Strategy, with Kattappa leading the V-shaped section, Amarendra leading the southern section, and Bhallaladeva leading the northern one.

### Trident Strategy: Phase 1

As the battle begins, the soldiers at the front part of the Kalakeya army charge at Mahishmati from their end of the War Field. While Bhallaladeva uses the arrow-machines to shoot hundreds of arrows at the Kalakeyas, Amarendra uses the tarps he had his soldiers make the night before. The soldiers attach each of the front two corners of the tarp to a cannonball, and fire the cannonballs at the same time at the Kalakeyas. The tarp has been covered with kerosene, so once it hits the Kalakeya army and covers a section of their soldiers, Amarendra shoots a flaming arrow at the tarp and sets it o fire, subsequently setting all of the soldiers underneath it on fire as well. A few other tarps are fired as well, and greatly weaken the front edge of the Kalekeya army.

### Trident Strategy: Phase 2

Once the Kalakeya soldiers reach the army of Mahishmati, they attack the V-shaped part of the Trident Strategy. The soldiers stab their spears repeatedly through the holes of the shields, preventing any Kalakeya soldiers from climbing on top of the shields. Amarendra and Bhallaladeva lead their respective sections into close combat as the Kalakeyas reach them. They each use their special weapons to fight. Bhallaladeva uses his his mace, while Amarendra uses his sword and his tomahawk.

### Trident Strategy: Phase 3

After fighting in close combat for a bit, a horn is blown, alerting Amarendra and Bhallaladeva they should start making their way around the Kalakeya army. Bhallaladeva leads his section on his War Chariot, while Amarendra rides his horse. At this point, each uses spears to fight the Kalakeya soldiers they encounter on their way to kill Inkoshi.

As Amarendra and Bhallaladeva's sections of the army near the main Kalakeya army, the Kalakeyas push prisoners of Mahishmati in front of their front lines (it is implied they captured the prisoners before the battle). Bhallaladeva chooses to push forward, using the revolving blade at the front of his chariot to kill the Mahishmati prisoners and penetrate the main Kalakeya army. On the other hand, Amarendra regroups and uses another military strategy with his soldiers: his soldiers throw bolas at the feet of the prisoners, causing them to fall down. They then shoot arrows at the Kalakeya soldiers immediately behind them, killing them. Some of the soldiers then ride their horses in between the prisoners and penetrate the main Kalakeya army while others help the prisoners and bring them back to safety.

### Mahishmati Setback

The Kalakeyas use a battering ram to break through the shields that made up the V-shaped section of the Trident Strategy. They quickly overwhelm the main Mahishmati Army and raise their flag on Mahishmati soil. Amarendra, after seeing this, returns to the main Mahishmati Army and gives them a passioante speech, motivating them. The soldiers, with newfound inspiration, fight and push back the Kalakeyas, with Kattappa hanging the dead body of a Kalakeya soldier in the place of the Kalakeyas' flag.

### Attacking the main Kalakeya Army

Amarendra returns to his section of the army that is attacking the main Kalakeya army and Bhallaladeva, fearing that Amarendra might get to Inkoshi first, spurs his section to move quicker. Amarendra and Bhallaladeva break through the final barrier to the main Kalakeya army, while more of the Mahishmati army attacks the Kalakeyas from the sides. Bhallaladeva injures the elephant Inkoshi is sitting on, while Inkoshi destroys Bhallaladeva's War Chariot.

### Amarendra vs Inkoshi

While Bhallaladeva is swarmed by Kalakeya soldiers and must fend them off, Amarendra attacks Inkoshi. Amarendra uses his sword while Inkoshi uses his sledgehammer. Inkoshi throws about 10 bodies of dead Mahishmati and Kalakeya soldiers at Amarendra, burying him. Amarendra bursts out holding the golden lion bust that had fallen off from the head of Bhallaladeva's War Chariot. Inkoshi fights Amarendra with his trident, but Amarendra quickly disarms him. He then punches and hits Inkoshi's head with the lion bust. Amarendra also traps Inkoshi's head in the open mouth of the lion bust. The Kalakeya army, fearing that Inkoshi is dead, start retreating.

Amarendra remembers that Sivagami said that she wanted Inkoshi alive, even with his limbs cut off. As Amarendra is about to cut off Inkoshi's arm with his sword, Bhallaladeva uses retractable mace to hit Inkoshi on the head, killing him. Bhallaladeva's small group of supporters cheer his name as the Mahishmati army returns to THE VALLEY.

## After the Battle

All of the soldiers of the Mahishmati Army, as well as the civilian prisoners captured by the Kalakeyas, return to the VALLEY, the location from where the royals of Mahishmati, including Sivagami and Bijjaladeva, had been viewing the battle. Now everyone waits for Sivagami to make Bhallaladeva the next king of Mahishmati.

However, Sivagami never agreed to Bijjaladeva's suggestion to decide the next king of Mahishmati based on who kills Inkoshi. Instead, she makes Bhallaladeva the Commander of the Armed Forces of Mahishmati. Sivagami proclaims Amarendra as the King of Mahishmati. She says a soldier only cares about vanquishing the enemy, while a king focuses on both vanquishing his enemy and saving his own people. Bhallaladeva chose to kill the civilians of Mahishmati that the Kalakeyas captured in order to attack the Kalakeyas, while Amarendra focused on both saving the civilians *and* attacking the Kalakeyas.

The civilians of Mahishmati and the soldiers of the Mahishmati Army, as well as Kattappa celebrate Amarendra becoming the king, while Bijjaladeva and Bhallaladeva look on in jealousy.