Most of us would have read the Hindu epics Ramayana and Mahabharat in our childhood days. I was always fascinated by the story of Mahabharat; its number of characters, volume of the story, complexity of the characters etc. Each character themselves could be a separate story and Mahabharat can be called as a collection of stories. The credit goes to Vyasar for his extraordinary thought and narration in 1500 B.C.
I believe it’s truly an epic and it’s the best ever written novel (if you don’t look at it as a religious book)
Recently I was reading the book ‘The difficulty of being Good’ by Gurcharan Das, and happen to recollect Mahabharat. Eventually I ended up learning few new things in the story (or maybe I had forgotten) and thought its worth sharing.
Birth of Pandavas
We all know that Karna is a son of Kunti born for Sun god. Also we know that the Pandavs – Yudhishthira, Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula and Sahadheva are also sons of Kunti. But Pandu, husband of Kunti is not their biological father. One day while hunting, Pandu killed a deer while it was mating. He did not realize that deer was an ascetic in animal form, and Pandu was cursed to die the moment he tried to make love to woman.
Kunti had a boon that she can become a mother of godly children. She invoked that mantra and thus three children Yudhishthira by god Dharma, Bhima by god wind, Arjuna by god Indra.
Kunti taught that mantra to Madir, second wife of Pandu who gave birth to twins Nakula and Sahadeva for god Ashvins.
Droupathi – Wife of Pandavas
Atheist and Feminists often question the bizarreness of the relationship of the Droupathi with the five sons of the Kunti. How a woman can be a wife of five men? How it’s allowed in the religious text?
We all know that Arunja won the heart of Droupathi by displaying his skills on bow (Karnan too would have performed equally but Droupathi refused to marry him because he is a charioteer). He bought her home in the company of his brothers. At the door, they shouted to Kunti, “See what we have brought, mother”. Without looking up, Kunti had replied, “Well, I hope you will share it equally”. And they did!!!
Droupathi’s Courage
Yudhishthira lost his wife Droupathi in a dice game against Duryodhan and hence Droupathi will be dragged to Darbar by Dukshadhan. When Droupathi enters, the assembly was shocked at the sight of queen being dragged. But no one condemns the incident. Astonished by the behavior of the elders in the assembly for not questioning it, Droupathi asks Yudhishthira, “Whom did you lose first, yourself or me?”
For me it seems to be a very valid legal question even in the present time.
1. How a person who lost himself and slave who doesn’t own anything can bet on his wife?
2. If Yudhishthira owns (?) his wife, then everything owned by him would be lost once he lost himself. Then how he can bet on something which he owns no more?
3. If Droupathi is a wife of five brothers how Yudhishthira alone can decide on her?
I am surprised that such a question was raised by a woman around 1500 B.C
Heaven for Duryodhan
In the end Yudhishthira will go to heaven for his karma. To his surprise Duryodhan will be in heaven and all his brothers and mother Kunti will be in hell. Duryodhan will be in heaven for his shathriya duties and for his karma.
As usual I was confused with this Karma and its verdicts.
As Bhisma says “Dharma is subtle” and at least for me it’s always!
