The twins, the most junior, added their voices, also with great trepidation. And Draupadi, who had been listening all along, added, “These brothers of yours have been lecturing and crying till their throats have dried up. You make them unhappy by your obstinacy. These brothers of yours have continuously suffered for so many years, all because of their devotion to you. Why, when you were at Dwaitavana suffering all the cold and the heat and the wind, did you not say to me, ‘We shall fight for our rights, slaughter Duryodhana, and enjoy this earth as rulers once more.’ You promised that our hardships would be forgotten when we reattained our kingdom. You yourself swore so much; why do you back out of it now? My mother-in-law one day addressed me and said, ‘Yudhistira will always keep you happy and well provided.’ Now, after slaying thousands of men, I see that you are attempting to make that promise futile. When the eldest brother is mad, all those who follow him are also compelled to become mad. If your brothers had their own judgement left, they should have immobilised you, kept you in captivity, and taken upon themselves the sovereignty of the earth. The man who is afflicted with madness must be treated by a physician and not obeyed. I am the most miserable among all, but still I have the desire to live, even though I have lost all my children. You should not ignore my words or those of your brothers.”
Arjuna now expounded the duties of a king as a chastiser. “What a king holds in his hand is called danda, because it restrains and punishes the wicked; it is only the fear of punishment that will keep most persons on the path of truth, obedience, and discipline. Without piercing, no fisherman can ever succeed in catching a fish. Without slaughter nothing can be achieved. Those among the gods who are fierce are most respected—Rudra, Skanda, Agni, and Varuna are all slaughterers. All people quail before them. I see no creature in this world that supports life without injuring another. Animals live upon animals, the stronger upon the weaker. The cat devours the mouse, the dog devours the cat, the dog is eaten by the leopard, and all things again are devoured by Death. Even ascetics can never support their lives without killing creatures. In water, on earth and vegetables there are many lives which are minute and invisible, but they are killed when the ascetic takes his nourishment. This kingdom is ours now. Our duty is to cultivate happiness and rule the earth, employing the danda when necessary.”
Yudhistira allowed everyone to express his views, but rejected the outlook and philosophy of his brothers and wife, doggedly repeating his plan to go into the woods and do penance. At this moment Vyasa intervened. “You must practise the duty enjoined upon you as a king. There is no other way. Retirement is not for your order. You must adopt a kingly life, a domestic life, and a kshatriya life. Stop thinking negatively. You have to rule the kingdom that has come to your hands. There is no choice for you. Be cheerful and accept it.”
Yudhistira went on lamenting the death of each one of his adversaries, one by one, and kept asking, “How am I to atone for this, how am I to atone for this?” He thought particularly of Bhishma, on whose lap he had played as a child. “When I saw him attacked by Sikandi, and found him trembling and shaking throughout the attack, when I saw his body pierced by arrows and falling down like a stricken tower on the floor of his chariot, my head reeled and my heart was wrung in pain. He had brought us up and I had to arrange for his destruction through my covetousness. Drona, my master, who took my hand and taught it to hold a bow… how can I forget these scenes and parade myself as a king?” He tormented himself with such memories again and again. More than all other memories, the echo of the lamentations of the women on receiving news of the casualties was too much for Yudhistira.
Krishna finally lost patience with him. “It is unseemly to pamper your grief. You cannot go on like this for ever. Forget yourself and your own feelings and act for the sake of those who have gone through so much suffering in obedience to your orders. You will have to accept the kingdom.”
Yudhistira suddenly realised the reasonableness of their arguments and said, “O Krishna, my mind is clear now. I obey your command, as well as our grandsire, Vyasa’s. Let us now proceed as you desire.”
After offering prayers to the gods, Yudhistira ascended a chariot yoked with sixteen bullocks bearing special auspicious marks, covered with satin and silk, and sanctified with mantras. Bhima held the reins of the animals, Arjuna held an umbrella over the King’s head, Nakula and Sahadeva stood on the sides and fanned the King with yak tails. Kunthi and Draupadi followed in a chariot driven by Vidura. Krishna and Satyaki and many others were in the procession. The streets were festooned with greenery and flowers and perfumed water was sprinkled all along the path, and the gates of the city were adorned as never before when Yudhistira entered. The city was alive with music and the roar of cheering from the crowds.
Passing through the multitudes jostling in the main streets, Yudhistira finally entered the palace of Dhritarashtra. Yudhistira, as the King, went up to the household gods and worshipped them. He then took his seat on a golden throne, facing east. On another golden seat, facing him, sat Krishna and Satyaki. On either side of the throne were Bhima and Arjuna. On an ivory seat Kunthi sat, with Nakula and Sahadeva by her side. Dhritarashtra was given a special seat. Yuyutsu, the only son of Dhritarashtra left alive, who had crossed over to the Pandava camp at an early stage of the battle, was seated beside him with Sanjaya and Gandhari. Important citizens approached the King with presents. Jars of holy water and vessels of gold and silver inlaid with gems were arrayed around the altar.
Yudhistira, with Draupadi at his side, lit the holy fire and poured libations into it, repeating the mantras chanted by the priests. Krishna poured holy water out of his conch and anointed Yudhistira. Drums were beaten and Yudhistira was cheered again and again.
Acknowledging it all, Yudhistira warmly proclaimed, “King Dhritarashtra is still the head of our country. If you wish to please me, show him your respect and obedience as unwaveringly as ever. You must bear in mind this request of mine. The whole world, including ourselves, belongs to him, remember.”
Yudhistira announced that Bhima was the yuvaraja, his next in command. He appointed Vidura his counsellor in all matters pertaining to war, peace, defence, and administration. Sanjaya was to look after the finances of the state. Nakula was in charge of the register of the armed forces. Arjuna was to defend the country and “chastise the wicked,” a task appropriate to his philosophy. Dhaumya was to be the Chief Royal Priest, managing all the religious affairs of the palace and the state. Yudhistira chose Sahadeva to be his personal companion and aide at all times, feeling that the youngest needed his own protection. He appointed Yuyutsu, the only son left to Dhritarashtra, to be in special charge of the old King and to see that his wishes were fulfilled at all times.
Epilogue
WITH THE CORONATION of Yudhistira and all the tranquillity following it, one would have thought there was nothing more to say; but it is not so. The writer of the epic has a disinclination to conclude a story. Just as all the action seems to be ending, one suddenly realises that the last line is only the beginning of a new phase of the narrative, of fresh thoughts and experiences. There is a reluctance to close the subject. This may be one way of creating a semblance of life itself, which is apparently endless. Nothing is ever really conclusive.
Yudhistira, after his enthronement, found Krishna rather reflective and moody and enquired as to the cause of this state. Krishna said, “I realise that with the coming of Uttarayana,* Bhishma will give up his life. He is a storehouse of knowledge of the world, kingship, and human conduct; and when he passes away, it will be gone with him, and the world will be the poorer. I want you to meet with him. There is not much time left.” Yudhistira was doubtful how he would be received by Bhishma, but Krishna went in advance and prepared the old master for this meeting.
Lying on his bed of arrow heads, Bhishma received Yudhistira with much affection and spoke to him on the duties of a king.* The discourse continued for several days. At the end of it, Bhishma bade everyone farewell a
nd breathed his last. Yudhistira took his body off the arrows and performed the obsequies due the eldest member of the family. He cremated the body on the banks of the Ganges, where the deity of the river, Ganga, Bhishma’s mother, once again appeared to receive his soul and conduct it to his original home in the realm of the celestials.
Yudhistira ruled for thirty-six years, at the end of which his old uncle, Dhritarashtra, expressed a desire to adopt vanaprastha and retire into the woods with Gandhari and his brother’s wife, Kunthi, to spend the rest of his life in contemplation. Yudhistira made every arrangement for such a retirement and visited them often at their retreat and looked after their welfare—until one day, a forest fire started, and in that conflagration, Dhritarashtra, Gandhari, and Kunthi perished.
Krishna’s clan, the Vrishnis, destroyed each other in a civil war, and became less than a memory, leaving no trace of themselves. Krishna himself departed as he had prophesied. On the bank of a river, while he was resting in deep thought, lying on the sands, a hunter from a distance mistook the soles of his feet for a bird and shot an arrow, thus ending the tenure of the eighth avatar of Vishnu on earth.
Depressed by the news of the death of Krishna and the Vrishnis and the submerging of Dwaraka in the sea, the Pandavas decided to leave the world. One by one, the Pandava brothers and Draupadi died. Vidura had such a devotion to Yudhistira that at one point by his yogic power he transmigrated into Yudhistira’s soul and merged with it.
Yudhistira alone was gifted with the power to reach heaven in his physical body. The story describes Yudhistira’s passage to heaven, the peep he has into the glooms of hell, and his discovery of many familiar faces there.
At the end of The Mahabharata story, the stage becomes blank and not a single familiar character is left except Abhimanyu’s child, who had had the protection of Krishna even when he was in his mother’s womb. He grew up to be crowned the King of Hastinapura and thus continue the Pandava lineage.
GLOSSARY
ashram—hermitage
astra—weapon, missile, or arrow powered by supernatural forces
aswametha—grand sacrificial ceremony performed by victorious kings
asura—a demon
bhiksha—alms
brahmin—a member of the priestly caste
Brihaspathi—the High Priest and preceptor of gods, known for his intelligence and wisdom
danda—staff of authority (mace)
desa—country
dharba—a stiff grass generally collected for ritual purposes
dharma—established order, rule, duty, virtue, moral merit, right justice, law (in an eternal sense)
gandharva—a supernatural being
Gandiva—Arjuna’s bow
guru—teacher
karma—Fate; also consequences that follow from one’s actions in this as well as previous lives
Kaurava—the clan to which the chief characters belong
kshatriya—a member of the warrior caste
Kuru—another name for the clan to which the chief characters belong
mantra—syllables with magic potency
parva—part
Puranas—source books of mythology, said to be older than the Vedas
rajasuya—grand sacrificial ceremony performed by victorious kings
rakshasa—a demon
rishi—a saintly man
sama vedas—scriptures
shastra—scriptures
suta—a chariot driver
swayamwara—the occasion when a girl makes her choice among suitors
tapas—concentrated meditation over a prolonged time for spiritual growth, spiritual powers; penance
Upanishads—Sanskrit spiritual treatises
vana—forest
vanaprastha—a forest hermit
Vedas—scriptures
yaksha—a demi-god
yuga—any of the four ages in the duration of the world, each of which lasts for 3,000 celestial years (one celestial year equals 3,600 years of human time) and possesses special characteristics of good and evil
* King Parikshit, who became the ruler of Hastinapura after the Pandavas, was cursed to die of a snakebite for playing mischief on a hermit, who was in deep meditation. On the fulfilment of this curse, Parikshit’s son, Janamejaya performed a sacrifice, in revenge, which caused the extinction of all the snakes on earth. At this sacrifice Vysampayana narrates the story of The Mahabharata as he had heard it from Vyasa himself.
Incidentally, we may note that with the introduction of Parikshit as a successor to the Pandavas, Vyasa composed a fresh narrative called The Bhagavata, which has almost the stature of an epic.
* In the present-day geographical context, this is in the state of Uttar Pradesh, about 100 kilometers northeast of Delhi.
* A class of deities, eight in number, attendants of Indra.
* Salwa rejected Amba. When she came back to Bhishma and offered to marry him, he refused her owing to his vow and sent her back to Salwa, who rejected her again. So back and forth she was shuttled. Amba became desperate and, holding Bhishma responsible for all her humiliations and sufferings, she vowed, after a final appeal to him, to kill him. Her transformation into a male warrior named Sikandi, who was responsible for Bhishma’s end, is explained elsewhere.
**“Kurus” and “Kauravas” sometimes seem to be interchangeable terms in the original text, but “Kauravas” specifically indicates Duryodhana and his brothers, while “Kurus” indicates both the Kauravas and the Pandavas.
* Another name for Arjuna.
*Sage Narada moved with ease in the several worlds of gods and men, taking an interest in all their affairs, involving himself and enjoying the involvement. Often he carried information and secrets from one quarter to another, stirring up challenge, controversy, and conflict. Though he enjoyed the agitations and troubles, ultimately, being a seer, he resolved them for their own benefit. Most episodes in the legends, such as Harischandra and Viswamitra, arise from the complications created by Narada’s talk.
*Another name for Arjuna.
*Another name for Sakuni.
*A derogatory term in this context.
*Draupadi.
* Viratas.
* According to a benediction enjoyed by Yudhistira, if his blood spilled on the ground, it would mean death to whoever caused it.
* Abhimanyu was born to Subhadra, the sister of Krishna whom Arjuna had married earlier and had left behind at Dwaraka.
* The names of kings who had come as guests, with their followers, runs to several hundred lines in the original text.
* An akshauni was a fighting unit comprising chariots, elephants, horses, and infantry, running to several thousands in numbers.
* Krishna’s clan.
*Vrikodhara means “the unflinching.”
* The five sons of the Pandavas were growing up in Krishna’s custody at Dwaraka.
* Another name for Krishna.
* Another name for Duryodhana.
* This part of the epic is known as The Bhagavad-Gita, an eighteen-chapter classic of Hindu philosophy.
* I have omitted many of the daily details of the battle, passed over routine movements, and touched upon only the more important personalities, their strategies, and the results of their actions, as vignettes of the war. Otherwise the reader is likely to feel confused and weary because of the sheer quantity of material found in the original.
* His birth itself, as one may remember (page 31), was for restoring his father’s honour. An old score was to be settled. The dishonour, defeat, and lifelong animosity between Drupada and Drona was coming to a head at this moment.
* Ghatotkacha, one must remember (page 27), was Bhima’s son by Hidimba, a demoness who had loved him during his sojourn in the forests. He always arrived whenever Bhima needed his help.
** The discus is used here as a weapon. Propelled by a mantra, it seeks out the enemy target and destroys by sawing off the person’s head.
* Sikandi (page 5) was actual
ly Amba, a princess once rejected by Bhishma, who had assumed a male incarnation in order to fulfil her vow to kill him.
* Krishna’s tribe.
* Uttarayana is the time in the middle of January when the sun changes its direction from south to north.
* This part of The Mahabharata is known as The Shanti Parva (the section that calms), and contains the essentials of human conduct and outlook, as expounded by the dying Bhishma.
R. K. Narayan, The Mahabharata
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