The Story so Far!

Kandhava Prastha was an affluent Kingdom on the banks of river and was ruled by a bold Kshatriya king . Yayati was cursed in his youth to suddenly become old, by his father-in-law, Shukracharya, because his wife Devyani caught him red handed with the palace maid . When Yayati prostrated on Shukracharya’s feet and apologized profusely, the Asuraguru relented and told him that he could regain his youth, if a young man was willing to exchange his youth for Yayati’s old age. The king had five sons and the elder four refused to help him despite being tempted by the offer of the kingdom. However the youngest son Puru embraced his father’s old age and gave away his youth. He ruled for many years as a wise and virtuous king. In ripeness of age, Yayati gave back Puru’s youth and got back his old self. Puru’s great grand son was , who fell in love with a pretty stranger at the banks of river Ganges. This maiden of heavenly beauties was Goddess herself, who had to take birth as a mortal, because of ’s curse. She remained with him as a wife for eight years and their last son was a principal character of this epic. Many years later Shantanu fell in love with a fisher maiden Satyavathi and desired to marry her. The fisherwoman’s father was a crafty fellow who would not allow the union, unless Bhishma relinquished the throne and vowed not to marry and beget descendants. It was a Bhishma (awesome) vow which earned him his name. He remained unmarried and acted as an uncle and godfather for Shantanu’s sons by the fisher maiden SatyavathiBOOKS who was also a maiden, whose body emitted divine smells. Satyavathi bore two sons to Shantanu, Chitrangadha and . Chitrangadha was killed in a duel with a and Vichitravirya ascended the Throne. Bhishma, by now the grand uncle, hijacked the Swayamvara of the daughters of Kashi Naresha and brought his daughters to Hastinapura to marry his nephew Vichitravirya. The two daughters of the Kashi king who married Vichitravirya were and .DC The son born to Ambika was blind at birth and called Dritharashtra. Ambalika’s son was . was born as a human incarnate due to the curse of sage as , the son of a palace maid in the Vichitravirya household. Drithrashtra married , who was such a devout wife that she elected to tie a bandage around her eyes, so that she too perceived the world as her husband did. With the blessings of sage , Gandhari gave birth to a hundred sons collectively called the . was the eldest of the brothers. Pandu married two queens and . Kunti bore him three sons, Yudhishtra, and

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Ekachakra

After bidding their farewell to , the made for their onward journey beyond the forests. The moment they reached a clearing they wrapped ’s Gandeeva and Bhima’s Gada in jute and cloth sacks. had told them that it would be a full day’s walk to Ekachakra. The route beyond the forest was clear and even for some distance, after which the first signs of human inhabitation appeared. Paddy fields and huts told them that they were nearing the villages on the outskirts of Ekachakra. Their travel through the jungle had made their clothes dirty. The soles of their bare feet had become rough. But their faces were buoyant and energetic. They did not want to draw unnecessary attention to themselves and thus skirted their path out side the fields staying well away from the village proper. By mid day they broke for a camp near a well on the outskirts of the village. A little beyondBOOKS the village they saw a huge neem tree with extensive foliage and thick bifurcating branches. Yudhishtra addressed his brothers thus, “We do look like a tired and a well traveled Brahmin family of a widow with her sons. But the large and unruly bundle of Arjuna’s bow and Bhima’s mace look out of palace. Likewise the silver plate that we have, is notDC fit to be in the possession of the poor Brahmanas whom we represent. I think that we should look into our possessions to separate all the suspicious items. It is best if we hide all these objects, before we get to our destination”. There was a general agreement amongst the Pandavas. Arjuna looked up to the tree and pointed out to a part where the two trunks were bifurcating. Beyond that was a natural ledge, densely covered with leaves. They made a proper bundle with the silver plate, a few costly items that had inadvertently slipped into their baggage; Arjuna’s bow Gandeeva, and Bhima’s mace. This was now camouflaged with leaves and twigs. quickly climbed up the tree and Bhima handed over the package. But the package containing both the mace and bow was too heavy for Sahadeva to lift alone. gave a hand and between them they managed to hide it in a safe place.

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Bakasura

One morning, the five Pandavas left their house early in the morning. Yudhishtra lead his three brothers Arjuna, Nakula and Sahadeva on their alms collection. Bhima made his way to the potter to help him. Kunti dipped into the big pot to get some rice for her sons but her hand hit the bottom. She was embarrassed to borrow from Shankara and his family at frequent intervals, but on that day she decided to ask for some rice to be returned, once the sons came back with the alms. She was about to knock when she heard some weeping and wailing inside. Her ears heard a conversation in hushed tones. Kunti was intrigued and walked close. It was the Brahmana who was weeping and cursing his wife. “Oh unfortunate woman! What sort BOOKSof a wicked and bad predicament have you brought us in? So many times I told you. I even begged of you, that Ekachakra is not the town for us to live. But did you listen to me? No! You always said that you have been born here and have a lot of relatives here. You wanted our children to grow here. You wanted to live here till your old age! But see now where your desire and attitude has got us?” The wife replied, “Oh husband of mine! I have absolutely no disagreement with what you say. Indeed it is only I who hasDC been responsible for all our troubles and calamity. Thus it is right that it is I alone who suffer the consequence by sacrificing myself and embracing death. I don’t want a gem of a husband like you and two of our innocent children to suffer. For a folly, that has been mine and mine alone, death is my only salvation and I shall accept it quite gladly”. Shankara replied “Oh stupid woman! Don’t you realize what you are saying? Don’t you know how much I love you and care for you? How do you think that I will manage with the children without you? In whichever direction I look I find despondency and doom. I do not see any future for our family. Oh God! Why does this terrible tragedy strike us, when I have not knowingly committed a single sin and have lived the life of a devout Brahmana?” Kunti stood silent for a few moments listening to the Brahmin couple who had been such

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Kunti’s Promise

Kunti’s statement took Shankara and his family by surprise. They did not believe their ears. To think that their problems could be solved by this Brahmin widow sounded ridiculous and impossible. Shankara recovered his composure first and said, “Just as a physician administers a strong dose of opium to a dying patient, to temporarily alleviate his miseries before comes to take him away, your words indeed soothe us. But heart of hearts, we know that you are in such a predicament that you can do nothing but reassure us. It is indeed correctly said that people who live in a kingdom ruled by a coward should not get a progeny and push their children into a life fraught with danger. It is unfortunate, that being poor Brahmins we do not have the money to buy a substituteBOOKS to take our place. It is equally fair, that having lived in Ekachakra for so long, and having survived because of the sacrifices of our neighbors, when our turn comes, we should not lag behind in contributing our share. Oh pious lady! Please leave us to our fates and leave us alone. We have decided to go all together to the . Let the wicked Rakshasa gorge himself on all of us. We will be rid of our troubles once and for all”. Kunti gave an enigmatic smile and said, “Oh Shankara! I DCam quite sincere in my statement. I have five healthy and strapping sons. I shall send my second son Bhima with the bullock cart in lieu of you”. Shankar’s family had tears in their eyes. However the Brahmana was not convinced. “Oh noble lady! You are giving us a gift that is too precious for us to accept. Why would you want to sacrifice your healthy and young son for our sake? Are you his real mother or a step mother? If you are indeed his step mother, then I don’t want you to use me and my family as an excuse to get rid of him. What you offer to me seems to be too good to be true!” Kunti touched the Brahmins shoulder reassuringly and said “Oh Brahmana! Don’t you worry! Bhima has grown in my own womb for nine months and has been delivered by these loins of mine. It is not for killing or hurting Bhima that I make this offer to you. Bhima is very brave, and because of

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The Slaying of Bakasura

In a short while, the cart was stuffed full with food. A huge crowd of villagers had assembled. Their apparent motive was to fallow the cart and lead it safely to the outskirts where the Rakshasa lived in a cave. But their actual motive was to ensure that the person driving the cart should not run away half way through. They did not want to risk the anger and wrath of the Rakshasa if the Brahmin boy escaped. As thus the fully loaded cart with Bhima as its driver started slowly followed by a huge crowd. As the cart slowly made its way out, people were surprised to see a big smile play on Bhima’s lips. Normally, there would be tearful farewells and the person would be shivering with fear and horror. But Bhima had such an unexpected BOOKSexpression on his face, that they all wondered if he was a mentally retarded person, who did not actually understand the purpose of his trip. The huge crowd followed him boisterously till the outskirts of the town. Once they reached the foothills, they pointed to the track that led to the caves. Bhima hit the back of the bulls to make them go faster and as the cart disappeared on the tracks, the villagers slowly started getting back. The reason for the big smile on Bhima’s face was because he had solved his dilemma. He had decided to eat the foodDC first before picking up a quarrel with Bakasura. This was for two reasons. Firstly he did not want the food to be spilled or wasted in the fight. Once he had slain the Rakshasa, he would have ended up touching a dead body. This would prohibit him from having his meal unless he had bathed himself. Thus he had decided to start eating once he reached his destination. The moment the cart reached the proximity of the hills, his nose was assailed with a terrible smell of putrid meat and rotting offal. A little ahead, he saw the huge cave at the base of the mountain. Around its mouth was total and utter chaos. A huge mound of half chewed human and animal bones was producing the noxious odor. In another corner lay a huge mound of uneaten and rotting food with a pile of hair and feather of hens and ducks. The whole ground was littered with spoilt food, and the dried and crusted blood had attracted maggots, worms and files. Over head in

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Circling the Universe I t was not yet dark when Bhima’s bullock cart returned to Ekachakra. Bhima was sitting in the front and urging the bullocks on, but the progress was slow. The bulls had to struggle to carry the dead Bakasura and the live Bhima. Bhima had a smile of total contentment on his face, because he had fulfilled two of his prime desires, one was to eat a belly full and the second to have a good fight. Staying in Shankara's house he did not have an opportunity to do either. Drawn by the sound of the bells, a few urchins starting running towards it with curiosity. It was a standard tradition that the cart used to go laden each time, but till date it had never come back. The Rakshasa, after finishing the food used to kill the bulls and eat them and break the cart. They saw Bhima driving it merrily with a big smile on his face. The smile was bigger thanBOOKS it was, when he had driven out. The curious children ran fast towards it. As they approached, one of the boys saw a black hand flopping lifelessly from the rear. The long nails protruding from the hand gave a hint to the boys. A few more rushed and looked into the back, and saw a strange spectacle of the Rakshasa lying supine with his eyes staring towards the sky. For a minute the boys thought that Bakasura was alive and ran away. The cart continuedDC towards Ekachakra and as the Rakshasa’s arm flopped lifelessly, the children guessed that something was wrong with the Rakshasa. One of the braver kids threw a pebble at the hand. The stone hit the Asura and fell down, but did not elicit any response. Their boldness increased and the kids used a stick and prodded the Rakshasa’s face. Finally the boys realized that the Rakshasa Bakasura was well and truly dead. One of them shouted out aloud “Bakasura is dead!” Suddenly the cries spread to the other boys who started chanting. With increasing volumes they shouted “Bakasura is dead!” A few adults joined the melee and in their excitement and enthusiasm, they too started shouting out aloud. Quite soon a very huge crowd had collected and all of them started shouting the same thing “Bakasura is dead.”

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The Mechanical Target D rupada, the king of Panchala was a very happy person. Due to Brahma’s blessings he had a lovely son named Drishtadyumna and a very pretty daughter named . Lord Brahma had blessed that his son would kill his arch rival and enemy and his daughter will wed Arjuna. He could thus not wait till his children grew up. Once, when Draupadi was a small girl, she was walking in the palace garden and met Sage Durvasa. Draupadi, a young girl of about eight or nine was a very active lass and was presenting a lovely spectacle as she frolicked in the flower garden, chasing butterflies. The moment she saw Sage Durvasa with his flowing beard and tejasvi face, Draupadi stopped and hesitated momentarily. She then prostrated before the sage and soughtBOOKS his blessings. Durvasa was in a jolly and playful mood, and after blessing Draupadi, playfully asked her “Oh little one! What do you want to do when you grow up to be a big girl?” In all seriousness Draupadi answered, “I want to marry a special prince and become his queen” A curious Durvasa asked “And how special should this prince be? And in what way should he be special?” DC Young Draupadi answered without second thoughts. “He should be very intelligent, exceptionally strong and brave, a skilled archer, an expert rider and the one who has powers over all animals”. Durvasa wanted to tease the girl a little more and said “Well my little one, it is very difficult to get a single person with all the qualities that you ask. What if you don’t get a single person with all these qualities?” “Then I will marry five people!” said Draupadi with the same seriousness. Sage Durvasa laughingly blessed her with ‘Thatastu” meaning “so it be”. Sage Vyasa cites this small incident as one of the reasons why Draupadi had a polyandrous relationship with all the five Pandavas, who

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Draupadi’s Entry P anchala was decked up like a new bride. had made excellent arrangements for the visitors. In addition to the suitor princes, a very large number of citizens, commoners, and Brahmins from the neighboring villages also came to witness the festivities. A fourteen-day celebration was organized and various forms of entertainment arranged for the suitors and visitors. Amongst the Kshatriya princes, Duryodhana; Dusshasana and a few of the brothers were participating. Other notable participants included , Sishupala, Salva, , , etc, Lord was also present. Here in Mahabharata, Lord Krishna is introduced for the first time. As mentioned earlier, Krishna was a Poorna Avatara, or a total incarnation of Lord , who had descended as a mortal among mortals during Dwapara Yuga. Drupada and Drishtadyumna had made arrangements to build a lot of guesthouses and other comfortabBOOKSle accommodations for the participating princes. The whole Kingdom of Panchala was waiting anxiously for the day of Swayamvara to arrive. In the meanwhile, Kunti and her sons joined the group of Brahmanas from Ekachakra and started towards Panchala. En-route, they were joined by other Brahmanas, and by the time they approached Panchala, it had become a big caravan. It is said that due to the Swayamvara and festivities, there was soDC much crowd in Panchala, that residential accommodation became scarce. Fortunately Satharoopaka had arranged accommodation for Kunti and her sons with the potter and thus they could introduce themselves as insignificant Brahmins of no repute. Once they were settled, Yudhishtra warned them thus, “Oh Brothers! Panchala is not like Ekachakra. It is a large place. In addition, a lot of people who know us will be in town. Duryodhana, , Karna, Drona, Ashwathama are all present here. I want all of you to maintain a low profile and make sure that your identities are not revealed. The festivities will surely include wrestling competitions that might tempt Bhima. Likewise there would be archery competitions and equestrian events too. I want Arjuna and Nakula to avoid them. A reckless display of your skills would only take away your disguise and display your dazzling brilliance, which

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