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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Reproduced with with permission permission of the of copyright the copyright owner. owner.Further reproduction Further reproduction prohibited without prohibited permission. without permission. ISSUES OF IDENTITY IN THE MAHABHARA TA
by
Lisa Lias
submitted to the
Faculty of the College of Arts and Sciences
of American University
in Partial Fulfillment of
the Requirements for the Degree
of Master of Arts
in
History of Religions: The Hindu Tradition
Chairir: [^3 a-/----D ~1 • o r Q y . - Dr. David Rndier C s4 l s Dr. AlfHiltebeitel
Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences
Date ^
1999
American University
Washington, D.C. 20016
MERH9M BHKRSIY UBM fi
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ISSUES OF IDENTITY IN THE M AH ABH AM TA
BY
LISA LIAS
ABSTRACT
This thesis deals with the nature of identity in the Indian epic known as the
Mahabharata. The question of what constitutes identity and whether or not it is in fact a
tangible concept in the world view of the epic is explored by looking at three different
“cases” which appear in the epic.
The first case is a comparison of the characters Vyasa and Karna, whose lives
bear remarkable similarities as well has significant differences. The second case is an
examination of the use of disguise as a means of revealing identity. This involves
comparing the story of Nala and Damayanti to the story of the Pandavas’ thirteenth year
of exile, spent in the court of Virata. The final case is that of Krsna, whose identity
appears more fluid than that of other characters in the epic.
Together, these cases give a sense of the epic view of identity.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Dr. Pierre Ausloos
Jessie D. Garrison
Dr. Alf Hiltebeitel
Dr. Sharon G. Lias
Dr. Joe Martin
Dr. David Rodier
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABSTRACT...... ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS...... iii
Chapter
1. INTRODUCTION...... I
2. FALLEN WOMEN, BASTARD SONS...... 4
3. COME AS YOU ARE...... 27
4. KRSNA’S CONSCIOUSNESS ...... 46
5. CONCLUSION ...... 65
BIBLIOGRAPHY...... 66
iv
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
The issue of identity is something with which a reader is confronted many times in
the Mahabharata. There are so many instances in which standard ideas of what
constitutes identity are subverted, that the careful reader ultimately begins to question
received ideas about what it is that makes a person who he is. Furthermore, those
received ideas are replaced by precious little. What is left in the end is the concept
expressed in the Upanisads that we are not, in essence, anything that can be named or
grasped.
Of course, the action of the epic does not tend to revolve around the characters
agonizing over issues of identity. While there are some obvious exceptions to this,
Kama’s concerns about his origins being a prime example, it is for the most part activity of
a more external nature that occupies the characters. The plot slows at times, and there are
many digressions from it, but it is never lost.
Even so, in the Mahabharata philosophy is inseparable from the plot, and issues of
identity are among the philosophical topics which arise. Here, three “case studies” in
which the nature of identity is dealt with will be examined.
The first of these involves looking at Vyasa and Kama. The remarkable parallels
between the lives of their mothers seem to imply some kind of relationship between these
two men, despite the lack of interaction between them. Their “relationship” is ultimately
much more about the counterpoint they provide to one another from opposites sides of the
1
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. about the concept of identity cannot be reduced to a simple statement - looking at the two
of them together in fact raises more questions than it answers. Nonetheless, there is a
level on which they complete each other, as will be demonstrated.
After looking at Vyasa and Kama, the topic of disguise will be taken up. This is
an unavoidable subject when looking at identity in the Mahabharata, because it is
employed numerous times, both in the main plot and in stories within the story. For the
purposes of this discussion, we will confine ourselves to two episodes of disguise which,
like Vyasa and Karna, seem to have a relationship. These episodes are that of the
Pandavas’ time in the court of King Virata during the thirteenth year of their exile, and
that of Nala and Damayanti. An effort will be made to understand what “disguise” in fact
reveals, as paradoxical as that may seem. As with Vyasa and Kama, there is not a simple
answer. Even so, the fact that the story of Nala and Damayanti is told to Yudhisthira
prior to the Pandavas’ tenure in Virata’s court is a set up for the reader, who cannot fail to
notice parallels between the two stories. There is a degree to which entertainment value is
involved in the proximity and similarity of the two episodes in question. The humorous
elements of the Pandavas disguise sequence is a definite contrast with the more uniform
pathos of Nala and Damayanti. In addition, it is not out of the question that repetitive
elements and recurring motifs are evidence of the oral tradition origins of the epic. But
after acknowledging these things, there is still something to be learned about identity in the
Mahabharata by investigating the two episodes together.
The final look at identity will use as its basis the character of Krsna. The obvious
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reason for this is that Krsna is a character for whom identity is a tool. Though he is the
Divine, he has taken form. Though subject to all that taking form involves (including,
finally, death), he is not form’s slave. The ways in which he manipulates identity and his
fluidity within it will be examined in detail. In as much as the individual’s unity with the
divine is part of Krsna’s message in the epic, his example in regard to identity is perhaps
the most important “statement” about the issue of all those which will be examined.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. CHAPTER 2: FALLEN WOMEN, BASTARD SONS
1. Karna and Vyasa
Of all the offspring in the Mahabharata who result from special circumstances,
and clearly there are many, there are two individuals who are in a category of their
own by virtue of being the secret progeny of women who were virgins both before
conception and after the birth of these sons. The sons in question, Karna and Vyasa,
are each blessed by their fathers at birth - Karna with armor and earrings, Vyasa with
the admirable qualities of the ideal brahmin. It is here that the similarities between
Vyasa and Karna end, however. While Vyasa lives at peace with himself and his
origins from the moment of his birth, going so far as to relieve his mother of the
responsibility of nurturing him in any way, Kama is a character whose lack of peace
with himself and his identity becomes a significant element of the plot of the epic.
Hence on one level of identity, it is Vyasa and Kama who are each other's opposite.
This is not to negate the obvious Arjuna/Kama polarity which operates on the grosser
level of plot. But just as Arjuna can be seen as what Kama might have been -
legitimate and committed to the dharm icrather than the adharm forces ic - so too does
Vyasa present an alternative: a relf-legitimization achieved by means ofjnana and
karm a.
Needless to say, The Mahabhifrata is not a product of the twentieth century and
4
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to dissect the characters from the point of view of modem psychology, while perhaps
an interesting undertaking, would fail to yield insights regarding the world view of the
era which produced the epic. This world view and its definition or definitions of
identity is what will be pursued here.
Foremost among indicators of identity are the individual’s varna, the societal
group into which one is bom, and asrama, the stage of life one is in, inasmuch as these
things define one’s duty. Simply put, the dharma of a king is not, to make a topical
example, the dharma of a cart driver’s son, nor is the dharma of a twenty-five year old
the same as that of an octogenarian. But in addition to these broad categories, there are
other, more refined categories of duty which go further to define the individual. There
is for example kuladharma, which is family duty;stridharm , awhich constitutes the
duties of a woman; gunadharma, which is the duty pertaining to authority, and many
others. That the boundaries of these dharmas may at times overlap and even conflict is
made clear on a number of occasions in the epic. The Kaurava patriarch Dhrtarastra, to
give an obvious example, is frequently depicted as being tom between hisrajadharma
and his kuladharma.
Still, the act of sorting out and acting in accordance with svadharma - one’s
own dharm, athe distillation of the many, sometimes competing duties defined by an
individual’s birth, age, situation, marital status, financial status, geographic location,
gender, etc. - is, to a degree, what life is all about. This is exactly what Aijuna is
doing, for example, when he stops the entire epic in its tracks to ask, uShall I fight?”
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Vyasa, however, is a tricky case. He is said to be a brahmin, and is accepted as
such, but is the illegitimate offspring of a brahmin fa th e rand a mother who is pan
ksatriya, part divine, and adopted by a barge man. From a strictly legal point of view,
Vyasa’s varna categorization is not straightforward, and yet this does not become an
issue in the story as it does for Karna. This may be because of his status as one who
has removed himself from the world, and yet the fact is that Vyasa is not entirely
removed, as his many activities in the epic, not the least of which is fathering Pandu
and Dhrtarastra, show.
Outsiders: This is the word that best describes both Vyasa and Karna.
However, the significant difference between them is the fact that one has chosen his
alien status, essentially from the moment of his birth and the other has had it thrust
upon him, also at birth. While Vyasa is welcomed and revered, or at the very least
shown respect when he makes an appearance in the epic, Karna spends his life in the
epic somewhat unsuccessfully trying to shake his status as “the cart-driver’s son.” It is
one of the story’s ironies that of these two men, it is Vyasa, the man with no need or
craving for status who enjoys the respect and recognition of the Pandavas, something
for which Karna will ultimately go to war against those he knows to be his brothers.
This irony is not a coincidence. Examining the respective arcs of Vyasa and
Karna, their respective journeys through the epic, reveals a certain symmetry which
begins with the similarities between their mothers, Kund and Satyavad. Any
comparison of these two men must therefore begin with their mothers.
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2. Kund and Satyavad
Without Kund and Satyavad, there would be no Mahabharata, since they are the
mothers, respectively, of the principal characters, the Pandavas, and their grandfather, the
“author” of the poem, Vyasa. Married to kings whose roles are much briefer than their
own, these two women take an active role in the lives of their children and make decisions
which have an impact on the entire epic. The parallels in their biographical data are too
striking to be coincidental. What begins to become apparent when examining the data is a
relationship between the two women. Beyond being members by marriage of the same
family, they embody certain themes and vibrate with certain resonances which forge a link
between them. Therefore, an analysis of Kund/Satyavad will provide insights into the
nature of the relationships between their first-born sons, Kama and Vyasa.
To begin at the beginning, both Kund and Satyavad are adopted children. The
circumstances of Satyavad’s adoption are somewhat more dramatic than Kund’s and play
a greater role than Kund’s in the subsequent events of her life. Satyavad was the result of
a union, albeit a circuitous one involving a go-between in the form of a bird, between an
apsara and king Uparichara of Cedi. Because her mother, the apsara Adrika, had been
condemned by Brahma to live as a fish, it was a fisherman who discovered the king’s two
children, and a fisherman who was given the female twin, Satyavad, to raise. Despite her
fishy odor, Satyavad attracts the attention of the sage Parasara while working on her
adoptive father’s ferryboat. She raises objections to his advances, but not only does he
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answer these (taking care, in the process, of the problem of her lost virginity by
guaranteeing its restoration), but grants her a boon of her own choosing as well. Hence,
what would seem on the surface to be an occasion of sin becomes Satyavati’s means of
advancement in the world, for she remains a virgin and chooses as her boon the
replacement of her fishy odor with a permanent, wondrous perfume. She also becomes
the mother of Vyasa, and this too will pay off.
Like Satyavati, Kund is also the recipient of a boon early in life, connected with
the sexual act. Her childhood devotion to Durvasas, an “awesome brahmin of strict
vows” (1:113,33), inspires him to give her the ability to call on any god she chooses for
the purpose of having a child. At once the parallel and the contradiction with Satyavati’s
situation is apparent: Kund too, can and will have a liaison with beings to whom she is not
married, but in her case it will be she who selects her mates. It is her initiative, therefore,
as opposed to Parasara’s in the case of Satyavad, which results in her firstborn son,
Karna. Like Satyavad, Kund is mindful of the importance of virginity, and like Satyavati,
she is able to make a deal with her lover, the Sun, and retain her virginity despite giving
birth to his child. And, like Satyavad, she is separated from her firstborn at birth, though,
in yet another inversion of events, in Kund’s case it is she who sends her son down the
river in a basket, while in Satyavad’s case it is her phenomenal son who retires to the
forest of his own volition at birth.
Having spent exciting girlhoods, both women end up the same family when the
time comes for them to settle down. It eventually becomes incumbent upon both of them
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to arrange for a surrogate to continue the family line, as it is only they, by virtue of their
secret pasts, who can perform this miracle. Of course, Satyavati calls upon her firstborn
to assist her in the creation of her grandchildren, whereas Kunti certainly does not
summon Karna. Her action in invoking her mantra once again for the sake of her husband
is, in fact, almost a negation of Kama, a correction of her previous misuse of the power
she was given. The irony, of course, is that not only can she not negate Kama by having a
new family, but the birth of the Pandavas is the birth of the grievance which will propel
him into the arms of the Kauravas, for of all Kunti’s children, only Kama was rejected.
Kund creates Duryodhana’s greatest friend in the conflict to come, just as Satyavad, by
involving Vyasa as she does, puts in place a friend of the Pandavas second only to
Krsna. In this regard, the parallel stories can be said, to result in a pair of "opposites"
in Vyasa and Kama. Though from early on Arjuna is established as Kama’s
counterpart -
The wrathful Duryodhana is the great tree, Karna its crotch, Sakuni the branches, Duhsana the plentiful blossoms and fruits, and the witless King Dhrtarastra the root.
The law-minded Yudhisthira is the great tree, Arjuna its crotch, Bhimasena the branches, Madri’s two sons the plentiful blossoms and fruits, and Krsna, Brahman, and the brahmins the root. (1:1,65-67)
it will be shown on another, less literal level, that the opposition of Kama and Vyasa,
grounded in their parallel birth stories, continues through the epic.
But to return to the mothers, Kund and Satyavad: both women have a secret
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event in their past, and both have taken steps to make it appear as if it never happened,
and yet Kund will pay for her indiscretion - Kama will redouble his commitment to
fight the Pandavas when he learns his true relationship to them - and Satyavati will not.
She will, in fact, benefit from the aid of her secret son.
Examination of the facts in search of what accounts for this discrepancy in
outcomes yields two significant points of divergence in the stories of Kund and
Satyavad. First, there is the issue of who was the “initiator” in the encounters which
resulted in the births of Kama and Vyasa. While Satyavati was approached by
Parasara, in Kund’s case it is she who summons the God who fathers her son. She has
a sexual power over any god she chooses; this is Durvasas’ gift to her, and she uses it
ill-advisedly. Though, like Satyavad, she regains her virginity, she considers her
experience “misconduct” (1:104,13), whereas Satyavad, the passive participant in her
version of the same event, seems free of self-recrimination.
Of course Satyavad is not forced to engage in analysis of her actions, as Kund
will be, and the reason lies in the second significant difference between the stories of
the two women in question. Unlike Kund, Satyavad has a son who is completely self-
sufficient at birth and abandons her, an exact inversion of what occurs between Kund
and Kama. What’s more, and more to the point, Vyasa does not grow up unaware of
who he is. Not only is he bom a small adult who, unlike Kama, has a complete grasp
of his situation, but he circumvents any of the kinds of issues that Kama manifests,
most notably the pain of rejection, by doing the rejecting himself, and retiring instantly
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to the woods. By eschewing the standard adherence to the asram as, and taking on the
status of sage which puts him in a sense outside the strictures of varna, Vyasa defines
himself largely by negation of the very things by which Karna seeks to create his
identity.
3. Their Mother’s Sons
Having examined their origins, an examination of the impact of those origins on
Karna and Vyasa is in order. It is almost too obvious to note that a lack of self-
knowledge and an impulse to establish by force an identity beyond that of the "suta's
son" is Karna’s defining characteristic. Duryodhana’s pandering to this area of
vulnerability in Karna - making him a king so he can fight Arjuna and asking eternal
friendship in return - is arguably the best tactical move against the Pandavas
Duryodhana will make in the entire epic (the dice game, while effective, is not his
idea). Karna, having a strong sense of honor, doesn’t forget this favor and cannot
bring himself to abandon Duryodhana, or the parents who raised him for that matter,
even when offered the chance to become a Pandava.
His honor, vulnerability and consistency make Karna, despite his alliances,
grudge-holding and bellicosity, an extremely sympathetic character. From the moment
he is shamed in front of the assembly at the tournament, his first encounter with his
brothers, Karna emerges as one of the few characters in the Mahabharata whose
motivations are completely apparent and whose resolve never fluctuates — it ishe, for
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. example, who instigates a war party against the Pandavas while they are serving their
thirteen years in exile as required. Wendy Doniger has called Karna “one of the great
tragic figures of the Mahabharata” (Doniger 18), and indeed he is, in that the same
quest that seems petty in Duryodhana - the overthrow of the Pandavas - seems almost
admirable in Karna, or at the very least understandable. Though he is their equal and
demonstrates this by means of feats and tenacious courage long before his origins are
revealed, the Pandavas consistently denigrate him. The responsibility for this,
ultimately, is Kunti’s. Her boon is her curse. When she uses her mantra, the child she
bears will not simply walk away, as Satyavati’s son does.
What we have in Karna, then, is not an evil opposite of Vyasa, but rather a
demonstration of the road not taken. His story is an indictment of vamasramadharma
as a means of self definition though it’s necessity as a system of governance is not
questioned. Karna is sent, helpless to arrest his own course, down the river of life at
birth. Vyasa is bom on the island that protects him from the flow.
Looking at the respective relationships of Vyasa and Karna to Draupadi sheds
still more light on the influence of these differences.
In the epic, the nature of a relationship with the Pandavas is often largely
dependent upon the nature of a relationship with Draupad!. Without question, she is an
integral part of their collective being. Using her as a reference point, it is, therefore,
possible to establish in more detail the Karna/Vyasa opposition, in particular because it
is around her that their paths cross initially, however indirectly.
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Karna’s second encounter with his brothers is at Draupadi’s Svayamvara. Karna
is among the many ksatriya’s assembled to win the princess, seemingly able now to call
himself one of them. Failing like the rest in an effort to string the bow, he is
astonished and outraged when Arjuna, disguised as a Brahmin, easily accomplishes
what no others have, hitting the target as well as stringing the bow. It is at this
juncture that the battle between these two which was narrowly avoided before nearly
comes to pass. However, Karna withdraws, convinced that the power of a Brahmin,
which he still believes Arjuna to be, is unbeatable.
The conflict is, to all appearances, between Karna and Arjuna. Simultaneously,
the conflict is between Ksatriyas and Brahmins, the issue being whether Brahmins,
which the Pandavas are in this episode, may participate in the bridegroom choice. It is
on both of these levels, the personal and the socio-political, that Vyasa, not physically
present at the Svayamvara, is represented and comes into conflict with Kama.
First, it is Vyasa who is responsible for the Pandavas presence at the event,
having decreed ahead of time that Draupadi would be the wife of all five brothers. He
has sent them in, and they act with his blessing. Any conflicts that arise, such as
Kama’s challenge of Aijuna, can therefore be seen as conflicts with Vyasa and a
contradiction of his will. His appearance later at the wedding to tell the story of the
Five Indras, a justification of the proposed polyandry, underscores his involvement and
lack of disinterest.
In addition, it is Vyasa who has come up with the specific choice of brahmin as
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a disguise for the Pandavas after the Lacquer House episode, a choice which serves to
make the Pandavas "like" Vyasa. This underscores the first way in which Vyasa’s
presence is felt, and when Kanrn backs out of the fight with the "brahmin" Aijuna, he
is ceding the day to Vyasa and Vyasa’s plans as much as he is to Arjuna, though he
will certainly return to fight again.
Draupadi, then, is a character through which Karna and Vyasa make indirect
contact with one another. This idea is amplified in light of Alf HiltebeiteFs conception
of Draupadi and Vyasa as two of the "three Krsnas" of the Mahabharata (Hiltebeitel
60-76). He points out that above and beyond the fact that Vyasa and Draupadi share
Krsna’s name, they are also of dark complexion like him, a fact which agrees with the
name Krsna, "black," and which Hiltebeitel refers to as a "sign of the times" (62),
black being the designated color of the degenerate Kali yuga.
Of even more significance to the topic under discussion here is HiltebeiteFs
observation of the “three Krsna’s” "propensity to mediate" (69) on behalf of the
Pandavas. Since all three take part in this activity at different times, (e.g. Draupadi at
the dice game, Krsna on the “peace mission” before the war and Vyasa during the
war), a success for one, when it occurs, can be interpreted as a success for all, as well
as success for the Pandavas.
There is a degree to which Draupadi and Vyasa can be said to be linked as
characters then, and Kama’s next involvement with Draupadi, which takes place at the
dice game, can be seen as the next step in the conflict of interest between Vyasa and
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Karna which began at the Svayamvara. Draupadi therefore continues as an interface
between the two.
It is interesting to note that Karna does not take part in the planning of the dice
game. He has a discussion with Dhrtarastra and Duryodhana just before the Sakuni’s
plan is hatched in which he expressly rules out any form of trickery - Duryodhana
presents a long list of possibilities - as a means of taking the Pandavas wealth. He
advocates war, fought in the open, and is thus shown in stark contrast to Duryodhana.
When the dice game is planned soon thereafter, Karna is absent and does not reappear
in the action until the throw which will decide Draupadl’s fate are in the air. "Kama,
Duhsasana, and their cronies were mightily pleased ...” (11:58,40). Hence, though he
does not advocate non-martial conflict - desiring instead conflict that is aboveboard and
essentially fair in that the enemy can fight back - he is back on board the moment
Draupadi is brought into the scenario, again demonstrating that she is a lynchpin in the
conflict for Karna as well as for others.
A small detail in the subsequent action is worth mentioning at this point. The
son of a suta who works for the household is sent by Duryodhana to bring Draupadi out
from the women’s quarters once she is lost. (This becomes necessary when Vidura,
Vyasa’s third son in the household, unequivocally refuses to do so.) What is
accomplished by this, on one level, is a face to face meeting of Vyasa and Karnaby
proxy, though in this case the term suta refers to a son of a bard. The result is Kama’s
nightmare. The su ta ’sson confronts one of the “three Krsnas” as an equal, "Come
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enter the house of Dhrtarastra. To your chores I must lead you, Yajfiaseni!" (11:60,16),
and learns in no uncertain terms that he is not an equal, for in the end he follows her
command, taking her great question on the dharma back out to the assembly, and
leaving her where she is. Even so, at the end of the day, Samjaya will cite to
Dhrtarastra the fact that the su ta ’sson approached Krsna as one of the day’s significant
transgressions (11:72,6).
At the utterance by Duhsasana of the epithet "Slave! ” in reference to Draupadi
when she is at last dragged forward, Karna reacts again, "heartily laughing” as she is
shaken. This time, however, the "cronies" remain silent and only Karna, Sakuni and
Duryodhana fail to realize that things have now gone too far. The issue of whether or
not she has been won legally, the central question of the scene, is not doubted by
Karna, and he takes the opportunity not only to say so, but to malign her character,
calling her a whore by virtue of her polyandry. He takes a more active role than
Duryodhana in the ongoing discussion, and in a tableau which will be echoed when
Aijuna’s father, Indra, strips Karna of his god-given armor, Karna demands the
stripping of all the Pandavas - and of Draupadi, though this last insult will not come to
pass.
Just as Vyasa is the base of the Pandavas, serving them in various capacities as
Bruce Sullivan has pointed out, (Sullivan 27), Draupadi, as one of the "three Krsnas"
of Hiltebeitel’s schema serves to support them as well. Nowhere is this more evident
than the moment at the "false" ending of the dicing scene when she rescues her
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husbands with the boons granted her by Dhrtarastra. At this point, Karna, who so
recently called her a whore, says,
Of all the women of mankind, famous for their beauty, of whom we have heard, no one have we heard accomplished such a deed! While the Parthas and the Dhartarastras are raging beyond measure, Krisna Draupadi has become the salvation of the Pandavas! When they were sinking, boatless and drowning, in the plumbless ocean, the Pancali became the Pandava’s boat to set them ashore (11:64,1).
Though Bhima finds this observation yet another humiliation in a day of humiliations,
Karna’s admiration, and more importantly his recognition of Draupadi as more than
simply a woman is unmistakable. Implicit in his statement is the acknowledgment of
Draupadi’s power, which has cut through all the testosterone in the room and prevailed,
or so it seems. It is a reprise of the moment in which the su ta ’sson suddenly gives her
the respect to which she is entitled and leaves the women’s quarters. It is another point
for Vyasa, both in his capacity as an advocate of the Pandava cause and as a resonator
of Draupadi, one of the co-Krsnas. Having examined ways in which Draupadi serves
as a conduit between Vyasa and Karna, it remains to examine other ways in which they
connect.
4. Contact
When the Pandavas have established themselves in a hermitage in the forest and
Vidura has returned from visiting them after a falling out with Dhrtarastra, Duryodhana
once again becomes agitated, fearing that Vidura will influence Dhrtarastra to bring the
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Pandavas back. In order to soothe him, Karna suggests that the Pandavas be attacked,
despite their adherence to the rules of the exile they are enduring. But no sooner are
the chariots in motion when Vyasa steps in to stop them, having seen what was afoot
by virtue of his power as a seer. Again, asuta 'j son is corrected by a Krsna. Again
Karna strains against the dharm a, in this case by knowingly setting out to violate the
terms of the exile agreement and make war before the thirteenth year is complete, and
again he is thrown back, but this time, for the first time, it is Karna and Vyasa meeting
without stand-ins on either side.
Certainly this transgression is more serious than the technical foul of
challenging Arjuna at the tournament prior to the Svayamvara, since he is in reality
Arjuna’s equal - the fact is that Arjuna does not refuse to fight him again after that first
encounter, so even he doesn’t take the strictures of varna too much to heart when faced
with a capable opponent. But despite the raised stakes and the escalation of hostilities
which Vyasa stops in this instance, the epic does not depict the meeting of Vyasa and
Karna. That it has taken place is recorded, but not what was said. Nonetheless, there
has been a progression in which, as Karna’s frustration drives to him to more drastic
steps, the two characters move from indirect contact in which Draupadi plays a central
role, either as a bone of contention or as one of the three Krsnas, to actual contact.
Though they will not speak again, Karna and Vyasa’s interaction is not yet over.
Beyond the obvious - the feet that they are on opposite sides in the central conflict of
the epic - a special relationship and opposition between them continues to make itself
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apparent. While in exile, Yudhisthira is discussing with Bhfma the strength of the
Kaurava camp, and he says can’t sleep for thinking of Kama’s skill. At that instant,
Vyasa appears and tells him that he will dispel his fears “with an argument that is
found in the Rules” (111:37,24) What he tells Yudhisthira is in fact “conjuration” with
which Arjuna will be able to obtain weapons from the gods. Though it would be an
overstatement of the case to say that this magic is given as a specific response to
Yudhisthira’s fears about Kama, the fact is that it is at the mention of his Kama-induced
insomnia that Vyasa appears. So it seems that Yudhisthira fears his side may be
unequal to the task of confronting an army with Kama at its head and Vyasa concurs
enough to convey magic. He is motivated to contribute some of the powers he
possesses as an ascetic to the conflict, almost as if in acknowledgment of something in
Kama which only he can address.
S. Vyasa and Kama’s Dance
Having reviewed these relevant episodes, it is now possible to look at the arc of
these two character’s interaction. They begin “together” in a sense, their mothers
being enactors of the same story up to the moment of the births of their first-bom sons.
They then parallel each other, moving away from their mothers at birth and landing in
the position of outsiders to society. From this position, which one embraces and the
other fights with all that’s in him, they will make contact with one another. This
contact will, of course, take place by means of Vyasa and Karna’s activities in regard
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to the Pandavas and Draupadl.
A word about the Pandavas is in order at this point. Though they are the
protagonists of the epic, they, like Krsna, serve as a medium in which the nature of
other characters is revealed. This is shown time and again by means of a certain
passivity in the face of adversity and unfairness, albeit a passivity enforced by
Yudhisthira on his brothers and Draupadl. One obvious example is the fact that
Duryodhana could avoid the Great War by simply giving the Pandavas a tiny fraction
of their Kingdom on which to live. Duryodhana is incapable of making this gesture, a
tiny one on his part and far less than the Pandavas are entitled to, to avert disaster. The
passivity of the Pandavas in this instance lays bare Duryodhana’s essence for the
audience. Another example is given when Draupadl, incensed at the outcome of the
dicing, argues that to accept fate and fail to act on one’s own behalf is foolish (111:31).
In the face of Yudhisthira’s calm, the fiery core of Yajiiasem is revealed. Through
these, among other examples, the way in which the Pandavas shed light on other
characters is demonstrated.
This revelatory influence is no less evident in regard to Vyasa and Karna - and
to their relationship - who interact via the Pandavas. At the Svayamvara of Draupadl,
where Vyasa is represented by the Pandavas dressed, as per his instructions, as
brahmins, the first contact of the two characters in question is made. What is revealed
is Karna’s attempt to come in from his outsider position, and succeeding inasmuch as
he is included among the other ksatriyas vying for Draupadl, but M ing inasmuch as he
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not only fails to bend the bow but is intimidated when he comes face to face with
Aijuna, doubly Vyasa’s man at this event.
But to return to an analysis of the “arc” of the interaction between Vyasa and
Kama, it is apparent that, from this indirect contact at Draupadi’s Svayamvara, Vyasa
and Kama move closer but still do not meet. Their next encounter will be at the
dicing, an event which neither would have had happen, given the power to prevent it.
Kama fails to prevent it when he counsels for overt tactics against the Pandavas, and
Vyasa fails, as Bruce Sullivan has pointed out, in his role as priest of the Rajasuya of
which the dicing is the final event (Sullivan, 59). Vyasa will, in a sense, be represented
by Draupadl at the dicing, and again Kama will be inspired by respect which will
temper his baser emotions. Not only does the siita 's son employee of the palace fail to
extract Draupadl from the women’s quarters, bringing instead her question to the
assembly, but in addition Kama himself stops laughing at her and pays her respect
when she rescues the Pandavas. This is not unlike his honorable withdrawal from the
fight with Aijuna at the Rajasuya and is the second time Kama demonstrates his ability
to discern what is appropriate when in the orbit of his counter-self, Vyasa.
Having taken these steps toward one another, at last Kama and Vyasa meet face
to face when Kama leads the effort to attack the Pandavas in exile. Having
transgressed against what is right, something of which he has not previously been
guilty, Vyasa and he are forced to confront one another, and, just as he did when
operating by proxy, Vyasa prevails.
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In what would seem to be a kind of ultimate encounter between Vyasa and
Kama, Yudhisthira speaks of the effect Kama is having on him and Vyasa responds by
giving magic to the Pandavas which will allow Arjuna to get the apocalyptic weapons.
He therefore agrees to fight Kama at last, and the confrontations which have been
defered in the past will have a payoff.
This may be because Kama becomes more aggressive over the course of the
story, instagating not only the first abortive attack on the Pandavas in exile but the later
“cattle expedition” as well - the result of which is the Pandavas, in a spectacular
exhibition of family duty, orkuladharm , rescuing a Duryodhana from the Gandharvas.
But it is possible that an alternate explanation gets more at the root of what draws
Vyasa and Kama together.
It can be argued that they were bom to come together and in the way they do,
which is to say via the Pandavas. Having sprung from such similar circumstances, they
clearly have a relationship to one another. But parallel lines do not intersect, and their
drama is not played out directly.
There is yet another significant way in which Vyasa and Kama are parallel
characters, and that has to do with the fact that both play a role in the downfall of the
Bharata clan. Though they seem to work on opposite sides in the conflict which leads
to the war and Vyasa would seem to favor an avoidance of hostilities, in fact it is a war
which must occur. The juncture between the yugas having been reached, a great
resolution must take place, leading to a new beginning. This being the case,Vyasa and
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Kama can almost be said to be working together, though on the surface this is far from
apparent.
To clarify this idea, a consideration of Bruce Sullivan’s assesment of Vyasa’s
failings will come into play. Because Vyasa “fails in his most important undertakings”
(57), he is ultimately a more efficient agent of destruction than any of the Kauravas.
His failures are three in number, and Sullivan ultimately places them in the context of
Dum6zil’s concept of the three sins (64). In the first place, he is responsible for
“fathering flawed sons. ”(64) The implications of this are multiple. Vyasa’s son Pandu
will find himself unable to procreate by conventional means and will therefor ask of
Kunti something which will reopen her past - the use of her mantra. This will set the
stage for a great deal. Her sons being children of the gods puts them in the position of
playing out the mythic battle against the demons in the form of the Kauravas. The
exclusion of her first son from her life results in his being among the fiercest opponants
of the Pandavas. Hence Vyasa’s son Pandu, married to an echo of Vyasa’s mother, as
has been discussed, is a character whose flaws and mistakes have far-reaching
implications.
Vyasa’s son Dhrtarastra is no less problematic than his brother. Bom blind
because of his mother’s timorousness at the sight of Vyasa, he is often said to have the
sight of insight but often fails to use it where his own children are concerned. This
second weak spot in Vyasa’s progeny has obvious repercussions, the most significant of
which is that Duryodhana is not restrained.
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So in attempting, at his mother’s request, to aid the Bharata dynasty by
fathering the much needed sons, Vyasa spawns the seeds of the great war. This is his
first failure.
His second failure takes place when his Pandava grandsons establish a separate
kingdom, Indraprastha, from their cousins. Though this separation would seem a
solution to the rivalry between the camps, it serves to launch the most important event
of the epic - the dicing.
Once established in the new kingdom,Yudhisthira holds a Rajasuya, or
consecration as universal monarch. This is a somewhat provocative thing to do under
ideal circumstances, as it involves a ritual, or in this case literal, subjugation of all
other monarchs. Beyond that, however, every ritual in the vedic tradition entails risk,
in that an imperfectly performed rite may backfire on the performer or on those for
whom it is performed, and this is what happens in this case. In the dice game,
traditionally the culminating act of a Rajasuya, the rite turns on those for whom it is
done. The ritual game is played for real stakes, the kingdom is lost - not once but
twice. The responsibility for this is Vyasa’s as presiding priest of the Rajasuya.
Vyasa’s third failure is his inability to to “reconcile the combatants.” (61)
Though it must be remembered that not even the other male Krsna was able to achieve
this aim, even by revealing his true form to the assembled court, the fact remains that
having spawned Pandu and Dhrtarastra whose sons now stand on the brink of war, and
having conducted the Rajasuya which ended with the disasterous dicing match, Vyasa
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foils at this last chance to fix what has gone wrong. This being the case, a stronger
case for a Vyasa/Karna correspondence begins to emerge.
Not that Vyasa wants to foil. Certainly there is no reason to think that he ever
acts with less than good faith and an intention that his contributions, be they as
patriarch or priest, have beneficial results. So, that he and Kama want exactly opposite
things where the war is concerned can’t be denied. But as is so often the case, in the
epic as in life, the dharma is subtle. It is possible for there to be a unity of purpose in
what seems to be turmoil, and for those who seem to be foes to be working toward a
greater common goal, to be part of a larger enterprise. It is in this light that Vyasa and
Kama can be seen as a pair, two agents of destruction, one positive and the other
negative. While Vyasa is immune from the kinds of considerations which motivate
Kama as he moves through the world - resentment, jealousy, disatisfaction - and
therefore can be said to act from a more detached if not enlightened point of view, in
the larger scheme of things, this doesn’t really matter. He is no less subject to the
workings of the system which demands the Great War than any other participant.
Though his karm a has resulted in a birth which will keep him off the actual field of
battle,considering the message of the G ita it becomes plain that it doesn’t especially
matter where one’s role places one. Vyasa has played his part, Kama has played his,
and their combined efforts have brought about the unavoidable conflagration.
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6. From Within and From Without
So Vyasa is a character who remains on the outside, periodically visiting, often
in order to accomplish one of the failures discussed above, while Kama, his more
human shadow, finds his way in from the cold in order to work in his own,
straightforward way to bring about the war, advocating it to Duryodhana at every
oportunity. They work, in a sense, in concert, one as a participant, a human
subjectively seeking a kind of justice for himself, the other as a seer, “objectively”
seeking what is best for all and helping the story arrive at what must be, though what
must be differs from the scenario he seeks.
To think of Kama as Vyasa in disguise may not be a stretch. In Kama, bom,
like Vyasa, miraculously, is the dharma of the time in which he lives, guiding his
actions. Kama is the same man as Vyasa, sent down a different path. The initial split
between the two characters in question is that Kama lacks self-knowledge on the most
basic level. This causes him to grasp at identity, allying himself with Duryodhana in
the process. And yet he displays a sagelike discipline - cutting off his armor, his only
legacy, without flinching, enduring the sting of an insect while his gum sleeps. These
are things which reveal a selflessness generally found in ascetics - like Vyasa.
This idea of Kama as a disguised Vyasa speaks to the Upanisadic idea of the
atman as the true self which is present in all humans no matter how obscured by
superficial ideas of identity. And yet Karna’s quest for his worldly identity is not
treated by the epic as unworthy. Identity or lack thereof is treated in a number of
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places in the Mahabharata, and in a telling passage, the Pandavas themselves must, like
Kama, live as people whom they are not.
Disguise is a device used save one’s life and avoid disaster throughout world
literature, and in the Mahabharata, it is no different. In the case of the Pandavas after
the dice game, staying in disguise in the thirteenth year of exile is a punishment as
well. Clearly then, looking at this punishment of the Pandavas and at unhappy Kama,
loss of identity is a great misfortune.
It is interesting that Kama does not accept the offer of inclusion in the Pandava
fold when it is offered to him; in fact it’s a stunning moment. His identity, denied him
for so long, is presented to him, and he turns it down. It is a significant artifact in a
consideration of the nature of identity in the epic. On the surface it seems the gesture
of a proud and angry man, unwilling to be mollified in the eleventh hour, and indeed
that is part of what’s going on. But at the same time, viewed in the context of a series
of episodes involving enforced disguise which will now be examined,Kama’s rejection
of his Pandava self has a number of other resonances.
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1. Disguise
There are a number of instances in the Mahabharata in which disguise is a key
element. The two significant occasions on which the Pandavas abandon their true
identities - once after the Lacquer House murder attempt and a second time to meet the
terms of the final dice game - give two perspectives on a loss of identity event.
On the one hand, it may be necessary to assume a disguise in order to simply save
one’s life, as is the case when the Pandavas “become” brahmins after fleeing the lacquer
house. In such a case, when the loss of identity is a choice - though one heavily
influenced by circumstances - the Pandavas are able to cultivate a freedom within the
constraints of their situation. It is, of course, in disguise that they attend the Svayamvara
of their future wife and win her.
On the other hand, loss of identity can be imposed as a punishment. The terms of
the final dice match include not only twelve years of exile in the forest, but also a final year
in which the identities of the losers must be scrupulously hidden while living in society on
pain of incurring another twelve-year exile. This scenario, in which disguise is not
assumed voluntarily as a life-saving measure, casts loss of identity in an ignominious light.
It is the insult the Kauravas wish to inflict above and beyond the injury of a twelve year
camping trip.
27
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It is context, then, that dictates whether or not disguise is a misfortune on the
mundane level. On another level however, context has no relevance, fortune and
misfortune no meaning. The transformative function of disguise or loss of identity in the
Mahabharata, something which occurs on the level of universal law - from which place
Krsna is speaking when he gives the Bhagavad Gita and reveals his true identity - is not a
process which can be defined in terms of good and bad. Process is process, and
ultimately, the entire issue of identity in theMahabharata cannot be separated from the
concepts of varna and asrama on the one hand, the Pandavas being “bound up with these
classifications” (Hiltebehel 195), and the concept of moksa on the other. The process
which potentially leads from the former to the latter will be the focus here.
2. The Book of Virata and Nala and Damayanti
Two stories of disguise in the epic stand out for the way they resonate with each
other. One, involving the Pandavas, is the story of the thirteenth year of exile mentioned
previously, told in the Book of Virata. The other, the story of Nala and Damayanti, is one
of the many stories within the story of the epic. The relationship between the two stories
is underscored by the fact that Yudhisthira is told the story of Nala and Damayanti at the
beginning of the twelve years of exile.Nala and Damayanti is therefore, on the narrative
level, a teaching story for Yudhisthira. For the reader of the epic of course, a
superimposition of the two stories reveals correspondences and divergences which serve
to illustrate the transforamative function of disguise.
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That King Nala has a lot in common with the Pandavas in general and Yudhisthira
in particular is apparent from the outset. Above and beyond being “endowed with all
good virtues,” he, like Yudhisthira, “loved to gamble” and "spoke the truth.” (111:50,3).
In addition, he attends a Svayamvara in order to obtain his wife.
In an interesting reversal, instead of being presented with “five Indras” as would-
be husbands as Draupadl is after her Svayamvara, Nala’s beloved Damayanti comes face
to face with one would-be m ortal husband multiplied by five - a result of the gods
attempting to find a way around the human Damayanti’s preference for Nala. Hence,
though the situation is an inversion of Draupadi’s story, it is simultaneously an echo on an
imagistic level of “The Five Indras,” the story told by Vyasa to justify Draupadi’s
polyandry. InNala and Damayanti, however, instead of establishing inherent divinity as
it does for the Pandavas, the image of the five identical beings is used to establish Nala’s
mortality inasmuch as Damayanti is able to perceive that they arenot, in fact, truly
identical. So unlike the Pandavas, Nala’s relationship with the gods is neither familial nor
karmic, (though his name, Nala, suggests a connection with Nara, and therefore to Aijuna
as well as, indirectly, to Visnu). Draupadi gets five husbands who are connected to the
gods in both ways, whereas Damayanti picks the one out of five Nalas who lacks divine
connection of this sort.
Nonetheless, once Damayanti selects the mortal Nala, the gods forge a relationship
with him, giving him special gifts:
Sakra, Saci’s pleased husband, gave the Nisadhan the privilege of seeing the god in person at his sacrifices, and an unimpeded course wherever he walked. The
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oblation-carrying Fire God bestowed on him his own presence wherever the Nisadhan wanted it, and entrance to places that were luminous with fire itself. Yama gave him a taste for food and utter firmness in the Law. The Lord of the Waters granted him the presence of water where the Nisadhan wanted it, and a most fragrant garland. All together they gave him twin children. And after having so made their gifts, the Gods returned to heaven. (111:54,29-33)
Nala has been approved by the gods as Damayanti’s mate, there is no question, and their
sanction has been manifested by their gifts. Like Yudhisthira after his Rajasuya, Nala is
“at the head of all the kings” (111:50,1), and like Yudhisthira th t yuga will s be his
downfall.
As the gods leave the wedding of Nala and Damayanti, they encounter the yugas
“Kali” and “Dvapara,” who, made jealous by Damayanti’s choice of a mortal man, decide
to ruin Nala by means of a dice game. The unavoidable parallel in the Mahabharata
proper is that Duryodhana “was bom on earth from a portion of Kali” (1:61,80), and
Sakuni is “the reborn Dvapara” (1:61,71). By means of this detail, therefore, the reader is
given something which provides at least a possible explanation for Yudhisthira’s seemingly
inexplicable performance at the dicing, Kali being present in Duryodhana in addition to the
epic being set at the juncture of the same two yugas which are incarnate in N ala and
D am ayanti. Kali is unable to take possession of Nala and create the gambling obsession in
him until he makes a mistake which jeopardizes his ritual purity, but, even so, the point
driven home is that, though there is no conclusive proof the evil of theK aliyuga could be
at the root of Yudhisthira’s flaw.
Just as in Yudhisthira’s case, it is a family member who takes advantage of the
gambling obsession that overtakes Nala. Unlike Yudhisthira, however, Nala does not
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stake his wife when goaded by his tormenter. At the suggestion that he do so, Nala “made
no reply” (111:57,4). This being the case, the story ofNala and Damayanti takes no
position on the enduring question of whether or not Yudhisthira had a right to stake his
wife.
The two wives in question, confronted with destitute husbands, both declare their
intention not to abandon their husbands, rather they pledge to share whatever hardship
awaits them, and both, wearing insufficient clothing, leave their palaces. In the case of
Damayanti, despite her best intentions, loyalty will not be enough to keep her spouse by
her side.
It is worth noting that both Draupadi and Damayanti pose a question following the
loss of their husbands’ kingdoms, Damayanti to the absent Nala, and Draupadi to Krsna.
While on the level of plot these questions serve different functions, ultimately, both probe
the issue of identity. In Draupadi’s case, the question and answer unit “penetrates to the
mythological identities of the principal figures,” (Hiltebeitel 89), while Damayanti attempts
to penetrate out of the mythology of Nala as Bahuka. Both women, however, essentially
seek explanations for their respective predicaments, since, from both their points of view,
it should not have happened. Neither really gets an explanation in response, but Draupadi
does get a degree of satisfaction from Krsna’s assurance that the wives of those
responsible for her grief will some day weep just as she does (111:13, 115-16)
The difference in the results of the questioning is the difference, quite simply,
between Nala and Krsna. Nala’s name itself suggests the name Nara, the man who is
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found by the side of Narayana, or Visnu. There would seem, therefore, to be an implied
relationship on some level between Nala and Visnu. Nala’s disguise, that of a dwarf, goes
further to create a connection with Visnu, reminiscent as it is of Visnu’s avatar Vamana.
But unlike Aijuna, a character openly called Nara at certain points, Nala’s connection with
Visnu is a distant one. The incongruity between man and god in Nala’s case is in fact
emphasized by the respective question/answer units of Draupadi and Damayanti. Further
comparison of the two wives will continue in the context of comparing details of the
thirteenth year withNala and Damayanti.
3. The Impact of disguise
The disguise sequences of Nala’s and the Pandavas’s respective stories differ
sharply in that for the Pandavas’ and their wife, the period of disguise is a shared time in
which they stay together and keep a mutual secret about who all of them really are. For
Nala and Damayanti, their separation means that they are unaware when the other assumes
a new identity, and in Nala’s case a new physical form. In addition, Nala does not choose
his disguise, but instead has it bestowed upon him by one who seeks to help him. While
they have been forced to assume new identities, it is the Pandavas themselves who select
just what those identities will be, and their choices are as amusing as they are apt,
especially in the cases of Aijuna and Yudhisthira.
By remaining together, the Pandavas are able not only to defend their wife, but
also to make up for past failure in that regard by replaying the dishonoring of Draupadl
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scene with the unfortunate Klcaka, yet anothersu ta ’sson - two other son’s of sutas
(Kama and the employee in the dicing sabha) precede him in the story. This time,
however, the results of the encounter are acceptable to Draupadl - Klcaka is killed.
Damayanti, on the other hand, alone in the world, is nearly eaten by a snake and must then
contend with the attentions of her rescuer. Like Draupadl in the dicing sabha, she is able
to overcome the one who misuses her by means of a rescue miracle because she is a
woman who follows the law in both thought and deed. For those same reasons, later she
is able, like Draupadl, to find employment as the maid to a queen (111:62,22-49 and
IV:8,20-32).
Nala, meanwhile, meets a snake of his own, does him a service, and by virtue of
the snake’s magic is transformed into his disguise. Here then, is a significant difference
between the situation of Nala and that of the Pandavas: Nala’s disguise is bestowed upon
him as a boon. None the less, it will be true that for Yudhisthira, as for Nala, the period of
disguise will provide a catharsis from which each will emerge free of the compulsion to
gamble, both having learned the secret of successful dicing.
Having been transformed, Nala’s story enters a phase which contains in it the
germs of each of the Pandavas experiences in disguise. Like the Pandavas, Nala
immediately seeks employment with a king. Like Nakula he works with horses and like
Bhlma he cooks. Like Yudhisthira he is interested in dice, but, unlike him, it is as Bahuka,
his disguise identity, that Nala learns the secret he needs in order to both master the dice
and purge himself of Kali.
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Eventually in both stories, the time of loss of identity ends, and the characters
emerge improved. The demons which brought about the reversal of fortune having been
exorcized, normalcy is restored. The transforming function of loss of identity is asserted
in both cases. A precedent for this within the culture of India may be the Holi festival,
which kicks off the new year, in which, within a proscribed time and context, the existing
social structure is undermined, caste distinctions are subverted, and appropriate
“punishments” are meted out to those who have offended their neighbors during the year
(Van Buitenen 4-5). This cathartic process having been endured, the new year then begins
with a best foot forward. Just as the Pandavas’ exile is twelve years, in some versions of
Nala and Damayanti this is also the length of time Nala and Damayanti are married before
his gambling obsession is activated by Kali (Shulman 3). It is possible, therefore, that the
analogy to Holi drawn by van Buitenen regarding the thirteenth year may also hold true
for Nala and Damayanti.
4. Nala and Damayanti in the Epic
What is the impact of including the story of Nala and Damayanti in the epic?
Certainly the dramatic justification of telling the tale to Yudhisthira because of the
parallels with his own life are plain. But for the reader, outside of both stories, there is an
aggregate effect achieved by receiving both, or rather a harmony/tension which results
from playing different notes on the same theme.
Primary among these differing “notes” is the situation of the women involved in
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the respective stories. As mentioned earlier, unlike Yudhisthira, Nala does not wager his
wife as a last resort in his dice match. He does, however, commit a sin of sorts when, like
Draupadl (and Sita for that matter), Damayanti chooses to follow her husband into
poverty instead of seeking comfortable refuge along with her children, at the home of a
relative. Nala’s sin, which is said to be more of Kali’s influence, is that having lost his
kingdom, he abandons his faithful wife in the middle of nowhere, running off while she is
asleep and leaving her to fend for herself. As a result, Damayanti is not only attacked by a
snake but she is also approached improperly by the hunter who rescues her from the beast.
She has no recourse but to save h e rse lf from this man. The fact that she manages to do so
by virtue, literally, of her virtue saying, “If even in my heart I have never thought of any
man but Nala, so let this brute who lives off animals fall dead!” (111:60,36) in no way
diminishes Nala’s failure toward her in this situation. Certainly Draupadi found herself in
a situation very nearly worse than this when in the dicingsabha she found no rescue from
improper advances though her husbands were physically present. But later, when she is
abducted by Jayadratha in the forest during exile, she is not, like Damayanti, on her own,
but is rescued and avenged.
This demonstrates a redemptive value in the hardship the Pandavas have suffered
by being exiled. The Pandavas failed their wife in the dicing sabha, and her humiliation
there leads her to be among the most vocal proponants of war with the Kauravas. But
when she suffers indignity at the hands of Jayadratha her husbands are no longer the same
men who sat and watched her degredation without acting on her behalf. The same can
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certainly be said of Bhima’s handling of Klcaka, who molests Draupadi during the
thirteenth year and pays with his life. These examples support the idea that in the epic “a
person gains in power and esteem if he undergoes hardship” (Van Nooten 72). Their
punishment, the austerity required of them under the terms of the dicing, has, in fact,
rehabilitated the Pandavas morally, or at the very least clarified certain ambiguities
regarding the dharm which a confused things for them previously. Of Yudhisthira for
example, it has been said that “[h]is moral nature, instead of undergoing any
disintegration, unfolds itself develops, and achieves fullness simply as a result of the
forest-exile caused by the game of dice” (Bose 23). Van Buitenen, too, feels that the
Book of the Forest “serves to build up the character of Yudhisthira (van Buitenen 77).
Putting aside modem ideas of “character development,” which simply do not apply
to the epic, it is nonetheless clear that just as Yudhisthira recieves teachings that bolster
his essential integrity, Aijuna and Bhima also have experiences in theBook o f the Forest
which amplify their strengths and, for lack of a more appropriate phrase, develop them as
characters. In the case of Aijuna, a series of adventures in which he succeeds in pleasing
the gods, leading to his obtaining weapons from the gods £iva,Yama, Varuna, Kubera,
and Indra. This, of course, serves not only to enhance Aijuna’s status as a great warrior
but also has significance for the great battle which is the climax of the epic. In addition,
while on his five year sojourn to the world of Indra, Aijuna teams singing and dancing at
India’s suggestion. These skills will, of course, be an integral part of his disguise in
Virata’s court. Bhima, in addition to meeting his match in the form of a boa constrictor
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who can only be subdued by Yudhisthira’s powers of discourse, finds himself unequal to
the task of lifting the tail of a monkey. The monkey in question is Bhima’s brother
Hanuman, who explains the system of th& yugas to Bhima, gives one of the many didactic
speeches of The Book of the Forest, and, finally, promises to lend his voice to Bhima’s on
the field of battle, thus increasing the already formidable impact of his war-cry. Bhima,
therefore, is humbled on ocassion* but also leaves the forest with additional power.
S. Pandavas in Disguise
The thirteenth year is the zenith of the time of hardship and learning for the
Pandavas, in that they must be in disguise and must hide themselves away, becoming
persone non grata. The specific disguises, though chosen by the Pandavas and Draupadl
themselves, point directly at key weaknesses of the family members. Having been granted
the boon that they would not be found out during the thirteenth year, there is no reason
they could not choose any identity they wish. Their choices, self-mocking and insightful,
have depth. Having lost his kingdom and even his family through gambling, and having
since learned the secret of the dice, Yudhisthira selects the role of Royal Dicing Master.
Bhima, known as “Wolf-Belly” for his appetite, decides to be a chef as well as a wrestler.
Aijuna, the most masculine and skilled combatant, selects as his role that of a transvestite
dancing and singing teacher. Draupadi, who “does not know how to do the work that
women do” (IV:3,14), will do just that, opting to become a chambermaid. Nakula and
Sahadeva decide to take care of horses and cows, respectively, as their disguise,
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referencing their heritage as the sons of the Asvins. If these last choices lack the irony of
the others, and they do, it is because distinctive characterization for the youngest
Pandavas on which to base such irony is lacking. Still, the identities of the family members
have been turned inside out in the thirteenth year. They are discovering the nature of self
by toying with it, or rather inverting it, and in the process they will clarify their identities.
In contrast to the Pandavas, Nala’s period of disguise is not the culmination of a
time of testing and deprivation. Nala saves a snake from a fire, at which point:
[T]he Snake Karkotaka said soothingly to Nala “I have changed you, so that people will not know you. And because of whom you have been maimed with great sorrow, oh Nala, he shall henceforth dwell in you and hurt from my poison. As long as he does not leave you, while hurting in all his limbs from my poison, so long will he dwell in you in agonies of pain, great king! I have made you immune to the one who out of anger and rancor cheated you, while you were innocent and undeserving of it, king of the people. You will have nothing to fear from tusked preditors or enemies and the knowers of spells, tigerlike king. You yourself shall suffer no pain from the poison, king, and in battles you shall always be victorious.. .. Depart today, sovereign of Nisadha, for the lovely city of Ayodhya. The king shall impart to you his shrewdness with dice in return for your shrewdness with horses... When you have become skilled with the dice, you will be reunited with fortune and rejoin your wife - banish grief from your heart! - and your kingdom and your two children; this I tell you is the truth. Whenever you want your own appearance back, king of men, think of me and don this garment. When you are clothed in this garment you will regain your own appearance” (111:63,14-22).
Not only is Nala’s disguise not punishment, it is a fairly desirable arrangement.
The benefits are spelled out for him right up front. Kali will feel the poison; Nala will not.
Kali’s influence over Nala is no more, animals and magicians will not be able to harm him,
and he will always win in a battle. Best of all, he will learn the dice and get his family
back. But most significant to the present discussion, it is he, Nala, who decides when the
period of disguise is over. Though he, like the Pandavas, will gain by means of suffering,
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disguise for him is not a way of commenting upon himself and revealing or arriving at a
hard-won self-awareness, any more than it is a penance. The purpose of disguise for Nala,
therefore, is essentially restricted to the pragmatic level, being linked as it is to the
poisoning of Kali and the gaining of knowledge of the dice. The influence of the kaliyuga
is not so easily dispensed with in the Mahabharata proper, and the purpose of disguise,
ultimately, has more to do with the svadharma of the Pandavas and Draupadi.
The impact of the two stories taken together, like so many instances in the
Mahabharata in which a theme or motif is echoed, is that the concept of identity is put
through an x-ray. In a sense the thirteenth year can be seen as a development of Nala’s
experience, in which the reader moves from Nala’s perspective, one of passivity in which
he is the puppet of both Kali and the benevolent snake, to the assertiveness of the
Pandavas, in which control of the situation is gradually wrested by them from the external
forces which have created it. Identity is not, ultimately,varnasramadharma , name or
reputation, but rather that entity spoken of many times in the Upanisads which stands
apart and recognizes that social identity is both a construct and a vehicle. As such, the
social identity has value and is to be acknowledged as well as protected, because it is by
means of this vehicle that the individual gets beyond this level of existence and achieves
the greater objectives. Certainly this is the perspective of theSamkyha system in Hindu
philosophy, in which “the purpose of experience is to provide both enjoyment aned
liberation for puruscT (Chappie, 116). Though it is only one of the philosophical schools
which receive expression in the epic, in the cases under discussion here in which disguise
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is employed, a Samkyha interpretation comes easily.
6. Nala in Disguise
A significant lesson of the Nala - Thirteenth year continuum is that part of spiritual
maturity is to actively exercise the will in every aspect of life, and not be borne along
mindlessly, hoping for fortune that is “good” and not “bad.” Nala is certainly a comforting
example to Yudhisthira of a “man more unlucky than [he himself] was” (111:49,35) in that
he does not evolve through his experience. The Pandavas brilliant deconstruction of their
own selves in the thirteenth year take them beyond successful completion of their
obligation under the terms of the dice game into a place which prepares Aijuna and the
reader for the philosophical ground of the Bhagavad Gita
In contrast, “Nala in disguise is no more himself than Nala on the throne”
(Shulman 19). While the Pandavas ultimately find themselves by means of disguise, and
emerge dressed in white and “godlike” (IV:65,1-5), prepared to face the enemies who
have sought to deprive them of their selves, Nala endures all his changes of fortune
seemingly unchanged by experience. Shulman, making a distinction between gaining
knowledge of the dice and knowledge of the self, persuasively argues that Nala’s own
words to Damayanti at the end of his ordeal are the clearest evidence of this (p 7):
It was not my own fault that I lost my kingdom, it was (Cali’s doing, my timid, and also that I deserted you. You yourself most virtuous in the Law, had cursed him before, when you were in the forest and sorrowfully suffered with me who had lost my robe. (111:74,16-17)
While he has a valid point about the influence of Kali, the phrase “it wasn’t my fault” does
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not have the ring of an evolved human being. Shulman goes so far as to suggest that this
emperor is nothing but clothes, an empty suit so to speak, be it the suit of a charioteer or a
king, whose “identity depends, in moments of doubt, upon the outside voice of
Damayant!” - citing as evidence that it is she who picks him out from among the gods at
her Svayamvara and calls him out of his disguise at the end (Shulman 17). It is true,
furthermore, that in answer to Damayanti’s direct question “Gambler, where are you that
cut up my dress and left?” (111:67,9-10), Nala does not give a direct answer but rather
obfuscates, saying “Women of family fend for themselves, though landed in trouble...”
(111:68,7). It may be going too far to say that Nala’s answer could be paraphrased as “not
I” (Shulman 11). However, because of its wording this answer does seem to contain a
negation, deflecting focus from where the question leads: Nala himself. That Yudhisthira
takes more responsibility for himself overall than Nala could be a function of the fact that
his family is with him, though of course that is a function of the fact that he does not seek
and take advantage of an opportunity to escape from their presence. The point to be
made here though, is not Yudhisthira’s moral superiority to Nala. To do so would be to
miss the point more pertinent to this discussion: It is the Krsna-based solidity of
Yudhisthira’s self or rather Self, and the Selves of his family - a solidity that Nala lacks -
which causes disguise to be a beneficial process in the case of the Pandavas and merely an
adventure for Nala.
Certainly, as has been mentioned it is The Book of the Forest in which a large part
of whatever “solidity” Yudhisthira has manifests itself - which is to say that he is not
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necessarily so terribly different from Nala fundamentally. (Nala, in fact, has a clear
“excuse” for his gambling obsession, something that is never definitively established for
Yudhisthira.) What separates them is that, where Nala’s story is that of a man “whose
identity boundaries have been subjected to one shock after another” (Shulman 14), those
shocks result in neither a renewed sense of self nor a redefined self. Yudhisthira’s exile and
disguise actually succeed in strengthening his identity. If the terms of the last dice game
were met by the Kauravas, and the follow-up to the thirteenth year was that the Pandavas,
unimpeded, return to their kingdom, there would be no basis on which to contend that
there is an ultimate, significant difference between the story of Nala and that of the
thirteenth year. But the terms are not met, and the thirteenth year is followed, despite all
efforts to avert it, by the Great War. The Great War of theMahabharata, while horrific
on one level, is the necessary culmination of an age and also of the journey of the
Pandavas.
7. Conclusion
One underlying concept of the epic “is the belief that the human soul is tied to
earthly existence by fetters which through great effort may be broken. (Van Nooten 71).
Foremost among those fetters is conditioned thought and recieved identity. Though
adherence to the dharma, ostensably a requisite formoksa , would seem to imply an
adherence to varnasrama, at the same time the conceptual framework of
varnasramadharma itself is a potential trap. The inclusion of two somewhat anti-social
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asramas at the end of the system, while meant to be helpful to the individual seeking
release, is no guarantee that roles will be transcended. To digress briefly, it is interesting to
note that the Dharma Sutras do not view the asramas as a successive system. Though by
the time of the Dharma Sastras the idea of the asramas as consecutive was in place, this
was not always the way they were seen. Instead, eachasrama was a potential “life-style
choice” open to a twice-born male (Flood 62). But more to the point, the mind being
what it is, being a sanyasin can become just another role. If one has passed through the
asramas in succession, enacting in turn the part of student and then householder, the
danger of continuing to play a part even as a forest dweller and renunciate is real.
Certainly within the context of the epic this is worthy of consideration, there being various
instances in the epic in which a kind of spiritual barter system is described, in which it is
stated that execution of particular behaviors such as those of a brahm achm will n bring
specific benefits, such as long life (Vora 192).
The Bhagavad Gita approaches the problem of role-playing from another angle,
asserting that one should play one’s role, but in full awareness. As he prepares to begin
the Great War, Aijuna knows his role but does not want to play it. What is revealed to
him is that what one’s role is in life is not the significant issue - lives come and go. Doing
the action incumbent upon one, whatever that action is, with detachment is what matters:
Thy jurisdiction is in action alone; Never in its fruits at any time. Never should the fruits of action be thy motive; Never let there be attachment in the to inaction.
Fixed in Yoga, perform actions,
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Having abandoned attachment, Conquerer of Wealth. Having become indifferent to success or failure. It is said that indifference is Yoga. (H 47-48)
It is the thirteenth year, above and beyond the special relationship of Krsna and
Aijuna, that has prepared Aijuna to be the receiver of this message, in that he has an
understanding of the relationship of social identity to the whole person, or at the very least
has the ability not to confuse the two. It is true that unlike Nala, none of the Pandavas
actually undego a metamorphisis, and there is no dearth of humor to be found in the image
of Aijuna decked out like a woman, so defining a characteristic is his masculinity. And
yet, for one year he lives among the women and forges bonds with them as Brhannada the
transvestite. Even after fighting a battle, an Aijuna-like undertaking, he does not forget to
bring the clothing of the defeated side back to the girls of the court for their dolls as he has
promised. So commited was he to this role, so real is the person he has created, that
despite the fact that he was never actually a eunuch, he cannot marry the princess Uttara,
Virata’s daughter, whom he has only known as Brhannada, but must instead be her father-
in-law.
This flies in the face of the idea of identity as an imutible truth. Certainly in the
world-view of the epic it is accepted that identity can change radically from one lifetime to
the next, and that the individual does in fact have some influence over that process. The
key, of course, is knowledge of how the laws of karma work combined with a will. The
story of Amba, who orchestrates her own rebirth as Sikhandin in order to face Bhisma on
the field of battle, is an extreme example. What the Pandavas do in the thirteenth year is
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simply a temporary change of identity within one lifetime, but it is a revelation to them,
and therefore the reader, about a greater truth. They see the fluidity of what is commonly
held to be the self. This, along with Krsna’s partiality towards him, is the basis of Aijuna’s
ability to be the reciever of theGita. Though it stands on its own as a poem and work of
philosophy, a reader is also better prepared for the G ita if it is encountered in context:
having travelled the contineum fromN ala through the thirteenth year.
The Pandavas’ story, from The Book of the Forest throught the Book of Virata,
could be thought of as the road not taken by Nala. Nala and Damayanti is told before the
Pandavas arraive at Virata’s court, and this makes sense structurally. But it also seems as
if the story of Nala is as much a a warning as it is a tale meant to comfort. What profit is
it, after all, for a man to lose his whole world if as a result he doesn’t gain a soul?
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1. Paradoxical Krsna
In Krsna the Mahabharata presents a character for whom identity is not an issue.
His many inconsistencies and contradictions have created issues for readers and scholars,
but Krsna himself moves through the epic with ease, becoming whatever he must in any
given situation. Essentially, he employs four different personas, which can be isolated
from one another.
It should be stated at this point that the idea of “personas” is merely a mechanism
for discussing the many aspects of a complex character in an involved epic, and to use this
idea for the purpose of discussion is not to assert that these personas are completely
distinct from one another. Indeed, there are times throughout the Mahabharata when
there is a dual or even triple perspective at work in Krsna. He goes to the Kauravas
before the Great War, for example, seemingly as a diplomat, actually as a partisan of the
Pandavas, and ultimately as a god. But a review of Krsna’s movement in the epic will
reveal his use of his own personas.
Krsna's first actual appearance in the story is at Draupadi's Svayamvara. Attention
goes to him briefly just after the arrival of the Gods, when he and his brother, Rama, size
up the Pandavas. This “shot” of Krsna is shadowy. While Rama is “plough-armed”
(1:12,178), Krsna is not described. In a sense, the possibilities of who this person might be
46
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are, at this point, endless, though the bard Ugrasravas has stated at the outset that the
Mahabharata extols Krsna’s virtues as a divinity.
The next exposures of Krsna establish his public side - the persona which will
always appear before Kunt! and/or groups of men, and will come to the fore when issues
about the law arise. The duties of etiquette will be included in descriptive passages
involving what will be referred to as the "Dignified" persona. Hence, in the potter’s house
after the Svayamvara, as elsewhere, the feet of Kunti will be touched by her nephew in
greeting (1:12,183).
Issues of law come up twice in the Svayamvara sequence, and the dignified
persona of Krsna immediately gets involved. The first incident takes place when the Kings
become angry that "brahmins" have won Draupadi. Krsna simply says that Draupadl "was
won according to law," and the kings, though still grumbling, disperse (1:12,181). Krsna is
not a king, (as his foe £isupala will unwisely point out in book II), but in this instance and
throughout the work, people who are at all intuitive have utmost respect for him. At the
Svayamvara, Krsna knows what the kings do not: The “brahmins” are the Pandavas, and
eligible to vie for Draupadi. This kind of knowledge on the part of the Dignified persona
is brought into play again when, in an effort to undermine the Kuru camp before the war
begins, Krsna tells Kama that his true identity as Kunti’s oldest son entitles him to the
kingdom. In both instances Krsna uses knowledge of true identities in an attempt to avoid
violence.
The second law question in the Svayamvara sequence is that of the polyandrous
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marriage of Draupadi. Here, there is no voiced input from Krsna - he is not told about the
arrangement, though he walks in just after Yudhisthira makes the final decision. It does
not seem too much of a stretch, however, to view the timing of Krsna’s entrance as a way
of inserting an implicit blessing on the situation. This is borne out later by his giving of
lavish wedding gifts, and serving to lead them into the Khandava Tract. This leadership
position in travel will in time be taken over by Draupadi - Krsna - who, like the dignified
persona of Krsna, maintains an ever present awareness of the law, albeit for personal
reasons.
2. The Friend
When Aijuna goes to live in the forest after entering a room in which Yudhisthira
and Draupadi are alone together, a violation of the agreement between the brothers
regarding their mutual wife, another of Krsna’s personas appears. This Krsna is the
intimate friend of Aijuna, and there is less formula to be found in the text when this
persona, which will be called the "Friend" persona, and Aijuna get together. As soon as
Krsna finds Aijuna at Prabhasa, the latter’s tour of the sacred places is over. The two,
who were subtly equated during the Svayamvara as being among the only ones who could
defeat Kama, begin their career as "the two Krsnas" by enjoying food, music, actors and
dancers on Mt. Raivataka. Krsna’s Friend persona is always ready to enjoy himself - his
house in Dvaraka is filled with "pleasurable things" - and adventure - it is he who
suggests that Aijuna abduct his sister Subhadra. One wonders if the suggestion is made,
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as Krsna says, because Subhadra might not choose Aijuna if given a choice, or essentially
because abducting a girl is an enjoyable pastime. These are, after all, the same two who
laugh while wreaking havoc in the Khandava Forest.
The Khandava Forest sequence starts when the two Krsnas express a desire to
p/ay in the water. The informality between this Friend persona and Aijuna is a true
departure from the behavior seen between Krsna and anyone other than Aijuna as well as
a departure from the interaction of any of the Pandavas with one another. The Pandavas
never seem to become boisterous in the way the two Krsnas do, but rather maintain a
degree of reserve. The brothers and Draupadi play in the water together during the exile
in Book m , but the unpredictable quality of the Aijuna/Krsna relationship is unique to
those two. This leaps out at the reader immediately and makes the whole Khandava
Forest sequence seem even more of a digression from the main thread than some of the
inset stories, at least in tone. When the fire comes to them in the form of a brahmin and
states his request that they make it possible for him to bum the forest, the only question
the two have is whether or not he can provide the weapons for the task. Carnage ensues.
The Dignified persona, concerned about whether or not an act is lawful, is not in
attendance. After the fact, a voice announces, detts ex machina, that Krsna and Aijuna
are the divine pair Nara and Narayana. So the two Krsnas are redeemed. Nonetheless,
the sequence is jarring, if only because of Aijuna's laughter during it.
Though this is not a major plot-moving sequence, something significant is gained
by Aijuna in this episode: The Gandiva bow. He also wins the admiration of his father,
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Indra, who after failing to arrest the onslaught of the two Krsnas grants them boons.
Aijuna requests weapons as his boon, which is not surprising. Krsna, on the other hand,
asks for the eternal friendship of Aijuna. This is a strangely humble request, and a rather
tender one in the aftermath of so testosterone-charged a sequence. This is a prominent
example of the unpredictability of the Friend persona. When the two return and tell
Yudhisthira of their adventure and that the Danava, Maya, who was spared by Aijuna, is
going to build a great hall worthy of him, Krsna becomes dignified again, and before
shedding a tear at bidding his sister farewell - the Dignified persona is more sentimental
than the Friend persona where Subhadra is concerned - he asks Kunti’s leave to go, as is
proper.
3. The Trickster
It is in the Dignified persona that he returns to Indraprastha soon thereafter. This
will quickly give way to the “Wily” Krsna, however, which seems such a departure from
his Dignified self and is the subject of much discussion. Yudhisthira sends for him to probe
the question of the legitimacy of his performing the Rajasuya, for a seer has declared he is
to be the universal sovereign. Krsna expresses his belief in Yudhisthira’s worthiness and
then explains the obstacles to executing the plan. It is this explanation which brings out
the active, clever, and tricky persona of Krsna, which will be called the “Wily” persona.
He tells Yudhisthira that King Jarasamdha must be killed before the Rajasuya can take
place, because he is oppressing all the other monarchs and is in fact going to sacrifice them
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all to Rudra. Even so, one is led to wonder, at least for a moment, whether he is in part
seizing the opportunity to settle old scores, since he has mentioned that Jarasamdha has
been harassing his people. What's more, the king of Cedi, Sisupala, who is Jarasamdha’s
ally, is usurping the title of Supreme Person, a fact which chafes him. Krsna in this very
human, worldly persona has personal problems with both of these kings.
When Krsna arrives at Indraprastha, the familiar greetings take place and there is a
strong formula element to the language. Yudhisthira even tells Krsna that he is being
consulted because he is "above anger and desire" (II: 12,40). Praise is ubiquitous in the
Mahabharata\ it is a social convention to which the reader becomes accustomed. Its use
at this moment serves to heighten the effect, therefore, when immediately thereafter, Krsna
expresses his feelings of anger towards Jarasamdha. That is when Krsna's persona begins
to shift out of strict dignity into a more human form which will demonstrate a capacity for
deceit.
Krsna's way of dealing with the problem of Jarasamdha involves subterfuge,
despite the fact that he says that one can be fearless when attacking “with a policy that is
found in the rules” (II: 16,3). The ends, it seems, justify the means. This is a precedent for
Krsna, and it is strange, because he seems to arrive at it quite easily, without exploring
other possibilities. In a reversal, Aijuna and Bhima along with Krsna, disguise themselves
as brahmins, not to protect themselves as in the past, but to kill someone else. Their
behavior before they even get to Jarasamdha stands out, because they seem, inexplicably,
to behave like thugs. The three infiltrate the residence of Jarasamdha, who, despite their
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best efforts to aggravate him, remains amazingly polite for some time. At last a fight is
agreed upon, and Bhima wrestles the king for thirteen days, at the end of which, in a tactic
worthy of Br*er Rabbit, Krsna says to Bhima, "One should not lay hold of an enemy who is
exhausted and press him in a match, for if he is pressed he might give up the spirit entirely.
So don't press the king, Bhima." (Emphasis added). And that is the end of Jarasamdha.
Bhlma promptly squeezes the life out of him.
The loyalty of the other kings having been obtained by freeing them from
Jarasamdha and the world having been conquered by Yudhisthira’s brothers, the Rajasuya
can now proceed, and Krsna can go back to the Dignified persona. It is Krsna who has
essentially been asked for permission by Yudhisthira to perform the Rajasuya. His status
as Supreme Person is being solidified in the text, and yet it is not quite there yet: he will be
openly challenged on this point at the Rajasuya.
4. The Divine
The issue of identity and of mistaken identity comes up time and again in the
Mahabharata, and in the incident involving £isupala, a character who in past lives has met
his fate at the hands of other avatars of Visnu, it plays a central role. Incensed that the
first guest gift has been given to Krsna, who is neither a king nor, in the opinion of
Sisupala, the elder of the gathering, Sisupala launches into a tirade against Krsna and
Yudhisthira. Yudhisthira attempts to calm him, and Bhisma tries to explain who Krsna
actually is, in the process lending some credence to the concept of Krsna being made up of
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personas, including one which is divine:
All of you must agree that he, fully accomplished teacher, father and guru, is to be honored and worthy of honor! Priest, teacher, eligible son-in-law, snataka, friend, king - all this is Hrsikesa, and therefore Acyuta stands honored. For Krsna alone is the origin of the worlds as well as their dissolution, for Krsna’s sake is all that exists here offered" (11:35,20-24)
Still, §isupala will not back down, and amidst a purple torrent of insults likens Krsna to a
hypocritical goose who, when exposed as an egg-eater, was killed by the other birds
(11:38,30-38). Sisupala will not get as many chances to recant as Duryodhana will have
chances to prevent the war, but he will get quite a few. Unfortunately for him, the
Dignified persona of Krsna has his limits, and the hundred indulgences Krsna promised
Sisupala’s mother he would give her son are exhausted. A very short time after casting
aspersions on Krsna's wife, RukminI, Sisupala's inner radiance is united with Krsna, his
head having been disunited from his body.
Krsna truly loses his temper for the first time when he slays Sisupala. With this act
the Dignified Krsna who fights enemies, is established. Thus far the only “fighting” he has
done has been in the Khandava Forest in which those killed were not human and could not
fight back. Furthermore, he seemed to be Aijuna’s deputy in that instance. There, he was
in the guise of the Friend persona. In the Jarasamdha incident, the Wily persona was
present and Krsna’s role was one of pulling B luma’s strings. He will behave much the
same way in the war with the Kauravas. But with the killing of Sisupala, Krsna's
manliness is established. This assures that he will not be like Bhisma, who, though not to
be dismissed as a force in the story, is limited as a man, and is mocked at one point, due to
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his celibacy. Similarly, Dhrtarastra is hampered, in his case because he is blind. £isupala
says: "As a marriage is to a eunuch, as a show to a blind man, so this royal honor [the
guest gift] is to you Madhusudana, who are no king" (11:34,20). For Krsna to have the
authority to speak the Bhagavad G/falater on, even though he is a god at that point, it is
necessary that he be a complete man by the standards of the epic, as well as being a god.
If he isn’t, he can’t lecture Aijuna, who faces the prospect of leading so many to their
deaths. Having taken human form, he must be an exemplary man. Sisupala's taunts can't
be left unanswered. When Krsna is in the guise of a man, he cant allow what no other
man would tolerate to be done to him. As always, in keeping with custom, when he has
killed Sisupala and is ready to depart, he does not fail to ask Kunti’s leave before doing
so.
When he later joins the Pandavas in the forest after the dicing, he will have a battle
story which reenforces the manliness which has been established in the Sisupala incident.
In addition, he needs a very good excuse to offer Draupadi when she demands of him an
explanation for the terrible humiliation she suffered in the dicing sabha, implying that he
let her down. She wants to know why he failed to give her lawful defense in the dicing
sabha as a god, though later it turns out that, in fact, he was behind the impressive sari
trick. Even so, sometimes the demands of one persona are in conflict with the duties of
another.
There is, however, a greater significance to Krsna’s absence from the dicing sabha,
a significance to which Draupadi is not privy. In the case of this scene, it is his absence
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which is the point. The episode has been well summed up:
It is altogether fitting that the destructive dice game, which has dissolved the royal relationship and identities of Draupadi and the Pandavas, has occurred in Krsna’s absence. As Biardeau has shown so well, in the symbolism of the pralaya that pervades the epic at many points, the destructive role of Siva is counterbalanced by the reconstitutive role of Visnu-Narayana. (Hiltebeitel 90).
What Draupadi sees as Krsna’s failure in this instance is in essence definitive proof of his
divinity.
In the battle against Salva, the battle which ostensibly kept him from the dicing,
Krsna must actually do combat with an enemy who is prepared for him and knows
wizardry. This insures that Krsna’s credentials as a warrior are completely valid, though
he himself will never do combat again in the epic: he doesn't have to. He's shown that he
can fight as a man, and he is a god.
When he comes to the Pandavas after they have begun their exile in the forest,
before Draupadi says one word, he speaks in no uncertain terms of the destruction which
will befall Duryodhana and his allies. He also says, "One who serves with trickery
deserves to be killed" (HI: 13,6). This coming from Krsna who, though by no means evil is
not above a little trickiness if it expedites his purposes, makes one wonder exactly what is
Krsna's definition of "trickery." It seems at this point as if he will actually do combat
himself when the war comes. When Krsna expresses his wrath, Aijuna gives an account
of Krsna's past lives and also a kind of laudatory hymn to him, discussing various aspects
of his divinity: "At the end of the eon you dissolve all creatures, Madhusudana, and
having made the world your own within your very self you remain thereafter, enemy
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burner" (ID: 13,34). While Krsna is absorbed by the bellicose aspect of his Dignified
persona, Aijuna feels compelled to remind him of the Divine persona which has yet to
make its appearance, though the absence from the dice game has provided a forewarning
of its existence. Aijuna calms him because, “he seemed prone to bum down the creatures”
(ID: 13,7). His reactions are those of a man when in that form, but he has a god's power,
and must be aware of who he is.
5. The Divine and the Human
All but the unfortunate Sisupala acknowledge the Divine aspect of Krsna early on,
but it is not until the astonishing and utterly unique speech of Markandeya, a sage who
visits the Pandavas at Kamyaka, that Krsna appears in a divine form. In his surreal vision,
the seer walks the barren planet when the dissolution of the world has come and
encounters Krsna as a small child in a tree. The haunting quality of this single image
stands out from the text much in the way Krsna’s revelation to Aijuna does in the
B hagavad Gita, only in Markandeya’s vision the world has already ended. In both
instances the Krsna who presents himselfj though awesomely divine, engages with a
human being in his ultimate perceivable guise. It is a radically intimate act in both
instances. “Surely, not even the Gods know me as I really am, brahmin, but out of love
for you I shall declare the manner in which I create this world,” Krsna tells Markandeya
(HI: 187,1).
The Bhagavad Gita takes place in a crisis moment, when the opposing forces are
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poised for their conflict. Though the session with Markandeya does not occur at an
equally precipitous juncture, it does take place during the exile, which is something of a
prolonged crisis. The difference in the two situations is emphasized by the proximity of
the divine in each. The Bhagavad Gita for Aijuna is an experience of direct apprehension,
whereas what Markandeya relates is all story within story. This is to say that no one
sitting with him there at Kamyaka has any first-hand knowledge of the divine persona at
this point, though faith that this is Krsna’s true identity abounds. So like the Friend, the
Dignified and the Wily personas, the Divine persona, which is the basis for the others,
waits for the appropriate conditions to make itself known, and chooses the degree of
manifestation based on the exigencies of the situation.
The revelation of the Divine persona does not preclude a return to any other
persona. Furthermore, by using the body of a man Krsna becomes subject to the human
condition. The scene in which Krsna’s wife, Satyabhama, asks Draupadi if she uses “a
special ablution, spells,” or “herbs” to keep her five husbands happy is evidence in this
regard which borders on the comic (111:222,1). Ostensibly, she is prepared to give spells a
try if Draupadi endorses them, and yet her husband is a god. That particular fact about
Krsna never comes up in the conversation. In fact, Draupadi vehemently opposes the use
of magic and potions because of the harm they can cause, as if Krsna’s divinity has no
bearing whatsoever on whether or not he can be controlled or harmed in this way. For the
purposes of the discussion between the two women, Krsna is a mortal man who is to be
worshiped like a god because he is a husband, not because he is Visnu. This home-
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economics digression seems not to be intended to inform the reader about Krsna as much
as about running a household and virtuous behavior for women. Even so, it stands out
simply because it follows Markandeya’s vision by fewer than a hundred pages.
More to the point, of course, are the actions of Krsna himself. He will manifest
each of his personas again in the period leading up to and including the Great War. The
dominant persona in Krsna during this period is the Dignified, and yet the Divine persona
can be sensed very close to the surface in Krsna to a greater degree than ever before.
It is Krsna who gives early impetus to the campaign of diplomacy between the rival
factions, though his loyalty to the Pandavas remains. Peace would certainly be the best for
everyone, so Krsna does have his friend's interests at heart. Earlier, however, he said in no
uncertain terms that the earth would “drink the blood” of Duryodhana and his allies.
The scene in which Krsna is approached by Aijuna and Duryodhana is quite even-
handed on the surface. The Dignified persona is the man the two supplicants encounter,
but the aura of the Divine persona permeates the scene, reminiscent as it is of “Visnu
Anantasayin, Visnu asleep and reclining on the serpent Ananta or Sesa, whose awakening
signals the dawn of a new kalpcF (Hiltebeitel 107). It is Aijuna's awareness of this, as
well as Duryodhana's complete lack of awareness which determines the outcome. The
decision to give Aijuna the first choice seems to be based not on his friendship with Krsna
but because he displays a proper attitude towards him. Without even knowing the
identities of the two supplicants, looking at the tableau there can be no doubt which has
positioned himself in such a way as to make the god receptive.
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6. Relationships Between the Personas
Just as the Dignified persona has begun to reveal aspects of the Divine, there has
been a subtle evolution in the Friend persona as well. When Samjaya encounters Krsna
and Aijuna on his mission from Dhrtarastra the Bacchus-like image of Krsna, who, like
Aijuna is “drunk with mead,” (V:58,5) immediately reestablishes the Krsna who frolicked
with his friend in an earlier and more innocent time. Now, however, circumstances are
different and rather than going off, the two Krsna’s have secluded themselves within the
Pandava camp. Still, they display the informality between themselves which characterized
their friendship: “I noticed that Kesava's feet rested in Aijuna's lap, and great-spirited
Aijuna's feet lay on Krsna and Satyabhama” (V:58,7). In addition to recalling the early
depiction of the Krsna/Aijuna bond this image presents itself like a mythic tableau of
young gods and their consorts, thus bringing an aura of the Divine persona into the scene
- an example of simultaneity of personas in Krsna. In support of this idea of the implied
presence of the divine is the fact that there are others who may not approach the group.
Aijuna's son Abhimanyu and the twins are not allowed to invade the privacy of these, their
family members. This is a remarkable detail considering that Abhimanyu is also the son of
Krsna’s sister and the twins are semi-divine, as well as being husbands of Draupadi. They
are clearly not in the same league as the two Krsnas. There is a special chemistry between
this pair. Who but Aijuna could “nudge” Krsna “in order to prompt him to speak?”
(V:58,14).
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When he speaks, “thundering like the Chastiser of Paka,” (V:58,29) the Friend
persona, who helped Aijuna bum the Khandava Forest, comes through loud and clear:
“Offer up plentiful sacrifices, give fees to the brahmins, take pleasure in wives and sons,
for great danger is upon you!” (V:58,19). He furthermore declares that because
Draupadi cried out for him when she was in the hands of the Kauravas, he is in debt to her
and therefore is backing Aijuna. There is no mention of Aijuna’s choosing him over the
use of an army in Dvaraka. There is no mention of the loyalty owed to both sides. The
Friend persona is here out of loyalty to and deep affection for Aijuna, Draupadi, and the
others, not out of obligation incurred by Aijuna’s choice.
The youthful extravagance and aggressiveness of the Friend persona are absent
when next Krsna is consulted about the impending war. It is now the Dignified Krsna who
presents his opinions. He again advocates diplomacy and resolves to go to the
Dhartarastras himself. It seems, however, that the effort is simply a gesture on the part of
the Dignified Krsna to do everything possible, pointless though it may be, to prevent the
war. In this way, the Pandavas will be entering the conflict lawfully, having been given no
alternative save absolute destitution. This seems slightly ironic in light of the fact that
Krsna is involved in some of the rule bending which takes place during the war itself most
notably Duryodhana’s death. That, however, is not the work of the Dignified/Divine
Krsna, but rather the Wily/Divine Krsna.
This final attempt at avoiding the war is carried out by the Dignified Krsna, and he is
on his guard. On his way he will not stay in any lodge set up for him along the way by
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Duryodhana, thus avoiding Salya's mistake of accepting hospitality, which indebted him to
Duryodhana. This act in turn leads to Yudhisthira’s first dubious piece of behavior. Krsna
is also demonstrating that he is not impartial and wont try to seem so. He refuses
Dhrtarastra’s hospitality and stays with Vidura, the best of all men on the Dhartarastra
side, though marginalized due to his origins.
What makes this sequence memorable is the miraculous presence of heavenly seers
at the final peace-talks. The ground is prepared by their presence for the revelation of the
thirty thumb-sized gods which spring from Krsna’s body. This event, in conjunction with
the appearance of the seers, can be seen as a greater act of compassion than the
Markandeya vision or the Aijuna vision. The reason for this is that in this case, there is no
friendship nor respect between Krsna and the witness for whom it is intended. Instead,
someone completely undeserving of this sort of gift is given it, and fails to understand
what it is. Now the Pandavas and Krsna can rightfully declare their blamelessness for the
war.
The element of divinity seems to build as the epic progresses. This is appropriate,
and not coincidental. The work itself becomes increasingly more focussed as the war
approaches, and it is this which deepens Krsna in what seems like an organic way rather
than an imposed way. The Friend persona is the one which, at first, seems not to fit, being
the most frivolous aspect of the god. But when this persona reappears and is shown to us
through the eyes of the devotee, Samjaya, he is tinged with a divinity, as is Aijuna, the
“other” Krsna: “Both were anointed with sandalwood paste and wore garlands, fine robes,
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and the adornment of celestial ornaments” (V :58,6).
The Dharm ais certainly subtle. Though Krsna is perhaps not subject to it, he does
in fact adhere to it under certain circumstances. He takes on the role of ambassador for
the Pandavas because, he says, even if he is unsuccessful, he will gain merit. As a man,
gaining merit may have some value for him, and yet this motivation does not sound
completely convincing. As for preventing the war, he says it can’t be done before he
leaves on his mission. Perhaps as a god he wants to find those human situations in which a
person is suddenly receptive to the divine despite themselves, and the onset of war is such
a situation.
7. The Whole
The multiple personas of Krsna may not seem to create a coherent character and
attempts have been made to disentangle and explain the various sources which have
resulted in the Krsna of the Mahabharata. However, comparing the Book of Virata with
Nala and Damayanti has shown that the epic embraces the use of masks and that
consistency of identity for its own sake is no virtue in the epic world-view. Adherence to
the dharma is not accomplished by mechanical adherence to any dogma. Within the
Mahabharata, therefore, Krsna’s inconsistencies can be seen as the pinnacle of self-
mastery, in that he is in no way confined by identity, but rather containsit. For the
average person, this might lead to insanity - in theBhagavad Gita, just a glimpse of the
lack of boundaries which is the reality of Krsna is nearly too much for Aijuna to bear.
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Krsna is, therefore, not an anarchist seeking, by means of the example of his plasticity, to
undermine the teachings of an ordered society, though Sisupala implies that this is indeed
the impact of his influence (11:34). There is no question that Krsna does instruct other
characters to break the rules of warfare on more than one occasion. But the paradox of
Krsna is that his personal inconsistency and unlawful advice - those things which from one
point of view can legitimately be calledadharmic are - in fact the working of the dharma.
Whether the Great War is interpreted as the battle of the ego to realize the
Atman/Brahman identity as Sukthankar asserts, the battle of the devas and asuras relived
as Biardeau believes, or what Hiltebeitel calls the “struggle for sovereignty,” it is a war
which must take place. Krsna, with all his personas and inconsistencies, is therefore an
agent of the dharm a. From his non-intervention in the dice game onward, he uses his
personas to do guide events as the inevitable war approaches.
In addition, Krsna’s personas demonstrate the relativity of the “reality” of
conventional ideas of identity. This is in keeping with much of what Krsna brings to the
Mahabharata, inasmuch as seeming contradiction is so often his modus operandi.
Nowhere is this more evident than in the Bhagavad Gita itself which somehow combines
“apparently contradictory pairs of antithesis into a single systematic world-view” (Roy 4).
There is no other character in the epic who could convincingly convey theGita. It
requires a character who integrates and synthesizes disperate elements even within himself.
There is an argument that in the G ita and in Krsna, what exists today is not an
effective synthesis but rather blatant interpolation. With regard to the philosophical
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strands which coexist in the G ila, the following rebuttal is not insignificant:
If the combination of these apparently contradictory forms of thought were proof of rehandling and additions in the text, then we must regard the whole of the Upanisadic and Puranic literature as well as the Vedanta Sutra as throughout re handled and profusely interpolated (Roy 13).
Whether this overstates the case or not, the fact remains that diversity of perspective
within one work is not problematic within the context of the philosophical tradition of the sub
continent and within the context of the epic. On the contrary, diversity of perspective could
nearly be called a hallmark of these things. However it is that the different elements of the
G ita came together, and however it is that the Krsna of the epic can be described in terms of
his “personas,” what is important is that rather than lacking coherence, what is reflected is a
world-view in which no effort is made to condense or simplify the reality of existence, or even
human perceptions of existence, into a single definition. This is a great strength of the
Mahabharata, and one of the reasons that it continues to intrigue the modem reader.
The Krsna of the Mahabharata, then, can be said to embody something essential about
the tradition from which he arises. He succeeds in doing so, in a sense, by virtue of the fact
that he is made up of these seemingly disparate personas. His fluctuation of identity is not
unlike the henotheism of the Vedic literature - that henotheism which gave way to the
Upanisadic concept of an all-pervading Brahman. Krsna’s revelation of that ultimate reality
within himself makes him a character whose very being spans a vast range of philosophical
thought, and synthesizes it.
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The preceding chapters show that tint Mahabharata raises many issues about the
nature of identity but takes no definitive position about it. Kama seeks his identity
passionately. At the same time Vyasa, who shares key elements of Kama’s biography,
does not share his obsession with the past. The Pandavas lose one set of identities for
another, but return to themselves bom anew and honed for the inevitable battle. Krsna
changes himself at will. His example is that of the identity as a vehicle, connected to but
distinct from the Self.
So, as stated no definitive position is taken regarding the nature of identity. This
not to say, however, that no insights are put forward on this topic. The three cases
examined here are examples of glimpses of the reality of the Self placed throughout the
epic. Each glimpse provides just an idea of one aspect of a whole which cannot be
described. It is a more oblique approach to revealing truth than a pithy “Tat tvam asi,”
but the Mahabharata teaches all of its lessons obliquely. Repetition of a given theme is
something one finds throughout the epic, and the theme of identity is no different. By
revisiting the question and approaching it from different perspectives the epic
communicates, if nothing else, the complexity of reality of being human.
65
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