MAHABHARAT

KINGDOM OF HASTNA PUR: The area surrounding Delhi (former name Hastna Pur) was called Kuru, and the ruler of the area was known as Kaurav.  About 6000 years ago, Vachittarvir was the ruler of the area. He was a half-brother of Bhisham Pitama who in turn was the son of king Shantanu and the river Gunga (in human form). Vachittarvir had two wives, Ambika and Ambaalika, who were sisters. Vachittarvir died before he had any children. His mother wanted some heir to the throne, so she invited another son of hers - ascetic Ved Viyas from another marriage - to impregnate Ambika and Ambaalika so that they would give birth to a son.  Ambika bore Dhritrashter but he was blind by birth. Ambaalika also bore a son who was pale so was named Pandu.  Even though Dhritrashtar was older, but he could not become king because of his blindness. So, Pandu became the king.  Dhritrashtar was married to Gandhari who bore 100 sons and one girl. The eldest was named Duryodhan. In fact, like many many other Hindu gods, these brothers were born out of a container! After their father, Dhritrashtar, became the king of Hastna Pur (Kuru Area), they came to be known as Kauravs.  Pandu was married to two women - Kunti and Madri.  Kunti was the paternal aunt of Lord Krishna.

Before Kunti got married to Pandu, some holy man had given Kunti a mantra (a collection of some holy words) which could enable her to invite any god of her choice by reciting the mantra while focusing on the god. To test the validity of the mantra, Kunti recited the mantra focusing on the Sun who appeared in a moment in the form of a man.  Whether Kunti liked it or not, the Sun impregnated her as a result of which Kunti gave birth to a son. It was a matter of great shame and disgrace for a woman to become a mother before getting married. Normally, such women were out casted, and none would marry them. So, to avoid such an ugly situation, Kunti put her son in a basket and dropped him in tributary of the Ganges.  The boy was rescued by Adhirata, a charioteer of Dhritrashtar who named him Karan, and raised him with the help of his wife, Radha.

PANDU AND DHRITRASHTAR: Pandu had been cursed by a holy man that he would die as soon he thought of having with a woman.  Once, he was camping in a jungle with his wives when such an idea came to his mind, and he died then and there.  As you already know, Kunti had that mantra to have children, so she invited Dharam Raj (who is believed to evaluate the deeds of humans) and had a son from him whom she named Yudhishter. She had two other sons – Bheem Sen and Arjun – from the wind-god, Vayu, and Indra respectively. Using the same mantra, Madri had twins from the twin gods, Ashwinis.  They were named Nakul and Sehdev.  Being the sons of Pandu (?) they are known as Pandavas.

DHRITRASHTAR BECOMES KING: At the death of Pandu, the blind Dhritrashter became the king with the understanding that when the Padavas attain adulthood, the kingdom will be transferred to them.  The Kauravs and the Pandavas grew up together and were taught by the same guru. It is said that the Pandavas were fair and reasonable whereas the Kauravs were unfair and cheats. All the Pandavas married the same woman, Daraupadi, who was the daughter of Draupad, the ruler of Panchali. After getting married, the Pandavas demanded that now the rule of Hastana Pur should be transferred to them as they were the rightful heirs to the throne. Dhritrashter was reluctantly willing to accept their demand, but his eldest son, Duryodhan, who practically ruled the kingdom as his father was blind, was not prepared to transfer the power. He was looking for excuses not to retain the power.  Duryodhan’s maternal uncle Shakunee was an expert in gambling.  He advised Duryodhan to invite the Pandavas to a friendly gambling game to which the Pandavas agreed.

GAMBLING AND STRIPPING OF DRAUPADI: Shakunee let the Pandavas win the first couple of games, and when he was sure that they had been hooked to the game, he began to win.  Pandavas could not see through Shakunee’s evil plan and kept playing until they lost the right to the kingdom. Not only that, they also lost their wife, Daraupadi whom they had put on stake with the hope to win back everything.  But, that never happened and the Pandavas lost everything. They felt very bad, but there was nothing they could do. Having won Daraupadi in gambling, Duryodhan made her sit in his lap thereby humiliating the Pandavas even more. Duryodhan’s younger brother, Dusashan, was not satisfied even with that. He began to unclothe Draupadi in front of everybody in the court.  To save her dignity, Draupadi called Lord Krishna through a prayer who appeared there at once. It is believed that as Dusashan was unwrapping Draupadi’s saree to bare her, the length of the saree went on increasing and he was never able to unclothe Draupadi.  The Pandavas were highly disturbed at the immoral acts of the Kauravs, but they had to pocket the insult.

PANDAVAS EXILED: Now Krishna himself appeared on the scene and convinced the Kauravs to return Draupadi to Pandavas. Duryodhan agreed to that but insisted that the Pandavas must leave the area right away and must spend the next twelve years in exile to which the Pandavas grudgingly agreed. During their exile, the Pandavas had to do some menial jobs to stay alive.  For some time they worked in the stables of king Viraat, but they also earned some good friends because of their good character and attitude. The Kauravs tried to kill the Pandavas but were unsuccessful. Bheem and Arjun also married some other women and had children from them.

THE WAR OF KURUKSHETRA: At the end of the period of exile, the Pandavas returned to Hastna Pur and demanded their kingdom back. But, the Kauravs flatly refused to give them even a single village. The Pandavas were left with no choice except to fight. Both sides gathered their armies and a fierce battle was fought in an open area about 150 km north of Delhi. The place is called Kurukshetra now.  The battle was fought for some sixteen days until all the Kauravs were eliminated and the Pandavas came out to be victorious.

THE ARMIES

The strength of the armies on both sides as recorded in the Epic is unbelievable! There were hundreds of millions of soldiers and millions of elephants and horses. There were hundreds of thousands of chariots which were steered by expert charioteers. The Kaurav army alone was spread over hundreds of kilometres. Some of the important warriors on each side are described below.

KAURAVS

Most of the important personalities of the time were with the Kauravs including Bhisham Pitama, Dronacharya, Karan, Balram, Ashavthama and Jathrath. Each of them is described briefly as follows:

Bhisham Pitama: River Gunga (in the human form) left her husband, king Shantanu after giving birth to Bhisham who was named Devarata at birth.  After some time, Shantanu got attracted to another woman, Satyavati, and wanted to marry her. She agreed to the proposal, but laid down a strict condition that after Shantnu’s death, the future king had to be her child and not Bhisham. To ensure continuity of the power for her children and their children, Satyavati also wanted assurance that Bhisham would never marry. Bhisham agreed to both the conditions. Not only that, Bhisham also vowed to be loyal to the throne. Pleased with such a hard decision on the part of Bhisham, Shantanu blessed him to choose the time and cause of his own death. In other words, Bhisham could have lived for ever if he chose to.  Because of the vowof loyalty to the throne, Bhisham had to fight for the Kauravs even though he thought the Pandavas were the rightful heirs to the throne.  Bhisham was a seasoned politician and an apt warrior who enjoyed the respect of everybody around including the Pandavas. He was the chief commander of the Kaurav army in the battle.

Duryodhan: Because his father, Dhritrashtar, was blind, Duryodhan was the de facto ruler of the kingdom of Hastna Pur. He is painted as an evil person in Mahabharat. However, he was great with the use of a popular weapon at the time, guda (a mushroom like weapon with a big head). He was second in command in the battle.

Dronacharya: He was the guru of Kauravs and Pandavas both, who trained them in the use of weapons. He was a great archer himself. He was called Dronacharya because he was born from a droan (a flask-like container). He too fought for the Kauravs and was a big threat to the Pandavas.

Ashavthama: He was the son of Dronacharya, and a great warrior. His presence was intimidating to the enemy.

Karan: As mentioned in the beginning, Karan was born to unwed Kunti fathered by the Sun.  Karan was born with natural armour around his body and with large golden rings in his ears. He received a superb training in the use of weapons from Parsuhram who was the guru of Droncharya. He was as good as Arjun, if not better, in archery. Many people believe that he was the best in the use of weapons at the time. He was also a very generous donor and never refused anybody especially if someone approached him at the time of his Sun worship. Duryodhan made friends with Karan and made him the king of small state, Anga. Karan did not like Arjun and there was a rivalry between the two. Karan’s bravery, his mastery in the use of weapons, and his friendship with Duryodhan was very well known to everybody.  Pandavas were very apprehensive of the ability of Karan and the devastation he could cause to their army in case there was a battle between them and the Kauravs. Krishna again devised a plan to strip Karan of his protective armour.  He sent god Indra disguised as a Brahman to ask for alms when Karan had just finished his worship of the Sun. Indra asked Karan to promise not to refuse if he asked him for some favour.  After Karan had given his word, Indra asked him to give his armour in alms. Karan had no choice now but to give the Brahman his armour which caused him a lot of misery while removing it from his body as it was a part of that. Such was the character of Karan and also of Indra and Krishana!

Balram: He was the elder brother of Krishna and he trained Duryodhan in the use of gudda. He was good friends with Duryodhan and supported him in the battle.

Jathrath (Jadyarath): He was the king of Sindh and the husband of Duryodhan’s only sister. He had a boon from Shiva and a boon from his own father. It was because of those boons that he able to orchestrate and  kill  Abhimanyu, Arjun’s son from another wedding. Arjun had vowed to kill him the next day before sun set otherwise he would kill himself.

PANDAVAS

Krishna was the main supporter of the Padavas who guided them in every step. Pandavas might have had a number of rulers fighting for them, but other than Krishna, they did not have some well-known warrior on their side. Arjun, himself was a great archer, and his older brother, Bheem, was a great at gudda fight. The commander of the army was, Yudhishtar,  the eldest of the Pandavas.

Lord Krishna: In Krishna’s judgment, the Pandavas were good and fair people and they were also his cousins. So, he decided to fight for them.  However, he decided not to take part in combat, and chose to be the charioteer of Arjun. He constantly advised the Pandavas on the battle strategies, and many a time he used some unfair tactics to win the battle. When the armies came face to face, Arjun became very reluctant to fight because he saw his close relatives and friends on the opposite side. At that point Krishna explained his duties and responsibilities, and convinced him to fight for their just rights. He also explained that he (Krishna) was born to be Arjun’s charioteer and they must fight the evil people.  This whole advice by Krishna is written in the form a book, named Geeta.

Karan, the eldest son of the unmarried Kunti, and therefore a half-brother of the Pandavas, was fighting for the Kauravs. He was great warrior, and a huge threat to the Pandavas. It was a mutually agreed upon principle that no unarmed soldier would be attacked in the battle and the battle will stop with the Sun set. Karan and Arjun were fighting face to face, and Karan was having an upper edge when his chariot got stuck in sand.  Karan had to get out of the chariot to give it a push. Karan called Arjun and told him that he (Karan) was getting out of the chariot and he would be unarmed, and hence should not be attacked.  Arjun agreed and promised not to attack. But Krishna again incited Arjun to attack the unarmed Karan who was thus killed.

Another great warrior, Jathrath, was fighting against the Pandavas whom Arjun had vowed to kill before the Sun set on a given day otherwise Arjun was going to take his own life. However, despite Arjun’s best efforts, he failed to kill him. Arjun’s failure to kill Jathrath made him and Krishna both nervous as the sun was about to set and Jathrath was still alive. Krishna thought of a highly immoral plan. With his supernatural powers, he created fog which covered the sun giving the illusion that it had set.  They also announced that the Sun had set, so fighting must be stopped. When the Kauavs retreated for rest, Krishna made the fog vanish and the Sun again shone in the sky. Seizing the planned opportunity, Arjun fired a volley of arrows at the unarmed and unprepared Jathrath killing him right away.

Ashavthama was a son of Dronacharya (the guru of both, Pandavas and Kauravs) was fighting for the Kauravs. He too was a great warrior and a great asset to the Kauravs. His death could have crippled his father, Dronacharya, who was also fighting for the Kauravs. There was also an elephant named Ashavthama which got killed in the battle.  This was another opportunity for Krishna to give a great shock to Dronacharya and incapacitate him.  He made a loud announcement that Ashavthama had been killed and expressed a great joy at the news. Krishna’s plan worked perfectly, and Dronacharya suffered a big shock thinking that it was his son, Ashavthama who had been killed. The shock was so big that he laid down his arms and left the battle field.

As, you have read before, Bhisham was fighting for the Kauravs, and he was impeccable with his arrows which were destroying the Pandav army. So, he must be killed if Pandavas wanted to win. But, the question was how to kill him because nobody could kill him directly. So, again Krishna devised a plan. He knew Bhisham would not attack a woman, but women were not allowed to take part in the war. There was a person, Shikhandee, who was half male and half female. So, Krishna advised Arjun to hide behind Shikhandee and attack Bhisham. That’s how Arjun filled the whole body of Bhisham with arrows.

THE END OF WAR

Duel between Duryodhan and Bheem: All the supporters of Duryodhan were killed by the sixteenth day, but he was still alive. On the other side, all the Pandavas were all alive and well. Bheem had vowed to kill Duryodhan in a duel. Both of them were great at fight with gudda (a mushroom-like metallic weapon). However, Duryodhan who had been trained by Balram, had another advantage. His mother, Gandhari, had invited him to appear before her completely naked so that she could make his body hard like stone. When Krishna heard of this, he did not like the idea because then Duryodhan could not be killed. To, save some parts of Duryodhan’s body from turning into stone so that he could be hit on those parts and be killed, Krishna talked Duryodhan into covering at least his private parts before he appeared before his mother. Even though, Gandhari had advised Duryodhan to appear completely naked, Duryodhan covered the middle part of his body with tree leaves as a result of which the covered pars remained soft.

According to the rules of the fight, nobody could hit his opponent below the belt. When the duel started, Bheem was frustrated by his inability to hurt Duryodhan. Even though it was against the rules, Krishna advised Bheem to hit Duryodhan on his upper thighs as they were still soft.  Bheem obeyed, and broke Duryodhan’s thighs with his gudda. Balram objected to Bheem’s immoral hitting, but Krishna convinced his elder brother that Bheem was justified because Duryodhan deserved it as he had insulted Draupadi by making her sit in his lap. Duryodhan died slow death, and is said that vultures ate his body when he was still alive.

COMMENTS: Like Ramayan, the story has so many flaws and unexplainable events. All the major characters including Bhisham, the Kauravs, the Pandavas, and Dronacharya had unnatural births. But, apart from that, there are some disturbing events as follows:

1. According to the customs, the eldest son had the right to the throne. Let us agree for a second (albeit unjustifiably) that Dhritrashtar was denied the right to the throne because he was blind, and his younger brother, Pandu was made the king, but why deny the right to Dhritrashtar’s sons who were perfectly fit mentally and physically?  What was the justification for the denial?

2. In fact, the Pandavas had an extremely low justification for the right to the stone because they were not the sons of Pandu who had died even before they were conceived. How can wind, a river and the sun produce children?

3. Lord Krishna is a god who should be moral, neutral and fair. But, as we learn it from the story, he repeatedly used highly unfair and even immoral tricks to hurt his opponents.  What kind of god was he?  On the personal level, he had illicit relations with so many women that very few people know the name of his wife. Most people know Radha who was not his wife. Some people say he had 16108 lady friends. What kind of moral example did he set for his followers? Even his death was the result of a low level joke that he played on a sage.