Jaya: An Illustrated Retelling of the Mahabharata Read online

  Arjuna picked up his bow and shot arrows at the hunter. The hunter responded calmly by shooting arrows that struck Arjuna’s arrows midair. Arjuna grudgingly had to accept that the hunter was indeed a skilled archer. When his quiver got empty, he picked up a sword and started fighting with the hunter. When the sword broke, a hand-to-hand combat followed. Arjuna found that the hunter was not only skilled but also very strong; he overpowered Arjuna effortlessly.

  Angry, desperate, stripped of all confidence, Arjuna went back to the linga of Shiva and offered it flowers. When he opened his eyes, he found the hunter sitting in front of him, smiling tenderly, covered with the same flowers that he had just offered the linga.

  It dawned on Arjuna that the hunter was none other than God himself. ‘I wanted to see how determined you are for the weapons. You don’t give up, do you?’ said Shiva, his voice booming across the forest. Arjuna realized the hunter’s wife was the goddess Shakti. The boar with the two arrows was actually their sacred bull, Nandi, pretending to be dead.

  Arjuna prostrated himself before God. ‘Here,’ said Shiva, ‘take the Pashupat. Use it wisely.’

  Arjuna then had a vision of Shiva’s true form. His hair was matted and his body smeared with ash. He had wrapped himself in the hide of a lion and a tiger and he held in his hand a trident, a rattle-drum and a skull as a begging bowl. Round his neck was a string of Rudraksha beads and a hooded serpent. He sat on a great white bull with his wife beside him. She was dressed in the sixteen love-charms of marriage—a red sari, flowers in her hair, betel leaf in her mouth, bangles, armlets, anklets, bracelets, toe rings, rings on her nose and ears, necklaces and bejewelled belts around her waist. The divine couple, embodiments of the soul and the flesh, raised their hands and blessed Arjuna.

  Arjuna performs a puja, a ritual quite different from the yagna, the primary ritual prescribed in Vedic scriptures. Puja involves adoration of a deity represented by an image with offerings of flower, food, perfumes and water. Pu means flowers in Tamil—an ancient language with roots different from those of the Vedic Sanskrit, suggesting that puja was a ritual of non-Vedic tribes, a people who were probably less nomadic and more rooted to the earth.

  The notion of the measuring scale is critical in Hindu thought. The value of an object depends on the scale being followed. And since all scales are man-made, all values are artificial. Thus all opinions ultimately are delusions, based on man-made measuring scales. According to one scale followed by Arjuna, a prince is superior to a forest dweller. According to another, followed by the Kirat, he who wins in a duel is superior. The world that is perceived through any measuring scale is called maya.

  Arjuna’s tryst with Shiva is not just about obtaining the Pashupat; it is also about learning a lesson in humility. Arjuna cannot bear the thought of being trounced by a forest dweller, who he considers socially inferior.

  Vyasa portrays Arjuna as an arrogant prince with a fierce competitive spirit. While competition is a powerful tool to excel, Vyasa warns us not to make it an exercise to dominate others. Domination through display of prowess is the way of the beast, not the way of the civilized man.

  In Garhwal region is found the Pandava Leela that retells the legend of Kalia Lohar, the blacksmith who helped forge weapons for the Pandavas in exile. Some say that the blacksmith was a form of Shiva, hence is worshipped locally as a deity.

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  Arjuna in Amravati

  Arjuna then climbed the snow-clad mountains known as the Himalayas. On the way, he saw the sky was overcast with dark clouds. Then he saw a flash of thunderbolts. It was his father, Indra, god of the sky, making his presence felt.

  Arjuna saw a chariot descend from the skies. It was Indra’s chariot. The charioteer, Matali, invited Arjuna to come to Swarga and join his father. ‘Why does my father call me?’

  ‘He needs your help. He is troubled by Asuras and feels you can defeat them more easily than any Deva, with your knowledge of Pashupat.’

  Arjuna beamed at this recognition of his skills. ‘I shall surely help my father. I shall raise my bow and defeat the Asuras who trouble him.’

  Arjuna fought alongside the Devas and defeated many Asuras including the ones known as Kalakeyas and Nivatakavachas. Indra hugged his son and welcomed him to Swarga. ‘Enjoy the pleasures of paradise, my son. All that you wish will be yours.’

  Arjuna indulged in the joys of paradise, sorely missing his brothers and his wife. He took special interest in learning dancing from the Gandharvas. As his warrior body moved to the tunes of the flute, the Apsaras realized how beautiful his human body, covered with sweat, was.

  One day, the Apsara known as Urvashi approached Arjuna dressed in her finest garments, and said, ‘I want you to be my lover.’

  ‘How is that possible?’ said Arjuna, ‘You were wife of my ancestor, Pururava. You are therefore like a mother to me.’

  ‘Rules of mortals do not apply to immortals.’

  ‘But they apply to me. I cannot touch you. Or even think of you in the way you want me to.’

  ‘You reject me, you mortal! You reject me?’ said Urvashi furiously. ‘You are nothing but a eunuch. May you lose your manhood instantly.’

  ‘But…’

  Urvashi walked away in a huff. Arjuna ran to his father hoping he could get rid of the curse but Indra could only modify it, ‘You will have to lose your manhood but only for a year. You choose which year it shall be.’

  ‘I am so unfortunate,’ moaned Arjuna.

  ‘Turn this curse into an opportunity,’ said the king of the Devas. ‘Use it in the thirteenth year of your exile when you are expected to live in hiding.’

  The Devas ride on vimanas or flying chariots. This has led to speculation that Mahabharata refers to flying saucers. There are many who believe that in Vedic times, people had the knowledge of aerodynamics and had actually built planes. Rationalists, however, consider reference to flying chariots of the gods as poetic flights of fancy.

  Urvashi’s values are different from Arjuna’s. She is nature; in nature, desire is not contained by morality and ethics. He is, however, a creature of human society where desire is contained by morality and ethics. Unlike Shantanu and Yayati before him who could not contain their desire, this episode shows Arjuna triumphing over his desires. The exile has made him a stronger man.

  The lifespan of an Apsara and a Deva is different from the lifespan of a Manava. Their values are different too. What is mere passion and pleasure for Urvashi is incest for Arjuna. Vyasa thus shows how confrontation and conflict does not necessarily happen when one is right and the other is wrong; it can happen simply because two people follow different value systems.

  The Mahabharata identifies the Himalayas as the stairway to the paradise of the gods because their peaks touch the sky.

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  A journey full of tales

  While Arjuna was enjoying the comforts of Amravati, he was worried about his wife and brothers. So Indra sent the Rishi Lomasha to earth to inquire about their well-being and to direct them to the hermitage of Nara and Narayana atop the snow-clad peaks of the Himalayan range. ‘Tell them that Arjuna will meet them there after he has spent time with his father,’ said Indra.

  When Lomasha met the Pandavas, he found they sorely missed Arjuna and were eager to hear of his well-being. ‘He enjoys the company of his father. Indra advises you to spend your days in exile travelling, visiting places on river banks, atop hills, in caves, scattered across the rose-apple continent of Jambudvipa. Spend time with sages, hear stories, learn new skills and gain wisdom. Twelve years is less than a blink of Indra’s eyes; it shall pass quickly. When you return, you will be better rulers of the earth.’

  And so began the great pilgrimage of the Pandavas. Accompanied by many sages including Dhaumya, Narada, Parvata and Lomasha, they went south, then east, then west. They bathed in the confluence of holy rivers and dipped in lakes guarded by ancient deities. They meditated in caves and saw the sun rise from sacred mountain tops. The journe