Jaya: An Illustrated Retelling of the Mahabharata Read online

  Arjuna said, ‘The point of life is to compete and excel in the playground of life.’

  Bhima said, ‘The past is gone. Don’t think about it. Focus on the present, the future, the food we shall all eat and the wine we shall all drink. That is the point of it all.’

  Nakula said, ‘The point is to make wealth and distribute it to the poor and the wise and the deserving.’

  Sahadeva, as usual, said nothing. Nor did Draupadi, still mourning her five sons.

  Vidura spoke solemnly to his nephew, ‘Everybody dies—some suddenly, some slowly, some painfully, some peacefully. No one can escape death. The point is to make the most of life—enjoy it, celebrate it, learn from it, make sense of it, share it with fellow human beings—so that when death finally comes, it will not be such a terrible thing.’

  A Charvaka, one who does not believe in the existence of anything spiritual or metaphysical, shouted from the city square, ‘Yes, Yudhishtira, life has no point at all. So enjoy every moment for there is no tomorrow, no life after death, no soul, no fate, no bondage, no liberation, no God. Be a king if it makes you happy; don’t be a king if it does not. Pleasure alone is the purpose of life.’

  None of this pacified Yudhishtira. He paced the palace corridors all day and lay awake on his bed at night, haunted by the wail of widows and orphans. No one understood his pain. ‘Perhaps I must become a hermit. Find serenity in the forest.’

  It was then that Krishna spoke, ‘Yes, Yudhishtira, you can renounce the world and become a hermit and achieve peace, but what about the rest of the world? Will you abandon them?’ Yudhishtira did not know what to say. Krishna continued, ‘A hermit seeks meaning for himself but only a king can create a world that enables everyone to find meaning. Choose kingship, Yudhishtira, not out of obligation but out of empathy for humanity.’

  ‘Why me?’ asked Yudhishtira.

  ‘Who better than you? You, who gambled away your kingdom, can empathize with the imperfections of man. You, who silently suffered thirteen years of exile, know the power of repentance and forgiveness. You, who saw Duryodhana reject every offer of peace, know the power of the ego and the horror of adharma. You, who had to lie to kill your own teacher, know the complexities of dharma. Only you, son of Kunti, have the power to establish a world where the head is balanced with the heart, wealth with wisdom, and discipline with compassion. Come, Yudhishtira, with your brothers by your side, be Vishnu on earth.’

  Yudhishtira needed no more persuasion. He realized what it meant to be king. He agreed to wear the crown.

  In the presence of all elders, he was made to sit on the ancient seat reserved for the leader of the Kuru clan. Milk was poured on him and water. He was given first a conch-shell trumpet, then a lotus flower, then a mace and finally the royal bow.

  The priests said, ‘Like Vishnu, blow the trumpet and make sure the world knows your law. Reward those who follow it with the lotus of prosperity and discipline those who don’t with a swing of your mace. And always stay balanced—neither too tight nor too loose—like the bow.’

  Everyone bowed to the new king. It was the birth of a new era, an age where dharma would be reinstituted by the five Pandavas with the guidance of Krishna. Filled with hope, the people cheered their new king as he rode into the streets dressed in white and gold on a cart pulled by a hundred oxen. Conch-shell trumpets blared from the eight corners of the city. Flowers were showered on him on every street. The war seemed a distant memory. It was an impressive sight, worthy of the great Kuru clan.

  The coronation ceremony in ancient times paralleled the ceremony in which a stone statue was transformed into a deity in temples. The ceremony was aimed to bring about a shift in consciousness. Just as it enabled a stone to become divine and solve the problems of devotees, it enabled an ordinary man to think like God—more about his subjects and less about himself.

  One must never forget that during Yudhishtira’s coronation, each and every Pandava is aware that all their children are dead—Abhimanyu, Ghatotkacha, Iravan, Barbareek, even the five sons of Draupadi. The only surviving heir is unborn, resting in the womb of Abhimanyu’s widow, Uttari. Thus, it is not quite a happy occasion as some storytellers like to project.

  Dharma is not about winning. It is about empathy and growth. Yudhishtira knows the pain of losing a child. He can empathize with his enemy rather than gloat on their defeat. In empathy, there is wisdom.

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  Bed of arrows

  When the coronation ceremonies drew to a close, Krishna advised the Pandavas, ‘Go and seek the blessings of your granduncle. Let him share with you the secret of peace and prosperity before he dies.’

  Life was slipping away slowly for Bhishma as he lay on the bed of arrows, but he was eager to share all he knew with the new king. ‘Give me some water first,’ he said.

  Arjuna immediately shot an arrow into the earth and water gushed out, leaping into the mouth of the dying patriarch.

  His thirst quenched, Bhishma told Yudhishtira, ‘Life is like a river. You can struggle to change its course but ultimately it will go its own way. Bathe in it, drink it, be refreshed by it, share it with everyone, but never fight it, never be swept away by its flow, and never get attached to it. Observe it. Learn from it.’

  Bhishma told Yudhishtira about the human condition. A dove, pursued by a hawk, asked a king called Sivi to save it. As soon as the king offered it protection, the hawk shouted, ‘What will I eat then?’ Sivi then offered the hawk any other dove to feed on. ‘That is not fair to the other birds, is it, O king?’ asked the hawk. The king then offered his own flesh, equal in measure to the dove’s weight. ‘How much flesh can you give king? Sooner or later, you will die, and the dove will have to fend for itself. Unless one creature dies, another creature cannot survive, that is the natural cycle of life,’ said the hawk. ‘Was I wrong to save the dove?’ wondered the king—his inner voice said he was not. So what must a man do? What must a king do? Save doves and let hawks starve or save hawks by allowing them to kill doves? At that moment, the king realized how different man was from animal. Animals spent their entire lives focused on survival. Humans could look beyond survival, seek meaning in life, harm others to save themselves, help others by sacrificing themselves. Humanity was blessed with a faculty that enabled it to empathize and exploit. It was this unique faculty that allowed humans to forsake the jungle and establish civilization.

  Bhishma told Yudhishtira about human society. Humans, unlike animals, were blessed with imagination. They could foresee the future, and take actions to secure it. Often attempts to secure the future led to hoarding; need gave way to greed. With greed came exploitation. King Vena plundered the earth to such a degree that the earth, tired of being so abused, ran away in the form of a cow. The sages then had Vena killed. Vena’s son, Prithu, pursued the earth-cow crying, ‘If you don’t feed them, my subjects will die.’ The earth-cow retorted angrily, ‘Your subjects squeeze my udders until they are sore. They break my back with their ambition.’ Prithu then promised that he would establish a code of conduct based on empathy, rather than exploitation, which would ensure the survival of humanity. ‘This code of conduct will be called dharma,’ said Prithu. By this code, the earth became a cow while kings became the earth’s cowherds ensuring there was always enough milk for humans as well as the cow’s calves.

  The conversation between Bhishma and Yudhishtira went on for many days. At first, everything seemed like the ramblings of a dying man. Later, everything made great sense. Yudhishtira learnt many things—history, geography, law, polity, economics and philosophy, the idea behind the strange tales of gods, demons and humans.

  Yudhishtira had many questions. Bhishma answered each of them. At one point Yudhishtira asked, ‘Who gets greater pleasure in life? Man or woman?’

  ‘Not all questions have answers, Yudhishtira. No one knows what you ask, except perhaps Bhangashvana, an ancient king, who was cursed by Indra to turn into a woman. He was the only creature on earth who knew sexual ple