Jaya: An Illustrated Retelling of the Mahabharata Read online

  The five sons of Pandu, three by Kunti and two by Madri, became known as the Pandavas. Collectively, the five sons had the five qualities of the perfect king—honesty, strength, skill, beauty and wisdom.

  Were the ‘gods’ who made Kunti and Madri pregnant actually Devas or simply priests performing a ritual role to compensate for the inadequacies of Pandu? This has been elaborated in Bhyrappa’s Kannada novel, Parva. Some scholars believe that even the tale of Kunti’s premarital tryst with Surya is an attempt to hide the truth, that she was asked by her father to satisfy all the needs of the sage Durvasa in keeping with the laws of hospitality. The Mahabharata has at least two tales that refer to sex hospitality, according to which a guest was allowed access to the host’s wife or daughter for pleasure. Even Satyavati’s tryst with Parasara on the boat is interpreted sometimes as a case of sex hospitality. This practice, once glorified, came to be frowned upon with the passage of time.

  Kunti restricts access of Madri to the gods for fear that she will end up bearing more children and so yield greater influence than her. Through this little episode Vyasa makes us aware that the desire for power is not restricted to men alone. In the entire epic, the children of Madri are overshadowed by the children of Kunti. This is often overlooked in modern retellings of the Mahabharata which prefer portraying Kunti as a kind, selfless and helpless widow when in fact she is a woman very conscious of palace politics, never sharing her premarital secret with anyone, quoting laws that enable her husband to father children, and later, doing everything she can to keep her sons and the sons of Madri united, even when Madri’s brother sides with the Kauravas.

  The gods invoked by the two wives of Pandu are early Vedic gods known as Devas: Yama, Indra, Vayu and the Ashwini twins. Neither Kunti nor Madri invokes Shiva or Vishnu or Brahma who are forms of Bhagavan or God. The notion of an all-powerful God is a later development in Hindu thought. This clearly indicates that the epic first took shape in Vedic times which were dominated by belief in elemental spirits. Later, with the rise of bhakti or path of passionate devotion to the almighty, the ideas of God and Shiva and Vishnu and Krishna were added to the tale.

  17

  Death of Pandu

  Pandu lived a happy life in the forest with his two wives and five sons in the company of many sages. But he was a young man and there were times when he sorely missed intimacy with his wives.

  One day, he saw sunlight streaming through the sheer fabric that Madri had draped round her body. He realized how beautiful she was. He could not resist touching her. No sooner did he do that than Kindama’s curse was realized and he died.

  A heartbroken Madri leapt into Pandu’s funeral pyre leaving her two sons in the care of Kunti.

  The Rishis in the forest then took Pandu’s widow and his five sons to Hastina-puri so that they could be raised as princes should be in the royal household of the Kurus.

  Unknown to all, Pandu had a premonition of his death and had told his sons a secret. ‘Years of celibacy and meditation in the forest have given me great knowledge. It is embedded in my body. When I die, eat my flesh and you will be blessed with great knowledge. That shall be your true inheritance.’

  After Pandu died, his body was cremated. The children could not do what their father had asked them to do. But Sahadeva noticed ants carrying a tiny piece of their father’s body. He put that piece in his mouth. Instantly, he knew everything about the world—what had happened in the past and what would happen in the future.

  He ran to tell his mother and brothers about it when a stranger stopped him and said, ‘Do you want God as your friend?’

  ‘Yes,’ said Sahadeva.

  ‘Then never tell what you know to anyone voluntarily. And when a question is asked, reply with a question.’ Sahadeva divined the stranger was none other than Krishna, God on earth. Sahadeva had no choice but to keep quiet, knowing all but never being able to tell people what he knew or do anything to avert the inevitable.

  He realized the future that he knew could be deciphered if one observed nature carefully. And so he put together various occult sciences that helped man predict the future.

  As for himself, Sahadeva waited for people to ask him the right question. They asked him many questions—but never the right one. Hence, he was always wistful and forlorn, the youngest of Kunti’s five fatherless sons.

  The Mahabharata does refer to Sati or the practice of widows burning themselves on their husbands’ funeral pyres. But in all cases, it is voluntary; nobody forces the women to submit to this violent practice. Vedic funeral rites refer to the practice of the widow being asked to lie next to her husband’s corpse, but then she is asked to stand up and return to the land of the living. She was allowed to remarry or at least cohabit with other male members of her husband’s family, usually the younger brother. Greek chroniclers who accompanied Alexander the Great to India did report the practice of Sati in North India. Around 500 CE the practice of Sati became part of liturgical manuals and a common theme in folklore as well as worship.

  In South India, Sahadeva is renowned as the master of astrology, face reading and all other forms of divination. Even today, a secretive man who never reveals anything despite having full knowledge of a situation is colloquially described as a ‘Sahadeva’.

  Book Four

  Education

  ‘Janamejaya, your ancestors turned a teacher into a trader and a priest into a warrior when they paid half a kingdom as tuition fee.’

  18

  Kripa and Kripi

  Shantanu had found a pair of twins—a boy and a girl—abandoned in the forest. They had been placed on a tiger skin and next to them were a trident and a pot, indicating they were the children of a sage. They were the children of sage Sharadwana and an Apsara called Janpadi. Shantanu named them Kripa and Kripi and raised them in the palace.

  Kripa grew up to be a teacher. Bhishma appointed him tutor to the five sons of Pandu and the hundred sons of Dhritarashtra who were now under his care.

  Kripi was given in marriage to Drona. Drona was the son of sage Bharadvaja. He was born in a pot into which his father had spilt semen at the sight of a beautiful Apsara called Ghrutachi. In time, Kripi gave birth to a son, Ashwatthama.

  Drona was extremely poor, so poor that he did not have a cow in his house. Ashwatthama grew up without ever having tasted milk. He could not even distinguish milk from rice water.

  Unable to bear the poverty, Kripi finally convinced Drona to go to his childhood friend, Drupada, king of Panchala, and ask him for a cow. ‘When we were children, we were such good friends that he promised to share all his wealth with me,’ Drona told his wife.

  Unfortunately, Drupada burst out laughing when Drona reminded him of the childhood promise. ‘Friendship exists among equals. We were friends then. Now I am a rich king and you are a poor priest. We cannot be friends. Do not claim cows in the name of friendship; ask for alms and I shall give you a cow in charity.’

  Hurt and humiliated by Drupada’s words, Drona stormed out of Panchala, determined to one day become Drupada’s equal.

  Kripa, Kripi and Drona are illegitimate children born after nymphs seduce ascetics and make them break their vows of celibacy. This is a recurring theme in the Mahabharata which values the householder’s life over that of the hermit’s. The epic age was one of tension between those who believed the purpose of life was to enjoy material pleasures and those who believed the purpose of life was to renounce the same.

  In the epic age, kings were supposed to take care of Rishis either by daan or charity or by dakshina or fee paid for services rendered. Drupada treats Drona as the son of a Rishi and offers him daan. Drona is angry because he is not treated as a friend and equal. Drupada is thus the dispassionate follower of the code of civilized conduct (dharma) while Drona yearns for human affection and respect that transcends social stratification. The conflict between Drupada and Drona is thus the conflict between head and heart. Through Drona, Vyasa draws attention to the disruptive power o