Read Mahabharata: Volume 8 Online
Authors: Bibek Debroy
Mahabharata: Volume 8 (12 page)
Vaishampayana said, ‘When all the soldiers were asleep and were destroyed by the three rathas, King Yudhishthira grieved and spoke these words to Dasharha. “O Krishna! All my sons were maharathas. Drona’s son was wicked, inferior and blemished in his deeds. How could they be slain by him? In a similar way, Drupada’s sons were accomplished in the use of weapons. They were brave. They could fight with hundreds and thousands. How could they have been brought down by Drona’s son? Dhrishtadyumna was the best
among rathas. In the forefront of the battle, Drona, the great archer, could not stand before him. How could he have been slain? O bull among men! What act had the preceptor’s son accomplished, that he could single-handedly slay all of them in the camp?”
‘Vasudeva replied, “There is no doubt that Drona’s son had sought refuge with the god of the gods, the lord without decay, the lord of everything. That is the reason he could slay many, though he was single-handed. If Mahadeva is pleased, he can even grant immortality. O bull among the Bharata lineage! I know about Mahadeva’s true nature and about the many deeds that he performed in ancient times. O descendant of the Bharata lineage! He is the beginning, the middle and the end of beings. Everything in this entire universe moves because of his deeds. The lord, the grandfather, wished to create beings and saw him first. He told him, ‘Without any delay, create beings.’ Having been thus addressed, the one with the tawny locks
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saw that beings would have defects. For a very long time, the immensely ascetic one submerged himself in water and tormented himself through austerities. The grandfather waited for a very long period of time. So as to generate beings, he then created another being through his mental powers. On seeing that Girisha was submerged in the water, this being told his father,
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‘I will generate beings only if no other being has been born before me.’ His father told him, ‘There is no other being who has been born before you. Sthanu is submerged in the water. You can confidently do what you have to do.’ That being then created seven Prajapatis, Daksha and the others.
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All of them created the four kinds of beings.
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Having been created, all the beings were hungry. O king! They violently rushed towards the Prajapatis, wishing to devour them. As they were about to be devoured, in search of succour, they fled to the grandfather. ‘O illustrious one! Please save us from these. Decree some means
for their sustenance.’ He then assigned them the forests, the herbs and all immobile objects. Among mobile beings, the strong could feed on the weak. Having been assigned a means of sustenance, all the beings were satisfied and went away to wherever they had come from. O king! They cheerfully multiplied themselves, within their own species. When the beings prospered, the preceptor of the worlds
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was pleased. However, the eldest one arose from the waters and saw all these beings. He saw many different kinds of beings, who were extending through their own energies. The illustrious Rudra angrily planted his
linga
, so that it penetrated the earth and remained stationed there. Brahma wished to pacify him and spoke these words to him. ‘O Sharva! Why did you remain inside the water for such a long period of time? Why have you made your linga penetrate inside the earth?’ Thus addressed, he angrily replied to the preceptor of the worlds, ‘Someone else has created these beings. What will I do with this?
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O grandfather! Through my austerities, I have created food for the beings. The herbs will always multiply and so will the beings.’ Having angrily spoken in this way, Bhava was cheerless and went away. The immensely ascetic one tormented himself through austerities on the foothills of Mount Munjavat.”’
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‘Vasudeva said, “When the yuga of the gods was over,
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the gods resolved to perform a sacrifice in accordance with the dictates of the Vedas. They made all the due preparations. The foremost among the gods thought of an appropriate place where the sacrifice could be performed. Amongst themselves, the gods apportioned out the shares of the objects offered at the sacrifice.
O lord of men! Despite knowing about Rudra and about his true nature, the gods did not determine a share for Sthanu. On knowing that the immortals had not thought of a share for him at the sacrifice, Krittivasa
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quickly determined to obtain a share and created a bow. There are sacrifices for the worlds, sacrifices with rituals, sacrifices performed in households and eternal sacrifices that involve the five elements.
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Sacrifices performed by men are the fifth kind. Kapardi
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constructed a bow for the sake of a sacrifice that was a sacrifice for the worlds. He created a bow from the elements and it was five cubits long. O descendant of the Bharata lineage!
Vashatkara
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constituted the bowstring. He wished to destroy the four limbs of the sacrifice.
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Therefore, Mahadeva angrily grasped his bow. He went to the spot where the gods had assembled. On seeing the undecaying brahmachari arrive there with the bow, the goddess earth was distressed. The mountains began to tremble. Winds did not blow. Though offered kindling, fires would not blaze. The nakshatras, in their circle in the sky, were anxious and roamed aimlessly. The resplendent sun and the moon lost the radiance in their discs. The entire sky was enveloped in great darkness. The gods were distressed and confused. The top of the sacrificial altar could no longer be seen. Rudra used his arrow to pierce the sacrifice in the heart. Thus attacked, the sacrifice assumed the form of a deer and fled, together with the fire. O Yudhishthira! In that form, it roamed around in the sky. However, Rudra pursued it in the firmament. When the sacrifice was attacked in this fashion, the gods lost their senses. Having lost their senses, the gods could not distinguish anything. Using the curved end of the bow, Tryambaka
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then angrily tore out Savita’s arms, plucked out Bhaga’s eyes and gouged out Pushana’s teeth. The gods, and all the parts of the sacrifice, fled. Some whirled
around, as if they had lost their lives. Having driven all of them away, Shitikantha
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laughed. He used the extremities of his bow to paralyse and obstruct the gods. When the immortals shrieked, the bowstring broke. O king! When the bowstring was severed, he violently brandished his bow. The best of the gods was without a bow and the gods, together with the sacrifice, approached him and sought refuge with him. They sought the lord’s favours. The illustrious one was pleased and cast his anger aside into a body of water. O lord! That is the fire in the water, which always dries it up. O Pandava! He returned Bhaga’s eyes, Savita’s arms and Pushana’s teeth and the sacrifice was also restored. Everything was well, exactly as it had been earlier. The gods thought of all the oblations as his share. O lord! When Bhava
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was enraged, the entire universe was in disarray. When he was satisfied, everything was hale again. He
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was gratified with the valiant one.
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That is the reason all your maharatha sons have been killed, and so have many other brave Panchalas and their followers. In your mind, you should not think that this has been done by Drona’s son. This was because of Mahadeva’s favours. Now do whatever task must be done next.”’
This ends Souptika Parva.
Stri Parva is a parva concerning women. This parva is so named because it is about the grief of the women and the funeral ceremonies performed by the women and the survivors. In the 18-parva classification, Stri Parva is the eleventh. In the 100-parva classification, Stri Parva constitutes Sections 80 to 83. Stri Parva has twenty-seven chapters. In the numbering of the chapters in Stri Parva, the first number is a consecutive one, starting with the beginning of the Mahabharata. And the second number, within brackets, is the numbering of the chapter within the parva.
This parva has 194 shlokas and eight chapters.
Vishoka means the end of sorrow, or to be freed from sorrow. This parva is named after Vidura’s attempt to dispel Dhritarashtra’s sorrow.
Janamejaya asked, ‘O sage! When the great king Dhritarashtra heard that Duryodhana and all the soldiers had been killed, what did he do? What did the great-minded Kourava king, Dharma’s son,
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and the other three, Kripa and the others,
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do? I have heard about Ashvatthama’s deed and the curses that were
imposed on each other.
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Tell me what happened next and what Sanjaya said.’
Vaishampayana replied, ‘When his one hundred sons had been killed, Dhritarashtra, the lord of the earth, was miserable and tormented by sorrow on account of his sons. He was like a tree deprived of its branches. He was deep in reflection and overcome by his thoughts. The immensely wise Sanjaya went to him and spoke these words. “O great king! Why are you grieving? Sorrowing does not help. O lord of the earth! Eighteen akshouhinis have been destroyed. The earth has been rendered bare and is almost empty. The lords of men had assembled from many directions and many countries. With your sons, all of them have confronted their death. It is necessary to perform the funeral rites of the fathers, the sons, the grandsons, kin, well-wishers and preceptors, in the due order.” On hearing those piteous words, the invincible one
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was afflicted because of the death of his sons and grandsons and fell down on the ground, like a tree struck by a storm.
‘Dhritarashtra said, “My sons have been killed. My advisers have been killed. All my well-wishers have been killed. It is certain that I will roam around the earth in grief. Bereft of my relatives, how will I now live this life? I am like a decayed and aged bird whose wings have been clipped. I have lost my kingdom. My well-wishers have been slain. I am blind too. O immensely wise one! I am like the one with rays,
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when it is dim and does not shine. I did not listen to the words of the well-wishers, or the advice of Jamadagni’s son,
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devarshi Narada, or Krishna Dvaipayana. In the midst of the assembly hall, Krishna spoke beneficial words to me. ‘O king! There has been enough of enmity. Restrain your
sons.’ Because I was evil-minded, I disregarded those words and it torments me severely. I did not listen to the words, full of dharma, that Bhishma spoke. On hearing about Duryodhana’s death, when he was roaring like a bull, and of Duhshasana’s slaughter, Karna’s catastrophe and the setting of the sun that was Drona, my heart has been shattered. O Sanjaya! I am suffering like a fool. I do not recall any evil deeds that I have performed, which could lead to these fruits now. It is certain that I have committed sins in my earlier lives. Because of that, the creator has acted so as to give me this share of grief. This consequence of the destruction of my friends and all my relatives, the destruction of my well-wishers and allies, has been brought about by destiny. Where is another man on this earth who is as miserable as I am? Therefore, the Pandavas will now see me, rigid in my vows, following the long road that extends towards Brahma’s world.”’
Vaishampayana said, ‘Thus did he lament, thinking about his many sorrows. To dispel the king’s sorrows, Sanjaya spoke these words. “O king! O best among kings! Abandon your grief. You have heard about the certainty of the Vedas and the sacred texts from many seniors and about what the sages told Srinjaya in ancient times, when he was tormented by grief on account of his son.
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O king! When your son was young and insolent, you disregarded the words that were spoken to you by your well-wishers. You were avaricious and desired the fruits and did not act in accordance with what was good for you. Your advisers were Duhshasana, the evil-souled Radheya,
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the evil-souled Shakuni and the evil-minded Chitrasena.
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They were thorns and they made the entire world full of thorns for
themselves.
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O descendant of the Bharata lineage! Your son did not act in accordance with the words of Bhishma, eldest among the Kurus, or Gandhari, or Vidura. He did not act virtuously, in accordance with dharma. Instead, he always spoke of war. He took all the kshatriyas to their destruction and increased the fame of the enemies. You were in the midst as a neutral and did not say anything that should have been said. You were the main beast of burden, but you did not bear your proportionate load. Right from the beginning, a man should adopt the appropriate course of action. One should not strive for something earlier, which one has to repent later. O king! Because of your affection towards your son, you were only interested in pleasing him. You have subsequently arrived at a state of repentance and you should not sorrow. There are those who only see the honey and not the fall. Like you, they sorrow when their greed for honey dislodges them.
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One who searches for gain obtains sorrow. One who sorrows does not obtain happiness. One who sorrows does not obtain prosperity. One who sorrows does not obtain the supreme objective. A man who starts a fire and then covers it up in a garment, sorrows when he is scorched. Such a person is not regarded as learned. The Parthas were a fire. You and your sons fanned it with the wind of your words. You sprinkled the flames with the clarified butter of your greed. When it was kindled, your sons fell into it like insects. They were scorched by Keshava’s flames. You should not sorrow. O king! Tears are flowing down from your face. This is not in accordance with the sacred texts and the learned ones do not praise it. It is said that they are like sparks and scorch men. Therefore, use your intelligence to conquer your anger. Get a grip on yourself.” O scorcher of enemies! When the
great-souled Sanjaya had consoled him in this way, Vidura showed his earlier intelligence and again spoke to him.’