MAHABHARAT - AN EPIC !!!

Once upon a time in ancient India, King Shantanu was the ruler of Hastinapur Kingdom. King Shantanu fell in love with Ganga and then married her. Ganga gave birth to 8 sons but only her 8^th son remained alive. Why Debabrata got the name of Bhisma? King Shantanu gifted a divine benefit to Debabrata. What was that boon? Satyabati got married for how many times in her lifetime? Who gave birth to Vyasa, Chitrangada and Bichitrabirja? Who was the actual father of Pandu and Dhritarastra? Who was the mother of Bidur? One day the angry Hermit Durbasha visited Kunti’s palace. Kunti impressed Hermit Durbasha with her caring attitude and good service. Feeling satisfied, Hermit Durbasha gave a boon to Kunti that she can request any God to give her a child by chanting a divine mantra. Kunti fell in love with Suryadeb (Sun God) and chanted that mantra as an experiment. As a result, the virgin Kunti gave birth to Karna without any biological and physical pains. Why the little Karna had to enjoy the basket ride on the waters of River Ganga? Despite being the son of Suryadeb, why Karna was called Sarathiputra? Karna took birth with a kavach (body armour) and kundals (ear-rings) attached with his body. Suryadeb gave the boon to Karna that no one can defeat Karna unless and until that kavach and those kundals get detached from Karna’s body. Bichitrabirja had 3 sons; Dhritarastra, Pandu and Bidur. Pandu’s wives were Kunti and Madri. What curse was given by Hermit Kindama to Pandu? Why Kunti had to chant that divine mantra again to give birth to Judhisthir, Bhim and Arjun. Due to that same divine mantra by Kunti, Madri gave birth to twin brothers; Nakul and Sahadeb. On the other hand, the blind Dhritarastra‘s wife Gandhari who covered her eyes with a piece of cloth for her entire lifetime, gave birth to 100 sons and 1 daughter. Dhritarastra was the father of 101 sons and 1 daughter. Who was the mother of Yuyutsu?

As Dhritarastra was blind, so, his younger brother became the King of Hastinapur. After getting the curse from Hermit Kindama, Pandu gave the throne of Hastinapur to Dhritarastra and then went to live in the forest with his family members. Pandu and Madri died in the forest. Judhisthir was elder than Duryodhan. So, as per rule, Judhisthir would be the next legal heir of Hastinapur. Both Pandavas, i.e. the sons of Pandu and Kauravas, i.e. the sons of Dhritarastra got the military training under Guru Dronacharya. Guru Dronacharya wanted to see how much they have learned after the military training. Therefore, a fighting competition was conducted between Pandavas and Kauravas. Bhim and Duryodhan had a gada fight and it was a tie. Guru Dronacharya declared that Arjun is the best archer of the world. But, Karna challenged Arjun by saying that he is a far better archer than Arjun. Long time back, the poor Eklavya became the victim of politics by Guru Dronacharya; otherwise, Eklavya would have become the best archer of the world despite belonging to a hunter tribe family. Guru Dronacharya and Pitamah Bhisma were not giving the permission to Karna to take part in that competition as Karna belonged to Sudra caste. Mama Shakuni, the champion dice player suggested Duryodhan to utilize the situation by supporting Karna at that moment. Duryodhan made Karna the king of Anga and then Karna got the permission to take part in the archery competition. ‘Raja sarh jhuka ke nahi, sarh utha ke jeete hain.’ Both Arjun and Karna showed equal talents in archery and hence their competition ended in a tie. Judhisthir was officially declared as the Prince of Hastinapur, i.e. the legal heir of King Dhritarastra. Duryodhan became jealous on Pandavas. Duryodhan invited Pandavas to attend a fair at Varnavrat and suggested them to stay at a house of wax or Lakshagriha which was constructed by Purochan. Bidur knew about the plan and that’s why a miner was sent by him to that house of wax to dig a tunnel. Why the House of Wax got transformed into ashes? Were Pandavas still alive? ‘Kaurav o ke saath Shakuni Mama hain toh hamare saath Bidur Kaka hain.’ ‘Aap ke saath toh swayam Shri Krishna hain.’

Pandavas crossed the Yamuna River and entered into a forest. Judhisthir was sure about the presence of demons in the forest. Bhim remained awake as a security guard on that night.  On that night, Demoness Hirimba fell in love with Bhim at first sight. Hirimba took the disguise of a beautiful woman to impress Bhim. Demon Hirimb, the brother of Hirimba tried to kill Bhim but got himself killed. Kunti was impressed with Hirimba. Hirimba requested Kunti to allow her to become the wife of Bhim. ‘Sharir se bhale hee yeh rakshasi ho, lekin mann se yeh manav hain.’ Bhim and Hirimba got married. After marriage, the disguised Hirimba came back to her original form as a demoness. Bhim felt somewhat depressed after seeing the original Hirimba. ‘Khub banayi Jodi bhagwan.’ King Dhrupad of Panchala Kingdom arranged a Swayamvar Sabha for his wheatish coloured beautiful daughter Draupadi. Drishtadyumna, the brother of Draupadi declared about the task in that Swayamvar Sabha. The task was to target the eye of an artificial fish attached with a revolving circular dish at the ceiling while watching the reflection of that artificial fish on an oil vessel at the floor. Draupadi didn’t allow Karna to participate in that task of Swayamvar Sabha as he was a Sarathiputra. ‘Joh bhikh mein Raj Shingasan sweekar kar le woh daanveer kaisa. Naa hee yeh daanveer hain na Rajputra.’ All the princes from all around the world failed to complete the task. A Brahmin came forward to do that task. All the Kshatriyas protested against the Brahmin. The Brahmin said, ‘Jo Kshatriya na kar saake, woh Brahman kar dikhayega.’ Draupadi had no objections on that Brahmin. All the Kshatriya Kings inside that Panchala Palace was about to attack that Brahmin that Lord Krishna stepped in. ‘Jisse tum Brahman samajh rahe ho, woh Brahman nahi hain, Brahman ke besh mein Kshatriya hain. Jiske mrityu ka samay nahi hota, usse koi nahi maar sakta.’ Duryodhan and Karna were surprised to see the Pandavas alive. The Brahmin targeted that fish’s eye. Draupadi married Arjun. Kunti was performing the puja inside the hut. Judhisthir said while standing near the door of that hut, ‘Maata ji, dekhiye aap ke liye kya laaye hain!’ Kunti replied, ‘Mujhe kya dikhate ho, hamesha ki tarah aapas mein baant lo.’ Draupadi became the wife of 5 brothers. Lord Krishna said, ‘Shabd aap ki muh se Ved Vaani ho ke nikle hain.’ Draupadi in her previous life did meditation for Lord Shiva. When Lord Shiva asked her for a boon, she uttered, ‘Patidehi’ for 5 times. Bholanath gave the boon that she will get 5 husbands of different qualities in her next life. Hence, Draupadi got 5 husbands.

Pandavas demanded for a kingdom. Giving respect to the suggestion of Pitamah Bhisma, King Dhritarastra decided to give half of the Hastinapur Kingdom to Prince Judhisthir and kept the remaining half with Kauravas. Pandavas were given the area of Khandavprastha, a region cursed by Lord Indra. Arjun started meditation for Lord Indra. ‘Aum Indraye Namah!’ Lord Indra responded to Arjun’s meditation and ordered Lord Biswakarma to transform Khandavprashtha into a modern city like Dwarka. Biswakarma constructed a new city with his divine powers. Judhisthir named that new city as Indraprastha. Jarasandha kept many Kings as prisoners. Bhim killed Jarasandha. Judhisthir became the emperor as all the freed kings became his allies. Arjun married Krishna’s younger sister, Subhadra. Subhadra gave birth to Abhimanyu. Draupadi insulted Duryodhan after inviting him in Maya Mahal. ‘Panchali yeh tumne accha nahi kiya. Kaurava aur Pandava mein shatruta samapt ho gayi thi, par aaj tumne dushmani ki beej phir bo diye. Pata nahi dushmani ka yeh beesh kahan tak pehelega!’ Judhisthir had a very bad habit of playing dice. Shakuni Mama capitalized on it by defeating Judhisthir in the game of dice. Pandavas lost all their kingdoms, treasuries and Panchali to Kauravas. Shakuni Mama gave Pandavas to play another game of dice. Whosoever loses will go to Vanaprastha for 13 years and Agyaatbaas for 1 year. Who came to rescue Draupadi when her Bastra-Haran was going on by Dusshasan?  Pandavas went to Vanaprastha. After 14 years, Pandavas demanded half of the Hastinapur Kingdom from Kauravas by sending Krishna as their messenger. Kauravas didn’t even give 5 villages to 5 sons of Pandu. Krishna warned Kauravas that Pandavas have acquired divine powers while staying in the forests and they are strong enough to kill all the sons of Dhritarastra.

The war of Kurukshetra started. Arjun was confused whether to go for a war against Kauravas. Krishna became the sarathi of Arjun’s chariot and answered all the questions of Arjun. That question-answer session was popularly known as Srimad Bhagbad Gita. ‘Baash Prabhu Baash! Aap ka tez aur sahan nahi kar sakta. Main toh agyaanwash aap ko sirf banshi bajayia hee samajhta raha, parantu aap se badhkar koi devtaa nahi. Aap se hee jeevan hain, aap se hee mrityu.’ Was Shikandi, a male or female? Who created a bed full of arrows for Bhisma? Abhimanyu entered inside the Chakravhuya military formation of Kauravas and got killed. ‘Yeh hain Dharamkshetra, Kurukshetra.’ Kunti played emotional politics on Karna. Indra, the father of Arjun already took the kavach and kundals from Karna to save Arjun. ‘Jaao tumhare paanch putra jeebit rahenge.’ Arjun killed Karna. ‘Dekh Maa! Maine tere kahne par, aapne praan daan kar diye.’ Duryodhan was hiding in Narmada Kund. Bhim targeted at Duryodhan’s uru to kill him as it was the only soft area of Duryodhan’s body which was not hardened by Gandhari’s eye powers. Pandavas won the battle of Kurukshetra by killing the Kauravas. Kunti confessed in front of Pandavas that Karna was her eldest son. Judhisthir and his brothers felt sad about Karna. Arjun promised to donate golden jewelleries to poor people like Karna used to do every day. Pandavas kept on ruling Hastinapur for many years. Hermit Vyasa, the son of Satyabati took the help of Lord Ganesh to write the most modern epic of the Universe, the “MAHABHARAT - AN EPIC”.