Drupada wanted to give his daughter to Arjuna, the greatest archer in the world, but since everyone believed that Arjuna along with his brothers and his mother had all been killed in a palace fire, Drupada had no choice but to hold an archery contest and find the next best archer for his daughter.
In Vedic times, all kings were expected to have by their side a sage who advised them on ritual, spiritual, occult as well as political matters. This was the raj-guru or royal tutor. Jupiter or Brihaspati served as the guru to Indra, king of the Devas. Venus or Shukra served as guru to Bali, king of the Asuras. Since the Pandavas were destined to be kings, they are advised to keep by their side a guru. This could be seen as an early form of alliance between state and religion.
The Mahabharata is a Vaishnava epic, that is it focuses on the virtues of Vishnu, the world-affirming form of God. Shiva, the world-renouncing form of God, appears repeatedly in the epic as the deity invoked by characters burning with vengeance such as Amba, Drupada, and later, Arjuna.
Shiva is considered Ardha-nareshwara, a god who is half woman. The children born through his grace possess both male and female qualities. Drupada’s first daughter, Shikhandi, transforms into a son later in life. The next time, the magic potion splits creating two children—one totally male and the other totally female. Dhrishtadyumna is visualized as a highly violent man while his twin sister, Draupadi, is visualized as a highly sensuous woman.
It is significant to note that Hidimbi, the Rakshasa woman, is not considered as a daughter-in-law either by Kunti or Dhaumya. It suggests a racist stance.
30
Draupadi’s swayamvara
‘Go to the swayamvara of Drupada’s daughter disguised as priests and see what happens,’ advised Dhaumya. ‘If she was created to be Arjuna’s bride, then nothing in the world can stop that from happening.’
The Pandavas followed Dhaumya into Drupada’s court. Since they presented themselves as Brahmans, they could not participate. They sat in the pavillion meant for Rishis, Tapasvins and Brahmans and watched the Kshatriyas compete.
All participants were asked to string a bow and shoot the eye of a fish rotating on a wheel suspended from the roof of the hall while looking at its reflection in a vat of oil. A difficult feat, one that everyone agreed could have been done by Arjuna had he been alive.
Many archers from around Bharata-varsha came and tried their luck. Some could not even string the great bow. Others fell into the vat of oil while trying to see the reflection of the fish. The rest shot arrows everywhere except at the eye of the fish.
Duryodhana did not participate because he was already married to Bhanumati, princess of Kalinga, and he had promised her that he would never marry another. So in his place, he sent his friend, Karna.
When Karna was about to try, Draupadi stood up and said, ‘No, the son of a charioteer cannot contend for my hand in marriage.’ Thus humiliated publicly, Karna withdrew.
When all the Kshatriyas had tried and failed, Drupada invited the Brahmans to participate. Arjuna immediately rose, picked up the bow, looked at the reflection of the eye of the rotating fish and released the arrow. The arrow hit its mark and the audience cheered. Every one was dumbfounded that a Brahman could do what Kshatriyas could not.
Some of the assembled warriors tried to stop Arjuna from claiming Draupadi as his prize, but they stepped back on finding out that the bow-wielding priest had the protection of his four very strong brothers.
Ideally, during a swayamvara, a woman was supposed to choose a husband from among the assembled men. But as time passed, this right was taken away from women. The swayamvara became an archery contest. The bride was the winner’s trophy. But the woman concerned had the right to disqualify men from the tournament as Draupadi disqualifies Karna.
A folktale from Gujarat says that Jarasandha, the emperor of Magadha, wanted to participate in the swayamvara of Draupadi. But he did not go when he overheard people on the street saying, ‘If he loses, everyone will make fun of him, for humiliating himself so publicly. If he wins, everyone will still make fun of him, for getting himself so young a wife.’ Thus, in life, there are situations that you cannot win, no matter what happens.
Draupadi rejects Karna on grounds of his apparent social status when unknown to all, he is actually a warrior. When no warrior is able to strike the target, Drupada compromises and allows priests to participate. Draupadi accepts her father’s compromise, and marries a priest who turns out to be a warrior in disguise. Thus Vyasa draws attention to the folly of being driven more by external apparent truths rather than by underlying actual truths.
31
The common wife
‘Look what I won at the tournament, mother,’ said Arjuna.
Without turning around, Kunti said, ‘Whatever it is, share it equally with your brothers.’
‘But it is a woman,’ said Arjuna.
Kunti turned around and found the beautiful Draupadi next to Arjuna. She also noticed that all her sons were attracted to her. Fearing that a woman would disrupt the unity of her sons, she said, ‘What I have said must be done if you are truly my sons, provided dharma allows it.’
Dharma did allow it. Yudhishtira narrated the story of Vidula who according to the ancient chronicles had married the ten Prachetas brothers. With this reference, there was nothing to stop Draupadi from becoming the common wife of the five Pandavas.
In her past life, Draupadi had invoked Shiva and asked for a husband who was honest, a husband who was strong, a husband who was skilled, a husband who was handsome and a husband who was knowledgeable. Shiva had said, ‘You will get all five men that you want for no single man, except God, can have all those qualities.’
In another past life, Draupadi was Nalayani, the wife of a Rishi called Maudgalya. He had a terrible disease that made him cough and spit all day and covered his skin with scales and rashes. Still Nalayani served him as a devoted wife. Pleased with her unstinting service, the sage offered her a boon. Nalayani requested that he use his ascetic powers to indulge all her sexual desires. Accordingly, Maudgalya took the forms of many different men, some human, some divine, all handsome, and made love to her in many different ways. After indulging in sexual pleasures for many years, Maudgalya decided it was time to renounce the world. But Nalayani was not satisfied. ‘Who will make love to me after you are gone?’ she asked. Disgusted by her insatiable lust, the Rishi cursed her that in her next life she would be the wife of many men.
In their previous lives, all the Pandavas had served as Indras and single-handedly protected their queen, Sachi, and their celestial city of Amravati. But in their current life, they would, even collectively, be unable to protect their queen or their kingdom. For this was the twilight of the Dvapara yuga, the third quarter of the world’s lifespan.
Vyasa never clarifies why Kunti does not retract her statement when she realizes that what Arjuna is referring to is a woman and not a thing. Kunti knows that the only strength she has is the unity of her sons. She insists they marry the same woman because she fears if Draupadi marries only Arjuna, sexual jealousy will cause a rift between the brothers.
There are a few tribes in India such as the Todas in the south and the hill tribes of Uttaranchal where polyandry is followed to prevent division of property. The household always has one kitchen and one daughter-in-law. The sons have the freedom to either share the wife or become ascetics or find pleasure elsewhere with mistresses and prostitutes, who have no legal right over the family property.
Many variations of the Nalayani story are found in Malayalam literature, for example, such as the 16th century Bharatam Pattu and the 18th century Nalayani Charitram. They are attempts to explain Draupadi’s polyandry that clearly discomforted many people.
Book Seven
Friendship
‘Janamejaya, God, who walked this earth as Krishna, gave up his beloved and his music, so that he could take care of your family.’
32
Krishna enters
Just
as Draupadi’s hand was given in marriage to the five Pandavas, a stranger walked into Kunti’s house. He was a dark and extremely handsome man with bright charming eyes and a disarming smile. He was dressed in a bright yellow dhoti. He had a garland of fragrant forest flowers round his neck and a peacock feather stuck out from the topknot on his head.
Falling at Kunti’s feet, the stranger said in a soft melodious voice that touched everyone’s heart, ‘I am Krishna, son of your brother, Vasudeva. Your father, Surasena, who gave you in adoption to Kuntibhoja, is my grandfather. The blood of Yadu and the Nagas flow in both our veins. Your sons are my cousins.’
Krishna was born during turbulent times in Mathura, the city of Kunti’s birth. Shortly after Surasena had given Kunti away in adoption, Surasena’s nephew, a youth called Kansa, son of Ugrasena, audaciously disbanded the Yadava ruling council and declared himself dictator of Mathura with the support of his father-in-law, Jarasandha, the powerful king of Magadha. All those who protested were either killed or imprisoned.
Kansa’s younger sister, Devaki, had married Kunti’s elder brother, Vasudeva. On the wedding day, oracles foretold that the eighth child born of this union would be the killer of Kansa. A terrified Kansa wanted to kill his sister then and there, but was persuaded to let her live on condition that Vasudeva would present to him their eighth child as soon as it was born.
When Devaki bore her first child, Kansa became nervous. What if the child Vasudeva finally presented to him was not his eighth? So he decided to kill all of Devaki’s children as soon as they were born. He stormed into her chambers, grabbed her firstborn by the ankles and smashed its head against the stony floor.
Devaki was beside herself. She did not want to bear any more children knowing what fate awaited them but Vasudeva persuaded her to change her mind. ‘The sacrifice of seven children is necessary so that the eighth one can save Mathura from the excesses of Kansa.’
And so it came to pass, Devaki kept producing children and Kansa kept killing them as soon as they were born.
Thus were killed six children of Devaki and Vasudeva. The Rishis revealed, ‘Your children suffer the pain of dying at birth because in their past life they angered sages with their misbehaviour. And you suffer the pain of watching them die at birth because in your past you angered sages by stealing cows for your yagna. All suffering has its roots in karma. But fear not, the seventh and eighth child will bring you joy. The seventh will be the herald of God. The eighth will be God himself.’
Sure enough, things changed when Devaki conceived the seventh child. A goddess called Yogamaya magically transported the unborn child into the womb of Vasudeva’s other wife, Rohini, who lived with her brother, Nanda, in the village of cowherds, Gokul, across the river Yamuna. The child thus conceived in one womb and delivered by another was Balarama, fair as the moon, strong as a herd of elephants. Kansa was told that fear had caused Devaki to miscarry and lose her seventh child.
Balarama was an incarnation of Adi-Ananta-Sesha, the serpent with a thousand hoods in whose coils rested Vishnu, God who sustains the rhythms of the cosmos. Some said he was Vishnu himself, born when God plucked a white hair from his chest and placed it in Devaki’s womb.
God also plucked a dark hair from his chest and placed it in Devaki’s womb. Thus was conceived her eighth child.
He slipped out of his mother’s womb nine months later on a dark and stormy night, the eighth night of the waning moon, when the wind blew out all the lights in Mathura. He was as dark as the darkest night and as charming as the sun is to a lotus flower.
Yogamaya caused the whole city to sleep and advised Vasudeva to place the child in a basket and take it out of the city, across the river, to Gokul. Ignoring the piteous pleas of Devaki, Vasudeva did as he was told.
At Gokul, in the cattle sheds, he found Yashoda, Nanda’s wife, sleeping with a newborn girl beside her. Instructed by Yogamaya, Vasudeva exchanged the babies and returned to Mathura with Yashoda’s daughter.
The next day, Kansa strode into Devaki’s chamber, and after a moment of surprise on finding a girl in her arms, picked up the eighth child of Devaki intent on dashing her head to the ground. But the child slipped out of his hands, flew into the sky, and transformed into a resplendent goddess with eight arms, each one bearing magnificent weapons and announced that the killer of Kansa was still alive. And that Kansa would die as foretold.
Krishna is no ordinary character. He is God to the Hindus, Vishnu, who descends from Vaikuntha to establish dharma. He does so as Parashurama and Ram before him takes the form of Krishna.
Krishna’s entry into the Mahabharata at the time of Draupadi’s swayamvara is significant; she embodies the world he is meant to protect. Krishna comes only after Draupadi rejects Karna and chooses instead a Brahman who turns out to be a Kshatriya in disguise. She ends up marrying not only this fraud, but also his four brothers. Krishna knows the consequences of her decision. These husbands will end up gambling her away. He therefore becomes a part of her life to protect her from a distance.
The story of Krishna’s life was first narrated by Vyasa’s son, Suka, to Parikshit, seven days prior to Parikshit’s death. This narration helped Parikshit come to terms with his life. It is retold by Ugrashrava, the narrator of the Mahabharata, in the Naimisha forest. This narration is called the Harivamsa, or the tale of the clan of Hari, Hari being another name for Vishnu and Krishna.
Kansa struggles to overpower what fate has in store for him. According to one tradition, Kansa was a child of rape; his father was a Gandharva and not of true Yadu bloodline. By the law of Shvetaketu that made the Pandavas the son of Pandu, Kansa should have been treated as a Yadava. But he was not. He was considered illegitimate and ostracized by the people of Mathura and he ended up hating them. Since he was not treated as a Yadava, he refused to submit to the ancient Yadava tradition of never wearing the crown. His hatred for the Yadavas fuelled his ambition to be dictator of Mathura.
In some traditions, Yashoda’s daughter who Kansa tries to kill is reborn later as Devaki’s youngest child, Subhadra. In other traditions, she is reborn as Draupadi. Both Subhadra and Draupadi marry Arjuna. Arjuna and Krishna are said to be Nara and Narayana, two ancient Rishis, both incarnations of Vishnu. Both Subhadra and Draupadi are thus in some way connected to the Goddess.
33
The cowherd of Gokul
Krishna meanwhile grew up among gopas and gopis, the cowherds and milkmaids of Gokul. Few suspected his origins although many wondered why the fair Nanda and Yashoda had given birth to a dark child. Perhaps it had something to do with Yashoda being childless for many years.
The arrival of Krishna changed everything in Gokul. His life, right from his birth, was full of adventures.
Kansa sent Putana, a wet-nurse who had poison in her breasts, to kill all the newborns around Mathura, his nemesis among them. But when Krishna suckled on her breasts, he sucked out not only the poison but also Putana’s life.
A demon called Trinavarta took the form of a gust of wind and tried to overturn the cradle in which Krishna slept. Krishna caught him by the neck and choked him so tight that the gust turned into a gentle breeze that lulled him to sleep.
Another demon took the form of a loose cartwheel and tried to run Krishna over but Krishna kicked him with his tiny feet and smashed him to smithereens.
The incidents with the wet-nurse, the wind and the cartwheel so frightened Yashoda that she insisted that the entire village move from Gokul to a more auspicious location downstream, on the banks of the river Yamuna, next to a forest of Tulsi plants, at the base of the Govardhan hill.
This new settlement of cowherds came to be known as Vrindavan. Here Krishna grew up with a fondness for butter. A mischievous prankster, nothing gave him greater pleasure than raiding the dairies of milkmaids and stealing all that had been churned and stored in pots hanging from the rafters. The exasperated milkmaids tried to stop him and get him punished, but he always gave them the slip.
As Krishna
grew up, he was given the responsibility of taking the cows to graze. He went to the pastures with his brother and the other gopas. There he entertained all with his flute and protected the cows from many threats including a forest fire, a giant heron, a wild bull, a hungry python and even a five-headed serpent called Kaliya who had poisoned the waters in a bend of the river Yamuna.
Krishna’s brother, Balarama, watched over the orchards and protected the toddy palm trees there from monkeys. With his plough, he even dragged the Yamuna and made canals so that the waters flowed into the fields and the village.
As the years passed, Krishna opposed the blind rituals of the Rishis; he preferred acts of charity and devotion. This would eventually bring him into confrontation with Kansa.
Every year, Kansa performed a great yagna where ghee was poured into fire to please Indra, the rain-god. Krishna opposed this practice. ‘Why worship Indra? Let us instead worship Govardhan, the mountain who stops the rain clouds and brings rain,’ he said. When the villagers decided not to send ghee from the village for the yagna and instead began worshipping the hill, Indra got angry and caused torrential rain to fall flooding the village.
It was then that Krishna picked up the Govardhan mountain with his little finger and raised it, turning it into a giant parasol that protected the whole village from the downpour. This sight was enough to tell Indra that Krishna was no ordinary lad. He was God on earth. News of this event was enough to make Kansa nervous. Krishna was no ordinary child of cowherds. He was the lost son of his sister—his prophesied killer.