F for Forest Life of Pandavas - Mahabharata Mashup
Namaste!
Forests have been an integral part of our epics,Ramayana and Mahabharata. In Mahabharata, the Pandavas spend almost half their lifetime leadingsimple lives in forests, either by choice or due to the circumstances.
After a curse, King Pandu renounced the throne andhanded it to Dhritarastra. He left Hastinapura with his wives Kunti and Madriand traveled through mountains and forests to settle near the Satasringamountains (a range with a hundred peaks). There, he performed penance for manyyears. The Pandava brothers were born in this region and grew up there untilPandu’s death. They trained under Suka (son of King Saryati), who was doingtapasya in the same area.
Arjuna was fourteen when Pandu died, and Madri choseto join him, leaving Kunti to care for the five brothers. The rishis decided totake Kunti and the Pandavas to Hastinapura since it was their rightful home.This led to insecurity and jealousy in Dhuryodhana, who thought he was the onlyheir to the entire kingdom.
A few years later, Dhuryodhana planned to kill thePandavas by burning them in the House of Lac in Varanavata (this was some years after he fed poison to Bhima, bundled up his unconscious body, and drowned it in Ganga with Karna's help). The Pandavasescaped thanks to Vidura’s alertness (who also knew about the other attempts on the Pandavas' lives and the 'accidental' death of a charioteer).
They spent the next few months living in aforest. Here, Bhima killed the cannibal demon Hidimba. He also married thedemon’s twin sister, Hidimba/ Hidimbi, who professed her love for him. The duohad a son, Ghatotkacha (more details in the later post).
The Pandavas and Kunti traveled across a fewvillages and were still in disguise during the temporary stay in Pnachalakingdom and the wedding to Draupadi, the princess of Panchala.
Again a few years later, Yudhistira lostIndraprastha and all his wealth to Shakuni in the dice game. This time, thefive Pandava brothers and Draupadi shift to the Kamakya forest for theirtwelve-year exile (plus a year in disguise).
They don’t stay in the same place, though. The fourPandavas and Draupadi go on thirta yatra (pilgrimage) during the five yearsArjuna spent in heaven with Indra. Later, they stay in a few more forests andreturn to Kamakya forest toward the end of exile.
Vanaprastha is considered the third stage of one’slife, where we renounce worldly relationships and materialistic desires to leadsimple lives and spend the remaining time in meditation. Satyavati and herdaughters-in-law (Ambika and Ambalika), Dhritarastra, Gandhari, Kunti, Vidura,Sanjaya, Rukmini Satyabhama, etc., followed the same when the end was near. Thelast stage is Sanyasa.
This forest lover couldn’t find a better topic forthe alphabet!
Hop over here to get a super short summary of the story of the Pandavas.
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The AI images are made on Bing.
