Mahabharata

by Anonymous

Duryodhana spoke out. "Nobility does not depend only upon birth. Those who are heroes and leaders of soldiers may also claim nobility, even if not born in royal lines. But if Arjuna will duel only with another king, then I shall immediately give Karna a kingdom."

Seeing all this Bhima jeered, "O son of a charioteer, you do not deserve death at Arjuna's hands. You had best take up the whip and guide a chariot. Indeed, you no more deserve the kingship of Anga than a dog deserves the sacrificial offerings of ghee meant for the gods."

How can someone like this be of inferior birth? A hero's first quality is his strength and prowess.

Kunti had been amazed, then horrified when he told her that he could not leave without giving her a child.

The Kurus had heard of a wonderful occurrence in Mathura, the city where Kunti had been born. Kunti had a brother named Vasudeva who had been imprisoned by the wicked King Kamsa. This powerful monarch had been viciously terrorizing brahmins and other kings. Hearing a divine prophesy that Vasudeva's eighth child would kill him, Kamsa imprisoned both Vasudeva and his wife Devaki. He then killed their first six children at birth. But somehow, despite Kamsa's vigilance, the seventh and eighth children, Balarama and Krishna, had escaped death. By some mystical arrangement Krishna had been carried away from Mathura and raised in Vrindavana, a small village of cowherds, by its leader, Nanda.

"Does my nephew Krishna think of me and my sons?" she asked. "Does he know how I am suffering in the midst of my enemies, like a doe in the midst of wolves?"

Over-attachment for one's close relatives is simply born of ignorance. Every creature in the world is born alone and dies alone. He experiences the results of his own good and evil deeds and in the end leaves the present body to accept another. The belief that one person is the relation of another is nothing more than illusion.

"Wise Akrura, your words are like the immortal nectar of the gods. I could go on hearing them forever. You have surely spoken the truth. But just as a person on the verge of death cannot be saved by nectar, so your instructions do not stay in my heart."

Duryodhana smiled, but Karna was not so sure. He did not like Shakuni's devious ways. "Only cowards resort to deceit and underhanded methods. Powerful men favor open combat. If the Pandavas are our enemies, then let us march out to the battlefield and settle this dispute."

By the arrangement of Providence, a tribeswoman also arrived with her five sons. The servants Kunti had placed in charge of distributing the food sat the woman and her sons down, then brought them food and a large quantity of wine. Gradually they became drunk and fell asleep where they had been eating. The servants, unable to rouse them, decided to leave them there for the night, although the Pandavas were unaware of this.

He had slept through the day and was just awakening as the Pandavas were falling asleep.

Those who desire riches suffer, while those who have riches suffer even more.

This is why the wise have called one's child putra, one who delivers the parents from hell.

The Pandavas listened along with the brahmin's family. They heard about a great svayamvara ceremony soon to be held in Kampilya for Draupadi, King Drupada's daughter. This princess, the ascetic said, was not born of a woman but had been born, along with her brother Dhristadyumna, from the sacrificial fire.

The ascetic first told them about Drona. The sage Bharadvaja had once seen Gritachi, a divinely beautiful Apsara, and as a result he had dropped his vital seed. He caught his seed in a pot and from that seed Drona was born. As a child, Drona had been friends with Drupada, who had come to study at Bharadvaja's hermitage.

Angaraparna thanked Arjuna for not killing him, even though able. In return for Arjuna's mercy, Angaraparna offered him the divine knowledge possessed by the Gandharvas along with a team of celestial horses. Smiling, Angaraparna said, "This knowledge, known as Chakshushi, will give you the ability to see anything within the three worlds, along with that thing's intrinsic nature. It is this knowledge that gives the Gandharvas the powers that make them superior to men."

Drupada had deliberately devised such a test in hopes that the Pandava might appear.

Karna's turn came. Seeing him march toward the bow like a golden mountain entering the arena, the Pandavas considered that the target had been struck and the princess won. As he approached the bow, however, Draupadi stood up and said in a loud voice, "I shall not accept a charioteer's son as my husband." Knowing that Karna was the son of Adhiratha, leader of the suta caste who generally acted as chariot drivers, Draupadi exercised her prerogative and denied him the opportunity to attempt the test. Karna blushed deeply and laughed in vexation. Glancing at the sun, he turned and strode back to his seat. He ground his teeth and wrung his hands in anger, but said nothing.

Some of them described the power of brahmins. Whether possessed of physical strength or not, brahmins were always powerful by virtue of their spiritual strength. No brahmin should ever be disregarded. Once all the earth's warriors had been annihilated by Parasurama, who was a brahmin. The great Rishi Agastya had drunk the entire ocean. There was nothing a brahmin could not achieve. This youth should not be checked.

Maybe he was Arjuna, as Yaja had promised. Even if he were not, there was certainly no shame in marrying him. He was a brahmin and brahmins were always considered superior to the ruling class, or kshatriyas.

"With my sharp arrows I shall stop them just as so many snakes are checked by the power of mantras."

The two combatants fought with astonishing skill. As they battled they called out to one another in the language of heroes: "Behold the strength of my arms!" "Guard yourself, if you can." "See how I counter your moves!" "Stand ready, for I shall release even more deadly weapons!"

"Share among yourselves whatever you have acquired."

"My words have never been false. Indeed, I cannot utter untruth.

Hearing Arjuna's respectful words, the other Pandavas glanced at Draupadi. They had all expected that she would become Arjuna's wife, but as they looked at her, the Panchala princess returned their glances. All the brothers felt their hearts invaded by love. They had never seen such a maiden. It was as if she had been personally fashioned by the Creator himself. She was as resplendent as the Goddess Lakshmi, Vishnu's eternal consort.

If Draupadi became the wife of only one of them, it would most certainly create rivalry and dissension among them.

Perhaps he was a vaishya or even a shudra, casting Drupada's noble line into disrepute.

"What man of low birth or one unaccomplished in arms could have shot down the mark? It was done fairly and there is no one who can now undo that act. The king should not grieve."

It was Dhananjaya who won your jewel of a daughter, but the rule among us is that we share equally any jewels we obtain. Therefore Draupadi may accept each of us, one after another, according to age."

On the days following Yudhisthira's wedding, each of the brothers married the Panchala princess. Vyasadeva informed the king that by the gods' arrangement, his daughter regained her virginity each day after a marriage and before the next marriage took place.

destiny is supreme and human effort is useless.

Amaravati, Indra's splendid city.

Yudhisthira then enquired after the welfare of the kingdom and its people and was told that everything was flourishing.

Duryodhana's wife, Dushala, met Draupadi and Kunti and accompanied them into Gandhari's quarters. As Gandhari embraced Draupadi she thought of the prophetic voice that had spoken when Draupadi first stepped out of the fire. It was said that she would be the death of the world's kshatriyas.

Soon brahmins began to be attracted to the city, which had become known as Indraprastha.

Due to his unswerving adherence to virtue, Yudhisthira became known as Dharmaraja, the king of religion.

the scriptures enjoined that a kshatriya should never refuse a maiden who supplicated herself to him.

The Naga princess knew that Arjuna would act only when impelled by virtuous motives. She told him that if he did not take her as his wife, she would destroy herself. Thus he would be saving her life by accepting her.

Arjuna thought carefully. He decided that the Naga maiden was speaking the truth and that he would not be acting wrongly to accept her as his wife.

He passed the great Mount Mahendra and arrived finally in Manipur, where he visited King Chitravahana in his city of Manalur. The king had an attractive daughter named Chitrangada. Arjuna saw her one day in the palace gardens and was struck with desire. He approached the king and asked for his daughter's hand in marriage.

When he saw that Chitrangada had conceived, he took his leave from her and the king,

Arjuna traveled up Bharata's western coast until he arrived at Prabhasa. In the sea near Prabhasa, Krishna had constructed a city called Dwaraka.

The Pandava prince turned quickly to the subject of Subhadra. He asked Krishna how she might be won. Krishna smiled. "This princess is worthy of you in every way, O tiger among men, but who knows what would be her decision at a svayamvara? For a hero the surest way to win a maiden is to carry her away by force. This is always the way of the powerful, and it is sanctioned by holy scripture."

best of men, I do not see any way you can obtain Subhadra other than by kidnapping her from the midst of her friends and relatives.

irascible

Raivataka,

"Stop! Senseless men, what are you doing while Krishna remains silent? Cease your roaring and let us hear what is on his mind before we act. His words are always our surest guide."

Krishna only smiled. As the sound died down He said, "I do not feel that Arjuna has insulted us. Indeed, my feelings are that he has enhanced our glory. Partha knows that we would not accept payment or gifts for our princess. What man on earth would sell his child to another? Nor would Arjuna accept the maiden as a gift, as if she were an animal. He has therefore selected the method always favored by powerful heroes."

"May you become the wife of a hero and the mother of a hero. May you be without a rival."

There had been a great sacrifice performed by a king named Swetaki in which so much ghee was offered into the fire that Agni became ill.