Jaya: An Illustrated Retelling of the Mahabharata

by Devdutt Pattanaik

‘Most desired form of happiness?’ ‘Contentment.’

‘What is the only thing man can conquer?’ ‘His own mind.’

to know the true path one must, in silence and solitude, reflect on one’s own life.’

That the Yaksha takes the form of a heron, or a goose, is significant because heron and geese are associated with Saraswati, goddess of knowledge. They represent the power of the mind to discriminate. Just as the mythical heron and goose can separate milk from water, so can the discriminating mind separate truth from falsehood.

Yudhishtira’s brothers disregard the Yaksha and drink the water before answering questions. In other words, they do not think before acting. Yudhishtira, who did not think before gambling away his brothers and wife, has clearly been transformed by the exile.

Yudhishtira, who did not think before gambling away his brothers and wife, has clearly been transformed by the exile. He answers the...

The exile is clearly a time when the Pandavas are transformed through stories and adventures.

The hiding of weapons in the form of a corpse tied to the branch of a tree suggests that in the period of the Mahabharata, the practice of disposing of bodies by exposing them to the elements was prevalent. Sometimes, this was done until a suitable time was found to cremate the dead.

Bairat, located in the Jaipur district of Rajasthan, has been identified as Viratnagar or Matsya.

Draupadi’s stunning beauty makes the best of men lose all good sense and constantly draws trouble. Even though she is innocent, her beauty arouses all men who end up wanting to hurt and humiliate her because she is chaste and unavailable. Kichaka, Jayadhrata, Karna, Duryodhana are all victims of her beauty. So are the Pandavas. Fear that she could disrupt the harmony between her sons, forces Kunti to get her married to all five of them.

In 1910, Maharashtra Natak Mandali’s play Kichaka-vadha by Krishnaji Khadilkar was a thinly veiled political commentary where Draupadi was presented as India, Kichaka as British imperial power, Yudhishtira as the moderate parties and Bhima as the extremist leaders who were unafraid to take a tough, even violent, stand against British rule. The play was attended by leading revolutionary leaders of the time, alarming the authorities who called for its ban.

Stealing cows or go-harana was the easiest method to start a fight in Vedic times. The epic states that the war was fought over thousands of cows and involved hundreds of chariots, elephants and foot soldiers from Matsya, Hastinapuri and Trigarta.

The story of Uttara and Brihanalla riding into the battlefield adds comic relief to the otherwise serious epic. To many, the character Brihanalla proves that men were castrated in Vedic times to serve in women’s quarters. There are those who dispute this, saying that this is a later interpolation and that the practice of castrating men and using them as servants came to India after the invasion of Central Asian warlords post 1000 CE.

The five villages that Krishna asked for the Pandavas during his negotiations for peace included Paniprastha (modern Panipat), Sonaprastha (modern Sonipat), Tilprastha (modern Tilpat), Vrikshprastha (modern Bagpat) and Indra-prastha (modern Delhi).

Saam, daam, dand, bhed are the four methods

the treatise on polity, to make people do one’s bidding. Saam means convincing people through talks using logic and emotion. Daam means bribing people. Dand means using force or the threat of force. Bhed means dividing and conquering the enemy. Krishna uses all four methods.

Vidura-saag or the green leafy vegetables of Vidura have inspired songs of devotion, for they were given to him by Krishna himself, who was pleased with Vidura’s detached worldly conduct.

always fight for one’s rights, and it is better to have a short but glorious life with head held high than a long life of mediocrity and shame.

loyalty for a man who had gone back on his word would only breed adharma.

Vidula’s speech to rouse her son inspired many men to rise up against the British during the Indian freedom struggle.

The seven armies fighting on the Pandava side were led by Dhrishtadyumna, twin brother of Draupadi, who was assisted by seven commanders: Arjuna, with Krishna as his charioteer; Virata, king of Matsya; Sahadeva, king of Magadha; Drupada, king of Panchala; Satyaki, a Yadava chieftain; Dhristaketu, king of Chedi; Vrihatkshatra and his four brothers, rulers of Kekaya.

Krishna offers Arjuna two things:

what he is and what he has. Arjuna chooses what Krishna is. Duryodhana is happy with what Krishna has. This divide between him and his, me and mine, what one is and what one has, is the difference between seeking the soul and being satisfied with matter.

An Akshouhini included 21,870 chariots and chariot-riders, 21,870 elephants and riders, 65,610 horses and riders, and 109,350 foot-soldiers (in a ratio of 1:1:3:5). The combined number of warriors and soldiers in both armies was approximately four million.

Kuru-kshetra was once marked by five ancient lakes, the Samata Panchaka. These were dug by Parashurama

and filled with the blood of Kshatriyas who he killed to avenge the...

Right now, your ego controls your mind, Arjuna. It gives greater value to the finite experience of your flesh and distracts you from the infinite experience of your soul. Hence, your anxiety, fear and delusion.

Only the truly enlightened know the world as it truly is; the rest construct a reality that comforts the ego. The enlightened are therefore always at peace while the rest are constantly restless and insecure.

‘Your ego clings to things that grant

maximum comfort. The purpose of life then becomes the pursuit of comfort-generating states, the shunning of fear-generating states. Attainment of desirable states brings joy, failure to do so becomes sorrow.

You have attached your emotions to external events. Separate them.

If the chosen reaction is meant to please the ego, the cycle of karma continues (samsara). If the chosen reaction emerges from an awareness of the soul,

the cycle of karma grinds to a halt (moksha).

‘To function with the soul as the reference point, and not the ego, you must first experience the soul.

Is it rage which motivates you, the desire for vengeance and justice? Or are you detached from the outcome, at peace with the act you are about to perform? If these questions don’t come to your mind, Arjuna, you are not practising gyan yoga. ‘With your heart—have faith in the existence of the soul. Accept that nothing happens without a reason. Accept that all experiences have a purpose.

When there is faith, there is no fear. Is it faith guiding your hand, Arjuna, or is it fear? If it is fear, then you are not practising bhakti yoga.

Humans alone of all living creatures can reject the law of the jungle and create a code of conduct based on empathy and directed at discovering the meaning of life. This is dharma. To live in dharma is to live without fear. To live in dharma is to act in love.

Do you fight this war to break the stranglehold of jungle law in human society, Arjuna? If not, you do not practise karma yoga. ‘Duryodhana does not subscribe to dharma. All his actions stem from fear. He helps those who comfort him; he rejects those who threaten him.

Remember, the point is not to win or lose the war, the point is not to kill enemies and acquire their lands; it is to establish dharma and in doing so discover the soul.

The Gita was first translated into English in 1785 by Charles Wilkins under the patronage of the then Governor General, Warren Hastings.

One of the earliest translations of the Gita was the Marathi Dnyaneshwari by a young ascetic called Dnyaneshwar

Sages have equated the Vedas with grass, the Upanishads with cows that chew on the grass and the Bhagavad Gita as the milk squeezed by Vyasa from the udders of these cows. In other words, the Bhagavad Gita captures the essence of Vedic wisdom.

The day the Bhagavad Gita was narrated is celebrated as Mokshada Ekadashi, the eleventh day of the waxing moon in the month of Margashirsh (Nov–Dec). Elsewhere in the epic, it is suggested that the battle took place in autumn, not winter, in the month of Kartik (Oct–Nov) around Dasshera and Diwali.

The purpose of life is to grow—materially, intellectually and emotionally.

Yudhishtira’s conch-shell was called Ananta-vijaya, Bhima’s was called Poundrya, Nakula’s was called Sughosh and Sahadeva’s was called Mani-pushpak.

Iravan’s sacrifice is re-enacted each year ritually where he becomes the divine husband of all men who have womanly feelings. Such men are known locally as Alis and they are today identified as homosexual transvestites, who often castrate themselves and spend their entire lives as women, separate from mainstream society. Through Iravan’s mythology the existence of those who call themselves Ali is acknowledged, explained and validated.

In a way, Bhishma practices adharma. He breaks the code of ashrama-dharma that demands that men retire when their children are old enough to take care of themselves. He refuses to let go and allow his family to fend for itself. Taking advantage of the fact that he can choose his death, he refuses to die, or retire, or detach himself from his household.

There were the Brahma-astra, Vishnu-astra and Pashupat-astra containing the power of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva respectively. There were the Agni-astra, Vayu-astra and Indra-astra, reverberating with the power of fire, wind and rain respectively. The descriptions of the effect of these weapons have led to speculations that the ancients were probably familiar

with nuclear technology and that astras were really nuclear warheads.

In Vedic India, it was important to uphold varna-dharma and ashrama-dharma. The former meant sticking to the profession of the father. The latter meant behaving as per one’s stage in life. Drona breaks the varna-dharma by living like a warrior rather than a priest. Bhishma breaks the ashrama-dharma by not getting