Jaya: An Illustrated Retelling of the Mahabharata

by Devdutt Pattanaik

chants relieved vedana, the yearning of the restless human soul, hence became collectively known as the Veda. Those who heard them first came to be known as the Rishis.

The point of existence in this dynamic, ever-changing world then was not to aspire or achieve, but to introspect.

Parasara, grandson of the great Vasishtha, one of the seven Rishis who heard the Veda first.

Krishna Dwaipayana became known as Veda Vyasa, compiler of the books of wisdom.

Arjuna’s son, Iravan, also known as Iravat or Aravan,

Bhima’s son, Barbareek, who was worshipped in Rajasthan as Khatu Shyamji.

Indians what they are—a tolerant people who value inner wisdom over outer achievement.

Within infinite myths lies the Eternal Truth Who sees it all? Varuna has but a thousand eyes Indra, a hundred And I, only two

The Hebrew word for life has a numerical value of 18.

In the Hindu tradition, purushartha or the validation of human existence has four aspects, dharma, artha, kama and moksha, that is, social conduct, economic activities, pleasurable pursuits and spiritual activities.

Who decides what justice is? How does one end this unending spiral of revenge where everyone believes they are right and their opponents are wrong?’

dharma is not about justice; it is about empathy and wisdom. Dharma is not about defeating others, it is about conquering ourselves. Everybody wins in dharma. When the war at Kuru-kshetra concluded even the Kauravas went to paradise.’

Jaya, later to be known as the Mahabharata.

A Sattra was a yagna performed on a grand scale with hundreds of priests over several years.

Amravati. Here there is no pain or suffering; all dreams are fulfilled and all wishes are granted.

law took precedence over natural phenomena in heaven and on earth; fatherhood was defined by marriage.

Budh rides a Yali, a mythical creature that has the head of an elephant but the body of a lion, a reminder of his liminal nature.

Such is the nature of man-made laws: ignorant of the past and insensitive to the present.

The Mahabharata tells the stories of the Chandra-vamsis, descendants of the moon, or rather Budh-vamsis, descendants of Mercury, who were infamous for their moral ambiguity, and quite different in character from the upright Surya-vamsis, descendants of the sun, whose tales are told in the Ramayana.

Actions that yield positive results are punya; in narratives they take the shape of boons. Actions that yield negative results are paap; in narratives they take the form of curses. Punya is spiritual merit that generates fortune and paap is spiritual demerit that generates misfortune. The concept of paap and punya is meant to explain why bad and good things happen in the world.

Manu was the son of Surya, the sun-god. Besides Ila, Manu had another son called Ikshavaku whose descendants came to be known as Surya-vamsis, or the solar line of kings. This line included Ram, prince of Ayodhya, whose tale is told in the Ramayana.

Moon is associated with emotions, Jupiter with rationality and Mercury with clarity, communication and cunning. The story suggests that the Chandra-vamsis were by nature rather emotional, a trait that needed to be contained by logic.

It is said that the lifetime of man is just a blink of Indra’s eye.

human memory is short, and history always repeats itself.

Apsa means water and so Apsara means a water-nymph.

the story symbolically refers to the craving of man (Pururava) for water (Urvashi) that comes from, and eventually returns to, the sky (Indra).

In Vedic society, women were considered extremely valuable because only through them could a man father a child, repay his debt to his ancestors and keep rotating the cycle of rebirths.

Pururava’s first son by Urvashi, Ayu, established the kingdom of Kuru-panchala in the east while their second son, Amavasu, established the kingdom of Gandhara in the west. These kingdoms set the stage for the great war at Kuru-kshetra.

Bharata was one of those unique kings who descended from the solar line of kings through his mother, Shakuntala, and from the lunar line of kings through his father, Dushyanta.

Tapa means spiritual fire that is generated through ascetic practices known as tapasya. The conflict between a Tapasvin or fire-churning hermit and an Apsara or water-nymph is a recurring theme in the scriptures. It is the conflict between spirituality and sensuality. Spirituality earns merit and gives one access to the pleasures of the world, but indulgence in sensual pleasures causes loss of merit. Hence, there is constantly a conflict between the hermit and the nymph.

For Bharata the criteria for kingship rested in worthiness, not bloodline.

The epic states that when Brihaspati came to Mamata she turned him away not because she was married to another man, his brother Utathya, but because she was already pregnant. This perhaps reveals an ancient practice of sharing wives between brothers.

‘As you have held me, a virgin, by my hand, you are obliged to take me as your wife,’

Krishna would be born in the Yadava clan. Like other Yadavas, he would never be king, only a kingmaker.

no one on earth can foretell the consequences of any action, however wise he may be.

In Vedic times, men were allowed to marry women who belonged to their station in life or to those who belonged to lower stations. Yayati’s marriage to Devayani is a departure; she is the daughter of a priest hence of higher station. This was a pratiloma marriage—inappropriate according to the scriptures. His association with Sarmishtha, a princess-maid, was an anuloma marriage and was deemed more appropriate as it was with a woman of inferior rank. Puru, the child of Sarmishtha, is therefore projected as a more suitable son than Yadu, son of Devayani.

Yayati and asked for eight hundred white horses with one black ear, which he wished to give to his guru, Vishwamitra. Yayati did not have these horses. Not wanting to turn the sage away empty-handed, he offered the sage his daughter, Madhavi. ‘Offer her to four men who want to be the father of a king and ask them for two hundred such horses in exchange,’ said Yayati.

I realize the futility of rage and know the power of forgiveness.’

tree called Kalpataru, to the cow called Kamadhenu and to the gem called Chintamani, each of which had the power to fulfil any wish and grant every desire.

Had you sat on my left, it would mean you want to be my wife. That you sit on my right means you wish to be my daughter.

The Mahabharata gives great importance to the law of karma. According to this law, nothing in this world is spontaneous. Everything is a reaction to the past.

The epic constantly reminds us that what is apparently a good deed need not really be a good deed, for every moment is governed by factors that are often beyond human comprehension.

Parashurama was a Brahman who feared no Kshatriya. In fact he hated them. Kshatriyas had killed his father and stolen his cows. To teach them a lesson, he had picked up an axe and massacred five great Kshatriya clans, filling five lakes with their blood. These five lakes were known as Samanta Panchaka and were located at Kuru-kshetra.

The laws say that only children of the lawfully wedded wife are the true sons, not the children of concubines. Thus only Pandu and Dhritarashtra can be kings, not Vidura, even though Vidura is the most worthy.

Vedic literature classifies eight different ways in which man and woman come together. 1. If a woman is given away as charity to help a needy man, as Gandhari is, it is the way of Prajapati, father of all creatures. 2. If a bride is accepted more for her dowry than for herself, it is the way of Brahma, the creator who is entrapped by his own creation. 3. If a daughter is given as a fee for services rendered to the father, it is the way of the Deva, the sky-gods. 4. If a daughter is given for ritual purposes along with a cow and a bull, it is the way of the Rishi. 5. If a woman chooses her husband freely, as Shakuntala and Kunti do, it is the way of the Gandharva, the celestial musicians. 6. If a woman is purchased, as Madri is, it is the way of the Asura, the subterranean hoarders of wealth. 7. If a woman is abducted, as Ambika and Ambalika are, it is the way of the Rakshasa, the forest-dwelling barbarians. 8. If a woman is raped, it is the way of the Pisachas or vampires.

‘There was a time when women were free to go to any man they pleased. This alarmed the sage Shvetaketu who saw his father, Uddalaka, unfazed by his mother’s association with other sages. Shvetaketu then introduced the law of marriage so that women were bound to husbands, enabling all men to know who their fathers were. They could only have children by their husbands and if their husbands were unable to give them children, they could go to men chosen by their husbands. Children borne by the wife belonged to the husband whether he fathered them or not.

‘No, I have been with four men,’ said Kunti. ‘If I call another, I will be known as a whore. So it is decreed in the books of dharma.’

Shvetaketu is believed to be the fountainhead of patriarchy. Before he introduced the law of marriage, women had full sexual freedom. In fact, a woman could go to any man and a man who refused her was deemed a eunuch.