51 Lesser Known Tales From the Mahabharata (Mahabharata Companion, #1)

by Sharath Komarraju

After the manasaputras left, Vishnu came out of his room and asked about the commotion. He did not appeared perturbed in the least, and told his doorkeepers that there was nothing to be alarmed about. ‘You have a choice,’ he said. ‘Do you want to be born as my devotees for seven lives, or as my enemies for three?’ The doorkeepers chose three lives as enemies, because that would mean a shorter term of being separated from the lord. Vishnu granted them their wish, and proceeded to fight them as enemies on Earth in three separate epochs. Jaya and Vijaya became Hiranyakashyapu and Hiranyaksha in one life, Ravana and Kumbhakarna in the second, and Sisupala and Dantavakra in the third.

The tale of the Varaha Avatar is connected to one of the earlier stories in this collection about Jaya and Vijaya. In their very first incarnation, Jaya becomes Hiranyaksha, the demon who has a boon of being indestructible against a variety of human, god-like and animal enemies. It so happens that Hiranyaksha had not thought of including a boar in his list of animals, so Vishnu takes that form to kill him. (Notice that this is similar to the boon Hiranyakashyapu – Hiranyaksha’s brother, whom Vishnu kills in his next avatar – has. In that tale, Hiranyakashyapu asks for a boon that makes him indestructible to both animals and human beings. He cannot be killed either indoors or outdoors, either during the day or during the night. So Narasimha takes the form of half-lion, half-man, carries Hiranyakashyapu to the doorway of the main door of the palace to kill him, and does so in the evening, just as the sun sets, before night arrives.)

Bhrigu is one of the seven great sages, the Saptarishis. He is said to have lived during the time of Manu, while the events of Matsya Purana were unfolding. He is one of the sages that survived the deluge and got involved with the rebuilding of life after the calamity. Bhrigu appears to have a love-hate relationship with Vishnu. We see this in the form of two stories. The first one is where Bhrigu takes it upon himself to test the three big Gods of the pantheon. He begins with Brahma. He goes to Brahma’s abode and deliberately treats him disrespectfully. In return, Brahma gets angry at the sage and almost curses him, stopping only when Saraswati calms him down. Certain that the four-headed God has failed his test, Bhrigu places a curse on him that no one in Kaliyuga will worship him. This is why, they say, there aren’t any temples of Brahma in the country today.

The Birth and Death of Jarasandha We meet Jarasandha for the first time during the Rajasuya sacrifice of Yudhisthir. Krishna, Arjun and Bhim travel to Magadha to vanquish the powerful king. Not intending to fight the army of Jarasandha and risk loss of life, Krishna throws the king a dare. ‘Challenge one of the three of us to a wrestling match,’ he says, ‘and if you win you shall become the emperor of Hastinapur.’ Jarasandha, a man proud of his wrestling prowess, chooses the strongest-looking of the three men, Bhim, for a duel. They fight one another for three days and nights without giving or gaining an inch. On two occasions Bhim tears open Jarasandha’s body, but it magically comes together again. Krishna and Arjun look on in their Brahmin garbs, and it soon becomes clear to Krishna that this fight could last a while if he does not intervene. So he takes a blade of grass and holds it up so that Bhim could see it. He splits it along the length, and tosses the two pieces in opposite directions. Taking the hint, Bhim tears open Jarasandha a third time, but now throws the two hunks of flesh in opposite directions so that they cannot come together. Jarasandha thus dies. The reason why Jarasandha has this curse is found in the tale of his birth. His father, Brihadratha, was childless and had two wives, twin sisters who were the daughters of the king of Varanasi. For want of a child, Brihadratha pleases a sage named Chandakaushika, who, ignorant of the fact that the king has tw...

Tilottama The Mahabharata describes Tilottama as being created by the divine architect, Vishwakarma. In the Adi Parva, Narada tells the Pandavas the story of Sundan and Upasundan, inseparable brothers who showed signs of power strong enough to challenge the Gods. They have a boon that they would be indestructible by all enemies save for each other. Brahma then orders Vishwakarma to create a beautiful woman who incites envy between the two brothers to the point that they kill each other.