Part 5 of Samskhepa Mahabharatam – Arjuna’s Guru Dakshina
Samskhepa Mahabharatam – Introduction
Mahabharatam authored by the supreme Vedavyasa Maharishi hailed rightfully as the fifth Veda is a priceless treasure house of ancient wisdom that has an amazing and boundless story value in addition to a detailed exposition of our ancient culture, heritage, ethos, dharma, raja niti, archery, war, philosophy, spirituality, description of celestials, rishis, kings, society and so on.
It is always a daunting challenge to present the great epic Mahabharatam with 18 awesome parvas in an abridged form because of the massive depth and width of the various stories and substories. It is proposed to present the entire gamut of Mahabharatam in a concise story form in 18 parts in a Series titled “Samskhepa Mahabharatam.”
Exhibiting Archery Skills
Dronacharya entered the designated arena decorated lavishly for the demonstration of the martial arts of the Hastinapura princes and propitiated the Gods. As per tradition, he also sought the blessings of the learned Brahmanas for the young princes.
Thereafter, the princes offered their obeisance to their Guru Dronacharya. Dhrutarashtra was seated along with Vidura, Bhishma, Krupacharya and others. Among the royal women were seated Kunti and Queen Gandhari with their eyes closed and covered by a piece of cloth. Many enthusiastic people from Hastinapura were also seated in their allotted space.
A royal band of musicians played music to cheer up. The Pandava princes and the Kaurava princes along with Karna who was known by the name of Vasusena and who also learnt the Dhanurvidya from Dronacharya appeared in the scene to showcase their martial capabilities. Starting with Yudhishthira, based on the age seniority, they exhibited their archery skills individually. The detailed description of the happenings over there was conveyed to King Dhrutarashtra by Vidura and to Gandhari by Sanjaya.
The mace fight started between Bhima and Duryodhana. As time passed, it became more serious and violent. On noticing this, Dronacharya sent his son Asvatthama to bring a truce and separate them. Each of the other princes showcased their martial arts prowess, capturing the public’s appreciation.
Arjuna’s Extraordinary skills – Archery
Arjuna displayed his extraordinary skills in archery never witnessed before and won the admiration of all those assembled there. Karna followed suit and exhibited with ease not only all those feats of Arjuna but some more advanced ones as well. Karna immediately won the adoration of the public. Arjuna got disturbed looking at the amazing archery skills of Karna.
Krupacharya rose and objected that Karna was not qualified to challenge and compete with the royal princes as he was not a Kshatriya. Hearing this, Karna felt very sad and agitated as he was not allowed to prove his archery skills based on the ground that he was born into a low class not belong to a royal family. Realizing the gravity of the situation, Duryodhana spontaneously stood up and declared that he was crowning his dear friend Karna as the King of Anga and asserted therefore that there was no bar from then onwards on Karna challenging Arjuna. Karna felt overwhelmed with joy at the grand gesture of Duryodhana.
At that moment, Karna took the resolve that he would always support Duryodhana and prove his unflinching loyalty and deep sense of gratitude towards him forever. Adiratha, the foster father of Karna came to the scene with tears in his eyes and Karna bowed before him with full respect. The competitive demonstrations finally ended. But this resulted in creating more enmity between the Pandavas and the Kauravas. All the princes paid their obeisance and Dakshina to their respected Guru Dronacharya and took his blessings and benedictions.
Now Dronacharya demanded the Guru Dakshina that was so close to his heart. He reminded the princes that King Drupada of Panchala should be defeated and brought before him tied with a rope to avenge the insult that was done to him by Drupada earlier. Initially, the Kauravas comprising of Duryodhana, Dussasana and others along with Karna went to Panchala and fought with Drupada. But they retreated after getting defeated by Drupada. Thereafter the Pandavas readily marched towards Panchala and fought with Drupada.
Bhima caused huge damage to the Panchala army with his Club. Nakula and Sahadeva also actively participated in the fight. In the fierce battle, Arjuna defeated Drupada by deploying his powerful archery skills. When Bhima was ready to kill Drupada, Arjuna stopped him. Arjuna paid his Guru Dakshina to Dronacharya by bringing Drupada hand-folded before him. Dronacharya was immensely pleased at this and blessed Arjuna from the bottom of his heart for fulfilling his wish.
Dronacharya reminded King Drupada of the fact that now he was no longer the king of Panchala. He continued that there was no need to fear for his life as he would still consider Drupada as his equal friend and would give him half of Panchala. Thereafter Dronacharya gracefully released Drupada.
Uttara Panchala & Dakshina Panchala
Drupada was given Uttara Panchala while Dronacharya assumed control of Dakshina Panchala. (click here for the Panchala) Drupada requested Dronacharya that their friendship should continue in future as well. Even after both became friends, Drupada could not take lightly his defeat and the humility faced by him at the behest of Dronacharya whom he considered inferior to him.
He decided to do austerities so that a powerful son was born to him who would kill Dronacharya. After many consultations, he approached the Sages Yaja and Upayaja who were brothers, to help him achieve his objective. His request was not at all readily accepted.
After Drupada served Upayaja for a year, they finally consented to perform the special sacrifice for Drupada. From the sacred sacrificial fires, a boy and girl emanated. The boy had a crown on his head and was holding a bow and sword in his hand. The girl was so dazzling, beautiful and youthful. Immediately thereafter a celestial voice was heard which said that the boy would kill Dronacharya when he grew up. The boy was named Dhrishtadyumna and the girl was named Krishna who also came to be known as Panchali and Draupadi.
Queen Prishati and King Drupada were extremely happy having been blessed by an amazing son and a lovely daughter. They returned to Panchala and took great care of them. Drupada was delighted that he was so fortunate to have a daughter who could marry Arjuna, the great archer and a powerful son who could kill the mighty Dronacharya in future.
King Dhritarashtra made Yudhishthira the crown prince of Hastinapura. Arjuna proved his might by effortlessly defeating the Kings Sauvira, Vipula and Sumitra as well as the King of Yavana. Arjuna’s fame as an ace archer and powerful warrior spread far and wide. On one occasion, Dronacharya made Arjuna accept his command that even when there was a situation to fight, Arjuna should never hesitate to fight against Dronacharya who was his own beloved Guru.
The Pandavas started getting the goodwill and appreciation of people from all walks of life. The growing power, popularity and recognition of the Pandavas made Duryodhana so spiteful and envious. He could not tolerate the praises showered on the Pandavas and their exemplary conduct. He started polluting the mind of his father Dhrutarashtra by convincing him that the Pandavas pose an imminent threat to the continued well-being of the entire Kaurava clan and that some effective measures should be taken quickly to put an end to them.
By transgressing neutrality and being devoid of any morality, Dhrutarashtra began to support his eldest son Duryodhana in his nefarious designs in a blind manner. Duryodhana held many deliberations with Sakuni and Karna and with their connivance devised of a dastardly secret plot to eliminate the Pandavas in a wicked manner.
For All parts of this series, click here
