This story is about Jayadhratha’s part and his demise on the 14th day of the battle of Mahabharata
Jayadratha
was the husband of Duryodhana’s only sister called Dushala. Thus he was
also a brother-in-law to the Pandavas. He was the crowned prince and
later King of the Sindhu Kingdom. His Kingdom stretched along the banks
of river Sindhu / Indus in the ancient era in modern Pakistan.
History
One day, during the time the Pandavas were in exile,
the Pandavas needed to gather grass and flowers for some rituals. They
left Draupadi alone at the ashram and requested Sage Trunabindu to watch
over her. On that day Jayadratha saw Panchali filling water from a
pond. The King of Sindh was mesmerized by her beauty and out of lust
sent his minister Kotikasya and asked him to inquire as to who she was.
Kotikasya
went over to her and after learning about her identity, informed
Jayadratha that she was Draupadi, the wife of the Pandavas. Jayadratha
in spite of learning her identity, went to the Yagyasaini Draupadi and
proposed to marry her. Initially welcoming him as her brother-in-law,
Draupadi vehemently refused the proposal. Infuriated, Jayadratha abducted Draupadi and started moving towards his kingdom.
The
Pandavas returned to their ashram to find Draupadi missing. They learnt
about the events that took place in their absence by the account of
Draupadi's friend Dhaatreyika, who had witnessed Jayadratha forcefully
carrying Panchali away. Dharmaraj Yudhishthira then ordered Arjuna and Bhima to rescue Draupadi. Both of them defeated Jayadratha
and brought him before Yudhishthira. The Yagyasaini asked for
Jayadratha to be pardoned and not be killed, in order to prevent Dushala
from becoming a widow. She suggested that he be treated like a slave.
So, Vrikodar Bhīma shaved Jayadratha's head leaving him with just five spots of hair on his head, before setting him free.
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Jayadratha’s Boons
Years before abdicating his throne, Jayadratha's father, Vridhakshtra,
heard a prophecy from the Sage Ved Vyas, that his son will be be killed
by being beheaded in a war. Scared for his lineage, Vridhakshtra left
for the forest and became a sage. Through penance, he attempted to gain
enough spiritual power to grant his son immortality or the equivalent of
boon given to the son of Ganga, Bhishma. However, he only managed
enough to curse that who so ever would cause Jayadratha's head to fall to the ground will turn to ash.
After
the Draupadi incident, Jayadratha desired to avenge his humiliation
from the Pandavas by defeating them in the battle field. So, Jayadratha
performed a rigorous tapasya in order to please Lord Shiva. When Mahadev
appeared before him, Jayadratha asked for the ability to defeat the
Pandavas in war. Lord Shiva replied that such a boon was impossible.
However, he gave Jayadratha the boon to check the advance of the Pandavas and their forces for one whole day. But Lord Shiva also warned Jayadratha that Arjun was an exception to this boon.
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13th Day of Battle – Abhimanyu Vadh
Naturally, Jayadratha fought beside Duryodhana in the Kurukshetra War. On the 13th day of the Mahabharata war, when the Chakra vyuha was employed by Dronacharya, Jayadratha made use of Lord Shiva's boon.
As
part of Duryodhana's strategy, Arjun and Krishna were busy battling
Susharma and the Trigata Army elsewhere on the battlefield.
Arjun’s teenage son Abhimanyu managed to enter the formation; The brave soul intended for the Pandava forces to follow after him and destroy the formation from the inside.
Jayadratha moved in to close the gap as soon as Abhimanyu entered, and was able to hold all the Pandava brothers and their forces at bay.
Subhadra
putra Abhimanyu faught alone midst the Chakravyuha. He was very well
trained at military combats by the wonder, Madhav himself. But that day
his fate was going to be different.
Abhimanyu, who did not know how to exit from the chakra Vyuha was trapped and brutally killed by the Kaurava Warriors in a combined and unethical attack.
The
Sons of Pandu were startled after finding that Jayadratha was able to
hold the world's most powerful warriors at bay. In particular, Draupadi,
Yudhishthira, and the mighty Bhīma felt very guilty for not killing
Sindhu Naresh when they did have the chance. Arjun blamed Jayadratha
to be the cause for Abhimanyu's death. He vowed to kill him the very
next day before sunset, failing which Arjun would kill himself by
jumping in a pyre of fire. This vow sent everyone in the Pandavas camp to a shock.
At the end of the day, what the vow meant was -
If Arjun killed Jayadratha, then the boon given by Jayadaratha's father
would turn Arjun to Ashes. And if Arjun did not kill Jayadratha then he
would have to immolate himself by the end of the day.
Shakuni, the master of cunning strategies, was very happy at the way the events had unfolded.
Jayadratha was a brave warrior, but he feared Arjuna like everyone
else. He feared for his life and hence wished to leave the battle field
and not fight. So Shakuni asked Acharaya Drona, the lead commander of
the Kaurava Army to ensure Jayadratha that he will be safe. So Drona ensured Jayadratha that he will employ a strategy which had never been beaten till that day.
A strategy that will ensure Jayadratha's safety as well as the demise
of Pandavas. This strategy was taught to the brahmin Parshuram-shishya
as a reward by Lord Parshuram himself and could be broken only by Lord Vishnu himself.
Drona had not taught this strategy to anyone of his disciples too.
Jayadarath was relieved and agreed to fight the next day. Shakuni's new
master stroke was falling into place. The Kauravas would essentially win
the war very easily if Arjun would not fight.
This set the stage for the epic 14th day of battle.
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14th Day of Battle – Jayadratha Vadh
Then on the 14th day of the great battle, the sons of Pandu were in need of help because they knew that prime warrior Arjun would not be able to protect Yudhishthira that day as he had to go kill Jayadratha.
The
Kauravas knew this too. Therefore, as Acharya Drona had stated, they
formed the deadly military formation and strategy. This formation
included 3 different formations of their soldiers side by side in the
form of a lotus. The combination of these 3 Vyuhas was called the Kamal
Vyuha / Padma Vyuha. It was as good at offense as it was in defense. If
Arjun, attacked one vyuha, then Jayadratha would swap his place and
move into the second one and protect himself, while the third vyuha
would attack Yudhishthira.
So when he was asked for help in formulating that day's war strategy, being the great counselor that he was, Vasudev Krishna taught the Pandavas the innovative and secretive vyuha which he had also used before when he defeated Jarasandh before abandoning Mathura, the Sarp-khadag vyuha, which was like a sword.
At
the tip of the sword stood the ferocious, deeply immersed in anger, the
deadly ace archer, clinching the Gandiv tightly in his hand, Arjun.
The Sarp-khadag vyuha could work only and only if
- The army’s primary warrior had to be unbeatable and stood at the tip of the vyuha. And no kidding, Paarth was absolutely that on this day.
- Two grand slayers who needed to be very good at offense had to stay and fight at the edges of the sword. The mighty mace carrier, Bhīma and the swift archer Satyaki played this role.
Yudhishthira
stood in the pivot of the sword which would move only forward and not
sideways. He was protected at 4 sides around him by 4 different
sub-armies which were led by his never betraying part of his family,
Nakul, Sehdeva, Dhrishtadyumna and the last by all Upa-Panadavas ( The
sons of Pandavas ).
The plan was for dhananjya Arjun to move in a Zig Zag way (That is why ‘Sarp’).
And the whole sword formation to follow him. Think of it like the wiper
of car’s windshield, but also moving forward, sweeping off the dust on a
windshield ( in effect - killing / injuring all the soldiers in their
way).
So therefore, moving forward, and in a zig zag way, the savyasachi Arjun was able to attack all the formations. This is the reason why Arjun had to fight and defeat each and every big warrior before reaching the end of the Kaurava Army.
And we know what happened next. Bhīma, Satyaki and Arjun tear through the Kaurava army.
In
brief, Arjun was able to shy away from Drona once and moved forward.
Then he fought Karna and Ashwathama twice and was able to injure as well
as exhaust them. He also broke the chakra vyuha three times during the
day. Arjuna then went on to beat the army of 1000 elephants which
Dushasana was leading. He then killed Srutayudha & Sudakshina, the
king and prince of Khambhojas.
Bheema broke
Drona's chariot thrice. Bheem also killed 20 Kaurava Princes that day.
Bheema also kept Duryodhana away from Arjuna at all times. This was
important because Krishna had realized that Shakuni had told Duryodhana
to ask Arjuna the question "Would you really make your sister a widow?
What is the valour or Dharma in that?". Such a question would weaken
Arjuna's desire to kill Jayadaratha and hence the Gandivdhari would
fight half-heartedly and in affect, mot be able to complete his vow.
Satyaki
defeated King Shalya and exhausted the great Dronacharaya. Satyaki then
faced Karna and was beaten. He was then replaced by Nakul for the day.
Of course, Karna did not fight with his full strength to kill Nakul.
At a climactic moment,
the sun was nearly set and thousands of warriors were still standing
between Arjun and Jayadratha, the charming and intellectual Krishna played one last trick and sent his Sudarshana Chakra to mask the sun and create an illusion of sunset. The Kaurava warriors seeing the sun set, rejoiced over Arjun’s defeat and looked forward for his imminent suicide. Jayadratha came before Arjun and taunted him. Krishna then revealed his trick and let the sun shine again. Krishna then ordered Arjuna to kill Jayadratha.
With unflinching belief in his friend,
Arjun then put on a show of archery and beheaded Jayadratha following
the act with shooting a volley of arrows to move the head further and
further away till the head fell into the lap of Vridhakshtra, Jayadratha’s father, who got up in shock. The head of his son fell on the ground, and Vridhakshtra's head turned into ashes.
Thus, Vridhakshtra became the victim of his own boon granted to his son.
PS: Addressing Disclaimers / Memorandums to the following:
- The
information compiled here is from the "The Mahabharata of
Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa (Ved Vyasa), Volume 1 by Kisari Mohan Ganguli". You can read for yourself here - http://www.gutenberg.org/
ebooks/... - There is of course a different version of the Mahabharata which says that it was not Krishna who hid the sun, instead there was an eclipse which occurred that evening. Based on this fact, a lot of historians have tried to date the Mahabharata. This article can help you in discovering such details - Two Eclipses in Thirteen Days by Dr. S. Balakrishna
- There is a different version of the Mahabharata which says that Arjuna beheads Jayadratha with the Aindrastra which carries the head to Jayadratha's father.
- The credit to all the images goes to its various creators and not me. I have made only the image showing the Sarp-khadag vyuha.
Ramayan:-
Ramayana being cyclical and not linear. It never ends.
At the very end of Ramayana, after Sita descended and returned to her mother Earth .
Ram was disheartened
The
people of Ayodhya watched their Ram caress the grass for a long time,
stoic and serene as ever and not a teardrop in his eyes.
The
people wanted to fall at his feet and ask for his forgiveness . They
wanted to hug and comfort him. They had broken his heart and wanted to
apologise but they knew their Ram neither blame them nor judge them and
that they were his children.
Who has taken birth has to die
and Ram was fully aware of it.
While taking Luv Khush back to kingdom from the forest.
At the city gates hanuman spotted Yama (god of death) lurking near the kingdom
Hanuman
a true friend and a self claimed servant wanted to protect him from any
harm and gave Yama a warning to never come close to the king and his
kingdom.
One day Ram lost his ring . It slipped
from his finger and fell into a crack in the palace floor.'Will you
fetch it for me, Hanuman?' requested Ram.
Ever willing to please his master , Hanuman reduced himself to the size of a bee and slipped into the crack in the floor.
To
his surprise it was a tunnel that led him to Naga Lok, the abode of
snakes. Their he met the king of Naga lok and told him he seeks a ring .
Oh that! You will find it there said Vasuki king of nagas, pointing to a vast mountain in the centre of Naga-lok.
Hanuman
rushed to the mountain and found to his surprise it was no mountain but
a gigantic pile of rings . Each ring looked exact copy of Ram's ring.
What is this mystery he asked Vasuki.
Vasuki said did u think there was only the one?
Every time a ring falls into naga loka a monkey follows it and Ram up
there dies. This is not the first time it has happened. This is not the
last time it will happen.
So it has happened before. So it will happen again.'
Hanuman questioned why does the story repeats itself again and again?'
'So that every generation realises the point of human existence'
'Which is?'
'Fear is a constant and faith is a choice. Fear comes from karma and from faith arises dharma.
Fear creates Ravanas and they will always be there in the society.
and
faith creates a Sita and a Ram they will come into being only if we
have faith in the world even when the world abandons us .
After
listening Hanuman bowed to the king without a word and leaves the
tunnel leaving Ram's ring behind and found that Ayodhya desolate without
its lord.....again.
The end.....of this Ramayana.
There
are many Ram's and many Ramayana's and It indicates that life is not
linear, there is no full stop. Life is cyclical; what goes around comes
around. Such a view of time will never respect history, for what is the
past is also the future.
That is why in many indian languages the word for tomorrow and yesterday is the same for example 'kal' in hindi
What are some lesser known stories about Karna?
Long long ago even before the Mahabharata, there lived an asura(demon) named Dambhodbhava. He wanted to become immortal and so prayed to the Sun god, Surya. Pleased with his penance, Surya appeared before him. Dambhodbhava asked Surya to make him immortal. But Surya couldnt grant this boon since anything, anyone who was born on this planet will have to die. Surya offered him to ask for something else instead of immortality. Dambhodbhava thought of a different way to gain immortality and came up with this request.
Surya was horribly worried. He knew that Dambhodbhava had performed a very powerful penance and that he could get the entire boon he had asked for. And Surya had a feeling that Dambhodbhava was not going to use his powers for good. However having no choice in the matter, Surya granted Dambhodbhava the boon. But deep down Surya still admired Dambhodbhava for the devotion with which he prayed to him.
Immediately after getting the boon from Surya, Dambhodbhava started wrecking havoc on people. People were scared of fighting with him. There was no way of defeating him. Anybody who stood in his way was crushed by him. People started calling him Sahasrakavacha (one who has a thousand armours). It was around this time that King Daksha (the father of Sati, the first wife of Shiva) got one of his daughters Murti married to Dharma – one of the ‘Mind’ sons of Lord Brahma, the God of Creation (It is said that Lord Brahma created his mind sons or Manas putras from his thoughts).
Murti had also heard of Sahasrakavacha and wanted to put an end to his menace. So she prayed to Lord Vishnu to come and help the people. Lord Vishnu pleased with her appeared before her and said
Murti gave birth to not one child, but twins- Narayana and Nara. Narayana and Nara grew up in the ashrama surrounded by the forests. They enjoyed praying to Lord Shiva. The two brothers learnt the art of warfare.The two brothers were inseparable. What one thought the other was always able to finish. Both of them trusted each other implicitly and never questioned the other.
As time went on, Sahasrakavacha started attacking the forest areas surrounding Badrinath, where both Narayana and Nara were staying. As Narayana was meditating, Nara went and challenged Sahasrakavacha for a fight. Sahasrakavacha looked at the calm eyes of Nara and for the first time since he got his boon, felt fear building inside him. He said nervously, ‘I can be killed only by performing penance for a thousand years. You cannot….’ Nara looked at Sahasrakavacha and spoke with you. ‘I have not done any my brother Narayana is doing it for me! And instead of him, I come to fight with you!’
Sahasrakavacha faced the attack of Nara and was astounded. He found that Nara was powerful and had indeed got a lot of power from the penance of his brother. As the fight went on, Sahasrakavacha realized that the penance of Narayana was giving Nara strength. As Sahasrakavacha’s first armour broke he realized that Nara and Narayana were for all purposes one. They were just two persons having the same soul. But Sahasrakavacha was not too worried. He had lost one of his armours. He watched in glee as Nara dropped dead, the minute one of his armours broke.
As Nara fell down dead, Narayana came running towards him. By his years of penance and pleasing Lord Shiva, he had gained the Maha Mritunjaya mantra – a mantra which brought back dead to life. Now Narayana took the fighting with Sahasrakavacha while Nara meditated! After thousand years, Narayana broke another armor and dropped dead while nara came back and revived him. This went on until 999 armors were down. Sahasrakavacha realized that he could never beat the two brothers and ran away seeking refuge with Surya. When Nara and Narayana approached Surya to give him up, Surya did not since he was protecting his devotee. Nara cursed Surya to be born as a human for this act and Surya accepted the curse for this devotee.
All this happened at the end of Treta yuga. In Hindu mythology there are four yugas – the Satya Yuga, the Dwapara Yuga, Treta Yuga and the Kali Yuga. Each Yuga steadily results in the deterioration of human values with the worst in the Kali Yuga. At the end of each yuga, nature starts afresh. Immediately after Surya refused to part with Sahasrakavacha, the Treta Yuga ended and the third Yuga started. To fulfil the promise to destroying Sahasrakavacha, Narayana and Nara were reborn this time as Krishna and Arjuna.
Due to the curse, Dambhodbhava and Surya together were born as Karna, the eldest son of Kunti! Karna was born with one of armours as a natural protection, the last one left of Sahasrakavacha. As Arjuna would have died if Karna had had the armour, Indra (Arjuna’s father] went in disguise and got the last armor of Karna, much before the war began. As Karna was actually the monster Dambodbhava in his previous life, he led a very difficult life to pay for all the sins committed by him in his past life. But Karna also had Surya, the Sun God inside him, so Karna was a hero as well! It was Karna’s karma from his previous life that he had to be with Duryodhana and take part of the all the evil things he did. But the Surya in him made him brave, strong, fearless and charitable. It brought him long lasting fame.
There are many many stories about Karna in the Mahabharata which are heart rendering, touching but also sometimes evil and wrong. This was because of the conflict of the qualities of a deva, Surya and asura, Sahasrakavacha in him.
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