Reading Notes: The Mahabharata Part C

 

Duryodhana fighting Bhimsena: Flickr

Dhritarashtra sends out spies to go watch the Pandavas; thus, he discovers the weapons that they have possessed. Duryodhana goes out and sets up a royal camp near where the Pandavas are living in order to try and humiliate them. In order to protect them, the gods send down a gandharva to provoke Duryodhana, which ends up with him being captured. The Pandavas discover this and free him, so ultimately, his plan to embarrass them backfired.

The Pandavas return to the forest. One day, they are approached by a brahmin who begs for them to go capture a deer that has stolen what he needs to make a sacrificial fire. The Pandavas chase the deer, but to no end. They are all exhausted and look for water. One of the brothers finds a lake where a voice tells him to answer questions before drinking. Ignoring this, the brother takes a drink and dies. One by one this happens until Yudhishthira finds the lake. He answers the questions. We discover that this was a test by his father, Yama the god of death. Since he answers the questions, the brothers are brought back to life and receive the gift of unrecognizability for their last year of exile.

During their last year of exile, the brothers go to the court of King Virata. They all do their various jobs in order to fit in. Unfortunately, Draupadi, their wife, is raped. In order to avenge her, Bhima squeezes her rapist to death. Due to this crisis, Draupadi has to beg to remain in court.

After hearing the story of the rapist, Duryodhana is suspicious of the activity. One of his allies actually suggests that he go and attack King Virata to steal his cattle. This ally, known as Susharman, goes and captures Virata; however, Bhima then goes and reclaims Virata and captures Susharman instead. In retaliation, Virata's son and Arjuna go and ride into battle. Arjuna goes and retrieves the Pandavas' weapons that they had acquired. They easily win and Karna withdraws from the battle. The Prince discovers who the Pandavas are, but Arjuna persuades him not to reveal their identity. So, the King then greatly praises his son for his victory. However, Virata discovers who the Pandavas are whenever he accidentally draws blood from Yudhishthira. Therefore, he gives his daughter to Arjuna's son in marriage.

Krishna attends this marriage and thus asks Duryodhana to give half of the kingdom to the Pandavas. Krishna's charioteer also tries to push Krishna into joining the Pandavas and waging war on Duryodhana. Seeing that there would be no peace, both sides begin to gather allies for a war. Krishna is divided and gives Duryodhana a million soldiers while Krishna himself fought with the Pandavas.

Before the war begins, the Pandavas ask for peace once again, requesting only five villages so that each brother could have one. Dhritarashtra is pushed to stop giving his son Duryodhana his support and instead give Yudhishthira the honor of being his heir and thus next in line. Dhritarashtra wants to accept this advice, but he cannot bear to tell his son. Duryodhana insists that he will win because his armies are much greater than the Pandava army. Dhritarashtra is told that this war would become their doom.

Bibliography: Narayan, R K. The Mahabharata. The University of Chicago Press, 1978.