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Puranic encyclopaedia

by Vettam Mani | 1975 | 609,556 words | ISBN-10: 0842608222

This page describes the Story of Pandavas included the Puranic encyclopaedia by Vettam Mani that was translated into English in 1975. The Puranas have for centuries profoundly influenced Indian life and Culture and are defined by their characteristic features (panca-lakshana, literally, ‘the five characteristics of a Purana�).

Story of ṇḍ

Origin.

ŚԳٲԳ, a celebrated King of 䲹Իṃśa (lunar dynasty) had two wives, Ҳṅg and ٲⲹī. īṣm was the son of Ҳṅg. After the birth of īṣm Ҳṅg his mother went to heaven. After that ŚԳٲԳ married ٲⲹī, mother of ղ. ٲⲹī got two sons, 侱ٰṅg岹 and վٰīⲹ. Even while a bachelor, 侱ٰṅg岹 was killed by a Gandharva of the same name. So վٰīⲹ became King on ŚԳٲԳ’s death. īṣm forcibly brought the three daughters of the King of śī named , and likā for վٰīⲹ to marry. But knowing that was in love with the King of , īṣm let her off on the way. and likā became the wives of վٰīⲹ. But for a long time they had no sons.

At that time ٲⲹī, mother of վٰīⲹ, sent for ղ her eldest son and asked him to beget sons of and likā. got ٳṛtṣṭ of ղ and likā, ṇḍ, father of the ṇḍ. ٳṛtṣṭ was born blind and he married Իī. ṇḍ was born pale-white in colour and he married ܲԳī mother of the ṇḍ.

ܲԳī was the sister of Vasudeva, father of Śrī ṛṣṇa. The real name of ܲԳī was ṛt. ŚūԲ, King of the , was the father of ܲԳī and Vasudeva. Because Kuntibhoja son of ūԲ’s sister, had no issues ܲԳī was sent to the palace of Kuntibhoja and she grew up there. ṛt got the name of ܲԳī because of that. Besides ܲԳī, ṇḍ had another wife named ī.

While she was living in the palace of Kuntibhoja the sage ٳܰ came and stayed in the palace as the king’s guest. ܲԳī was a little girl then and yet she served the sage with such care, patience and devotion that the sage was greatly pleased with her and gave her a divine mantra. He said: "If you call upon any god repeating this mantra he will manifest himself to you and bless you with a son equal to him in glory and valour. You can use this only five times." The impatient curiosity of youth made ܲԳī give a test to the power of the mantra and though unmarried she invoked the Sun. The Sun immediately presented himself before her and by his grace she conceived and got a son whom she secretly set afloat in a river. A childless charioteer named Adhiratha happened to see the child and he took it home and brought it up. When he grew up he was sent to Ჹپܰ and the sons of ٳṛtṣṭ took him in their service. He was ṇa, the celebrated warrior of the Kauravas. ܲԳī married ṇḍ after the birth of ṇa.

ٳṛtṣṭ got of Իī a hundred sons and a daughter named ٳśś. The children of ٳṛtṣṭ were known as Kauravas or ٳٲṣṭ. ṇḍ had a curse that he would die the moment he entered into sexual sport with his wives. (See under Kindama). So under instructions from her husband ܲԳī invoked Dharma, and Indra and got the sons ۳ܻṣṭ󾱰, īԲ and Arjuna. She gave the remaining one chance to ī and ī invoked the two Aśvinīdevas, ٲⲹ and Dasra and got two sons named Nakula and Sahadeva. All these five were accepted as the sons of ṇḍ and so they got the name of ṇḍ. (Upto Chapter 123, Ādi Parva).

Life in Ჹپܰ and the lac-palace incident.

After the birth of the ṇḍ, ṇḍ with his wife and children spent a very long time in the forest of Śٲśṛṅ. śⲹ貹, the royal priest of Vasudeva, performed the Upanayana (investiture with the sacred thread) and such other religious ceremonies ordained for boyhood. They were educated under the sage Śܰ첹. One day in the Spring season ṇḍ’s resolution broke down under the exhilarating influence of the season and he caught hold of ī and embraced her despite earnest and repeated protests from ī. At once the curse of the sage took effect and ṇḍ fell dead. It was the custom then that the wife should end her life in the funeral pyre of her husband and so ܲԳī and ī came forward to do so. But ī said that one of them should live to take care of the children and so entrusting her children also to the care of ܲԳī, ī jumped into the funeral pyre and ended her life. The sages of the Śٲśṛṅ forest took the children and ܲԳī to Ჹپܰ and handing them over to the charge of ٳṛtṣṭ came back.

The ṇḍ grew up in Ჹپܰ along with the Kauravas. But there was no real affection or intimacy between them. The naturally strong ī found it a sport to tease and torment the Kauravas whenever he got an opportunity. Gradually as the teasings of ī became unbearable a wicked thought of somehow putting an end to ī’s life found place in the minds of the Kauravas. They once poisoned ī and binding him tight with ropes threw him into the ocean. But ī went to the world of the and came back unscathed with added siddhis (acquired power). This annoyed the Kauravas.

It was at this time that ٰṇa a renowned preceptor in archery, came to Ჹپܰ. īṣm enrolled the ṇḍ and the Kauravas as disciples of ٰṇa. Arjuna became an extraordinarily brilliant bow-man. This came off as another reason for the Kauravas to drift away from the ṇḍ. After the end of their course of education a contest was held in which Arjuna ranked first. The time came for Gurudakṣi� (fees paid in bulk at the end of the studies to a preceptor). ٰṇa asked his disciples to bring king Drupada bound hand and foot before him. The Kauravas failed in that mission and the ṇḍ under the leadership of Arjuna fulfilled the demand of their Guru.

When the training and ҳܻܰ岹ṣiṇ� were over, ٳṛtṣṭ crowned ۳ܻṣṭ󾱰 as the heir-apparent and this increased the power and status of the ṇḍ in Ჹپܰ. The jealousy of Duryodhana knew no bounds when he found the ṇḍ in the pinnacle of power and popularity. He decided to kill them. He therefore, built a new palace in a place called ṇāvٲ and with the permission of ٳṛtṣṭ made them change their residence to the new building. The new building was cunningly built of lac and other combustible material. The wise and intelligent Vidura knew this deceit beforehand and so he had warned the ṇḍ of the danger through a messenger named Khanaka. The ṇḍ had, therefore, made ready a secret passage by underground to escape from the building when an emergency arose. The passage was to lead them from the palace to the forest nearby. One night Purocana, a minister of Duryodhana, came stealthily and set fire to the palace. The ṇḍ with their mother ܲԳī escaped from the palace to the forest nearby. That night a huntress and her five sons were sleeping in a part of the building and they were burnt to death. They were all sleeping fully drunk and so could not escape from the building. Purocana also was burnt to death. Thus the ṇḍ had to go away from Ჹپܰ for a brief period.

The Exile and its end.

The Kauravas thought that ṇḍ died in the fire and in that belief conducted the funeral rites of their brothers. The ṇḍ after their escape from the fire walked a long distance through the forests and came to the banks of the river Ҳṅg. On their way a demon named ᾱḍi attacked them and ī killed him but at the request of Dharmaputra married his sister ᾱḍiī. After that while they were continuing their journey crossing the river a Gandharva of name Citraratha attacked them. Citraratha was defeated in a battle and he later became friendly with the ṇḍ. He gave them many valuable presents and also narrated to them the story of Tapatīsaṃvaraṇa. Then they went and stayed in the house of a brahmin in the village of . It was at that time that the ⲹṃv of ñī was held. The ṇḍ went for the ⲹṃv and married ñī. The news then spread that ṇḍ were not dead but still alive. ٳṛtṣṭ then sent for them and the ṇḍ returned to their palace in Ჹپܰ. ۳ܻṣṭ󾱰 was crowned as King of half of the country and he built his palace in a place known as ṇḍٳ. The palace was designed and built by a demon named Maya with beautiful Crystals and costly diamonds. When the ṇḍ were living there went to them once. He suggested that ñī should remain as wife to the ṇḍ in turn, one year each to one of them. They accepted the suggestion and started living like that. ۳ܻṣṭ󾱰 married ٱ𱹾, daughter of King Ś, also. (Śǰ첹 70, Chapter 95, Ādi Parva). īԲ and Arjuna with the help of Śrī ṛṣṇa slew Ի. After that they conducted a victory march over the country and established their overlordship by conducting successfully a Rājasūya yajña. Duryodhana and his brothers once visited Indraprastha, the palace of the ṇḍ. They were fooled at the palace and this enraged them. Duryodhana invited Dharmaputra for a game of dice and the latter lost everything. Yet ٳṛtṣṭ gave them back everything and sent them to Indraprastha again. Before Dharmaputra reached the palace Duryodhana once again challenged him for a game of dice. Despite protesis from all sides Dharmaputra went and played and lost again everything. To fulfil the conditions of the game ۳ܻṣṭ󾱰 went to the forests with his brothers and wife to spend twelve years in exile and a year incognito. At that time ܲԳī lived with Vidura.

It was during this period of exile that the ṇḍ got the Akṣayapātra (never-empty pot) from the Sun. They dwelt first in Dvaitavana and then in Kāmyakavana. Then they went to the mountain of ҲԻ󲹳岹Բ and from there to 岹ś. From there they came back again to Kāmyakavana and while they were living there Duryodhana and his men went to that forest to see the sufferings of the ṇḍ and gloat on their sad plight. But Citrasena, a Gandharva, captured Duryodhana and Arjuna got him released. Duryodhana sent ٳܰ to tease Dharmaputra but the sage was sent back after being received duly and well-attended to earn his blessings. During their stay in that forest Jayadratha kidnapped ñī but the ṇḍ rescued her immediately. They went from there again to Dvaitavana. Dharmadeva tested them once while they were there. The twelve years of exile came to an end and as per directions from Dharmadeva they spent their incognito period of one year in the court of the King of վṭa. After the end of their incognito life the King of վṭa gave in marriage his daughter ٳٲ to Abhimanyu son of Arjuna.

Even after the return of the ṇḍ from the forests after successfully fulfilling the conditions of the game, Duryodhana showed obstinate reluctance to part with even five pin-points of land in favour of the ṇḍ. A peace mission of Śrī ṛṣṇa from the ṇḍ to avoid a war and settle matters amicably to ٳṛtṣṭ failed and the stage was set for a grea battle between the ṇḍ and the Kauravas.

Ascension to Heaven.

A great and grim battle was fought at ܰܰṣeٰ between the ṇḍ and the Kauravas lasting for eighteen days. Śrī ṛṣṇa neither fought nor took arms even once against the Kauravas but acted as the charioteer of Arjuna. When the war came to an end the Kauravas were completely annihilated.

۳ܻṣṭ󾱰 became King. He performed an ś Yāga. After a few years of reign the ṇḍ crowned ʲīṣi, son of Abhimanyu, as the King and started for their Mahāprasthāna (departing this life). They walked in a line in the order of their age, Dharmaputra leading and ñī following last. At first ñī fell dead, but nobody turned back. Then Sahadeva fell and nobody worried. This continued thus till Dharmaputra was left alone. A dog which followed them from their very start also remained alive with Dharmaputra. The dog was none other than Dharmadeva, father of Dharmaputra. When Dharmaputra reached the top of the ᾱⲹ Indra was there ready with the divine car to take him to heaven. But Dharmaputra said that he would not come to heaven leaving his brothers and wife elsewhere. Then Indra informed him that they were already in heaven and so Dharmaputra went to heaven with Indra. (Only a general and succinct history of the ṇḍ is given under this head. For details see under the heads of each of the ṇḍ as well as ñī, ܲԳī, īṣm and ղ).

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