191131 - MAHABHARATA WAR

Mahabharatha - WAR

At the wedding ceremony of Arjuna with Uttara at Virat, a large number of

Pandava allies gathered to draw out a war strategy. Emissaries were sent to the

Kauravas to demand the return of Indraprastha, the land granted by

Dhritarashtra, and developed by the Pandavas, but lost to the Kauravas during a

dice game. The attempt to settle the issue peacefully was a failure, even though

Krishna, an avatar of Vishnu and a maternal cousin of the Pandavas, went on the

mission by himself. Duryodhana refused to give away as much land as was covered

by the point of a needle, let alone the five villages proposed by the peace

missions. The Kauravas also gathered their allies around them, and even broke

away a key Pandava ally - the maternal uncle of the Pandava twins - by trickery.

The Kurukshetra War broke out. Scholars are divided in their opinion as to when

this war took place, and even the historicity of this war is a subject of much

debate. In any case, according to the Mahabharata, the Kurukshetra War lasted

for 18 days, during which most of the characters in the epic were killed. Arguably

the most famous episode in the epic, the Bhagavat Gita , occurs here, just before

the fighting begins.

Just before the war bugle was sounded, Arjuna saw arrayed before him his

relatives: his great-grandfather Bheeshma who had practically brought him up, his

teachers Kripa and Drona, his brothers the Kauravas, and, for a moment, his

resolution wavered. Krishna, the warrior par excellence, had given up arms for this

war and had elected to be Arjuna's charioteer. Arjuna requested Krishna to take

him back as he can not kill these people; my father, my brothers, my teachers,

my uncles, my sons. He said he has no desire on kingdom and kingship at the cost

of many dear lives. Krishna gave his philosophical discourse - the Bhagavad Gita

explaining the impermanence of Kshathriya (Kingly) life, and the importance of

fulfilling one’s duty, and keeping on the path of righteousness which made Arjuna to pick up

his bow to fight.

The battle was for 18 days. The army had 18 akshauhinis, 7 on the Panadava side

and 11 on the Kaurava (1 akshauhini = 21,870 chariots + 21,870 elephants +

65,610 horses + 109,350 soldiers on foot). At the end of the war, the Pandavas

emerge victorious, though the losses on both sides are almost total. Among those

left lives were Duryodhana and all of the Kauravas, all of the menfolk of

Draupadi's family, including all of her sons by the Pandavas. Karna was revealed

to be a son of Kunti, before her marriage to Pandu, and thus, the eldest Pandava

and the rightful heir to the throne. The grand old man Bheeshma lost life. Their

teacher Drona was dead, also all kinsfolk related to them either by blood or by

marriage. In about 18 days, the entire country lost almost three generations of its

men. It was a war not seen on a scale before, it was the Great Indian war,

the Maha-Bharat war.

The war, however, is not the end of the epic. After the war, Yudhishthira became

king of Hastinapur and Indraprastha. The Pandavas ruled for 36 years, after which

they abdicated in favour of Abhimanyu's son, Parikshit. The Pandavas and

Draupadi proceeded on foot to the Himalayas, intending to live out their last days

climbing the slopes heavenwards. One by one, they fell on this last journey and

their spirits ascended to the heavens. 

Years later, Parikshit's son Janmejaya, a great-grandson of Arjuna, succeeded his

father as king. He held a big snake sacrifice, at which this entire story was recited

for the first time by Vaishampayan, a disciple of Vyasa. Since that time, this story

has been retold countless times, expanded upon, and retold again.

The Mahabharata remains popular to this day in India. It has been adapted and

recast in contemporary mode in several films and plays. Children continue to be

named after the characters in the epic. The Bhagvad Gita is one of the holiest

of Hindu scriptures. Beyond India, the Mahabharata story is popular in south-east

Asia in cultures that were influenced by Hinduism such as Indonesia and Malaysia.