Seventeen - I

This blog is 17 (yes, SEVENTEEN!) today.

To mark the occasion, let me record some details from the Mahabharata (yes, the very epic that made me a Reader and that I keep returning to as a Writer) that I barely noticed till the other day. I depend on Marar's 'Bharataparyatanam' and Wikipedia.
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1. When the Pandavas were in their 'forest exile', Duryodhana planned a grand holiday - he and his minions would go and camp out in the very forest where their cousins dwelt and hunt and sport and make merry on a grand scale. The idea was to flaunt his prosperity and power to the Pandavas and to remind them of their misery and penury.

The plan misfired badly - Duryodhana and co took out a grand procession but were intercepted, outfought and taken captive by a band of Gandharvas; and to add insult to injury, they were released only on the intercession of the very Pandavas he had set out to humiliate. On return to his capital, a depressed Duryodhana thought of even ritual suicide. Karna tried to console him thus: "Look, you don't need to feel bad about receiving that favor from your enemies. At present, the Pandavas are technically, your subjects, your servants. And it is but the duty of a servant to come to his master's aid. The Pandavas only did a job they were supposed to do and that is that!"

And then Shakuni spoke: "I agree with Karna. And let me add, it would be disgraceful on your part to be unhappy that the Pandavas aided you - indeed you should feel happy and grateful to them. And I would suggest, in the true spirit of brotherhood, that you receive them back and give them their rightful share of the kingdom and live in harmony. That would bring you true peace and contentment!"

Personally, what Karna said was pretty predictable - his animosity towards the Pandavas and especially his ego issues with Arjuna went back a long way. But Shakuni, of all people, with a peace pipe - was that was one hell of a surprise!
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2. Dronacharya taught the deadly astra 'Brahmashira' to his favorite disciple Arjuna and then, to his own son Ashwattthama - the latter, with some serious misgivings because of Ashwatthama's tendency to use his skills in anger and driven by narrow personal animosities. Ashwatthama too knew Drona's thoughts. He went to Dwaraka and stayed for a while as Krishna's honored guest. Then one day, he approached Krishna and quietly said: "Let's have a deal. My father has taught me the Brahmashira. I could pass on the secrets to you, if in return, you would give me Chakra, your discus!"

Krishna said with a smile. "I have no use for astras; you keep yours. However, you can inspect my personal aresenal and take whatever you wish - my discus, mace, bow, whatever!"

Ashwatthama's eyes glittered. "The discus of course!"

And he reached for it with his left hand. Finding it heavier than he thought, he applied both hands, then all his might - and to his shock, the discus didn't even budge! Ashwatthama gave up in utter vexation.

Krishna smiled: "Know what, my closest friend Arjuna, mighty Balarama, my own son Pradyumna, every inch, my equal - none of them ever sought what you asked for... May I know what the hell you wanted to do with my discus?"

And Ashwatthama said: "I seek invincibility. And I wanted to use the discus in battle against you ! Both goals seem elusive now. So, let me take leave of you. Please wish me well!"
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3. King Janamejaya conducts the Snake Sacrifice to destroy Takshaka, the serpent who had killed his father Parikshit. The sacrifice gets aborted midway thru by a rather spoil-sport intervention from Astika, a sage of Brahmin-serpent ancestry. Takshaka is saved but not before thousands upon thousands of other serpents, who had nothing whatsoever to do with Parikshit are burnt alive in the sacrificial fire. However, as the epic informs us, the charred snakes were only getting their 'just desserts' - they had refused to help their mother Kadru cheat and win a petty bet with her sister Vinata and Kadru had cursed them with death by fire!

Takshaka had no choice but to bite Parikshit because a curse (of a certain hotheaded juvenile monk by name Shringi) on the latter enjoined the former to do just that. Of course, as with most curses, this too had been a very harsh one - and irrevocable to boot! But Takshaka had motives beyond merely carrying out his 'assignment': indeed, on his way to kill Parikshit, Takshaka meets up with a Brahmin who knew the Garuda Mantra, a powerful spell which could bring a snakebite victim back to life and who was on his way to revive Parikshit in case Takshaka struck him - and the serpent persuades the Brahmin to stay away by giving him 'gifts' of value demonstrably far in excess of anything he would have received for saving the king. As Takshaka himself states, "I want men to be mortally afraid of my powers. If Parikshit is saved, men won't fear me enough!"

So, just as with most chains of events in this epic, the fire sacrifice ends without real closure - Takshaka, a real villain of the piece, goes scot-free. As for Shringi, there is no indication that he ever had to answer for his act!
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And as the Bhagavata, a sort of sequel-prequel to the Mahabharata adds, the hapless Parikshit spent his last week in a heavily guarded hideout in the company of sages and listening to stories of the divine exploits of Krishna and Vishnu - of course, to no real avail!