Yudhisthira (Dharmaraja) – towards
Kurukshthra WAR
In Mahabharata, Yudhisthira was the eldest son
of King Pandu and Queen Kunti. Yudhishtira (Dharmaputhra) king of Hastinapura
and Indraprastha, and World Emperor was the principal protagonist of the Kurukshetra
War.
Pandu, the king of Hastinapura, soon after his
marriage accidentally shot a Brahmin and his wife, mistaking them for deer,
while the couple were making love. Before he died, the Brahmin cursed the king
himself to die at once, the minute he engaged in intercourse with one of his
two wives. Due to this curse, Pandu was unable to father children. In
additional penance for the murder, Pandu also abdicated the crown to his blind
brother Dhritarashtra.
Queen Kunti, had in her youth been granted the
power to invoke the Devas by Rishi Durvasa; each god, when invoked, would place
a child in her lap. Urged by Pandu to use her invocations, Kunti gave birth to
Yudhisthira by invoking the Lord of Righteousness, Dharma. Yudhisthira's four
younger brothers were Bhima, (born by invoking Vayu); Arjuna, (born by invoking
Indra); and the twins Nakula and Sahadeva, (born by invoking the Ashwini Gods).
As Karna, the son of Kunti born before her marriage by invoking Surya is not
counted, Yudhisthira is considered as the eldest of five Pandava brothers. Yudhisthira's
dharma was markedly distinct from that of other righteous kings. He married
Draupadi along with his four brothers, the dharma that modifies itself to suit
the times.
Yudhisthira was trained in religion, science,
administration and military arts by the Kuru preceptors Kripa and Drona. He was
a master of the spear weapon, and a maharatha, capable of combating 10,000
opponents all together at a time. Yudhisthira's true prowess was shown in his
unflinching adherence to satya (truth) and dharma (righteousness), which were
more precious to him than any royal ambitions, material pursuits and family
relations.
Being Pandu's eldest son, Yudhisthira was the
rightful heir to the throne. However, this claim was contested by the
Dhritarashtra's son, Duryodhana. Yudhisthira is also known as Bharata
(Descendent of the line of Bharata) and Ajatashatru (One Without Enemies).
Yudhisthira rescued Bhima from Yama, and all
of his four brothers from death by exemplifying not only his immense knowledge
of dharma but also his very own way of understanding the finer implications of
dharma, as judged by Yama, who was testing him in the guise of a Crane and a
Yaksha.
Yudhisthira learned dice play from Narada Muni
and assumed the guise of a brahmin courtier and dice player in the Matsya Rajya
of king Virata. Yudhisthira was unable to refuse when Duryodhana's maternal
uncle Shakuni, challenged him to a game of dice. Thanks to Shakuni's cheating,
Yudhisthira lost each throw, eventually gambling away his kingdom, his wealth,
his brothers and finally his wife. Owing to the protests of Vidura, Bhishma and
Drona, Dhritarashtra returned all these losses. However, Shakuni challenged
Yudhisthira one more time, and Yudhisthira once more lost. This time, he, his
brothers and his wife were forced to discharge the debt by spending thirteen
years in exile, with the condition of anonymity in the last year, in the forest
before they could reclaim their kingdom.
When the period of exile was completed,
Duryodhana and Shakuni nevertheless refused to return Yudhisthira's kingdom.
Yudhisthira made numerous diplomatic efforts to retrieve his kingdom
peacefully; all failed. To go to war to reclaim his birthright would mean
fighting and killing his own relatives, an idea that appalled Yudhisthira. But
Krishna, Yudhisthira's most trusted advisor (whom he recognized as the Avatara
of Vishnu, the Supreme Godhead, Brahman), pointed out that Yudhisthira's claim
was righteous, and the deeds of Duryodhana were evil. If all peace efforts
failed, war was therefore a most righteous course.
KURUKSHTHRA WAR and
DHARMAPUTHRA
There are many passages in the Mahabharata in
which Yudhisthira's will to fight a bloody war for the sake of a kingdom
falters, but Krishna justifies the war as moral and as the unavoidable duty of
all moral warriors.
Yudhisthira and his brothers were favored by
the Kuru elders like Bhishma, Vidura, Kripa and Drona over Duryodhana and his
brothers, the Kauravas, due to their devotion to their elders, pious habits and
great aptitude in religion and military skills, and all the necessary
qualifications for the greatest of the kshatriya order.
In the war, the Kuru commander Drona was
killing of thousands of Pandava warriors. Krishna hatched a plan to tell Drona
that his son Ashwathama had died, so that the invincible and destructive Kuru
commander would give up his arms and thus could be killed. The plan was set in
motion when Bhima killed an elephant named Ashwathama, and loudly proclaimed
that Ashwathama was dead. Drona, knowing that only Yudhisthira, with his firm
adherence to the truth, could tell him for sure if his son had died, approached
Yudhisthira for confirmation. Yudhisthira told him: "Ashwathama has
died". However Yudhisthira could not make himself tell a lie, despite the
fact that if Drona continued to fight, the Pandavas and the cause of dharma
itself would have lost and he added: "naro va kunjaro va" which means
he is not sure whether elephant or man had died. Krishna knew that Yudhisthira
would be unable to lie, and had all the warriors beat war-drums and cymbals to
make as much noise as possible. The words "naro va kunjaro va" were
lost in the tumult and the ruse worked. Drona was disheartened, and laid down
his weapons. He was then killed by Dhristadyumna.
Due to his piety, Yudhisthira's feet and his
chariot do not touch the ground, to symbolize his purity.
When he spoke his half-lie, Yudhisthira's feet
and chariot descended to the ground. However, Yudhisthira himself killed
Shalya, the king of Madra and the last Kuru commander.
After the war of Kurukshetra, Yudhisthira
performs the funeral rites of all his people including Karna. He was deeply
hurt that many of his men were killed. His mother Kunti came and said she tried
to inform Karna of his relationship with Yudhisthira and persuade him to give
up his enmity.
Even the Sun god also spoke to Karna but
because of his friendship with Duryodhana, he did not change his position.
Kunti revealed that Karna was her son, and one of them.
So basically, it was only after Karna (who was
pretty impressive in everything he did) was killed, that the mother of
Pandavas,
The revelation by Kunti made the Pandavas
angry and depressed Yudhishthira a lot.
Yudhisthira thought that Karna should have had
the same right and respect as them. He was very upset that her own mother had
kept a huge secret from him and the others. He could not contain his
anger and cursed the entire woman race with not being able to hide
any secrets.
Yudhisthira performed the tarpana ritual for
the souls of the departed. Upon his return to Hastinapura, he was crowned king
of both Indraprastha and Hastinapura. Out of his piousness, Yudhisthira
retained Dhristarashtra as the king of the city of Hastinapura, and offered him
complete respect and deference as an elder, despite his misdeeds and the evil
of his dead sons. Yudhisthira later performed the Ashwamedha yagna (sacrifice)
to re-establish the rule of dharma all over the world.
Upon the onset of the Kali yuga and the death
of Krishna, Yudhisthira and his brothers retired, leaving the throne to their
only descendant to survive the war of Kurukshetra, Arjuna's grandson
Parikshita. Giving up all their belongings and ties, the Pandavas made their
final journey of pilgrimage in the Himalayas.
While climbing the peaks, one by one Draupadi
and each Pandava in reverse order of age fell to their deaths, dragged down by
the weight of their guilt of few, but real sins. But Yudhisthira reached the
mountain peak, because he was unblemished by sin or untruth. The true character
of Yuddhisthira is revealed at the end of the Mahabharata. On the mountain
peak, Indra, King of Gods, arrived to take Yudhisthira to heaven in his Golden
Chariot. As Yudhisthira was about to step into the Chariot, the Deva told him
to leave behind his companion dog, an unholy creature not worthy of heaven.
Yudhisthira stepped back, refusing to leave behind the creature who he had
taken under his protection. Indra wondered at him - "You can leave your
brothers behind, not arranging proper cremations for them...and you refuse to
leave behind a stray dog!"
Yudhisthira replied, "Draupadi and my
brothers have left me, not me [them]." And he refused to go to heaven
without the dog. At that moment the dog changed into the God Dharma, his
father, who was testing him...and Yudhisthira had passed with distinction.
Yudhisthira was carried away on Indra's
chariot. On reaching Heaven he did not find either his virtuous brothers or his
wife Draupadi. Instead he saw Duryodhana and his evil allies. The Gods told him
that his brothers were in Naraka (hell) atoning their little sins, while
Duryodhana was in heaven since he died at the blessed place of Kurukshetra.
Yudhisthira loyally went to Naraka (hell) to
meet his brothers, but the sights and sounds of gore and blood horrified him.
Tempted to flee, he mastered himself and remained on hearing the voice of his
beloved brothers and Draupadi...calling out to him, asking him to stay with
them in their misery. Yudhisthira decided to remain, ordering the Divine
charioteer to return..preferring to live in hell with good people than in a
heaven of evil ones. At that moment the scene changed. This was yet another
illusion to test him on the one hand, and on other hand to enable him to atone
for his sin of using deceit to kill Drona. Indra and Krishna appeared before
him and told him that his brothers were already in Heaven, along with his
enemies, for earthly virtues and vices don't hold true in heavenly realms.
Krishna yet again hailed Yudhisthira for his dharma, and bowed to him, in the
final defining moment of the epic where divinity bowed down to humanity.
200111 – 2020 January 11
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