For thousands of years she had endured the pain. Covered in dust, not to be seen by anyone. Deserted by her husband, abandoned by the Gods. Indra had reason to worry. Gautama was accumulating punya way beyond his league. He had to be stopped. His excess punya had to be burnt away. So he approached... Continue Reading →
Bhima’s Lesson to Guru Dronacharya
It was the afternoon of the 14th day. The great war had taken a tragic turn with the brutal killing of Abhimanyu on the 13th. Arjuna, without consulting Sri Krishna, had vowed to kill Jayadratha before sunset. Both of them had entered deep into the Kuru army's formation and were engaged in a fierce battle... Continue Reading →
Arjuna Pratijna: A Lesson in Maha-Papas
Towards the end of the 13th day of the great war the Pandavas suffered a serious setback. Abhimanyu, the son of Arjuna and Subhadra, the nephew of Sri Krishna, a great maharathi, was brutally killed in battle. Six of the big names from the Kaurava side - Drona, Krupa, Karna, Ashwathama, Bruhadbala and Krutavarma -... Continue Reading →
Day 11: Bhima Defeats Shalya
The first half of the eleventh day of the great war was consumed, in terms of attention, by the arrival of Karna into the battlefield. He had visited Bhishma twice, after the latter's fall and resting on the bed of arrows, and sought his blessings to join war. Bhishma asked him to consider trying to... Continue Reading →
Mahabharata and the Amazing Use of Alankaras
One of the big challenges in describing an event like the great war of the Mahabharata is to continually keep the interest of the reader/listener. When the intention is to describe numerous duels and battles fought over 18 days in great detail, only resorting to a mechanical recording of what happened can impact the readability... Continue Reading →
Day 8 of the Yuddha-Yajna: Eight Ahutis by Bhima
After a fierce round of fighting involving various duels, the 7th day of the great war had ended. Both sides took adequate medicines, and rest, overnight and returned to Kurukshetra, all eager to resume the battle. Bhishma was still leading the Kauravas with great energy in spite of constant chiding by Duryodhana at the end... Continue Reading →
Bhima Parakrama: Day 6 of the Great War
At the start of day 6 of the Mahabharata war, the Kauravas had suffered 4 continuous days of defeats, after their notional victory on day 1. Duryodhana was furious and was keen on Bhishma and Drona fetching him a victory. He urged them to come up with a special formation to attack the Pandavas. Bhishma... Continue Reading →
Bharata or Lakshmana? Who was born first?
In the Ramayana, it is quite clear that Lakshmana is the avatara of Sesha. While there are a few different narrations regarding Bharata and Shatrughna, Sri Madhwacharya has clarified in his Mahabharata Tatparya Nirnaya that it was Kama who took birth as Bharata and that Aniruddha was born as Shatrughna. (Note: In the Mahabharata Kama... Continue Reading →
Bhimasena’s Destruction of the Elephant Brigade
It was day 4 of the great war. The first day after Arjuna had finally given up his inhibitions against fighting his own family for the sake of Dharma. Bhagavan Sri Krishna had achieved the dual purpose of fulfilling his devotee Bhishma's wishes of holding a weapon in the war while at the same time... Continue Reading →
Bhimarjuna Veerya: Karna-Shalya Garvabhanga
The Swayamvara of Draupadi had reached its climax. After all the powerful rulers of Bharata - from Shishupala to Jarasandha to Duryodhana and Karna - had failed to even string the Kindhura, the divine bow of Lord Shankara, Arjuna easily lifted and strung it and pierced the matsya-yantra with five arrows. Raja Drupada's joy knew... Continue Reading →
Pranasutra 