CHAPTER – 1
THE GRIEF OF ARJUNA
Dhritarastra asks what did they do, his own children and the Pandavas, after they assemble in the holy place of crying out for war among themselves?
This is indeed an ironical question on the part of Dhritarastra. The very name Dhritarastra means one who holds the state under control. So when his own children go forth to war with his nephews, one wonders whether the king himself has sent his children to a blood-feud. Or else he is a king in name. His commands are not heeded. The state is out of joints. The site chosen for the battle is Kurukshetra a place for pilgrimage. How is it that the contenders choose such a sacred spot for blood-shed? Is it not a sacrilege?
Kurukshetra has a history. It was a place of sacrifice for the gods. To avenge his father’s death Parasurama had killed the warrior class all over the globe, repeatedly for twenty one times then he came to Kurukshetra to offer food to his dead fathers. Again one of the forefathers of both the contending sides observed hard penance at Kurukshetra. He was assured that whoever observes penance or dies at Kurukshetra should be earmarked for heaven in life hereafter.
Is it with the hope for a golden life hereafter that they have assembled at Kurukshetra? The warrior class seems to bring ruin upon themselves. Or else, why should they choose a place for battle where their archenemy Parasurama celebrated his bloody victory over them? Or does the king Dhritarastra himself hope that the genius of the holy place might influence them? The war might stop at the last moment. Sanjay in reply to Dhritarastra’s query observes that at the sight of the army of the five brothers in battle array, the king Duryodhana goes to his teacher and speaks. Duryodhana points out to him how vast is the army of the five brothers. It is his disciple, the wise son of Drupada who has put it in battle order. Archers as great as Bhima and Arjuna have crowded there. Satyaki, Virata, the great Drupada, Dhristaketu, Chekitana, and the valiant King of Kasi,, Purujit, Kuntibhoja and Saibya, the excellent mighty Yadhamanyu and brave Uttamauja the son of Subhadra and the children of Draupadi are warriors par excellence. Each one of them can fight against ten thousand archers single handed. Duryodhana now appraises his teacher of the noble warriors on his side who commands his army. The teacher himself, Bhisma, Karna, Kripa, Asvathama. Vikarna and Saumadatta are only to name a few among them. There are many other great warriors prepared to lay down their lives for Duryodhana’s sake. They know the use of numerous kinds of arms. All of them are adept in the art of war.
Thus the chief protagonists of the war have been introduced. They are a common motif in epics. In the Iliad Helen at the instance of the Trojan King Priam acquaints us with the names of the greatest heroes on the Greek side. The names of the great princes on both sides suggest the extent to which different nations willingly participate in the war. Virata hails from Matsya. Satyaki belongs to Yadava clan whose capital is Dwaraka. King Drupada has come all the way from Panchala and so on. This shows that a great war is at hand. The readiness to give up their own lives for the sake of their ally only points out that it will be a fight to the finish. The warriors who have assembled belong to different generations. Bhisma is the grand old sire. The participation of the five children of Draupadi and the son of Subhadra shows that tender children as well as their fathers and grand fathers and great grand fathers will take on one another in the fray. This is a pitiable sight indeed. Duryodhana, the proud king keen on war though does not miss the salient features of the assembly of warriors. He rejoices in war. He is all praise for his enemy generals. His mention of the sons of Draupadi and Subhadra perhaps covertly signifies his warm affection for his nephews though they are his antagonists. He is however reticent as to the names of the army chiefs on his side. However much proud he might be he submits his report of the armed forces of the two sides to his teacher Drona. Drone as Duryodhana’s speech itself shows has been the preceptor of many generals on both sides. He will nevertheless fight with Duryodhana.
Once we know of the great generals of both the contending sides, we ask which is stronger. There Duryodhana maintains a statesman like ambiguity. He says with tongue in check that his own side guided by Bhisma is unequal to the opposite camp led by Bhisma which has enough might. In other words, Bhisma’s army has enough strength no doubt, but their strength is not measureless. On the other hand he does not spell out his assessment of the strength of his own side. He simply says that it is an unequal fight between two sides. One could argue that his side is immensely stronger than his enemies. Or else, Duryodhana’s army does not have enough power to contend with the foes. Be it whatever it may. Duryodhana implores that everyone stand firm in his position and support Bhisma the chief of his army. Bhisma the grandfather of both the five brothers and the hundred brothers as well as Drona their teacher have been always of the opinion that the five should be given their due. That hurt the feelings of Duryodhana. But when war became inevitable both of them joined Duryodhana. Duryodhana also in turn pays his due respect to his teacher when he informs him about the leaders of both sides. He is keen on protecting his grandfather in the battle-field.
Bhisma the grandsire of the warring brothers however is no mean warrior. In his youth it was he who dared the world conqueror Parasurama in a fight that ended inconclusively. Parasurama’s spirit hovers largely over the impending war. As we have already observed Kurukshetra is a spot associated with Parasurama who massacred the warrior class repeatedly. Ironically enough Parasuram was the direct preceptor of Bhisma, Drona and Karna, the three great generals on Duryodhana’s side. Thus he taught the art of war to the warrior class indeed even though he was their avowed enemy. Drone alone of course did not belong to the warrior class. But he has been serving the warrior class only. And the art of warfare as taught by Parasurama has transmitted to the hundred brothers and five brothers through Drona who happened to be their teacher. Bhisma’s glory does not merely rest on his military prowess. He took the vow of celibacy to marry his father with a woman. He abdicated the right to throne lest his step brothers are deprived of it. But he remained ever a faithful watch dog monitoring the royal family and the kingdom so that there is no unrest. It is a pity indeed that this old guard of the Kuru family which ruled Hastinapur has not only to witness the ripping of the vast family of great prowess and fame through inner dissension but also has to participate in it as a soldier and general. He is the symbol of helpless human wishes in the face of the ravages of time. Do what you will no dynasty, no race, no civilization can hold on against time for long. Every order must give in to the forces of anomie.
Bhisma the grand-sire of the Kurus is overjoyed with the attention of his grandson upon him. Since he has been ever a fighter let there be one fight more and if it is the last one, let it be the best and the last. The warrior’s instinct leaps up in his blood he gives out a lion’s roar and blows conch. It reminds the younger generation that though he is old they cannot outbrave or outfight him. This sends a thrill of joy to Duryodhana.
The rule of the war in the Mahabharata is that the eldest among the generals should give the battle cry first. With the loud sound of the powerful conch of Bhisma at once there are replies from the different parts of the battlefield. The many kings from different parts of the world have assembled to take part in the war. They have their own banners raging in the sky. They have their own trumpets and bugles. Each of them blows his horn to show his readiness for war. Thus conchs, kettle drums, tabors, drums and trumpets suddenly blare forth and the noise is tumultuous.
Krishna and Arjuna also blow their celestial horns. They ride a grand chariot drawn by white steed. Thus the chief protagonists of the Bhagavad Gita have been introduced late. Arjuna has been mentioned once only by Duryodhana when he said that archers equal to him are many in the camp of the five brothers. So they leap into the action only when the narrative journeys far from where it began. The further we sail off-shore the more formidable waves appear in the ken. The narrator qualifies the horns of Krishna and Arjuna with the word celestial. Thus he sets apart the two from the rest of the heroes. While the word Krishna means black. Arjuna means white. When the opposites unite it is the Yang-yin.
Now the narrator true to the epic convention gives the names of the horns of each hero of the Pandava Camp. In epics and romances the sword the horse, the chariot of the hero have often a name. They seem to be individual characters in themselves. Homer elaborately describes the shield of Achilles. Here also the horn Krishna blows is Panchajanya. Arjun blows his Devadatta horn. Bhisma blows his mighty Paundra. Yudhisthira blows his Anantavijaya and Nakula and Sahadeva blow their Sughosa and Manipushpak. The king of Kasi the great archer, Sikhandi the great warrior, Dhristadyumna, Virata and the invincible Satyaki. Drupada and sons of Draupadi and the mighty armed son of Subhadra, on all sides blow their horns. Thus there is a symphony of proper names a mix of the names of the heroes and their horn. They all belong to the Camp of the five brothers. Duryodhana in his list of the heroes of the Pandava camp did not name Yudhisthira, Nakula and Sahadeva. Krishna will act as a charioteer only. He will not take up arms. So Duryodhana also omitted him. But Sanjaya mentions Krishna and his horn first. He refers to Krishna once as Madhava and another time as Hrisikesa. Madhava means the Lord of Lakshmi, the goddess. Thus Krishna’s god-head is remembered. He is no ordinary mortal. He is Visnu whose abode is in Golaka and who is in charge of the maintenance of the whole creation. Again he is Hrisikesha or the lord of the senses. Sanjaya in course of his narration gives first the details about the hundred brothers who show fight. Then Sanjaya shifts the focus towards the five brothers who are ready to meet their enemies. They blow their horns.
The sound of the horns echoes vehemently through heaven and earth and read the heart of Dhritarastra’s sons. When the grand sire Bhisma had sounded his horn. Duryodhana’s heart leapt up with joy. But now when there is the response from the battlefield all over. Dhritarastra’s sons become heavily weighed down with anxiety and fear. The tumult of the horns however seems to fill the universe with one sound reminiscent of the creative logos. The world of appearance seems to be drowned in it for a time.
Arjuna’s banner bears the crest of Hanumana. Hanumana or the monkey hero was the model of devotion to his lord Ramachandra, the God-incarnate of an earlier age. His heroics were legendary. Does not such a banner signify that Arjuna should be as devoted to his mentor Krishna the god incarnate as Hanumana was to Ramchandra? Arjuna with flying colours finds the sons of Drritarastra ready for war. The first missiles are shot. In no time a great war will burst upon the earth. Arjuna holds his bow aloft and asks his charioteer to take the car right at the centre of the battle field.
As we have already pointed out Krishna does not actively take part in the war. So Arjuna is the greatest warrior in the battlefield. Right at the hour of the war to begin he wants to survey the camp of the hundred brothers so that he can punish them according to each one’s deserts. Krishna presently parks the magnificent chariot between two armies in the very hub of the battle field surrounded by a concourse of kings Bhisma and Drona stand out among them. Krishna now asks Arjuna to behold the hundred brothers and their army. Eternal war rages in the existence between the forces of nomos and anomie. Does Arjuna really stand between the two?
Listless of the missiles whizzing past him Arjuna minutely observes all those who have come for war. He finds his fathers, grandfathers, preceptors, uncles, brothers, children, grandchildren, friends, in both the armies. We can imagine how Arjuna’s eyes slowly scan the army of the hundred brothers and then they turn towards his own camp. Seeing friends in both the camps, Arjuna’s enthusiasm evaporates in a moment. He is overwhelmed with great compassion. Thus the protagonists of the myth are human. Duryodhana’s heart exulted to hear his grandfather the next moment it sank with the sound of the horns. Now Arjuna wants to see who stand by his vicious enemy, now his heart is full of the milk of human kindness. Of course Duryodhana’s motive is egoistic, his sole aim is to defend the throne of Hastinapur against the challengers. But Arjuna seems to have wielded his bow to right the wrongs, his motive is partially altruistic no doubt. But the unpredictable change in their moods only show the frailty of human mind. Our mind is like the autumnal sky of Bengal. Now it is gloomy with rain clouds, now it is grinning in the sun without any trace of grief. Why do such flux of human emotions take place? Ignorance is perhaps to blame. When Arjuna did not have a total view of the battlefield he had thought something which becomes reversed with his overview of the same. But is it at all mortally possible to view the same thing simultaneously from the periphery and the centre? When we look upon the whole we forget the part and vice versa. Could we not look upon the whole as unique and yet remember that it is made up of parts? Hopes and fears stern sense of duty and compassion alternately overmaster our mind. Because we do not know which seed will grow and which seed will not in the field of life. We shudder at someone else’s death because we are scared of our own. Every fear is an apprehension of death. We do not know what is death. The veil of future is impenetrable. If we look inward we do not know what is mind. We simply observe our own moods, they are like visible actors who strut and fret in an invisible theatre.
In a keening voice Arjuna tells Krishna that his limbs are rendered powerless and his mouth and face become dry at the sight of his kinsmen plunged in the war. His body trembles his hair stand on end. His bow the famous Gandiva slips from his hand. His skin seems to burn all over. His mind reels. He cannot stand any longer. He finds ill-omens. Perhaps the kites are wheeling in the skies greedily waiting for the carrion. In short all the arguments that he had mentally conceived in favour of war has been turned upside down.
Arjuna frankly tells Krishna that he does not find any good in killing his own people. He does not want victory over his enemies. Fie upon kingdoms. Fie upon life and property. Those for whom men desire kingdoms, pleasure and pleasures, stand here staking their life and property. Teachers, fathers, sons and also grand fathers, fathers-in-law, grandsons, brother-in law and other relatives. He does not want to kill them, even if they kill him. Why rejoice in the death of the children of Dhritarastra? He does not want that, even if, he were offered the kingdom of the three worlds. What to talk of the small earth? True that the sons of Dhritarastra have tried every kind of felony upon the five brothers. Still what good will come of slaying these fellows?
Yes, Arjuna cannot forget the mischief that Duryodhana played upon him and his brothers. When they were children Duryodhana had given poison to Bhima, the elder brother of Arjuna. Under the spell of poison Bhima would have died in childhood. The snake-gods intervened and brought him back to life. Later when they came of age, Duryodhana sent the five brothers and their mother to a house which was made of combustible material. The family however got the hunch of it in time and put the house in flames themselves only to escape into the forests secretly. It was falsely given out that the five brothers as well as their mother were killed in the fire. Duryodhana at a later stage bragged Yudhisthira the eldest of the five brothers into a wager and fraudulently seized upon their wealth and property. To crown it all Duryodhana tried to strip the common wife these five brothers, Draupadi of her clothing in public.
Lust for property turns them into such beasts. It was there during the days of Kurukshetra war. It is still true in the world today. They tried to kill the president of Egypt in Ethiopia. They killed Israeli players at Olympic in Germany. They drove away Dalai Lama and a host of Tivetans from their traditional home in the snow-capped Himalayan plateau. The tribe of Duryodhana is not dead.
When Arjuna sees Duryodhana and his brothers Arjuna’s blood hots up. Arjuna cannot forget how Duryodhana and his men grievously wronged him and his family. Presently however a cold shiver runs down his spine he knows the dire consequences of a great war.
When a dog bites a man it is no news. But when a man bites a dog it is news. To kill anyone be it a wrongdoer is sin. Hence Arjuna says that they should kill the children of Dhritarastra and their friends. How could one be happy at the cost of the blood of one’s kinsfolk? These fools do not find the evils of the break-down of families. They do not know the sins of treason. Their heads are fogged with greed. But why should he not back out from war, once he knows these evil consequences of war? With the destruction of the families the time honoured customs will be shattered. That which binds the society will fail. And there will be sheer anarchy. Once the women folk become notorious the distinction among the different social classes will be wiped off. The dead fathers will not get their offering from their children. Thus these people who have come to fight are out to destroy the family. That will lead to the mixing up of different castes. Family traditions and caste tradition will be in shambles. It will be a throwback to barbarism. It is common knowledge that it will put them in eternal hell.
The society of the Mahabharata is made up of four castes in the priests, warriors, merchants, traders and others. It is hereditary. The son of a priest should be a priest. The son of a warrior should be a warrior. But if all the men of the warrior class are killed their women folk will be in great disarray. They must find their mates in other classes. That will shatter the tradition. The children will not get the necessary environment to grow up to fit in their station and duties. Unless we observe the time honoured traditions how do we pay our homage to our ancestors who toiled hard to build the society as it should be? Once the social ethos is shattered chaos will take over and there will be veritable hell upon earth. No woman seems to take part in the war, moreover it is largely the warrior class that are present in the battle field.
The reflections on war and its aftermath damps the enthusiasm of Arjuna. Alas! They are committing great sins. They are about to kill their own people for the pleasures of kingdom. Arjuna says no to the war. Even if the children of Dhritarastra kill him when he is unarmed it will be better. Sanjaya comments that Arjuna is in deep despondency. He throws aside his bow and arrow and sinks into the aft of the chariot. King Dhritarastra should be happy at this. Because if Arjuna retires from the war the victory of his hundred sons is a foregone conclusion. There is no other hero among the army of the five brothers who can match Bhisma, Drona or Karna.
There is the sudden reversal of events or peripetia. A similar incident takes place in Homer’s Iliad. There Achilles the greatest Greek hero withdrew from war all of a sudden. But the motives are different. Achilles fell out with Agamemnon, the leader of the Greek side over the possession of a wench. No such quarrel takes place among the five brothers. They have a common wife in Draupadi. They never quarrel over her. The five brothers live with her by rotation. If one man can have two or more wives here is a woman who has five husbands. She often reproves her husbands. They often take her advice. They are proud of their common possession. Unlike Achilles Arjuna recoils from war foreboding what havoc it might cause.but what are a hundred million corpses? When one has served a war one hardly knows what a dead man is. Standing at the centre of the battle field Arjuna slowly surveys all the warriors assembled on both sides. There are196830 foot soldiers, 1180980 cavalry, 393660 elephant riders and 393660 charioteers. What man knows ten thousand faces? Although they are numerous in count Arjuna seems to know each one of them. He feels his kinship with all of them. He cannot let them die. At least he can himself refrain from killing them. He will not put up a fight even if they kill him. His own death is preferable to the killing of his fellowmen. This is non- violence no doubt. But this is not the nonviolence that says we cannot beat you through power so we will win you through submission. Still this will mean that there is none to dispute the rights of Duryodhana. It is a throw-back to the dark-age when virtue stealthily roams in the forests and felony remains ever on the throne. Still one might argue that the quality of mercy is never strained. One wonders however that since this is not the first time that Arjuna encounters a war how is it that he recoils from the fear of mass-massacre. Arjuna belongs to the warrior class. He has been brought up and educated as a warrior ought to be. He has ridden into battle no man more as well in the world only to be crowned always with victory. Why should he then shudder at the horrors of the war like women?
Arjuna knows the difference between war and war. Earlier also he fought the hundred brothers and the horde of their followers alone. They came to steal the cows of king Virata who had given shelter to the wandering five brothers. On that occasion the hundred brothers fled the battle field overwhelmed by Arjuna. But this time at Kurukshetra Arjuna knows that no one will fly for life. It will be a do or die battle. The warrior class looks upon the like of it as an opportunity in a life time. Here every insignificant soldier is a hero preferring life-in-death to death-in-life. Hence Arjuna trembles at horrid imaginings of the hecatomb hereafter reeking to the heavens. The red glow of the pyres and the battling yules gyrating in the darkness and thick fetid fumes ascending the indifferent sky. And they are not beyond the bounds of possibility. But what man knows ten thousand faces? How is it that Arjuna can feel for all things both great and small? The answer is simple. Knowledge is a priori and we never in fact come to know that of which we were ignorant. Rather we recall that which we once knew. One who is aware of the whole humanity in one’s greater self is the hero. That is why Arjuna stands out among the whole array of heroes fit to be taught in the divine lore to follow. Arjuna is the hero as a poet who gives a tongue to the dumb dread of the multitude. The dread is the dread of unknown. We do not know what death is. We have to choose between the tradition and the unknown.
But does not tradition ordain the opposites at the same time? To right the wrongs is to command of tradition. When this leads to a mass-massacre upsetting the social ethos, one is confused. One knows not whether to take up arms against a sea of troubles or sojourn into the world from whose bourn no man returns. Shakespeare’s Hamlet wavered from to be or not to be. Arjuna’s earlier self looked forward to the war with hopes of future happiness and kingdom of the righteous. But the pleasures of hopefully travelling from his own camp to the centre of the battlefield are destroyed by his actually arriving there. Now all of a sudden he attains his tribal self and gives a tongue to the forebodings of the collective subconscious which is but drowned in the collective frenzy for war. The greater self in Arjuna is still Hamletic predicament of everyman. He is ready to give up his personal right and wrong for the sake of humanity. His identity with the radical mind is so great that he does not mind his own death for that. Still he has grudge against the hundred brothers. He cannot forget their ill nature. So the conflict lurks in his heart.
Though Krishna can never be blamed for goading the five brothers to war, still it seems from Arjuna’s speech that as if he blames Krishna for the war. How is it that Krishna the God of the universe, who is supposed to maintain it, hurled mankind into the jaws of death? Arjuna’s is the voice of Man challenging the wilful god to a debate. This is clear from repeated references to Krishna by the names Keshava, Govinda, Madhusudna, Janardana and Madhava. The word Govinda for example means the centre of the universe from which the latter manifested. Krishna is therefore Visnu entered into every heart. He maintains the universe. Why should he then destroy man and society? He should instead look after them and protect them from every evil as a mother. The loud laments of Arjuna addressed to Krishna suspends the war for a time. The reasons are not far to seek. The camp of the five brothers is surely stunned. If Arjuna is not there with them they cannot hold out against the hundred brothers who have Bhisma and Drona, Kripa and Karna with them. The hundred brothers are also dumb with expectation. They will not provoke Arjuna to war. On the contrary they will patiently wait and watch. They know that Arjuna has no peer in the war. Krishna can destroy the universe in nanosecond. But since he will not take up arms Arjuna is the greatest warrior in the field, he can destroy the universe in seconds. Once he retires from war it will be all over with the five brothers. There might be no war at all. The hundred brothers will get a walk over. Dhritarastra seems to have been right in his doubts that there may be no war in the holy place of Kurukshestra.
Everyone knows Arjuna. He is made of sterner stuff. It was he who fought with the god of destruction just as Jacob wrestled with an angel in the Bible (Genesis 32, 24-30). Pleased with Arjuna god blessed him with a missile that can destroy the universe instantly. He is no ordinary man, he had the resolve to try his strength against the destroyer of the world. Hence it will not be easy to persuade Arjuna to recant his resolution.
So for hours together a discourse between Arjuna and Krishna goes on in the public place at the centre of the battlefield. The warriors come from the different parts of the globe for a mortal battle, listen to it with great anxiety. Sanjaya relays the dialogue to Dhritarastra on a third level, the readers of the Bhagavad Gita hear it on another level. One does not know what will be its final outcome just as one does not know who will win a battle until and unless the hurly-burly is done.
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