Mahabharata – 99

by 

Sankar Mukherjee

&

Dr. Ramesh Chandra Mukhopadhyaya
                                            Aadivamsavatarana Parva

                 

Janamejaya said “ How did our ancestor Yayati who was the tenth generation from Brahma get married with the daughter of the great Sukracharya”?

Vaisampyana replied --- Oh the king! Yayati was a handsome & fair youth. In prowess he was like Indra. And in the past, for this reason both Shukracharaya, the Brahamin teacher & Vrishaparva the demon king selected him as their son in law.

Vaisampayana continued-- In the past, there were frequent encounters between the gods  & the asuras for the supremacy  of the three worlds. Here it should be noted that the gods & asuras were step brothers.The gods, then, from the desire of getting victory, put up Vrihaspati as their priest & couensellor, while their opponents,the demons  put up Sukracharya as their priest philosopher & guide for the same purpose.And there was always rivalry between those two Brahmanas.Now these gods & demons were ever fighting with one another.Peace if any between them was armed neutrality. And curiously enough the demons had an advantage  over the gods.True that the gods would not die in any battle. Because they had tasted nector presently after the churning of the ocean.But except Rahu & Ketu all the other demons were deprived of their share in the nector lifted from the ocean.But kill as many demons as you will.The friend, guide & philosopher of the demons the great Sukracharya can bring back the fleeting breath & revive the dead.The secret of reviving the dead was not known to the gods.Even their preceptor,the omnicient Brihaspati did not know how to awaken the dead in their graves & call back them to life.So the gods were in a fix.When they kill the demon it would come back to life.So the army of the demons remain ever the same.The strength of the demons did never wane.So the gods conspired among themselves & went to the son of Vrihaspati.His name was Kacha.The gods requested Kacha to go to Sukrcharya & become his disciple.He must learn from Sukracharya the mantra of reviving the dead.His father Vrihaspati also gave consent to this proposal.So at the request of the gods & being blessed by the gods Kacha went to Sukracharya of the enemy camp to embrace the discipleship of Sukracharya. But Sukracharya could read the mind of others. Why should he accept Kacha as a disciple? If the gods could possess the secret knowledge of Sukracharya they could outwit the demons perhaps.Besides there were followers of gods.They were not immortals unlike the gods.They were slain by the demons in the battles.If he gods could get at the secret knowledge of Sukracharya they could also revive their mortal folowers. But mind you Sukracharya is very fond of his daughter Devyani so Kacha must win her heart as well  to get at the secret knowledge of Sukracharya.