Bakasura and Draupadi Swayamvara

After the Pandavas and Kunti escape from the Wax Palace in Varanavatha, they dress in simple clothes like Brahmins and go to a village called Ekachakra. There, they stay with a potter named Kumha and his family. During their stay, the Pandavas go around the village daily to collect food for themselves since the potter could not afford to feed all of them. The entire village contributed in adding food to the pot they took with them. When they went back to the potter's house, Kunti would split the food into two halves and give one whole half to Bhima and split the rest equally among the rest of them. 

     The Pandavas and Kunti lived like this for sometime. One day, after the Pandavas  left home to bring food, Kunti heard weeping coming from the other room. She listened in and heard distinct conversation. The members of the family were arguing amongst themselves about who would go to the demon's lair with the food. Hearing this, she was very confused and asked them what the problem was.They shared their dilemma and told her about the atrocities caused by a demon named Bakasura.

    Bakasura was a giant demon who had captured their village and ousted their ruler. He would go about Ekachakra, indiscriminately destroying or eating everything in his path. Frustrated with all the destruction to the lives and property, the villagers made a deal with him stating that they would bring him a cart full of food from the entire village, two bullocks and a man and in return he would have to stop the killing and destruction. Every week, it was a different family's turn to send one member of their family and this week it was Kumha's turn to go. Kunti wished to help the potter in exchange for his hospitality and offered to send Bhima. She convinces them that Bhima would kill the demon, since he was very strong.

     So, the villagers send Bhima with two bullocks and a cart of food. As he reaches the demon’s cave, he feels hungry and starts to eat all the food. Bakasura gets impatient and comes out of the cave and sees Bhima finishing all the food meant for him. Enraged, Bakasura uproots a nearby tree and attacks Bhima with it. Bhima, feeling strengthened, fights back fiercely and ultimately destroys him. He then drags the demon’s body to the outskirts of the village. The villagers delighted with Bakasura’s death applaud Bhima’s strength and there is much rejoicing in the village.

 

     After a while, the village hears of Draupadi's Swayamvara. Draupadi is the princess of Panchala and is also known as Panchali. The Pandavas go dressed as Brahmins. King Drupada arranges a contest for his daughter’s suitors and the winning prince will be married to Draupadi. The challenge is for them to shoot a fish in the eye that is revolving above them five times in succession, using only reflection in a pool of water underneath. Some tried and could not pick up the bow, some could not even pull the string. When Karna tries, he misses the target very narrowly. Finally, Arjuna accomplishes the task of shooting the target five times in a row. Draupadi adorns him with the garland and chooses him as her husband. 

     When return to Ekachakra, the Pandavas tell Kunti to come outside and see what they brought for her. Not knowing what it is, Kunti replies saying that whatever it is, to share it equally amongst themselves. Being the obedient sons of Kunti, the Pandavas agree and thus, Draupadi is married to all five of the Pandavas.

 

 

Written by Thejasvi Venkatachalam

 

Escape from the Wax Palace

by Bharati Ganesh and Hruday Battini

In the latest class, we picked up from when Pandu died and stopped with the Pandavas escaping into the forest from the burning wax palace.

After Pandu's death, Kunti returned to Hastinapura with all the five Pandavas at the invitation of Dhritarashtra, Bhishma and other Kuru elders. The Pandavas and Kauravas grew up together and were taught by Kripacharya all the important skills princes needed to know. Bhima, physically the strongest among all the princes, was also a big prankster. He would chase the Kauravas up the trees and then would shake the trees until they fell down like fruits.  He would holds them down under water until they gasped and choked. These childish pranks stirred feelings of hatred in the hearts of the Kauravas, especially in Duryodhana. So they fed him poisoned food, tied him up and toss him into the river Ganges. When snakes bit Bhīma, their venom counteracted the poison making Bhīma even stronger.  When Bhīma came home much to the relief of his mother and his brothers, Yudhishthira advised him to keep quiet to avoid further angering Duryodhana.  Duryodhana displayed plenty of krodha (anger), mada (arrogance), and matsarya (jealousy) because of his kama (desire) to rule Hastinapura.

Later, we learned the story of Drona who was the son of sage Bharadwaja. When he went to study at a hermitage, he and Drupada, the crown prince of Panchala, became such good friends that the young prince even promised Drona on quite a few occasions that he would give him half his kingdom! Later on they went separate ways; Drupada became the King of Panchala while Drona married Kripi, the sister of Kripacharya, and had a child. Later on when times got tougher for Drona, he decided to go to Drupada for help. But when he met Drupada, he soon found that Drupada was not the kind and loyal friend that he had known before. Consumed with power and arrogance, Drupada not only scornfully rejected Drona’s plea for help, but also insulted Drona by saying "How can a King be friends with a pauper." Drona, deeply hurt, left the palace vowing that he would teach Drupada a lesson later.

One day, when the young Pandavas and Kauravas were playing on the outskirts of Hastinapura, their ball fell into a well and they did not know how to get it out. Drona, who was passing by, saw their predicament and mocked them for not being able to get the ball out. Chanting a special mantra, Drona shot several  blades of grass at the ball creating a chain of grass blades, and then retrieved the ball to the amazement of the princes. They ran to Bhishma, who realized that the man was none other than Drona. Bhishma also thought that the princes needed more advanced training and appointed Drona as their guru. With Drona's guidance, all the princes progressed rapidly, especially Arjuna, who was able to shoot arrows in the dark and could use either hand to control his bow.

When the princes completed their training, Drona asked them to capture King Drupada alive as his guru dakshina. Kauravas tried first but were repelled by Drupada and his strong army.  However Pandavas, with Arjuna’s prowess, succeeded and brought Drupada back to Drona who let him free after teaching him a lesson in the proper treatment of friends.  Drupada filled with anger towards Drona and admiration for Arjuna, did penance to the gods and was blessed with a son (Dhrishtadyumna) who would slay Drona and a daughter (Draupadi) who would wed Arjuna.

Proud of the princes' achievements, Drona decided to hold a big event to showcase their skills. All the Kuru elders and the citizens of Hastinapura came to see this martial arts exhibition. Just as when Arjuna finished his scintillating performance, a young man with golden earrings and armor entered the arena challenging Arjuna. Kunti recognized him as her son Karna and fainted. Duryodhana offered his unconditional friendship to Karna upon seeing his skills. Just when Arjuna and Karna were about to fight, Karna's lineage was questioned, so Duryodhana crowned him as the King of Anga. An elderly man entered the arena and came up to Karna, glowing with pride. Karna immediately touched his feet and it was then realized that this man, a charioteer, was Karna's father.  Bhima then took the opportunity to mock Karna, but Duryodhana came to Karna's rescue and took him away on his chariot as the event came to a close with the sunset.

Duryodhana’s jealousy grew more and more as the people of Hastinapura began to admire Pandavas openly expressing their wish that Yudhishthira should become the next king. Duryodhana decided to get rid of the Pandavas once and for all by having a master architect called Purochana build a palace from flammable materials in the city of Varanavata where there was going to be a big festival for Lord Shiva. He disguised his true intentions when suggesting this to his father who ended up agreeing. Vidura, who had caught wind of Duryodhana's evil plan, not only forewarned the Pandavas but also sent a miner to secretly dig a tunnel under the palace in order to allow them to escape in a time of need. About a year laer,one night, Bhīma decided that it was time for all of them to leave. He set fire to the palace and the Pandavas quickly escaped through the tunnel into the woods. Sadly, the servants and Purochana perished in the flames. The townspeople tried but failed to extinguish the flames. As the charred bodies were unrecognizable, it was assumed that the Pandavas were dead. While the wicked Duryodhana was full of joy for his plan had seemingly worked, all the Kuru elders were distraught and were forced to perform last rites for the Pandavas..

Birth of Pandavas and Kauravas

by Manasi Gulati & Rishabh Midha (Section 1)

In the latest Balavihar class, we learned about the Law of Karma (action) which can be summarized as follows.

1)     Everyone performs actions all the time.
2)     Every action has a result/consequence (karma-phala).
3)     The doer gains punya (benefit) or papa (sin) due to his/her actions.
                                                                                              
The Law of Karma teaches us to take control of our actions and always do the right thing with the right goal in mind.

We continued with the story King Shantanu’s children. Vichitraveerya died before he could have kids. So Satyavati called her son Veda Vyasa to bless Ambika and Ambalika to have children. Ambika disgraced the sage by closing her eyes, so in punishment, her child was born blind. Ambalika also disrespected the king, and in return, her son was born an albino. Satyavati, being very concerned about the kingdom now, begged the sage to give Ambika one more chance. However Ambika, fearful of the sage, sent her maid who served the sage with great devotion.  As a result, the maid then has a son named Vidura.  The story of these three births clearly illustrates the Law of Karma.

Bhishma was in a big dilemma. Should he make the elder but blind Dhritarashtra as the king or the younger Pandu who was a very skilled warrior? Bhishma eventually crowned Pandu as the king.  Later on when Dhritarashtra was ready to be wed, Bhishma found a bride named Gandhari, the eldest princessof the Kingdom of Gandhara. Gandhari took a vow that she would not have the pleasures her husband could not, and so she blindfolded herself forever.  Pandu first married princess Kunti in a Swayamvara, and later married Madri, the princess of Madra kingdom.

We also learned about the story of Kunti before her marriage to Pandu. King Sura, Krishna’s grandfather, gave his daughter Pritha to his cousin Kuntibhoja who had no children of his own.  As a result Pritha came to be known as Kunti. When she was 16 years old, sage Durvasa came to the palace and asked Kuntibhoja for assistance in doing a very special pooja for one full year. Kuntibhoja immediately appointed Kunti who served the short-tempered sage with patience and devotion.  Pleased with her service, sage Durvasa taught her a special mantra that would get her a child from any God that she invokes. Out of curiosity Kunti decided to test the mantra and invoked Lord Surya who appeared before her to grant her a baby. Shocked by this unexpected turn of events, Kunti begged Surya to go back as she did not want to have a child before marriage and bring shame to her father and his kingdom.  Lord Surya, bound by the mantra, granted Kunti a beautiful baby boy with golden armor and ear-rings.  With great sorrow, Kunti simply put him in a basket and let it float down the river. Fortunately the basket was found by a charioteer and his wife who named him Karna.

One day, Pandu went hunting and killed a deer which turned out to the wife of a sage who also took the form of deer to mate with his wife. The sage cursed Pandu that if he ever mated with one of his wives, he would die. Depressed, Pandu went to the forest with his wives and started to live like an ascetic. After several years, when Pandu was desperately longing for a son, Kunti told him about the mantra she received from Sage Durvasa. With Pandu’s permission, Kunti invoked Lord Yama (Dharma,) to have a baby boy named Yudhishthira.  The news reached Hastinapura causing jealousy in Gandhari who was also pregnant.  As per Pandu’s advice, Kunti invoked Lord Vayu (Wind,) to have a second son Bhima. Out of impatience Gandhari aborted her fetus which shattered into 101 pieces. Under Sage Vyasa’s instructions, the pieces were put in separate jars and cared for. Eventually they became the Kauravas: 100 sons and 1 daughter. A year later Kunti called upon Lord Indra and had Arjuna as her third child. At Pandu’s request, Kunti taught the mantra to Madri who invoked Ashwini Devas (the celestial physicians) and gave birth to twins: Nakula and Sahadeva. That was how the Pandavas and Kauravas came to be born.

      
In one beautiful spring season, Pandu and Madri succumbed to the physical desires resulting in Pandu’s death.  Repenting for her actions, Madri also ended her life by jumping into the funeral pyre.  Kunti returned to Hastinapura to bring up Pandavas under the care of Kuru elders such as Bhishma, Dhritarashtra and Vidura.

Kunti, her Boon, and the Birth of the Pandavas

by Deeksha Holla

Today in class we had an expanded discussion on Kunti. She was originally Sura's daughter, with the name of Pritha, but his cousin, Kuntibhoja, was so depressed with the absence of children that Sura decided to let his cousin adopt his daughter. Pritha then started to be called by Kunti. Kunti was sent to take care of Sage Durvasa, and he was so pleased by her efforts that he granted her a boon that would allow her to have a son through the invocation of any deity. Out of curiosity, Kunti gave the boon a try and did, in fact, receive a child from the sun god, Surya. Not wanting to give a bad impression to the people around her, she sends the baby, Karna, off in a basket and floats it down the river. Karna is eventually found by a charioteer and his wife, and is immediately taken care of. As time goes on and Karna is forgotten, Kunti marries Pandu. The second wife of Pandu is Madri. Both wives are aware of Pandu's curse of not being able to touch either of his wives or have kids. Since they need an heir to the throne, however, Kunti decides to use her boon, and the five Pandavas are born. Yudishthira, from Lord Dharma, Bhima, from Lord Vayu, and Arjuna, from Lord Indra are Kunti's sons. Nakula and Sahadeva are sons of the Ashwini-Kumaras and Madri, Pandu's second wife.

They live peacefully in the forest for years together. One spring, however, Pandu forgets about his curse. He touches his wife, and as expected, he dies. Madri, feeling guilty and responsible for Pandu’s death jumps into the pyre at Pandu's funeral. Now, Nakula and Sahadeva are both orphans. 

 

Facts about the Five Pandavas:

1)      Arjuna represents the Jiva (individual), and his weapon is the bow and arrow.

2)      Yudishthira represents dharma (doing good) and moksha (enlightenment), and he prefers using a spear as his weapon.  

3)      Bhima represents artha (wealth, such as goods, material possessions, knowledge, and money), and his weapon of choice is the gada (mace).

4)      Nakula and Sahadeva represent kama (love/desire), and they use the sword as their weapon.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Hari Om.

Next Balavihar is on Sunday October 13th. 

Please read Chapters 8, and 9 of Mahabharata by C. Rajagoplachari.  Copies of this book

are available at the Balavihar bookstall.  Please purchase one if you do not already have one.

 

Please check your emails for details of our planned Field Trip to the Washington Crossing State Park on Sunday October 20th

-   8^th Grade Teachers

Amba’s plight

by Akshay Mohan & Aneri Parkih

In today's class we learned about the fierce determination and perseverance shown by Amba despite all the trials and tribulations she faced.   Her troubles start when Bhishma takes the three princesses of Kashi Raja by force from their Swayamvara, not knowing that Amba, one of the daughters, has already decided to marry King Salva.  As soon as Bhishma comes to know about Amba’s secret desire, he sends her to Salva. However only disappointment awaits Amba; King Salva harshly rejects her as his pride has been deeply wounded by Bhishma. Full of desperation, she goes back to Bhishma who tries to convince Vichitravirya to marry her. Unfortunately for Amba, Vichitraveerya also rejects her as he does not want to take a woman that is in love with another man.

Amba spends the next six years in grief and develops bitter hatred towards Bhishma with a firm conviction that he is the cause of all her misfortunes. Seeking revenge, she then goes into a period of meditation and prays to Lord Subramanya. Pleased with her devotion, he gives her a garland of ever-fresh lotuses and tells her that the wearer of the garland will slay Bhishma. Amba seeks help from several warriors who all decline her request in fear of Bhishma. Amba looks for any king or kshatriya to wear the garland so that he could kill Bhishma.  No one accepts the garland for no one dares to challenge Bhishma in a combat.

Amba finally goes to Panchala, the 2nd strongest kingdom in India, and asks King Drupada to fight Bhishma. When King Drupada too declines her plea, Amba hangs the garland on the palace gates and leaves in total despair. At the suggestion of some ascetics, she asks Sage Parasurama to seek revenge on Bhishma. Sage Parasurama also loses to the mighty Bhishma in a prolonged combat. Amba, full of rage and hatred, goes to the Himalayas and prays to Lord Shiva who grants her a boon that in her next birth she would be the cause of Bhishma’s death. Impatient for revenge, Amba ends her life by throwing herself into the fire.

In Amba's next birth, she is born as King Drupada's daughter. One day when Amba goes outside and sees the lotus garland hanging on the palace gates, she boldly wears it around her neck. Her father does not want to incur the wrath of Bhishma. So he banishes Amba from his kingdom. Amba then goes into the forest, and through severe austerities converts herself into a man named Sikhandin.  

Back in Hastinapura, Vichitraveerya develops a fatal illness and dies before having any children, leaving the kingdom with no heir. Faced with this difficult situation, Satyavati resorts to a unique method of continuing the lineage. When a kingdom is left without an heir, sons could be obtained from a Mahapurusha. She remembers that she had a first child named Vyasa with Sage Parasara when she was still a maiden. She calls upon him and seeks his help to continue the lineage of Hastinapura.

Satyavati convinces the princesses to go into the sage’s chambers to serve him with devotion. When Ambika sees Sage Vyasa with his white flowing beard and ascetic attire, she is so intimidated by his presence that she closes her eyes. This causes the son born to her, Dhritarashtra to be blind. When Ambika sees Sage Vyasa she is so scared that she turns pale. Thus, her child Pandu turns out to be pale. When Satyavati asks Ambika to go into Sage Vyasa’s chambers, she secretly sends her maid instead. The maid remains calm and serves Sage Vyasa with great devotion. So her child Vidura becomes the wisest and noblest of all the sons.

Bhishma, the noblest of the Kuru clan

by Janani Anbazhagan & Suraj Manikandan (Section 1)

In the last Balavihar class, we learned about the Shat Ripus (6 enemies):

·         Kaama (lust, desire)
·         Krodha (anger, rage)
·         Moha (delusion)
·         Lobha (greed)
·         Mada (pride, arrogance)
·         Maatsarya (jealousy)

With the story of King Shantanu, we were taught how kaama could bring about one’s downfall.  His intense desire for Ganga blinded him to agree to her conditions which led to the loss of seven of their children.  When Ganga took their eighth baby away, Shantanu became an ascetic but continued to rule the kingdom.  Twelve years later, when King Shantanu was taking a stroll along the banks of the Ganga River one day, he noticed that its level was lower than usual.  As he walked upstream, he noticed a handsome boy building a dam across the river by shooting arrows. Ganga appeared and told him that the boy was none other than Devavrata, their eighth son. King Shantanu, who was much rejoiced to have been reunited with his son, made him the Crown Prince of Hastinapura.

Some years later, King Shantanu met Satyavati, the beautiful daughter of Matsya Raja (King of fishermen). Shantanu’s desire immediately took over and he sought Matsya Raja’s permission to marry his daughter.  Matsya Raja would give his consent only if Satyavati’s son, instead of Devavrata, would become the heir to the throne.  Not willing to agree to this condition, Shantanu went into deep depression due to his continued desire for Satyavati.  After making some inquiries, Devavrata realized what happened and went to meet Matsya Raja.  There he vowed that he would not seek the throne so that Satyavati’s son could become the next emperor of Hastinapura. But Matsya Raja wanted further assurance that Devavrata’s children would not stake a claim for the throne.  Devavrata immediately swore that he would not only never marry but also would forever serve the descendents of Shantanu and Satyavati. The gods, who were awestruck by his selfless devotion to his father, showered him with flowers, and called him ‘Bhishma’, i.e. one who has taken very strict and stringent vows.  Pleased with his son’s intense love and devotion, King Shantanu gave him the boon that Bhishma could select the time of his own death.

With the above story, we learned how King Shantanu’s kaama (lust) and Matsya Raja’s lobha (greed) led to grief and injustice, and at the same time the great parental devotion shown by Devavrata brought him praise and boons.

Shantanu married Satyavati, and they had two sons: Chitrangada and Vichitravirya. When Shantanu died soon after, young Chitrangada was crowned as the king, but Bhishma actually took care of the kingdom as the King’s advisor. Chitrangada, with too much mada (arrogance), challenged a gandharva and was killed in the duel.  Vichitravirya, even though still a boy, was crowned as the new king.

In class we also performed a group activity called the ‘Cause and Effect’ in which each group was given an episode from the list below and the group had to present the cause, effect, and lessons learned for that episode.

1. King Shantanu agreed to Ganga’s conditions: (i) he should not ask who she is or where she came from, (ii) he should not object to any of her actions, and (iii) he should not be angry or unkind to her.
2. To King Shantanu’s request for marrying Satyavati, Matsya Raja demanded that his grandchild should become the heir to Hastinapura.
3. Devavrata vowed that he would give up his claim to the throne and remain unmarried for the rest of his life.
4. King Chitrangada challenged a Gandharva for a duel. 

Picture This

            Based off of the stories of the beginnings of the Mahabharata, our class launched into a discussion about the Karma Theory - of how our actions in the present bring about results in the future. Good actions (aka punya) bring about good results while bad actions (paapa) bring out bad results. But like a credit account, we rack up charges in both fields that must be exhausted through more results... in more lives. So the cycle of birth and death continues. In order to escape from this, one must learn to live without attachment to the results of actions - that is to do the action for the sake of the action and not for the sake of the result that may arise afterward. Example: To study so as to learn material, not merely to get a good grade.

            The first step towards being free from all attachments is to imbue one’s life with positive actions – and to do that, we first need positive goals. Check out some of our students’ aspirations…

Section 2
September 29, 2013

Vyasa and Ganesha

In today’s Balavihar, we learned about the origins of Mahabharata which consists of over 100,000 verses. Sage Vyasa, who conceived and composed this great epic, needed a scribe to write all the verses. So he prayed to Lord Brahma who recommended Lord Ganesha as the scribe. Ganesha appeared before Vyasa and said that he would write Mahabharata on the condition that Vyasa should continuously dictate without a break.  Vyasa agreed to this but made a condition that Ganesha had to understand each verse before writing it down. Vyasa made this condition so that he could gain time to compose while Lord Ganesha pondered over the meaning of an occasionally difficult verse.  It is believed that there are 8,800 such difficult verses. This was how Mahabharata which is also known as the fifth Veda came into existence.  We also listened to the story of the King Shantanu who married Ganga after agreeing to her conditions. The eight Vasus were born as their sons due to Sage Vasishta’s curse, but Ganga threw seven of her babies in the river to redeem them of their sins.  We will learn more about Shantanu, Ganga, and the eighth baby in the next class.

Uday Samavenkata (Section 1)

September 22, 2013