PDE Mahabharata: Duryodhana's Jealousy

Public Domain Edition: Mahabharata

Reading Guide. With each Pandava success, Duryodhana becomes more jealous, until finally he decides that he will get rid of the Pandavas and Kunti once and for all.

Image. In this illustration from the Mahabharata, you can see that the artist has depicted the blindness of King Dhritarashtra by depicting him with his eyes closed.

Source. The Indian Heroes by C. A. Kincaid (1921). [500 words]. Kincaid's brief version of the Mahabharata might be something you want to read later in the semester; I've written a detailed reading guide here: Kincaid - Mahabharata.

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Revenge | 20. Duryodhana's Jealousy | House of Fire

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The prowess shown by the sons of King Pandu, and above all Prince Arjuna's capture of King Drupada, made the hatred of Prince Duryodhana burn still more hotly. Now King Dhritarashtra had named as his successor on the throne of the Bharatas his nephew Prince Yudhishthira because he was older than any of the King’s own sons. And this, too, added fuel to the flames of Prince Duryodhana's hatred.

He went to his blind father and filled his ears with lying tales about the pride of the Pandavas (for so men called the sons of King Pandu) and hinted falsely that they aspired to depose King Dhritarashtra and take from him the kingdom. The King believed his son, and repented bitterly that he had named as his heir his nephew, and not Prince Duryodhana.

Seeing that the King’s mind was turned against Prince Yudhishthira, the evil Prince Duryodhana unfolded to him a plan. "Let the King," said the cruel Prince, "build a lovely palace of lac at Varanavata. Let it be filled with only wooden furniture, and let the furniture and walls be soaked in oil, so that they may readily burn. Let the King induce by some means or other the five Pandavas and their mother to visit Varanavata and live in the palace. Then, if the King approves, I shall see to it that the palace takes fire, and that my cousins and Queen Kunti perish in the flames." King Dhritarashtra, in a weak and wicked moment, consented. And Prince Duryodhana got workmen to build at Varanavata a wooden palace all of lac, and filled it full of wooden articles all soaked in oil.

When the palace was ready, Prince Duryodhana returned to Hastinapura. There he praised Varanavata and its beautiful palace, and told in such glowing words of the festival held there in honor of Shiva, the god of gods, that a desire to go thither seized Queen Kunti and her sons. "Give us leave, O King," they cried, "to go to Varanavata and see its palace and Shiva’s festival. For we shall have no peace until our eyes have rested on Varanavata and its wonders."

The King joyfully answered, "Assuredly, my sister, thou hast leave to go there with thy sons. And with thee I will send a guard such as befits thy royal rank." The King then ordered Prince Duryodhana to summon a guard. But over it the evil Prince placed a wicked captain, Purochana by name. And to him Prince Duryodhana told his plan. And the wicked Purochana promised that, when the Pandavas and their mother slept, he would set on fire the lac palace and see to it that they perished in the flames.

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Revenge | Duryodhana's Jealousy | House of Fire

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Dhritarashtra and Duryodhana

PDE Mahabharata: The House of Fire

Public Domain Edition: Mahabharata

Reading Guide. Vidura will be an important character to keep your eye on in this episode. Remember: he is the brother of Pandu and Dhritarashtra, and wiser than the two of them — but because his mother was a servant, he was never considered eligible to be king. He is a member of Dhritarasthra's court, but he is loyal to the sons of Pandu, as you will see.

Image. In the illustration, you can see the might Bhima carrying his mother Kunti and the twins as they make their escape.

Source. The Indian Heroes by C. A. Kincaid (1921). [700 words]

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Jealousy | 21. The House of Fire | Hidimba

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But Prince Vidura came to guess the cruel plot of Prince Duryodhana. Now Prince Vidura was half-brother of King Pandu and of King Dhritarashtra. But his mother was a slave girl, so he could never reign over Hastinapura. Yet although he was lowly born, he was a just and wise Prince, and he let fall before Prince Yudhishthira words dark, yet full of meaning to him who could interpret them. And Prince Yudhishthira, who was thoughtful beyond his years, knew from Vidura’s words that he and his brothers and his mother were in grave danger.

When the Pandavas and Queen Kunti reached the palace at Varanavata, they marveled greatly at its beauties. But Prince Yudhishthira saw that though the furniture and the tapestries were costly and beautiful, yet they were all soaked in oil. And he saw that the palace and roof were built only of wood or such other material as would easily burn.

He called to him his mother and his brothers, and repeated to them the dark words of Prince Vidura and said, "I fear, my mother, that we are in grave danger and the King or Prince Duryodhana seeks to burn us alive. Else why should the furniture and tapestries be soaked in oil and the palace walls and roof be made only of wood?"

Now the wise and good Prince Vidura had ever kept his nephews the Pandavas in his mind from the time when they had left Hastinapura. And he thought that if they could dig from the floor of the lac palace an underground passage which led into the forest outside, they might yet free themselves from the toils of the evil Prince Duryodhana. So Prince Vidura sent to Varanavata a skillful miner. He eluded the guards outside and made his way safely into the lac palace. There he told the Pandavas from whom he had come, and with their leave he dug an underground passage, which led from the floor of the palace into the woods outside. By night he worked, and by day he hid his work by covering the mouth of the passage with wooden planks, so that Purochana, the wicked captain, should not guess that the Pandavas were planning flight.

Now Purochana, the wicked captain, was awaiting a moonless night in which to set fire to the palace. And by means of this delay the miner sent by the good and wise Prince Vidura finished the digging of the passage. The very night that the miner ended his work, the Pandavas lifted the planks from the mouth of the passage and, descending into it, they and Queen Kunti walked until they reached the other mouth that opened into the forest. There Prince Bhima bade his mother and brothers wait while he returned to the palace and had his revenge on the wicked captain, Purochana. They agreed, and Prince Bhima crawled back to the guardhouse in which Purochana lived. Unseen by any of the guard, Prince Bhima set fire to the guard-house, and in its flames the guard and Purochana, their wicked captain, perished.

But as the guard-house burned, a violent wind arose and blew the flames towards the lac palace, and it also took fire. Now it so happened that on that same night a low-caste woman and her five sons had come to the lac palace to beg food. The Pandavas gave them food, meat, and wine, and they ate and drank until they lay down in a drunken stupor. As they lay asleep, the palace took fire and, all unconscious, they perished in the flames.

When next morning the people of Varanavata awoke and went outside the city, they saw the smoking ashes of the lac palace and found within the charred remains of the low-caste woman and her sons. Seeing them, they thought that they were those of Queen Kunti and the Pandavas. And the men of Varanavata sorrowed greatly, for they loved the noble Princes and their stately mother. The news spread to Hastinapura also that Queen Kunti and her sons had died in the burning palace, and there, too, the citizens grieved for them sorely. When the evil Prince Duryodhana heard the news he told it to King Dhritarashtra, and they both thought that their cruel plot had succeeded. So they sorrowed not at all, but rejoiced exceedingly.

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Jealousy | The House of Fire | Hidimba

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Kunti and the Pandavas escape.

PDE Mahabharata: Bhima and Baka

Public Domain Edition: Mahabharata

Reading Guide. After defeating the rakshasa Hidimba, Bhima will now do battle with an asura: Baka, also known as Bakasura.

Image. Bhima's preferred weapon is the mace, but as you can see in the illustration below, he's happy to use a tree trunk too.

Source. The Indian Heroes by C. A. Kincaid (1921). [900 words]

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Hidimbi | 24. Bhima and Baka | Draupadi

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Now Queen Kunti and her sons, after leaving Prince Bhima, had gone due southwards until they came to a town called Ekachakra, where, still dressed as brahmin beggars, they asked for and were given a lodging in the house of a brahmin who lived there. By day the brothers begged flour, and in the evening Queen Kunti baked it for them with her own hands.

One day, when the sons had gone out to beg and she sat alone in the house, she heard the brahmin and his family talking to each other, as if in great sorrow.

"I shall go," said the brahmin, "for I cannot keep my life in exchange for either thine, my wife, or that of any of our children."

"Nay, my husband," sobbed the brahmin's wife, "I must go in thy stead. For if thou diest, who will give bread to our little ones?"

"My parents," interposed their daughter, "you gave me life. It is for me now to repay your gift. You stay at home, and I shall go with the cart of food."

The Queen rose and entered the room where the brahmin and his wife and his daughter were. "My host," said the Queen, "what is thy trouble?"

"Our trouble is very great," replied the brahmin. "The town Ekachakra, in which we live, has been conquered by a fierce and a cruel chief called Baka. In other respects he rules us well and guards us from our enemies. But every week we have to send him as food a cartful of rice, two buffaloes, and a man or woman from one of the townspeople's houses. To each house the turn comes in due order. And if the house to which the turn has come fails to send him his weekly tribute, he enters the town with his guards and slays and devours every man and woman in the house which has left his tribute unpaid. Today the turn has come to our house, and we are trying to decide who among us shall go as Baka's blood-tax with the cart of food."

The Queen thought for a moment, and then said with a sigh, "If my son Bhima were but here, he would soon rid your town of this pest. But he is far away, wandering through the woods with the maid Hidimbi."

As the words left her lips, a shadow fell across the floor and, looking up, she saw that her son Bhima stood in the doorway. With a joyful cry she rose and said, "Thou art welcome, my son," and she told him the grief of the brahmin and the cruel tax laid on the town by the fierce chief Baka.

"Have no fear, my mother," said Bhima; "I shall gladly go with the rice cart and try a fall with this pest of Ekachakra."

That evening the brahmin filled a cart with rice and, yoking to it two buffaloes, he made it over to Bhima. The Prince took the cart and drove it to a spot in the woods near which, as he had learned, the fierce chief, Baka, had his dwelling. There Bhima called Baka by name and sat down quietly and began to eat the rice from the cart.

When Baka heard his name called, he left his dwelling and came to where Bhima sat eating. Enraged at the sight, Baka tore down the bough of a tree and, rushing at Bhima, aimed with it a fearful blow at the Prince's head. Bhima skilfully caught the branch in his left hand, and with his right gripped Baka round the waist. Baka, with the force of his own blow, fell forwards with Bhima above him. Bhima placed his knee on Baka's back and said to him, "It is time that the forest was rid of a pest like thee."

Then, seizing Baka's neck with one hand and his waistcloth with the other and pressing downwards with his knee, Bhima broke in two the backbone of the cruel chief. After Baka had died, Bhima dragged his body to one of the gates of the town, so that all the citizens of Ekachakra might know that they need pay the blood-tax no more to their wicked lord. When next morning the citizens saw his dead body lying by the gate, they clapped their hands, shouting and dancing with joy, and prostrated themselves in hundreds at Bhima's feet, because he had freed them from the monster Baka.

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Hidimbi | Bhima and Baka | Draupadi

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Bhima fights Baka.

PDE Mahabharata: Arjuna and the Apsaras

Public Domain Edition: Mahabharata

Reading Guide. This wonderful episode of Arjuna's exile will probably remind you of a fairy. It comes from Kincaid's retelling of the Mahabharata which you might want to consider as a reading option later on; as you can see, he has a lively and vivid storytelling style.

Image. The image shows an Indian crocodile. In his book, Kincaid refers to the creatures as "alligators," but technically speaking the Indian animals are crocodiles, not alligators.

Source. From The Indian Heroes by C. A. Kincaid (1921). [700 words]

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Ulupi | 31. Arjuna and the Apsaras | Chitra

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Then leaving the Ganges, Prince Arjuna wandered on until he came to the sea shore. And at a spot where a river flowed into the sea, a band of holy men had made their dwelling place.

When Prince Arjuna saw them, he begged for their blessing. And when they had blessed him, he told them that he wished to bathe in the waters of the river. But they tried to dissuade him. "The river," they said "is haunted by a man-eating alligator. And if thou bathest, it will surely devour thee as it has devoured others."

But Prince Arjuna in the pride of his youth and courage laughed at their warning and, stripping off his garments, he plunged into the cool waters of the river. He had hardly swum into midstream when he felt an alligator's jaws seize him by the leg. And strive as he might he could not free himself. His strength was ebbing fast from pain and from his efforts to swim to shore, and he had all but given himself up to death.

Suddenly the words of the nymph Ulupi flashed across his brain: "Although thou wilt not stay with me, I yet will give thee this as my parting present that thou shalt never be conquered by any creature that lives in the waters."

Then his courage revived, and with all his remaining strength he swam for the shore, dragging the alligator after him. When he reached a spot where he could stand, he drove his thumbs into the alligator's eyes until the monster loosed his hold. Then, seizing it round the body with his arms, he flung it ashore as if it had been a log that had floated down with the current.

And lo! Directly the alligator fell on the dry ground, it changed its shape and became a lovely girl who smiled at Prince Arjuna from the bank. Prince Arjuna could scarcely gather voice to ask the maid the cause of what had happened. But she replied with a laugh that made her look even fairer than before.

"Prince Arjuna, I once was a water nymph and beautiful as thou seest me now. And there were four other nymphs my friends who were as fair as I, and wherever I went they never failed to go also. One day we came to the hermitage of a holy man who had given up the world and its beauties and its temptations, and lived all by himself worshipping the gods in a lonely forest glade.

"When we saw him, we thought we would make him break his vows. And we smiled at him and embraced him and tried in a hundred ways to make his thoughts turn from the gods to us. But we tried in vain. After warning us several times, he at last lost all patience. Praying to the gods he called down on us a terrible curse. And the curse was that we should become alligators and remain so for a hundred years.

"We threw ourselves at his feet and begged him to forgive us. But he would not wholly take back his curse, and he said, 'O nymphs, I have cursed you, and alligators you will become. But you may regain your forms once more when a hero by name of Arjuna the Pandava comes and drags you to land.' And thus as thou didst overcome me, O Prince, and didst drag me to shore, I know that thou art Prince Arjuna the Pandava. And I have yet another boon to ask of thee, which is to come with me where my sister nymphs dwell in various spots as alligators so that thou mayst drag them ashore also, and they may regain their forms as water nymphs."

Prince Arjuna readily agreed and, going with the water nymph to the various spots where her sister nymphs had as alligators hidden themselves, he plunged boldly into the waters and dragged them one after another ashore. One after another they became beautiful smiling girls. And when all five had regained their former shapes, they embraced Prince Arjuna and thanked him each in turn. And then with smiles on their rosy lips they dived beneath the water of the river near them, and Prince Arjuna's eyes never rested on them again.

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Ulupi | Arjuna and the Apsaras | Chitrangada

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Indian crocodile

PDE Mahabharata: Bhima and Kichaka

Public Domain Edition: Mahabharata

Reading Guide. Remember when Draupadi was dragged into the assembly hall, and none of her husbands could intervene to help her? It will happen again now: the brother of Queen Sudeshna, Prince Kichaka, tries to rape Draupadi. and her husbands cannot even acknowledge her openly. In secret, though, Bhima defends Draupadi, and she will claim that the deed was done by her husband who is an immortal gandharva.

Source. The Indian Heroes by C. A. Kincaid (1921). [700 words]

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King Virata | 52. Bhima and Kichaka | Cattle Raid

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Prince Kichaka was the bravest and fiercest warrior in all the wild lands of Viratnagar. All men, even the kindly king himself, feared his savage temper and reckless daring. And all women feared to meet his gaze. For many a maid in Viratnagar had lived to rue the day when his wicked eyes had first rested on her and found her fair.

Prince Kichaka at once on entering the city did homage to King Virata. Next he went to see his sister Queen Sudeshna. As he talked to her, his eye fell on the lovely serving maid Sairandhri. And he begged Queen Sudeshna to send the maid to his palace. The Queen loved her brother so dearly that she could refuse him nothing. Sorely against her will, she bade Sairandhri make ready a tray of food and wine, and take it with her to Prince Kichaka’s palace.

Slowly and with sinking heart, the dark princess set out with the tray to Prince Kichaka’s palace. No sooner had she entered the door, than Prince Kichaka seized her by the waist and sought to embrace her. But the dark princess freed herself lightly from his clasp, and, throwing in his face the tray of food and wine, fled back as fast as she could to King Virata’s palace. Behind her, maddened with rage, Prince Kichaka ran swifter still. Overtaking her as she entered the palace door, he struck her face with his clenched fist. The princess all but fell. Then recovering herself she fled straight on to the audience room of King Virata and burst into it unannounced.

There she showed her bleeding face to the king and, telling him her story, cried aloud to him for justice. But King Virata feared to cross Prince Kichaka. He laughed at Draupadi and said to her lightly, "Nay, I think thou thyself art the cruel one, fair waiting maid. Else thou wouldst never have left the prince’s love unrequited."

The dark princess answered nothing. Speechless with shame and anger, she slipped away from the audience room amid the laughter of the courtiers. She searched through the palace until she found Prince Bhima asleep in his room and told Bhima what had passed in Prince Kichaka’s palace.

"Fear not," he said, holding out his huge hands. "Tomorrow night I will slay the monster with these. There is a dancing-hall in a distant part of the palace. Bid Prince Kichaka meet thee there tomorrow night. And I, instead of thee, will await his coming and he shall not leave my loving embrace alive."

The next evening, as darkness fell, Prince Bhima went to the dancing-hall and hid himself there. And after everyone in the palace had gone to rest, he heard Prince Kichaka come tiptoe through the passage and enter the room.

Through the darkness, Prince Kichaka saw a form in the room, and he thought that the waiting maid was before him at the tryst. "Pardon me, fair maid," he whispered, "for my delay. For of a truth no maid hath ever moved my heart as thou hast."

But as the words left his lips, Prince Bhima came close to him and whispered with a mocking laugh, "Thou shalt love fair maids no more, valiant Prince, for I will so deal with thee tonight that no maid shall know hereafter that thou ever wert a man."

Bhima then threw Prince Kichaka on the ground. Kneeling on him, he gripped his throat with both his hands. Nor did he loosen his grip until Kichaka had ceased to breathe. Then, taking hold of his body, he kneaded it and pounded it, and rolled it up and down the floor until at last none could have said whether the body had been that of a man or of an animal.

When he had finished, the dark Princess came to his side. For, unknown to Bhima, she had followed Prince Kichaka so that she might see his death. She smiled on Bhima and said, "Well done, my lord. Thou hast made clean my honor and that of the Pandavas."

Bhima rose and embraced her and said, "Draupadi, go thou and rouse the other maid-servants and say to them, 'O serving maids, Prince Kichaka is dead. My husband, who is an Immortal, caught him with me. And, finding us together, my husband slew him.'"

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King Virata | Bhima and Kichaka | Cattle Raid

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Draupadi watches Kichaka and Bhima fighting.