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Lesser known interesting stories in Mahabharata

Madras

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Madras

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Once Krishna and Arjuna were walking towards a village. Arjuna was pestering Krishna, asking him why Karna should be considered a role model for all Danas (donations) and not himself. Krishna, wanting to teach him a lesson snapped his fingers. The mountains beside the path they were walking on turned into gold. Krishna said "Arjuna, distribute these two mountains of gold among the villagers, but you must donate every last bit of gold". Arjuna went into the village, and proclaimed he was going to donate gold to every villager, and asked them to gather near the mountain. The villagers sang his praises and Arjuna walked towards the mountain with a huffed up chest. For two days and two continuous nights Arjuna shovelled gold from the mountain and donated to each villager. The mountains did not diminish in their slightest.

Most villagers came back and stood in queue within minutes. After a while, Arjuna, started feeling exhausted, but not ready to let go of his ego just yet, told Krishna he couldn't go on any longer without rest. Krishna called Karna. "You must donate every last bit of this mountain, Karna" he told him. Karna called two villagers. "You see those two mountains?" Karna asked, "those two mountains of gold are yours to do with as you please" he said,  and walked away.

Arjuna sat dumbfounded. Why hadn't this thought occurred to him? Krishna smiled mischievously and told him "Arjuna, subconsciously,  you yourself were attracted to the gold, you regretfully gave it away to each villager, giving them what you thought was a generous amount. Thus the size of your donation to each villager depended only on your imagination. Karna holds no such reservations. Look at him walking away after giving away a fortune, he doesn't expect people to sing his praises, he doesn't even care if people talk good or bad about him behind his back. That is the sign of a man already on the path of enlightenment"

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Madras Newbie

Madras

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Story of Barbarik is quite interesting.

Barbarik was the grandson of Bhima and the son of Ghatotkacha. Barbarik was supposed to be a brave warrior having learnt the art of warfare from hismother. Lord Shiva pleased with Barbarik's talent as a warrior granted him aThree special arrows. He also got a special bow from Lord Agni (God of Fire). 

It is said that Barbarik was so powerful that according to him the war of Mahabharata could end in 1 minute if he alone was to fight it. The story goes like this:

Before the war started, Lord Krishna asked everyone how long would it take for them to finish the war alone. Bhisma replied it would take 20 days. Dronacharya said it would take 25 days. Karna said it would take 24 days whereas Arjuna said it would take him 28 days.

Barbarik had expressed his desire to watch the war of Mahabharata to his mother. His mother agreed to let him go watch it, but asked him before leaving as to which side he would join if he felt the urge to take part in the war. Barbarik promised his mother that he would join the side that was weaker. Saying this he set up on the journey to visit the battlefield.

Krishna having heard of Barbarik and wanting to examine Barbarik's strength disguised himself as a Brahmin came in front of Barbarik. Krishna asked him the same question about how many days would it take to finish the war if he were to fight it alone. Barbarik replied it would take him only 1 minute to finish the battle if he was to fight it alone. Krishna was surprised at this answer ofBarbarik considering the fact that Barbarik was walking towards the battlefield with just 3 arrows and a bow. To this Barbarik explained the power of the 3 arrows. 

  • The first arrow was supposed to mark all the objects that Barbarik wanted to be destroyed.
  • The second arrow was supposed to mark all the objects that Barbarik wanted to be saved.
  • The third arrow was supposed to destroy all the objects marked by the first arrow OR destroy all the objects not marked by the second arrow.

And at the end of this all the arrows would come return to the quiver. Krishna eager to test this out asked Barbarik to tie all the leaves of the tree that he was standing under. As Barbarik started meditating to perform the task, Krishnatook one leaf from the tree and placed it under his foot without Barbarik's knowledge. When Barbarik releases the first arrow, the arrow marks all the leaves from the tree and eventually starts revolving around Lord Krishna's feet.Krishna asks Barbarik as to why the arrow is doing this. To this Barbarik replies that there must be a leaf under your feet and asks Krishna to lift his leg. As soon as Krishna lifts his leg, the arrow goes ahead and marks the remaining leaf too. 

This incident scares Lord Krishna about the phenomenal power of Barbarik. He concludes that the arrows are truly infallible. Krishna also realizes that in the real battlefield in case Krishna wants to isolate someone (for eg the 5 Pandavas) from Barbarik's attack, then he would not be able to do so, since even without the knowledge of Barbarik, the arrow would go ahead and destroy the target if Barbarik intended so. 

To this Krishna asks Barbarik about which side he was planning to fight for in the war of Mahabharata. Barbarik explains that since the Kaurava Army is bigger than the Pandava Army and because of the condition he had agreed to with his mother, he would fight for the Pandavas. But to this Lord Krishna explains the paradox of the condition he had agreed with his mother. Krishna explains that since he was the greatest warrior on the battlefield, which ever side he joins would make the other side weaker. So eventually he would end up oscillating between the two sides and destroy everyone except himself. Thus Krishna reveals the actual consequence of the word that he had given to his mother. Thus Krishna(still disguised as a Brahmin) asks for Barbarik's head incharity to avoid his involvement in the war.

After this Krishna explains that it was necessary to sacrifice the head of thegreatest Kshatriya in order to worship the battlefield and that he regarded Barbarik as the greatest Kshatriya of that time. 

Before actually giving his head, Barbarik expresses his desire to view the forthcoming battle. To this Krishna agreed to place Barbarik's head on top of the mountain that overlooked the battlefield. At the end of the war, the Pandavas argued amongst themselves about whose was the greatest contribution to their victory. To this Krishna suggests that Barbarik's head should be allowed to judge this since it has watched the entire war. Barbarik's head suggests it was Krishna alone who was responsible for the victory in the war. His advice, his strategy and his presence was crucial in the victory.

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Madras Newbie

Madras

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MADRAS annai GHATOTKACHDU HANUMAN VEERA DEVOTEE ga...bachelor anukunna....and ala bachelor ga ne chanipoyadu anukunna...marriage ayyinda??

 

:peepwall:

 

naakem teliyavu annay.. Contact Masaab or chsrk on this... kaani ekkado vinna daanni batti....evaro wife vundaali anukunta Ghatotkachudu ki...

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P.B.K Rookie

P.B.K

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dhinikanna.. dhuryodhana thaana vallandharu chanipoyina scene ni choosi baadha pade story chaala intresting ga untadhi.. 
ikkada KA lo 11th kannada sub lo undhi "dhuryodhana vilaapa" ani.. written y ranna 
chaala baaga raasadu aayana.. 

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Peter Griffin

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dhinikanna.. dhuryodhana thaana vallandharu chanipoyina scene ni choosi baadha pade story chaala intresting ga untadhi.. 

ikkada KA lo 11th kannada sub lo undhi "dhuryodhana vilaapa" ani.. written y ranna 

chaala baaga raasadu aayana.. 

yekkada ina dorikithe ekkada post cheyi 

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Madras Newbie

Madras

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Interesting facts/incidents of Mahabharata (Not sure if these have been mentioned before):

  1. Gandhari was the mother of 100 sons and 1 daughter. Her daughter name was Dusshala.
  2. Sahadeva knew about the past and what happens in future. Pandu had a premonition of his death and had told his sons a secret. ‘Years of celibacy and meditation in the forest have given me great knowledge. It isembedded in my body. When I die, eat my flesh and you will be blessed with great knowledge. That shall be your true inheritance.’ After Pandu died, his body was cremated. The children could not do what their fatherhad asked them to do. But Sahadeva noticed ants carrying a tiny piece oftheir father’s body. He put that piece in his mouth. Instantly, he kneweverything about the world what had happened in the past and what would happen in the future.
  3. Duryodhana did not participate in Draupdi’s swyamvara because he was already married to Bhanumati, princess of Kalinga, and he had promised her that he would never marry another. Now that is commitment!
  4. Draupadi bore the Pandavas five sons. They were: Prativindhya, son of Yudhishtira; Satsoma, son of Bhima; Shurtakirti, son of Arjuna;Shatanika, son of Nakula; and Shrutasena, son of Sahadeva.
  5. Krishna emModies intelligence and Draupadi luck. The Pandavas enter the gambling hall with neither. Thus both intelligence and luck matters.
  6. Once, Bhima pretended to have fever and requested Draupadi to massage his feet. He took large fruits and covered them with a bedsheet. Without removing the bedsheet, Draupadi massaged what she thought were the firm limbs of Bhima while her husbands watched from afar. When thetruth was revealed, she was so angry that she cursed the fruits. In future, they would not be smooth; they would be covered with spikes. That is whythe jackfruit skin is covered with spikes.
  7. The five villages that Krishna asked for the Pandavas during his negotiations for peace included Paniprastha (modern Panipat), Sonaprastha (modern Sonipat), Tilprastha (modern Tilpat), Vrikshprastha (modern Bagpat) and Indra-prastha (modern Delhi).
  8. Two sons of Dhritarashtra did not approve of Duryodhana’s actions: Vikarna, born of Gandhari, and Yuyutsu, born of a maid. Both had argued against Draupadi being staked in the game of dice.
  9. There were seven divisions on the Pandava side led by Dhrishtadyumna,Draupadi’s twin brother, while there were eleven divisions on theKauravas’, led by Bhishma. Each division, known as Akshouhini,comprised chariots, elephants, horsemen and foot-soldiers. For everychariot there was one elephant, three horsemen and five foot soldiers.
    An Akshouhini included 21,870 chariots and chariot-riders, 21,870 elephants and riders, 65,610 horses and riders, and 109,350 foot-soldiers (in a ratio of 1:1:3:5). The combined number of warriors and soldiers in both armies was approximately four million.
     
  10. At various times during the battle, the supreme commander organized his troops into special formations known as vyuhas. 
     Krauncha vyuha—Heron formation
     Makara vyuha—Dolphin formation
     Kurma vyuha—Turtle formation
     Trishula vyuha—Trident formation
     Chakra vyuha—Wheel or discus formation
     Padma vyuha—Lotus formation (Chakravyuha)
  11. Mahabharata was fought for 18 days. Bhishma commands the Kaurava army for ten days. Drona commands it for half that, five days. Karnacommands it for half Drona’s duration that is two days. Shalya commands it for one day that is half of Karna’s.
  12. Over one billion, two hundred and twenty million people were killed. Less than twenty-four thousand survived. Of these, only three had fought for Duryodhana: Ashwatthama, son of Drona, Kripa, teacher of the Kuru princes, and Kritavarma, the Yadava.
  13. After the war when Pandavas went to meet Gandhari; She controlled her anger and forced herself to bless them. As she did so, her eyes filled with tears swelled so much that her blindfold was pushed away and she managed to steal a glance at Yudhishtira’s big toe for a moment. That one glance was so fiery that it turned Yudhishtira’s big toe blue. With that glance, all of Gandhari’s rage dissipated.
  14. In Prabhas Patan, on the sea coast of the state of Gujarat, stands a tree that has been identified as the descendant of the Banyan tree under which Krishna was fatally injured. 


Will add more!

EDIT:

  • Many people have raised question regarding point 9 and 12. If 4 million people fought in war; how come a billion people died the end?
    There are two explanation to this:
    First, Shekhar Gadaam explained in comments that it may be used in a poetic sense. It was an 'alankar' used by poet.
    Second explanation is that there were many casualties tagged with the war.Sati and Polygamy were prevalent at that time and this increased the number of deaths that are caused due to war.
  • Some people have there own version of story that Dhuryodhan did go to swyamvaar. For them I want to say that there are many versions of Mahabharta and I can't argue that which version of Mahabharata is true because frankly there are many and it is out of my expertise to comment or compare any of them.Nonetheless every story in every version give the reader a hidden message.
  • Source: Jaya: An Illustrated Retelling of the Mahabharataby Devdutt Pattanaik
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Madras Newbie

Madras

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Once Yudhishtra the eldest brother of the Pandavas organised a Rajasuya yagna in their capital city of Indraprastha. He invited many kings and princes. Shishupal too was invited. After the rituals were over Yudhishtra called Krishna to partake the offerings made for the yagna. Seeing Krishna being honored, Shishupal began hurling abuses at Krishna. The invitees stood startled but Krishna remained quiet. Finally, when Shisupal uttered his hundredth abuse, Krishna turned to him. Then taking his Sudarshan Chakra, he flung it at Shishupal. The weapon slashed Sishupal's head. During the act of hurling the Sudharshan Charka from his index finger, Krishna hurt himself. On seeing blood drops, Draupadi became anxious and rushed towards him. She tore off a piece from her sari and wrapped it around his finger, stopping the bleeding. 

 

Krishna was touched by her gesture of devotion and pure love and he said - "sakhi droupadi now I am indebted to you and at appropriate time I will pay off this debt for each and every single thread of this piece of cloth"
 

 

It is also believed that the word he is said to have uttered is 'Akshyam' which was a boon: 'May it be unending' and that was how Draupadi's sari became endless and saved her embarrassment on the day she was disrobed in full public view in king Dritarashtra's court.

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KaNTRhi Apprentice

KaNTRhi

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Story of Barbarik is quite interesting.

 

Barbarik was the grandson of Bhima and the son of Ghatotkacha. Barbarik was supposed to be a brave warrior having learnt the art of warfare from hismother. Lord Shiva pleased with Barbarik's talent as a warrior granted him aThree special arrows. He also got a special bow from Lord Agni (God of Fire).

 

It is said that Barbarik was so powerful that according to him the war of Mahabharata could end in 1 minute if he alone was to fight it. The story goes like this:

 

Before the war started, Lord Krishna asked everyone how long would it take for them to finish the war alone. Bhisma replied it would take 20 days. Dronacharya said it would take 25 days. Karna said it would take 24 days whereas Arjuna said it would take him 28 days.

 

Barbarik had expressed his desire to watch the war of Mahabharata to his mother. His mother agreed to let him go watch it, but asked him before leaving as to which side he would join if he felt the urge to take part in the war. Barbarik promised his mother that he would join the side that was weaker. Saying this he set up on the journey to visit the battlefield.

 

Krishna having heard of Barbarik and wanting to examine Barbarik's strength disguised himself as a Brahmin came in front of Barbarik. Krishna asked him the same question about how many days would it take to finish the war if he were to fight it alone. Barbarik replied it would take him only 1 minute to finish the battle if he was to fight it alone. Krishna was surprised at this answer ofBarbarik considering the fact that Barbarik was walking towards the battlefield with just 3 arrows and a bow. To this Barbarik explained the power of the 3 arrows.

  • The first arrow was supposed to mark all the objects that Barbarik wanted to be destroyed.
  • The second arrow was supposed to mark all the objects that Barbarik wanted to be saved.
  • The third arrow was supposed to destroy all the objects marked by the first arrow OR destroy all the objects not marked by the second arrow.
And at the end of this all the arrows would come return to the quiver. Krishna eager to test this out asked Barbarik to tie all the leaves of the tree that he was standing under. As Barbarik started meditating to perform the task, Krishnatook one leaf from the tree and placed it under his foot without Barbarik's knowledge. When Barbarik releases the first arrow, the arrow marks all the leaves from the tree and eventually starts revolving around Lord Krishna's feet.Krishna asks Barbarik as to why the arrow is doing this. To this Barbarik replies that there must be a leaf under your feet and asks Krishna to lift his leg. As soon as Krishna lifts his leg, the arrow goes ahead and marks the remaining leaf too.

 

This incident scares Lord Krishna about the phenomenal power of Barbarik. He concludes that the arrows are truly infallible. Krishna also realizes that in the real battlefield in case Krishna wants to isolate someone (for eg the 5 Pandavas) from Barbarik's attack, then he would not be able to do so, since even without the knowledge of Barbarik, the arrow would go ahead and destroy the target if Barbarik intended so.

 

To this Krishna asks Barbarik about which side he was planning to fight for in the war of Mahabharata. Barbarik explains that since the Kaurava Army is bigger than the Pandava Army and because of the condition he had agreed to with his mother, he would fight for the Pandavas. But to this Lord Krishna explains the paradox of the condition he had agreed with his mother. Krishna explains that since he was the greatest warrior on the battlefield, which ever side he joins would make the other side weaker. So eventually he would end up oscillating between the two sides and destroy everyone except himself. Thus Krishna reveals the actual consequence of the word that he had given to his mother.Thus Krishna(still disguised as a Brahmin) asks for Barbarik's head incharity to avoid his involvement in the war.

 

After this Krishna explains that it was necessary to sacrifice the head of thegreatest Kshatriya in order to worship the battlefield and that he regarded Barbarik as the greatest Kshatriya of that time.

 

Before actually giving his head, Barbarik expresses his desire to view the forthcoming battle. To this Krishna agreed to place Barbarik's head on top of the mountain that overlooked the battlefield. At the end of the war, the Pandavas argued amongst themselves about whose was the greatest contribution to their victory. To this Krishna suggests that Barbarik's head should be allowed to judge this since it has watched the entire war. Barbarik's head suggests it was Krishna alone who was responsible for the victory in the war. His advice, his strategy and his presence was crucial in the victory.

Konchem fiction laga undi kani.. Interesting

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Madras Newbie

Madras

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idhi baagundhi...

 

I think we can all agree that without Krishna, Pandavas wouldn't even have survived the initial days of the war, let alone winning it.

I will write a relatively less known incident where Krishna saved the Pandavs.

Let me supply some backstory first -

For some time of their exile, Pandavas were living on the bank of a beautiful pond in a forest. Just to make them jealous, Duryodhan, Dushasan and Karnavisited the forest and camped on the opposite side of the pond, along with their servants and abundant food and drinks.

The Pandavas were nonchalant to all of Duryodhan's actions. But, in the meantime, several Gandharvs came by and started swimming in the pond. The already frustrated Duryodhan got more upset. He started an argument with the Gandharvs, which degraded into a fight.

Now, even if you are a mighty king accompanied by warrior princes, you don't mess with the Gandharvs. They are heavenly princes. Also, they are married to the heavenly beauties, Apsaras.

So, the Gandharvs responded by capturing Duryodhan and Dushasan, and killed all their guards. Knowing better, Karna fled from the scene (This might be disputed, however). 

When the Pandavas came to know about it (presumably through one of the escaped guards), Yudhishthir, being the noblest man, asked Arjun to rescue Duryodhan. A reluctant Arjun went and rescued Duryodhan.

Now, nobody in Mahabharat has a pitch-black character (well, may be except Shakuni). The badly humiliated Duryodhan, being a Kshatriya, asked Arjun to ask for a boon for saving his life. Arjun had nothing in his mind; so he postponed the boon for some better time.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Now, we come back to the war.

Duryodhan was convinced that Bhishma (the commander of the Kaurav armies) was not fighting with his full abilities because of his bias for Pandavas. So, one night, he insulted Bhishma, accusing him of failing to serve his state.

Enraged by this accusation, Bhishma enchanted five arrows and toldDuryodhan that he would kill the Pandavas with the arrows on the very next day of the war. The foolish Duryodhan, not trusting Bhishma, took the fivearrows in his custody.

Krishna very well knew that the Pandavas were alive only because Bhishma never wanted to kill them. So, when Krishna came to know about the arrows (there were several spies of Pandavas in the Kaurav camp), he knew thePandavas wouldn't survive the next day of the war. Knowledgeable he was, he reminded Arjun of the boon and told him to ask the five arrows fromDuryodhan.

Arjun visited Duryodhan's camp (the nights in the war were spent in a ceasefire until the treacherous murder of Abhimanyu happened) and asked him for the five arrows as the boon. The shocked Duryodhan had to comply.

Duryodhan went back to Bhishma and asked for another five arrows after describing what had happened. An amused Bhishma told him that he had used all his lifelong merit in those five arrows, and hence, cannot enchant another batch. Thus, Duryodhan lost his best chance of ending the war. All thanks to Krishna.

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vinay hyd ntr

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Once Yudhishtra the eldest brother of the Pandavas organised a Rajasuya yagna in their capital city of Indraprastha. He invited many kings and princes. Shishupal too was invited. After the rituals were over Yudhishtra called Krishna to partake the offerings made for the yagna. Seeing Krishna being honored, Shishupal began hurling abuses at Krishna. The invitees stood startled but Krishna remained quiet. Finally, when Shisupal uttered his hundredth abuse, Krishna turned to him. Then taking his Sudarshan Chakra, he flung it at Shishupal. The weapon slashed Sishupal's head. During the act of hurling the Sudharshan Charka from his index finger, Krishna hurt himself. On seeing blood drops, Draupadi became anxious and rushed towards him. She tore off a piece from her sari and wrapped it around his finger, stopping the bleeding. 

 

Krishna was touched by her gesture of devotion and pure love and he said - "sakhi droupadi now I am indebted to you and at appropriate time I will pay off this debt for each and every single thread of this piece of cloth"

 

 

It is also believed that the word he is said to have uttered is 'Akshyam' which was a boon: 'May it be unending' and that was how Draupadi's sari became endless and saved her embarrassment on the day she was disrobed in full public view in king Dritarashtra's court.

Idi telusu monna ne star plus lo chusa :shakehands:

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KaNTRhi Apprentice

KaNTRhi

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Once Yudhishtra the eldest brother of the Pandavas organised a Rajasuya yagna in their capital city of Indraprastha. He invited many kings and princes. Shishupal too was invited. After the rituals were over Yudhishtra called Krishna to partake the offerings made for the yagna. Seeing Krishna being honored, Shishupal began hurling abuses at Krishna. The invitees stood startled but Krishna remained quiet. Finally, when Shisupal uttered his hundredth abuse, Krishna turned to him. Then taking his Sudarshan Chakra, he flung it at Shishupal. The weapon slashed Sishupal's head. During the act of hurling the Sudharshan Charka from his index finger, Krishna hurt himself. On seeing blood drops, Draupadi became anxious and rushed towards him. She tore off a piece from her sari and wrapped it around his finger, stopping the bleeding.

 

Krishna was touched by her gesture of devotion and pure love and he said - "sakhi droupadi now I am indebted to you and at appropriate time I will pay off this debt for each and every single thread of this piece of cloth"

 

 

It is also believed that the word he is said to have uttered is 'Akshyam' which was a boon: 'May it be unending' and that was how Draupadi's sari became endless and saved her embarrassment on the day she was disrobed in full public view in king Dritarashtra's court.

I know this story :cheers:

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