Was Shakuni really bad at all? Was he? Decide yourself!

He was the one who tried to burn the Pandavas alive; but he was good. He planned the disrobing of Draupadi; but he was good. He was responsible to put an end to the lineage of Kauravas, but he was good. He was Shakuni, the maternal uncle of Kauravas – Duryodhana and his 99 brothers; and YES, he WAS good! How? That is an interesting and forgotten tale I am gonna recite today.

Shakuni

 

But before that, I apologise to you all for having kept you waiting for so long before coming with this tale. But the reason was a good one for me as I was working on my debut novel which is a romantic fiction and is out now on Amazon for you all – The Monsoon Marigolds 🙂 So read it and let me know how do you find it! *Show me some support* 😉

So let’s begin! We all are more than aware that the great Mahabharata is chiefly about the war between the Kauravas and Pandavas which ended with the end of the Kaurava clan. We all know how Shakuni, the maternal uncle of Kauravas always kept the fire of enmity between the cousin princes, lit. But little do we know that Shakuni, like many Mahabharata characters, had his own gloomy and disturbing past which tells that he wasn’t bad at all and we all would have done the very same thing he did to end the Kaurava clan.

Shakuni

The story begins in Gandhar, modern day Qandahar in Afghanistan, ruled by king Subal, father of Shakuni and Gandhari(named after Gandhar). King Subal had 100 sons and one daughter and Shakuni was youngest of all the brothers. Now one day, king Subal organised a Yagya, a ritual in front of sacrificial fire and had invited many sages and seers. There, arrived an astrologist who told Subal that his beloved daughter Gandhari has some bad luck in her fortune chart owing to which, her first husband won’t survive. King Subal became ultimately disturbed by it; Gandhari, the extremely beautiful princess was her much-adored child after all. To end the gloomy affair that could disturb her future, Subal came with a solution to marry her off to a goat and then sacrifice it, to be in accordance with a fact that her first husband will not live long. In that way, her second husband, who of course will be a man, will survive and she’ll have a happy married life. So he did the same and married his daughter off to a goat and sacrificed it.

(Just to let those of you know who are not very much familiar with these practises, in India, these type of marriages are done to avoid the Mangal dosh of girls who are Mangalik. The girls get married to a tree or an animal who afterwards gets sacrificed. In case they get married to an earthen pot, the pot is supposed to be broken, taking away with it the bad luck that could creep in in the life of a future husband of a girl. This is called Kumbh(earthen) Vivah(pot). (Note: I would also like to clear it here that I do not endorse any such practice and am only informing those who are not aware of these practises of the past.)

So the problem was solved and everything was alright now, at least that is what the family of Gandhari had thought.

In a turn of events, Gandhari later gets married to Dhritarashtra, the prince of Kuru clan of Lunar dynasty (Chandravansh), who was blind. The beautiful Gandhari who was known for her beauty and specifically for her beautiful eyes, blindfolds herself for whole life, just to engulf herself in the darkness that her husband had always been engulfed in, and to see and live the life the way he did. Everything was good; until Dhritarashtra got to know the fact of Gandhari’s first marriage. 

Gandhari

The day came when Dhritarashtra got to know of the first marriage of his wife Gandhari and felt betrayed and fooled. He was the king of the mighty, invincible Hastinapur. He couldn’t bear it and imprisoned the whole family of king Subal – the king and his 100 sons. It is also said that both Dhritarashtra and Bheeshm Pitamah were involved in this imprisonment. The punishment, although, was yet to be given to the family of Subal. And it was really cruel. It was decided that the whole family king Subal, of 101 men, in the prison will get only a handful of grains per day. It was meted out in order to starve the Subal family to death as of course, one handful of grains could never suffice the hunger of 101 men. Subal realised that the end of his family was impending. He got an idea; he contemplated that only if one out of all 101 men could get that one handful of grain per day, that “one” would survive. But who will it be? Subal himself, his eldest son, or some other son? And he decided to test his sons. He wanted to know who was the sharpest one, who could live to avenge the death of his 99 brothers and his father, as Subal knew that his and his sons’ days were numbered now and they were destined to die while starving. He came up with a test. He took a bone and asked his sons one by one to insert a thread in the bone and take it out from the other side. All failed, except the youngest and brightest son of Subal, prince Shakuni. When he got his turn, he tied one end of the thread with a grain and another end with an ant, who walked through the bone and took the thread to the other side. Shakuni, the youngest prince had proved his mettle and he was chosen, not only by king Subal but probably by the destiny as well, to bring drastic turns in the History of Hastinapur and our country. As a result, he was given the grains every day and he saw all his brother die painfully, one by one. At last, his father, when he was about to die, requested to Dhritarashtra to leave the youngest prince Shakuni, and Dhritarashtra did it. (God knows whether he did right, or it was the biggest mistake Dhritarashtra ever committed).

Dhritarashtra with Sanjay sitting on the floor, narrating him the events on the battlefield of Kurukshetra.

Because on his deathbed, Subal asked Shakuni to avenge the death of his clan by Dhritarashtra. Shakuni, the young prince was embittered on the fate of his family – first, the marriage of his dear sister with a blind man, and then the painful and cruel death of his family in front of him. It is said that his father hit him hard on his leg which turned Shakuni lame. In case you have seen Mahabharata serials on TV, you must have realised that Shakuni is always seen walking with a limp. This was done by Subal to make Shakuni realise with every step in his life what his goal was. And Shakuni now had a goal – to annihilate the clan of Kauravas. It is also said that king Subal knew dark magic and had asked Shakuni to use his thigh bone to make dices which will never disobey Shakuni. Again, if you see Mahabharata, you can see how Shakuni’s dices always obeyed him like loyal slaves. The dices which made Yudhishthira, a servant in the game of dice called Chausar. The same dices that resulted in Draupadi’s disrobing and Pandava’s exile.

Draupadi’s disrobing

Now Shakuni did what he was left with, he vowed loyalty to the kingdom of Hastinapur. But he was the one who fed on the aspirations and human weaknesses of Dhritarashtra and his 100 sons. Interesting, isn’t it? Subal had 100 sons and 1 daughter. And similarly, years later, Dhritarashtra too had 100 sons – amongst which Duryodhana was the eldest one – and a daughter, Dushala. And Shakuni did the same with Dhritarashtra – he made sure that not a single son of Dhritarashtra would survive, and that too by being their most beloved Mama(maternal uncle). 

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Being a person of such a sharp brain, it is hard to believe that he never recognised Pandavas strength. It is even harder to believe that he never recognised Lord Krishna, who was always with Pandavas.

Shree Krishna as Arjun’s charioteer

 

And in the end, we all know what happened, not a single son of Dhritarashtra was spared by Pandavas. Even Jayadratha, husband of Dushala, Dhritarashtra’s daughter, was killed in the battle of Mahabharata. 

 

Jayadratha beheaded by Arjun’s arrow

 

And if you are wondering about Shakuni’s death, the prince of Gandhar who always saw pain of his loved ones, who could never forget the grotesque pictures of his family members’ death, and who never went to Gandhar to rule it after his father’s death, was killed by Sahdev, the youngest Pandava.

 

Shakuni being killed by Sahdev on the battlefield of Mahabharata Courtesy: BR Chopra’s Mahabharat

 

It is indeed inevitable that Shakuni in his life committed heinous crimes – trying to burn the Pandavas alive, planning and encouraging the disrobing of a woman, killing of Abhimanyu, and many others, but was he bad in doing so? What would you have done had you been in his place? If you had seen your family dying such a cruel death? It is up to us to decide. 

 

Pandavas escaping along with their mother Kunti through a tunnel, from the fire of Lakshagraha, the palace built by Shakuni to burn them all alive.

Although for me, he was never a hero, but it is said that after his death, he attained heaven, because he was always goal-oriented, and whatever he did was for his family and his very beloved sister Gandhari, who HAD to marry Dhritarashtra.

Not only this, but there is also a temple dedicated to him in Pavithreswaram in Kollam district of Kerala, India.

 

Shakuni’s temple in Kerala

 

Shakuni’s temple in Kerala

 

Tell me in the comments what you think about this tale of Shakuni which is told in the folk stories and also tell me if you want me to write about or on any specific character or story of our mythology. 

 

Shakuni

 

And once again, don’t forget to buy my book from Amazon, “The Monsoon Marigolds”! 🙂

I love you all! 🙂

Krishna Vs Brahma-Tale of Self Realization

Title of this blog might confuse you. Why? Because Brahma is an ardent devotee of God almighty and he can’t even in his wildest dream think of doing anything which can desecrate  Narayan. But the fact is that it happened once.
But it was not a fight using arms and weaponry. It was something beyond that. It was a case of self realization. It was a case of knowing what we are and what or who actually God is.
So without much delay, I would start the story.
It was the time when Lord Krishna was on earth living in land of Braj. He would play everyday with his friends while taking his cows and calves out for grazing. He was a small kid and was normal in his life with no pomp and show of his prowess.
One day, Lord Brahma, the creator of the universe, heard about Krishna and that Krishna is none other than God himself. He also got to know that Krishna has recently killed a demon in the form of a huge python named Aghasur.
Brahma knew the power of Aghasur and hence thought that it’s impossible for any human to kill Aghasur, he’s too powerful for even demigods. So definitely this cowherd boy Krishna has deceived the innocent people of Braj and is making them fool. He, now decided to test Krishna and wanted to teach him a lesson. Here we can see how ignorant a person can get in his power and superiority.
Anyways, Brahma came to earth. He witnessed that Krishna was eating and playing with cowherd boys. Krishna was eating from their hands and was feeding them with his.

Brahma’s notion got strengthened that God almighty can’t do such immature activities. God-who’s formless, who’s beyond understanding-can not play in mud like this. God can’t play with these dirty village boys who are from poor families, who are dirty and who are not suitable to feed God from their hands. How can it happen that God who can’t be obtained or understood by penance and meditation of millions of years by sages is eating and playing with these illiterate village cowherd boys. Brahma, hence, in order to teach Krishna a lesson, stole all the calves when they went far while grazing.

When Krishna and friends realized that calves have gone too far and Krishna assured them that he’ll bring them back soon and went away, Brahma stole the cowherd boys as well after sedating them with his power and he took both  calves and cowherd boys with him to his Brahma lok (the planet or residence of Brahma).
Krishna, when couldn’t find calves and returned, witnessed that his friends were missing as well.
He didn’t even take time to realize what has happened and who’s done this act because he knows everything happened or not happened.

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He simply produced all the cowherd boys along with calves from his body. They emanated from his body duplicating the real cowherd boys and calves. Now let’s understand that Brahma’s one day is equal to 4.32 billion years of humans so we can understand that despite of the fact that Brahma went to his lok or his place and kept the stolen boys and calves and came back with a speed much more than the speed of light within a fraction of his second, a year was passed here on earth. Meanwhile, here on earth, mothers of all boys as well as mother cows of calves were happy playing with their boys and calves with utmost affection and love.

This affection was not only because they were with their children but also due to the fact that those children were actually forms of Krishna emanated from his body and since those mothers of boys and mother cows always loved Krishna and wanted to adore him as their child or actually adored him as their child, they were elated and their happiness knew no bounds.
On the other hand, when Brahma came back to earth, what he beheld was enough to bewilder him completely. He observed that Krishna, like any other day, was having his lunch in the forest with his friends he(Brahma) had just now stolen. Calves also were grazing nearby.

Brahma couldn’t believe his eyes and got extremely baffled. He used his divine vision and observed that stolen boys and calves were still in his lok-sleeping. He again looked at Krishna and friends and calves.

Completely perplexed, Brahma meditated on God and prayed to him to give him vision and knowledge to know the truth. Lord or God almighty is none other than Krishna and hence he showed him the truth. Brahma saw that all the cowherd boys and calves were actually Lord Vishnu with four hands and extreme lustrous and glittering persona.

Brahma plunged in the lotus feet of Lord Krishna. He had realized his blunder mistake. He apologized. Within a moment, there were thousands of Brahmas around Krishna. Some of them had 10 heads, some had 100, some had 1000 and so on.

To Brahma’s amazement, Krishna explained him that he is Brahma or creator of just one universe; there are infinite universes or there are multiverses in reality.

Krishna told Brahma that since Brahma was under the impression that he’s the only creator, he had summoned other Brahmas so that he could see and realise the truth and reality. Within a moment all Brahmas returned back to their respective universes as Krishna asked them to do so.

Brahma of this universe apologized and Krishna forgave him. All the real boys and calves were returned by Brahma and those emanated from Lord got dissolved in him.
Brahma offered his obeisance in the lotus feet of Lord and praised his glory and extolled his virtues and all powerful yet most merciful personality and returned back to his Brahma lok or residence.

All friends reunited with Krishna and they all started playing again. Everything in Vrindavan was same again.

I believe that all the pastimes of Lord Krishna we hear or read about are not just a playful act but they have a meaning hidden behind to teach us enumerous valuable lessons of life.
Similarly, this story is not just the story of Brahma’s self realization. It’s the story to preach us to rise above issues like caste, societal status, financial background etc. of the people around us and to give respect to all because God has created all of us- living or non living and he loves us all equally the way Krishna loved all creatures and all his friends negating any factor such as their caste or financial status or physical appearance or any such thing. It is to teach us that no matter how much unlimited power we possess, we can not change what god wants or can’t challenge his creation or rules of nature.
It is God’s notion to preach us to respect his creation without being conceited of one’s power or abilities because that is something God only has given us and it’s all going to get dissolved in him one day except our karmas and our virtues.

Hey friends, I have written my debut novel, “The Monsoon Marigolds”! read it and show me some love! 🙂 It will be very special for me!

Who was Radha? What happened to her when Krishna left?

Tomorrow is Radha-ashtami or birthday of Radha and that’s why I’m republishing this blog telling all about consort of Shri Krishna. Enjoy😊😊😊

We all have seen Radha along with shree Krishna in so many temples and know that they are the embodiment of love and the purest form of love. We know that they are divine lovers but many of us do not know who Radha was and what happened to her after Krishna left Nandgaon. Did Krishna meet him after he left Nandgaon? How did she leave the earth? All these questions are very ambiguous and are not very clear to everyone. So who was Radha and how did she come on this earth and why? Actually the reason of this doubt is that there is very less or no information we have in our mythological texts or Puranas about Radha. Yes it is true. Radha has not been mentioned in any of the major religious texts such as Mahabharata or Padma Purana or Shrimad Bhagvatam, or Harivansha. All these books cover the life of shree Krishna and every aspect of his never ending charming personality. But there is no mention of Radha in any of these books. Now this is a shocking fact that we get no evidence as to who Radha was or was there any village girl named Radha who ever existed or not?

The first time when Radha is mentioned in the texts is when Jayadev wrote about her in Geet govind and also when Nimbaark sect (founded by Nimbaarkacharya) started preaching people about her. Before this era Radha was not worshipped with Krishna in any temple. Now the question arises here is that why such an injustice with the prime consort of the lord. The village cowherd girl Radha who lived only for Krishna, whose life and soul everything was dedicated to Krishna has not been mentioned in these prime texts. Radha is though mentioned in Brahma Vaivart Purana but very scarcely and it is not mentioned what happened to her after Krishna left for Mathura. So why Radha was not mentioned before Jayadev or Nimbaarkacharya? Or why she has no detailed description in Brahma Vaivart Purana? Answer is unknown and we probably won’t get to know these answers but let’s talk about what happened actually to Radha and who was she actually?

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According to Brahma Vaivart Purana, once in the Golok (The world or lok of Krishna where it is said he lives with all his Gopa Gopis and Radha and all his lovers), Sudama, friend of Krishna went to meet Krishna but Radha stopped him and barred him from meeting Krishna. Furious Sudama cursed shri Radha that she would be forced to take birth in the mortal form on earth and she will have to bear the pain of separation from shri Krishna because she has caused him pain by separating him from his beloved lord and friend. Knowing all this, lord Krishna ordered Radha to take birth on earth. On his orders, Radha took birth on this earth. The story of Radha’s birth is equally interesting. It was the month of Bhado (months of august and September), ashtami of Shukla Paksha (eighth day of the waxing moon), Anuradha Nakshatra and time was 12 noon when Radha appeared in this world. Radha was born to the chieftain of the village of Barsana, Vrishbhanu and his wife Kirti. Some say that her mother’s name was Kamlavati. Again it is doubtful because of lack of information regarding Radharani.
Radha’s birthplace is Rawal, a small village around 10 kilometers away from Mathura city. It is said that one day Vrishbhanu was bathing in a river when he saw a lotus which had thousands of petals and it looked like golden lotus in the light of sun and when it came closer, he saw a small baby girl inside that flower. He wanted a baby girl so took her and brought her up as his own daughter. Some also say that Radha in the form of wind entered the womb of wife of Vrishbhanu and took birth in their home as an extremely beautiful daughter. The place where she took birth is now the garbhagriha (sanctum sanctorum) of the temple in Rawal. Radha is believed to be eleven months elder to shri Krishna and being the divine lover of shri Krishna, she didn’t open her eyes till she beheld the beautiful face of lord Krishna. Vrishbhanu and his wife were very upset and were under the impression that the girl was blind. After eleven months, when Vrishbhanu with his family went to Gokul to see Nandbaba then Radha opened her eyes for the first time to look at the magnificently beautiful and charming face of her lord her life and soul, bal(baby) krishna. She wanted to see his face on opening her eyes for the first time and that was the reason she never opened it till she saw his face. Radha and Krishna loved each other more than anyone else. Places and people near vrindavan and Mathura still recite the grand saga of their love.
Barsana, a place where Vrishbhanu lived with his family after Radha’s birth is one of the most visited places on the land of braj. Barsana has become a synonym for Radharani. It is the place where she was brought up. This is the place where the goddess of love, the prime and divine consort of the lord of all the worlds lived. Here she is called Laadli ji (which means excessively adored and loved). Few kilometers away is Gahvar van where she would meet Krishna and they would spend hours together in the mood of love. Krishna would also adorn and decorate her hair with flowers here in Gahvar van. Their love bloomed on the land of vrindavan which is believed to be the heart of Radharani and the most blessed land in the braj. They performed many leelas here not to forget the Maha-raas leela on the banks of Yamuna. But then came the time when the curse of Sudama started taking the shape. Krishna was about to leave for Mathura to kill Kamsa. Before leaving, Krishna made her give him her word that she would not cry once he is away from her. Radha, heartbroken and completely devastated, made the promise that she would not cry and won’t shed the tears.

Krishna told her that her love is unconditional and he will be indebted to her till the end of time and the land of braj will always be known as her place and everyone would chant her name instead of Krishna and we can see today that people in vrindavan or braj say radhe radhe while talking or greeting others. Even rickshaw-wallahs here say radhe radhe to people while riding on the way asking to give the way for rickshaw. Every house or tree in vrindavan has radha’s name written on its wall or trunk.

Such was radha’s devotion and pain that Krishna granted her a boon that her name would be taken before that of his.
The doomed day arrived and Krishna left for Mathura. Now it is not mentioned anywhere in the texts what happened to her after this incident. It is believed that Radha had now become just like a lifeless body. Her face which once looked like a beautiful lotus had now become like a faded flower. Her complexion which resembled molten gold was now black like that of Yamuna. She would now wander in vrindavan and other places where she had spent time with Krishna living in memories. She would ask everyone where her Krishna is and when is he coming back. There is also a famous incident of her asking the bumblebee if she had brought a message from Krishna.

People considered her mentally unsound because of her actions but they could not see the immense pain of separation that she was going through.

Her pain was known only to other Gopis who felt that same pain. They revered Radha like they revered Krishna. Radha would not do any shringaar (make-up) now. She wouldn’t comb her hair, won’t wear jewelry, and won’t have flowers in her hair. Her face which once looked like full moon now looked as that of a waned one. However there is no story of Krishna returning to vrindavan.

There is a story that once all the Gopa and Gopis went to Kurukshetra for holy bath on an ocassion of solar eclipse and shri Krishna was also there with his wives and his whole clan. There, Krishna and Radha were face to face with each other but didn’t say a word to each other. Radha witnessed how happy Krishna’s wives and his people were and didn’t want to disturb their peace so kept silence. Her eyes could not hold her emotions and shed tears profusely. Krishna was also in pain more than ever to see Radha like this when he couldn’t express his emotions for the girl he had loved the most in his life, probably more than his wives. Radha satisfied herself that no matter how much happiness Krishna’s wives had from him, but his pain of separation was only for her. His smile was for his wives but his tears were for her only.
There is another interesting story which tells that Radha went to Krishna’s palace and Krishna’s wives after knowing her love and devotion for Krishna tried to test it out of some feeling of jealousy. They served her with the hottest food and asked her to eat. Radha without any hesitation and problem ate the food. Everyone was shocked and when Krishna’s wives went to see Krishna, they witnessed that his feet were all burnt severely. Reason was quite clear. Radha always had Krishna’s lotus feet in her mind and while thinking about his feet, she could not feel the hotness of food but Krishna’s feet got burnt. But these stories are not mentioned in major mythological texts. But people and folklore say that she bore separation from Krishna for 125 years.
Now there are many beliefs as to what happened to her at the end. One belief says that when Krishna was leaving the earth for Golok, then before leaving himself, he summoned a divine aircraft which took all the brijwasis and Radha to his lok-Golok. Another belief is that he played his flute with his most melodious tune he had ever played for Radha and Radha came in front of him immediately and then merged in his body forever- from where she had originally come as many stories say that she came out of Krishna’s body’s left part. May be there are many other beliefs also in many parts of the world that we don’t know. Radha once asked krishna in Golok whom does he love the most, and krishna told her philosophically that he is free from all the emotions and loves everyone yet doesn’t love anyone. To this she asked about herself, to which Krishna smiled and said that you and I are same and inseparable so how can I love myself. In the same way when she asked him why didn’t he marry her? He said how could he marry her because love and marriage needs two people but they are one.
On the contrary, there IS a story of Radha Krishna marriage. It is said that Radha and Krishna married secretly at a place called Bhandirvan few kilometers from vrindavan. Lord Brahma acted as the priest in this marriage and also did Kanyadaan of Shri Radha ji.
These are some other stories also about Radha and how she lived on this earth. We do not know why she never got mentioned in Mahabharata or Shrimad Bhagvatam or any other religious book but what she did for her love is something we can never forget till the end of time. Her sacrifice made her bigger than even lord Krishna. She is the Hladni Shakti (pleasure potency) of lord Krishna. She is inseparable from Krishna and we all are indebted to her. All the humanity is indebted to her because if she hadn’t allowed Krishna to leave vrindavan, Krishna out of the bond of love could never leave for Mathura and could never complete the tasks which he had to complete on this earth. He could not make this earth evil and corruption free and could not establish a righteous society with Pandavas. It is true that Krishna is incomplete without her and can never create the infinite universes without Radha. Radha’s pain is matchless; no one can worship or regard Krishna without Radha. She got lost in the pages of history and mythology may be because she was an ordinary, simple, village cowherd girl unlike goddess Rukmini who is an incarnation of goddess Lakshmi; may be because among those grand and formidable characters of Mahabharata, she was too simple and ordinary to be mentioned. But love and sacrifice of Radha is too big to be ignored or lost in history. The love and sacrifice of this simple village girl is bigger than anyone. No matter how much we debate about her existence, Shrimati Radharani is the base of love and devotion, she is an epitome of devotion, sacrifice and unconditional love and no doubt that’s why we love her so much with lord Krishna and can’t stop chanting her name and worshipping her with our beloved Lord Shri Krishna.

Hey friends, I have written my debut novel, “The Monsoon Marigolds”! read it and show me some love! 🙂 It will be very special for me!