Did you know that Duryodhana almost became the rightful heir to the Kuru throne but missed the chance by a cruel twist of fate?
Duryodhana was conceived first, before Yudhishtra. Yet he was born after his cousin.
What went wrong?
Click to find the story of the birth of the Kauravas from where the story of discord between the two cousins begins!
(A 5-minute read)
The Shanmatha traditions
Hindu religion, as we know it today, is mostly an aggregation of what used to be six independent sects called the Shanmatha, which included the worship of the Sun (Saura), Vishnu (Vaishnava), Shiva (Shaiva), Kumara or Skanda-Karthikeya (Kaumara), Devi (Shakta) and of course, Ganapati (Ganapatya).
The Missing Deity of the epic
The third and the fourth parvans of the Mahabharata namely the Vana parvan and the Virata parvan refer to the worship of many of these deities. But there is one deity, whose worship references are conspicuously absent in the epic. Which deity is that?
Let’s first start with the deities that the epic knew.
Vishnu: As everyone knows, Krishna, considered an avatar of Vishnu, plays an overarching role in the epic. The Bhagawad Gita clearly presents Krishna, the incarnation of Vishnu, as the supreme god.
That is not to say the other equally large Shaivite tradition does not find representation in the text.
Shiva: References to Shiva can be found in the Vana parvan where Arjuna performs a penance to please Shiva and obtains divine weapons such as the Pashupathastra from him. Of course, who else, but the destroyer God, to grant Arjuna weapons of mass destruction!
Shakti: While Shakti, as Parvati, does make a cameo appearance in the Pashupatastra episode of the Vana parvan, she finds greater representation in the Virata parvan. Just before the Pandavas enter the kingdom of Virata to complete the last year of their exile incognito, they pray to Durga, the goddess of war. The Pandavas, led by Yudhishtra, sings praises of goddess Durga seeking success in their mission. She appears before them and blesses them with successful completion of the incognito year without being recognised by the Kauravas and eventual victory over them in the war.
Surya: While in exile in the forest, Yudhishtra is faced with the responsibility of not just feeding his brothers and their wife, Draupadi, but with also ensuring that all the Rishis and Brahmins who have followed him into the forest are fed. So, he performs several austerities to the Sun god, Surya, who blesses him with the Akshaya patra, the vessel that ensured unending supply of food for the Pandavas and their retinue through their stint in the forest. Yudhishtra knew very well, which God to please, when it came to asking for bountiful food!
Karthikeya: The story of the birth of Skanda, the son of Shiva, his childhood exploits and his slaying of Tarakasura are narrated by sage Markandeya in detail in the Vana parvan. Stories about the exploits of Karthikeya, the war God, may have inspired the Pandavas to prepare themselves for the impending war.
Thus, we find that the epic, through its period of evolution, accommodated several existing and emerging religious sects in the form of stories about their chief deities. All deities of the Shanmatha, except one!
So, which deity is absent from the epic’s narrative?
It is Ganesha!
Why are there no stories about his worship in the epic?
Mystery solved
One reason may be that for a long time, Ganapati worship was concentrated in the Western parts of India where he was considered a farmer’s god. Ganapati worship became more mainstream and widespread only around the 5-6th century CE by when it started to emerge as a large and independent sect. Interestingly, by this time, the Mahabharata, as a text, had more or less completed its period of evolution and had reached its final written form. That can explain why stories of Ganesha did not find themselves into the epic.
However, as the worship of Ganesha became popular over time, his devotees could not be disappointed. So, the story about how Vyasa requested Ganesha to be his scribe while composing his magnum opus, was inserted as a frame story in a later-period manuscript, written in Devanagari and belonging to India’s North-Central region.
Who knows? The clever interpolator who inserted the story, may have been a Ganpati devotee himself. But as an elephant-headed God of wisdom, he could not have found a better scribe to pen down Vyasa’s magnum opus!
Om Ganeshaya Namaha!
For more on the Vyasa and Ganesha story, watch this 2-minute video!
The story of Krishna is narrated in several texts including the Hari Vamsa and the Bhagawata Purana. In these texts, he is God – omnipresent and omnipotent.
But in the Mahabharata, he comes across as a complex character in varying shades of white, black, grey and blue. Here, he is not always god, but often a thinker-philosopher and war strategist.
Presenting five lesser-known aspects of Krishna from the Mahabharata.
The Mahabharata has inspired several artists & creators and spawned several great literary works and cinema.
Watch the video to know about how some film makers and writers have explored the ideas of Niyoga and parthenogenisis in their works!
The Mahabharata is the largest treasure house of stories in the world, particularly of miraculous or super-natural births.Drona is born in a cup.
Two women come together to produce a child and a King gives birth to his son from his right thigh. These are only some of the several amazing stories in the epic.
But what was the idea behind telling these stories?
Were they merely fantasies of a fertile mind or was there was some meaning to these fantastic tales?
As always, Kulture Katha gets behind the why of the stories!
There are several theories around the birth stories of the Pandavas.
The epic, while being a little secretive on this matter, also gives us a solid clue to unravelling the mystery.
Click to listen in to the puzzling birth story of the Pandavas.
The farmer either sowed his own seed or let someone else’s seed be sown in his field. Either way, the output from the field belonged to the farmer.
That was the logic behind the Bija Kshetra nyaya, the seed-field metaphor that defined the relationship between man, woman and their heirs.
Click the link to know why knowing this rule is important for understanding the key predicament in the epic!
Also: Birth of Pandu & Dhritarshtra
Sexual freedom of women in the epic &
How Niyoga acquired a stigma
Some of the key characters in the epic were born through an ancient custom called the Niyoga. A custom that traces its origins to a Rig Vedic ritual and a myth around Parashurama.
Click to know more about the Whats, the Whys and the Hows of the custom!
King Yayati wanted to enjoy the pleasures of life for long and demanded that his sons trade their youth for his old age. Puru, his youngest son, satisfied his father’s lust for life by sacrificing his youth.
King Shantanu fell in love with a fisherwoman at an advanced stage of his life. His son, Devavrata, ensured that his father’s desire was satisfied even though it meant he would have to sacrifice his kingship and sex life forever!
Why do we find dominating fathers and submissive sons in Indian stories?
Bhishma, a key character in the Mahabharata, is known for the supreme sacrifice of his sex life for the sake of his father.
But this selfless act of his changed the patriarchal nature of the Kuru clan forever.
After Bhishma, we find succession in the Kuru throne becomes matrilineal, with the Kuru throne being handed down through the mother’s bloodline.
For more on the Bhishma story, check this video!
Kulture Katha 