Unknown Facts : Mahabharata and Lord Krishna!
Mahabharata, which is one of the biggest Epics in Hindu culture, is a very deep story. However it is surrounded by many myths and many things are today also misunderstood by the generation. I will be talking about some of them in this blog.

- The term “अंघॆ का पुत्र अंघा” is very famous among some of the known dialogues or conversations that ultimately caused the war to break out. However, Draupadi is said to have spoke this when Duryodhan visits the palace of 'Indraprasth' for the first time and falls into a pond. But Draupadi was not so illiterate that she’d have said such cheap comment. However, the truth is that the दासी standing beside Draupadi had actually commented this, listening to which Draupadi laughed and Duryodhan went in the mindset that Draupadi laughed on me. So, Duryodhan decided to play Gambling or ‘जुआ’ through which, he won Draupadi and decided to do चीर हरण of her. This is also why today also, Gambling is played specially on the day of Janmashtami.
- The Pandavas are fondly known for their power, unity, brotherhood and many other individual calibers that they possessed. But they are also known for one more thing, that is, taking pledge or ‘प्रतिज्ञा’ for almost everything, due to which they sometimes faced trouble, and without going into any kind of dilemna, they just went on to satisfy their pledge without thinking about anything. It so once happened that Yudhistir and Karna came face to face on Kurukshetra during the war. Well, we all know that Karna was a senior is Archery Knowledge than Yudhistir. It was obvious that Yudhishtir got injured from the arrows of Karna and went into the tent (छावनी) for healing. As soon as Arjun came to know about his brother’s injury, he came to the tent to see Yudhishtir. On seeing Arjun, Yudhishtir got angry and said to Arjun - “If Karna is still alive, you don’t have any right to keep your गांडीव (Arjun’s Bow and Arrow). Arjun got angry and said that now I’ll have to kill Yudhishtir as I have taken a pledge to kill anyone who insults my गांडीव। As he was about to kill Yudhishtir, Lord Krishna, who was already present there, stopped Arjun. He found a way.
Stop Arjun! You want to kill your brother? So, abuse him in your soul and he’ll die in your soul.
So, Arjun abused Yudhishtir. But then he had take another pledge to kill anyone who abuses his brother. Lord Krishna again stopped Arjun when he was about to kill himself. He then said,
Now, you want to kill yourself, right? So, praise yourself in your soul and you’ll die in your soul.
In this way, Lord Krishna saved the two great warriors from dying.
- We all celebrate Janmashtami every year. Well, this is being practiced from past 5000 years! But isn’t it strange that the practice is still from past 5000 years but the ascendents of Krishna are not there! Well this too has a interesting story behind it! On the night prior to the death of Duryodhan, Lord Krishna visited Gandhari to offer condolences. On this, Gandhari got angry as she realised that Lord Krishna could stop the war if he wanted and save his son from dying. So, she cursed Lord Krishna that after 36 years of your (Krishna’s) death, his ascendent or ‘वंश’, which was Yaduvansh, would perish; to which, Lord Krishna said तथास्तु (so be it), because Lord Krishna knew that his kingdom had become sinful and had no reason to flourish.

- Radha and Krishna are a fondly known pair in the Indian mythology, not often associated with terms such as ‘राधे कृष्ण’ and many more but the actual matter of fact is that books and writings on the life of Lord Krishna such as Bhagavad Gita, Harivansham, etc do not contain any proof of the existence of Radha. In fact, if we consider the existence of Radha true, as in some of the stories, the myth lies that Lord Krishna had left Gokul at the age of 9 and Radha is associated with Gokul only.

- Lord Krishna is also known for his planning or ‘रणनीति’. This reminds of one instance, when Lord Krishna, according to the rituals, had visited the Kauravas for the last attempt to stop the war of Mahabharata to be held. However, Lord Krishna wanted the war to happen but just obey the rituals, he visited. Duryodhan had made nice arrangements for Lord Krishna to stay but Lord Krishna declined and said that he would stay with Vidur who was, at that time, with Kauravas. It so happened that, next day, Duryodhan insulted Vidur in the assembly Hall and claimed that he had made friendship with an enemy (Lord Krishna). On this, Vidur got extremely angry and broke his ammunition (हथियार) on the spot and pledged that he would not participate in the war. It is said that this was the game plan of Lord Krishna as he knew everything. If he would not stay with Vidur, all this would not happen and Vidur would not break his ammunition, which was even more powerful than Arjun’s गांडीव and with Vidur in the war, it was impossible for the Pandavas to win the war. At one spot, during the war, Duryodhan warned Krishna that he can order Vidur to participate in the war. On this Lord Krishna said, that if Vidur can violate his pledge, then I will also forget that I can’t fight the war!
Well, I have a lot to talk about History and Myths, but for now, that’s all. I will be sharing another myths in my next blog. HOPE YOU LIKED IT!
