Mahabharata: Volume 8 (5 page)
Read Mahabharata: Volume 8 Online
Authors: Bibek Debroy
Bibek Debroy
Souptika Parva refers to incidents that take place during the night. The word
supta
is used both as a noun and an adjective and, in this context, means events that take place when people are asleep. The parva is named accordingly. In the 18-parva classification, Souptika Parva is the tenth. In the 100-parva classification, Souptika Parva constitutes Sections 78 to 79. Souptika Parva is a short parva and only has eighteen chapters. In the numbering of the chapters in Souptika Parva, the first number is a consecutive one, starting with the beginning of the Mahabharata. And the second number, within brackets, is the numbering of the chapter within Souptika Parva.
This parva has 515 shlokas and nine chapters.
In the night, Ashvatthama sees an owl kill sleeping crows and decides that the Pandavas and Panchalas should be killed in the night, while they are asleep. Kripa and Kritavarma try to dissuade Ashvatthama, but fail. Ashvatthama worships Shiva and Shiva enters his body. Ashvatthama kills Dhrishtadyumna, Shikhandi, Uttamouja, Yudhamanyu, other Panchalas and Droupadi’s sons. This information is conveyed to Duryodhana and Duryodhana dies.
‘Sanjaya said, “Together, those brave ones
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then headed in a southern direction. At a time when the sun was about to set,
they reached the camp.
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They unyoked their mounts and were terrified. They went to a deserted region and entered it. They were not very far away from where the soldiers were encamped. They were mangled, all over their bodies, with sharp weapons. They let out long and warm sighs and thought of the Pandavas. They heard the fierce roars emitted by the Pandavas, who were desirous of victory. Fearing that they would be pursued, they again fled in an eastern direction. However, after travelling for some time, they were thirsty and their mounts were exhausted. Those great archers could not tolerate what had happened and were overcome by anger and vindictiveness. They were tormented that the king
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had been killed and rested for some time.”
‘Dhritarashtra said, “O Sanjaya! The task that Bhima performed is deserving of honour. He brought down my son, who possessed the strength of ten thousand elephants. He was young and could withstand the
vajra
. All beings were incapable of slaying him. O son of Gavalgana!
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Men cannot overcome destiny. In the battle, the Parthas clashed against my son and brought him down. O Sanjaya! It is certain that my heart is made out of stone. Despite having heard about the death of one hundred of my sons, it has not shattered into one thousand fragments. When their sons have been slain, what will become of this aged couple?
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I am not interested in dwelling in the dominion of the Pandaveyas. O Sanjaya! How can I? I have myself been a king. I have been the father of a king. How can I be a servant who follows Pandaveya’s commands? O Sanjaya! I have commanded the entire earth and have placed my feet on its head. How can I be reduced to this difficult state of being a servant? O Sanjaya! How can I bear to hear Bhima’s words? He has single-handedly killed one hundred of my sons. The words that the great-souled Vidura spoke have come to be true. O Sanjaya! My son did not act in accordance with those words.
O son!
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My son, Duryodhana, has been slain through
adharma
.
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O Sanjaya! What did Kritavarma, Kripa and Drona’s son do?”
‘Sanjaya replied, “O king! After those on your side had travelled a short distance, they saw a fierce forest. It was full of many trees and creepers. They rested there for some time and those supreme horses obtained water. At the time when the sun was setting, they entered that great forest. It was full of large numbers of many kinds of animals and many birds. There were diverse trees and creepers and it was full of many kinds of predatory beasts. There were many beautiful ponds, full of water. These were covered with hundreds of lotuses and blue lotuses. Having entered that terrible forest, they glanced around in different directions. They saw a banyan tree
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there, with many thousands of branches. O king! Approaching that banyan tree, those
maharatha
s, best among men, saw that it was the best among trees. They descended from their chariots there and unyoked the horses. O lord! As is decreed, they washed themselves and performed the evening rites. At that time, the sun had reached Mount Asta,
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the best of mountains. Night, the creator of the entire universe,
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manifested itself. In every direction, the sky was beautiful to behold. It was ornamented with planets,
nakshatra
s and stars.
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Beings which are powerful and roam during the night began to howl. Beings that roam during the day were overcome by sleep. Because of the shrieks of beings that roam in the night, it became extremely fearful. Predatory beasts were delighted and the night became terrible. Kritavarma, Kripa and Drona’s son sat down together. It was the
beginning of that terrible night and they were overcome by grief and sorrow. They sat down under the banyan tree and sorrowed about the destruction that had encompassed the Kurus and the Pandaveyas. Their limbs were overtaken by sleep and they lay down on the surface of the ground. They were greatly exhausted and wounded by many arrows. Maharatha Kripa and Bhoja
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succumbed to sleep. They deserved happiness and did not deserve this misery. However, they slept on the surface of the ground. O great king! They slept, overcome by exhaustion and sorrow.
‘“O descendant of the Bharata lineage! But Drona’s son was flooded with wrath and intolerance. He could not sleep and sighed like a snake. He could not obtain any sleep and was tormented by anger. The mighty-armed one glanced at the forest, which was terrible to behold. He glanced towards the forest, inhabited by many beings. The mighty-armed one saw the banyan tree, inhabited by tens of thousands of crows.
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Thousands of crows spent the night there. O Kouravya! Resorting to separate perches, they slept happily. In every direction, those crows were at ease and slept. He
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saw that an owl, terrible in appearance, suddenly arrived. Its shriek was horrible and it was gigantic in form. Its eyes were tawny and its plumage was reddish brown. Its nose and talons were extremely long. It possessed the speed of Suparna.
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O descendant of the Bharata lineage! Making only the slightest bit of noise, that bird approached the branches of the banyan tree. The bird descended on the branch of the banyan tree and having descended, killed an extremely large number of crows. It tore away the wings of some and severed the heads of others. With the talons on its feet, it broke the legs of others. It was powerful and in a short while, destroyed the ones it could see. O lord of the earth! Every side of that banyan tree was strewn with limbs and bodies.
Having slain the crows, the owl was delighted. It was the destroyer of its enemies and had acted against its enemies as it willed.
‘“On witnessing the deceitful act perpetrated by the owl in the night, Drona’s son began to think and arrived at a conclusion. ‘For the battle, this bird has given me an instruction. I wish to destroy the enemy and it is my view that the time has come. The victorious Pandavas are incapable of being slain by me. They are powerful and full of enterprise. They are strikers who accomplish their objectives. But, in the king’s
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presence, I pledged to kill them. I will destroy myself, like an insect engaged in entering a fire. If I fight through fair means, there is no doubt that I will lose my life. However, there will be success through deceit and great destruction of the enemy. People who are skilled about sacred texts also abundantly praise certain methods over those that are uncertain. There will be words of censure and reprimand from the worlds. But a man who has embarked on the dharma of kshatriyas must bear them. The Pandavas, firm in their enmity, have committed acts of deceit at every step, even though they have been censured and reprimanded by everyone. On this, those who have thought about dharma have sung a song earlier and it has been heard. They knew about what was right and proper and recounted these shlokas. “The forces of the enemy must be struck, whether they are exhausted, shattered, eating, retreating or entering.
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Whether they are sleeping in the middle of the night, whether their paths of progress have been destroyed, whether their warriors have been slain and whether the forces are hesitant or not, one must act in the same way.”’ Thinking in this way, Drona’s powerful son resolved to slay the Pandu and Panchala warriors while they slept.
‘“Having arrived at this cruel decision and thinking about it repeatedly, he awoke Bhoja and his maternal uncle,
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who were asleep and told them. They were overcome with shame and did not reply. Having thought for some time, in a voice that was distracted and
choking with tears, he
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said, ‘King Duryodhana was immensely strong and the only brave one. He has been killed. It is for his sake that we were engaged in this enmity with the Pandavas. He was the lord of eleven armies.
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He fought single-handedly with many wicked ones and was brought down by Bhimasena, who acted with the valour of a shudra. Vrikodara also performed an inferior and extremely cruel deed. He kicked the head of one who had been consecrated with his feet. The Panchalas are roaring, singing and laughing at this. In their joy, they are blowing on hundreds of conch shells and beating on their drums. That tumultuous sound of musical instruments is mixing with the blare of conch shells. Those fierce sounds are borne by the wind and are filling the directions. The horses are neighing and the elephants are trumpeting. The brave ones are roaring like lions and that great sound can be heard. From the eastern direction,
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those fierce sounds of rejoicing can be heard. The clatter of chariot wheels can be heard and it makes the body hair stand up. The Pandavas created great carnage among the sons of Dhritarashtra and the three of us are the only ones who have survived. Some of them possessed the life force of one hundred elephants. Some of them were skilled in the use of all kinds of weapons. But they have been killed by the Pandaveyas. I think that this is destiny. There is no doubt that deeds lead to such an end. Even if one performs extremely difficult deeds, this is the outcome of that. If your wisdom has not been clouded by your confusion, given this great calamity, decide and tell us about the best course of action.’”’
‘“Kripa said, ‘O lord! Your words are full of reason and we have heard everything that you have said. O mighty-
armed one! But listen to some words I am about to tell you. All men are tied down by two things, restrictions
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and deeds. There is nothing superior to destiny and human action. O supreme one! Success does not come from destiny, to the exclusion of deeds. Nor do deeds alone succeed. Success comes from the union of the two. Everything, whether it is superior or inferior, is tied down by these two. Whether it is engagement, or whether it is withdrawal, everything is seen to depend on these.
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What fruits are obtained when rain showers down on a mountain? What fruits are obtained when rain showers down on a ploughed field? Both exertion with an unfavourable destiny and a favourable destiny without exertion are always unsuccessful. What I have said earlier is correct. If the destiny of rain showers down on a field that has been properly tilled, seedlings of great qualities result. Human success is like that. Sometimes, having made up its mind, destiny follows its own course. However, according to their capacity, the wise resort to manliness. O bull among men! All human objectives are accomplished by those two.
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Engagement and withdrawal are seen to be the result of this. One can resort to manliness, but success depends on destiny. One undertakes tasks based on that and consequent fruits follow. In this world, it is seen that the enterprise of skilled humans, if unaccompanied by destiny, are completely unsuccessful. That is the reason why lazy and ignorant men disapprove of enterprise. But this does not appeal to those who are wise. On earth, deeds are often seen to be unsuccessful. However, the lack of action is also seen to lead to the great fruit of misery. No one can be seen to obtain what he desires without action, nor is there one who obtains nothing after exertion. An industrious person is capable of sustaining life. A lazy person never obtains happiness. In this mortal world, it is often seen that industrious people want to ensure their own welfare. If an industrious person undertakes action and fails to obtain the fruits, he is not reprimanded in the slightest possible way. However,
if one does not undertake action and yet obtains fruits, he is usually censured and hated. A person who disregards this and acts in a contrary way, injures himself. That is what intelligent people say. Enterprise does not give rise to fruits because of two reasons, either because manliness is lacking, or because destiny is deficient. If there is a lack of enterprise, no task ever becomes successful. If an industrious and skilled person acts, after bowing down to destiny, the accomplishment of objectives is never baffled. This is also true of those who serve the elders and after asking them, act in accordance with their beneficial words. If, after asking those who are revered by the aged, one resorts to enterprise, one always obtains supreme success. It is said that this is the root of success. If one listens to the words of elders and then engages in tasks, one soon obtains all the fruits. However, a man who seeks to obtain his objective because of passion, anger, fear and avarice has no control and is soon dislodged from his prosperity. This Duryodhana sought to obtain his objective because of his greed. He was not far-sighted. He began a task that was not approved of. He was foolish and did not think. He disregarded the beneficial words of the intelligent and sought the counsel of those who were wicked. Though he was dissuaded, he engaged in an enmity with the Pandavas, who were superior to him in qualities. Right from the beginning, he was evil in conduct and could not control his meanness. He did not follow the advice of his friends and has been tormented through this catastrophe. We also followed that wicked man. That is the reason we have confronted this great and terrible calamity. This great calamity has overtaken me now. Even if I use my intelligence, I cannot fathom what is good for us. A man who is confused should ask his learned well-wishers. Having asked them, he should act in accordance with their words. Therefore, let us unite and go to Dhritarashtra, Gandhari and the immensely intelligent Vidura. Let us ask them. Asked by us, they will tell us what is beneficial for us next. We should then act according to what they say. That is my firm view. One should never embark on a task that will lead to disaster. If one resorts to enterprise and that task is unsuccessful, one should certainly deduce that the task is not favoured by destiny.’”’