Mahabharata characters 57 – Arjun 20 – World conquest for Ashwamedha-yajna

This talk is a part of the “Fascinating Mahabharata Characters” series. To know more about this course, please visit: bhakticourses.com

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Welcome back to the Mahabharata character series. We are discussing about Arjuna.
The Kurukshetra war is over where Arjuna has demonstrated unparalleled valor and he has ensured that Dharmaraj Yudhishthira is coronated as the emperor of the world. And now he is going to, Arjuna is going to set up a campaign of the world, of world conquest to ensure that Yudhishthira Maharaj successfully performs the Ashwamedha yajna. Yudhishthira Maharaj had earlier performed the Rajasuya yajna.
So the same king cannot perform the same yajna second time. But still at this time, Yudhishthira had performed earlier the Rajasuya yajna so that Krishna’s glories would be established because through that yajna he would ensure that Krishna would be established as the topmost worshipper of the, as the topmost person, the person receiving the Agra Puja, the Agra Purusha. Now the devotion of the Pandavas to Krishna was known to people all over the world and Krishna’s glories had also been revealed to the world.
Now he was performing the Rajasuya Ashwamedha yajna to ensure that the world was set on the path of Dharma. Of course most of the adharmic kings had been killed but many of the other, many of these kings had their relatives, had their sons, cousins or grandsons who had the same adharmic mindset and further they were also inimical to the Pandavas and they were likely to disrupt the law and order that was essential for the practice and propagation of Dharma. So for the well-being of people, Yudhishthira felt his duty to ensure that the world was set on the path of righteousness.
So the point of these kind of yajnas, although it involves violence and it involves bloodshed, the point is that in this world we cannot have peace without force. That’s why often in places there is peacekeeping force. So here Yudhishthira’s goal was that if the kings were going to, if some kings would allow unrighteousness to continue in their kingdom, then that would lead, that would itself lead to adharma and it would lead to further adharma and eventually violence would come up.
So he wanted to ensure that the world was set on the path of righteousness and so he told Arjuna that actually when you go around with the horse, the Ashwamedha, Ashwa, Ashwa is horse, so at that time try to avoid violence as much as possible. Try to avoid bloodshed as much as possible. So Arjuna also took a conciliatory attitude whenever possible.
Now actually Arjuna did something extraordinary for Yudhishthira even before doing this most extraordinary thing of world conquest. For doing a sacrifice a lot of wealth is required, stupendous amount of wealth, which of course what is done with that wealth is it’s used to perform sacrifices and after sacrifice gifts are given and and charity is given to the brahmins and all the people, citizens in general are fed sumptuously and everybody gets benefited. But to do all this, a festival of that magnitude especially where all the kings from various parts of the world would be coming, it would require huge expenditure.
So just the tributes from the other kings would not be enough. So he consulted the sages about now because of the huge war and after the war Yudhishthira had taken many many measures for the rehabilitation of citizens. He had established centers for taking care of the widows, he had established places for education, for treatment and we had practically restored the whole kingdom back.
The kingdom that had been devastated he restored it back after the kind of war that was there where 18 Akshahudis were killed and so much the kingdom would have been disrupted. But Yudhishthira had pumped out generously from the state treasury the resources required for ensuring that the country was, that his kingdom was rehabilitated, restored to proper level of living. But now for the further performance of sacrifice he did not have wealth.
So the sages told him that in the north there is a vast reservoir of wealth that is there. Long ago there was a king named Marut who had performed severe austerity to please Lord Shiva. Lord Shiva is the lord of Durga.
She is the goddess of the material world and she is also the bestower of material opulence. So when he performed that sacrifice Lord Shiva had given him practically a mountain of gold and he had used this to make gold utensils and gold containers and everything and practically all the paraphernalia had been made of gold and the sages, the brahmins who had come for taking charity they had accepted paraphernalia so much that they took a little and left. Now we may think this is impossible, how is it possible? But the point is that even now we get gold, some quantity of gold from the earth.
How does it come and what determines the quantity of the gold that comes from the earth? We may give some complex geological processes that lead to the production of gold but ultimately these things are controlled by the lord and when the lord is pleased he can give profuse quantities of resources. So now the lord or his representative like Lord Shiva he can create these things abundantly. So even soil productivity for example or the cow’s milk productivity, these things vary depending on time, place, circumstance.
So we cannot assume that what we are able to perceive or experience that is what is the reality throughout. So there was stupendous amount of wealth and that wealth had just been left as it is. So he told that now that kingdom which had been there, it was now far in the remote and accessible areas.
So he told Arjuna, Yudhishthir, it was told by the sages, brahmins that send Arjuna and he can go there and get the wealth. Now actually when Arjuna went there and he brought back huge quantities of wealth, more than enough for the sacrifice. Now for getting this wealth, it is said that Arjuna got the name Dhananjaya, one dhana, dhana means wealth, one who got the wealth, Dhananjaya.
Now the question comes up, actually normally a person gets some glorious name because of, some name because of doing something glorious. Now yes, getting wealth seemed to be glorious, but isn’t wealth a material thing? So why should Arjuna have a name based on that? And especially when Arjuna had got the wealth without really much effort, the wealth was just lying there, Arjuna went and got it. It was not that Arjuna had to fight a war, kill some formidable warriors and then he got the wealth.
And interestingly if you see, this name, if we are to say from the point of literal historical dating, that Arjuna got the name Dhananjaya because of getting this wealth, then we have a problem of historical sequencing because in the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna uses the name Dhananjaya for Arjuna and the Mahabharata uses the name Dhananjaya frequently for, several times for Arjuna and yet this incident is practically towards the later part of the Mahabharata. This is the Ashwamedha Parva. So this is practically the 14th, 15th parvas now.
So now after this there is a parva of Dhritarashtra departing, Dhritarashtra attaining sannyas, Pandavas departing and the Pandavas attaining heaven. So then of course there is a parva of the Dwaraka Vasis fighting and destroying themselves also. So basically this is, but the major Mahabharata is over.
So this is like the 14th parva going on. Now also here, but the name has been used Dhananjaya several times earlier also. So we have to understand that the primary Dhan that is being referred to in the name Dhananjaya is not this wealth which was got.
The primary wealth is the wealth of virtue, the wealth of devotion, which Dhananjaya, Arjuna had throughout his life. Arjuna, we know that Pandu and Kunti performed great austerities for almost a year before they invoked Indra and they got a child in Kunti’s womb and that child became Arjuna and Arjuna as you know is Nara, Mount Nara and Rishi. So he said that this Nara is extraordinary person and he had the wealth of virtue and devotion always and that is the significance of his name.
Now of course getting the quantity of wealth required for performing a sacrifice, whatever be the means by which to get that wealth, that is not easy. So actually the name Dhananjaya refers not just to, so the name Dhananjaya may be associated with a particular past time, this past time of getting the wealth because that is also challenging task. Even if there is no war, but still getting that much wealth from a place over there, that was itself a significant task.
So Arjuna got that wealth safely and handed over to his brother. So his name was Dhananjaya for multiple reasons and when it comes before this incident, it refers to the Dhana of virtue and devotee that he had. So now after Arjuna got this wealth, then Yudhishthira told him that we will send the Ashwa.
So the Ashwamedha sacrifice was that the Ashwa, the horse will be free and wherever the horse goes, that is where the king or the warrior who is following the, warrior who is guarding the horse will go and whichever kingdom that horse goes to that kingdom has to accept the king who is performing the Ashwamedha, that king’s authority and be ready to offer tributes to attend and offer tributes when the sacrifice is held. So that was what was the plan. Now in this case, Arjuna decided, Arjuna followed the horse and Arjuna now, in the earlier, the Pandavas, when they had to conquer the world for the Rajya Yagya, four Pandavas went in four directions.
Arjuna had gone north. Now this time he has to follow the horse itself. So there’s no need for the other four Pandavas, so other three Pandavas apart from Yudhishthira.
So Arjuna decided to go himself and Arjuna had already established himself as a fearless warrior and most warriors did not want to fight with him, but still there were some who wanted to fight. So Arjuna had fought and killed Susharma and his brothers, the Trigartas. So he went, when he went to the king of Trigarta, there Dhrithavarman and Ketuvarman, who were rulers at that time, they offered a stiff fight, but despite the fight that they offered, there were no match to Arjuna and when Arjuna defeated them, they accepted Yudhishthira’s sovereignty and agreed to come for the sacrifice.
Then he went further and he came to Pragyotishapur. There Pragyotishapur had been earlier ruled by Narakasura whom Krishna had killed and his son Bhagadatta was there, whom, who had been killed by Arjuna and now Bhagadatta had his son Vajradatta and he came and fought fiercely and after three days of fight, then finally Krishna, Arjuna defeated Vajradatta and he spared his life when he agreed that I will come and offer sacrifices and then as the horse wandered it came to Manipur and when it came to Manipur, there actually long ago Krishna, Arjuna had come when he had gone on a pilgrimage and there he had married Chitrandada, the princess of Manipur and then her father had said that if you get a son, let that son become the king over here, let the son become the successor and so that had been the agreement and that’s why he had stayed there only in the kingdom and he had not participated in the Kurukshetra war. So when his son Chitrandada and Arjuna’s son, his name was Babruvahan, when he heard that his father had come, has come to his kingdom, he came out to welcome his father and he offered his respects and expressed his pleasure and his honour that his father had come to his kingdom, invited him to the palace.
Now Arjuna’s response, Arjuna’s response is most unexpected over here. Of course, Arjuna is a Kshatriya and he wanted to see the Kshatriya prowess of his son. So in that sense, it’s understandable.
So Arjuna told, you know, why are you acting in such an un-Kshatriya way? You know, I have come, another king demanding subordination. How can a Kshatriya accept subordination like this? If you have any heroism, fight, stand and fight with me. So Babruvahan, he had met his father for such a long time and he had no desire to fight.
But again and again, Arjuna made the same point. How can you be cowardly? Somebody comes to attack your kingdom, you must be competent to defend. Be ready to fight.
So then Babruvahan agreed and then he mounted on his chariot and Arjuna mounted on his chariot and they started fighting, fighting. So before that, what Babruvahan did is, he asked his soldiers, arrest, catch this horse and then he said, oh, this horse seems to be just guarded by some women. There is no one to protect this horse.
Arjuna became incensed. So now, sometimes in the war, things could become very fierce. So as they started fighting, oh, they are fighting in dead earnest.
So Babruvahan shot arrow after arrow. Arjuna counted his arrows. Arjuna was at one level pleased to see the valor of his son.
But then things became in dead earnest. Babruvahan shot a fierce arrow and it penetrated through the defenses of Arjuna and pierced into his shoulder. It went into his shoulder and Arjuna’s well-built frame shook and Arjuna almost lost consciousness.
He caught a pole on his chariot and stabilized. He said, excellent, excellent. He said, I am pleased with your archery skills.
Stay and fight now. And then Arjuna started using his full vigor and shooting arrow after arrow. And of course, Arjuna was a champion archer and he destroyed Babruvahan’s chariot.
He killed his horses and Babruvahan was now carless, horseless. But he was also fearless. Although he was in the ground, he kept fighting arrows, shooting arrows from the ground.
And finally, he took a celestial steel, which was ornamented with jewels and he invoked mantras and shot it. And it just spread with lightning speed and charged into Arjuna’s chest. And right in front of all the soldiers, Arjuna just fell from his chariot on the ground.
He was completely motionless, almost like dead. Babruvahan had also been wounded in the war. And when he saw his father had fallen dead, the emotional impact of that was so much that he also, because of his wounds and because of his grief, he also fell unconscious.
He says, alas, alas, what have I done? He was and after some time, he came back to consciousness. At that time, Ulupi was still there waiting. Actually, Ulupi is another wife of Arjuna, whose son Iravan had been killed in the war.
Actually, what had happened slightly before this was, when Arjuna was going Babruvahan to fight and Babruvahan was reluctant. So, at that time, Ulupi also appeared over there. And Ulupi told him that, I am a Naga goddess and I am also your mother.
And I have come here to tell you what will be best for you. So, now your father has come here. And if your father desires that you should fight with him, then it will be best for you to follow his instructions.
This is what I also desire. And he looked at his stepmother and he saw a thought. And at that time, he had agreed.
But now, when such a disaster had happened, he had killed his father. He was horrified. And he looked at Ulupi.
Ulupi was just looking gravely at him without saying anything. He caught his hand in his hand and Babruvahan said, what a terrible deed I have done. I have killed my own father.
What atonement can I do for this? Indeed, there is no atonement except giving up my own life. And where Arjuna was lying motionless on the ground, Babruvahan sat next to him. So, Arjuna was not just motionless, Arjuna also seemed breathless.
He seemed for all practical purposes dead. That’s why Babruvahan was devastated. And he sat down in a yogic posture to do prayavrat, to fast till death.
And soldiers who had been watching, they ran into the palace and they told Chitrangada the news. And Chitrangada came and she saw her husband lying on the ground like dead and her son about to fast to death. She was horrified, shocked, devastated.
And tears in her eyes, she came and fell in front of Arjuna and she looked at her son and she saw Ulupi in the background. And she had got the news that she had been horrified. You know, why did my son fight with my husband? And then she had got the news that Ulupi had said, told her.
Then she said, Ulupi, oh lady, you are a goddess. You are a goddess. Please revive my husband.
Please revive our husband. He said, you know, how did you cause a fight to take place between, let a fight to take place or cause a fight to take place between the son and the father? If Arjuna had offended him in some way, then as a wife you should have forgiven him. How could you have caused the death of your husband? Please, you have mystic powers.
You are a goddess. Do something. Save her.
Save our husband. So Babruvahan was also wracked by regret from within. And he looked at Ulupi and Ulupi smiled and she said that fear, do not fear.
He is not dead, pointing to Arjuna. Even if it appears to be so, a fresh ray of hope and joy emerged in the heart of Babruvahan and Chitrangada. And they looked at Arjuna again.
He said that he is a sage of indestructible soul. Not even Indra can kill him. And he took out a jewel and she told that she told Babruvahan, take this jewel and touch it to Arjuna’s body.
She took it to Arjuna’s body and just as soon as she touched the body of Arjuna, Arjuna immediately became conscious. And both his wife Ulupi and his son Babruvahan, both of them became overjoyed. And then they turned to, seeing this, Arjuna was surprised, why am I lying on the ground and why are my two wives here? And what is happening? So he told, he looked at them and he said no.
He said, then they explained, Babruvahan explained how he had shot an arrow and he killed and then how he has been revived by a jewel. They turned to Ulupi and asked, what is this jewel? And Ulupi told the story. She said that I heard that she, Ulupi, used to live in the waters.
So she had, she was associated with the waters and then once she was near the Ganga, at that time the Vasus had come. Now Bhishma was one of the Vasus. So the Vasus had come and they said that this wretched Arjuna has killed the killed Bhishma unfairly.
And they were telling this to Ganga. Bhishma was also the son of Ganga. He says, your son has been killed unfairly and that’s why we are going to punish him.
As a punishment, we will kill him. Now, of course, now Bhishma’s killing was not sinful because Krishna had sanctioned it and Bhishma himself had wanted it that way. And not only that, Bhishma, that was, that was what was the odd industry.
But the Vasus felt that way. And the Vasus were powerful. Now we have to understand that the demigod agents of the Lord are not perfect.
They also have their feelings. You see, Arjuna, sometimes Andhra becomes angry as he did in the Govardhan Leela and he wanted to destroy the Rajivasis. So although he’s a representative of God, there he was not acting as a representative of God.
He was acting inimical to the will of God or independent of the will of God. So the Vasus judgment is not necessarily the Mahabharata judgment. It is not necessarily the scripture of confusion.
But they felt that Arjuna had sinned and therefore Arjuna has to be punished. Now it is true that the killing of Bhishma was by non-standard, by means that were non-standard in Kshatriya culture. So Shikhandi was there and Arjuna was shooting from behind Shikhandi.
So they had decided that he should be killed. So then Ulupi was panic struck and she ran to her father and told her father what she had overheard. And her father went to the Vasus and explained the whole situation and begged that they not let, did not cause his daughter to become a widow.
The Vasus also knew that their anger was there, but then Arjuna’s cause was also genuine because he was working for Krishna. So Vasu said that yes, no, he is like a son or a grandson who has killed his father. So he has killed his grandfather.
So he will also have to be killed in the same way. And he has a son Babruvahan who is matchless in valor and power. And he, Arjuna in a war will be felled by Babruvahan.
And in this way, our world will come true. And now her father came and told her and then her father told about this jewel. This jewel has the power to bring the dead back to life.
So that’s why I brought this jewel with me. And that’s why I had caused Babruvahan to fight with you. So whatever sin might have been there because of the killing of Bhishma, now that has gone.
So Arjuna heard the story and he approved what Ulupi had done. When Babruvahan invited Arjuna to come and stay in the kingdom and stay with his two wives for some time, Arjuna said, no, I am on a mission. I have to serve Yudhishthira.
That is my foremost duty right now. And then Arjuna departed from there. So Arjuna went further and he came to the kingdom of Saindhava, Sindhu kingdom.
So there, now Sindhura, Jaidrath had been killed by Arjuna. And the other Sindhu warriors were angry with Arjuna for that and they came out and started fighting, fighting. Now they were there, they were empowered by anger, but anger is no match to skill.
And Arjuna was grinding them down, slowly destroying them. So seeing this, Dushala, hearing this, Dushala was the sister of Duryodhana and she came running out and she got a small baby with her. She said, oh Arjuna, stop, stop, stop, please do not fight.
She said, see this child. He says, the father of this boy, the son of Jaidrath, you know, when his father, when his father, that is Jaidrath died, Jaidrath’s son also gave up his body in grief. And now this child who has no father or grandfather will you kill his other guardians also and destroy the whole Sindhu race? So seeing this, hearing the words of Dushala and seeing the tender child, Duryodhana, fire on Duryodhana who has caused such destruction in the world.
He got off his chariot and he consoled Dushala and Dushala signaled to the warriors. He said that, you know, arrive at an agreement with us, with Arjuna and please do not fight. And then Arjuna made a peaceful settlement and then he went to kingdom of Rajagriha.
Rajagriha had earlier been the kingdom of Jarasandh, where Arjuna, Bhima and Krishna had come to and Bhima had overpowered Jarasandh in a wrestling match, fought for 27-28 days. And then after that, so here in Rajagriha, Megasandhi, the son of Jarasandh was a boy, but according to Kshatriya codes, he fought, not accepting Arjuna’s Yudhishthira sovereignty passively. And they fought fiercely, fiercely, but soon Arjuna overpowered them, overpowered him.
And then he agreed to offer tributes to Yudhishthira. And then Krishna in the meanwhile came from Dwaraka and Arjuna had gone practically all around and Krishna gave news that Arjuna is just coming, is on his way. And Yudhishthira made full preparation to sacrifice, knowing that Arjuna had succeeded in the campaign of world conquest.
And then Arjuna came and he brought almost endless supply of tributes. And when he mentioned sacrifice was performed, there was practically nothing that was not of gold. And all the attendants, the citizens, the guests, they were astounded to see the opulence.
And seeing such enormous opulence, Vyasadeva told Yudhishthira that whatever sacrifice quantity of things paraphernalia is used for the sacrifice, offer three times of that. If you offer three times of that, in one ashwamedh sacrifice, you will get the results of three ashwamedh sacrifices. And in this way, Arjuna, once again, as he had done before the Kurukshetra war by helping in the Rajasuya yagya, as he had done in the Kurukshetra war by killing most of the formidable warriors, and similarly he did at the end of the Kurukshetra war at the time of ashwamedh yagya.
This way Arjuna was himself a great warrior and he did great feats in the service of Krishna and service of Yudhishthira, who is himself a great Dharmaraj and a great devotee of Krishna. Thank you very much.