Mahabharata characters 59 – Sahadeva – Using intelligence in the service of dharma

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.
Hare Krishna. Hare Krishna.
Welcome back to the Mahabharata character series. We are discussing about Sahadev, the youngest of the Pandava brothers. Sahadev literally means with the gods.
So he had many godly qualities, especially he’s considered to be extremely learned in scripture and very wise. So in fact Yudhishthira, who was considered Dharmaraj and who was also very learned in scripture, he would say glorifying Sahadev that there is no one equal to him in scripture. His scripture knowledge is like that of Brihaspati.
Sahadev was also a formidable warrior, a maharathi. He was also very good in horse fighting, horse riding and sword fighting. All the Pandavas were good in using bows and arrows.
Arjuna was outstanding. He was also a maharathi and he was a very good tactical planner and advisor, especially because of his wisdom and he was also very eloquent. So among his many glorious moments in the Mahabharata, one of the most important roles that he does is when the Rajasuya Yajna is to be performed and at that time the Agra Purush is to be chosen.
So Yudhishthira asks for proposals and it is at the time Sahadev proposes, let Krishna be made the Agra Purush. He says there is no one equal to Krishna, what to speak of in this assembly, what to speak of in this world, even in the three worlds. In fact all the great sages glorify Krishna as the original primeval person, the supreme lord, the god of all the gods and although there are powerful celestial personalities like the sages and Brahma and Shiva, Krishna is their lord too and we cannot find any person worthy for the honor of the Agra Puja as much as is Krishna and the perfection of our whole Rajasuya Yajna if Krishna is glorified and he glorifies Krishna’s position and with great profusion and eloquence and everybody is pleased by it.
Bhishma seconds it and the kings who hear this cheer him and then it is Shishupal alone who opposes. At that time Shishupal counters almost blaspheming Krishna. He says who knows where he was born.
He was sometimes Vaishya, then he became a Kshatriya but sometimes he ran away from battle field like a coward and he started blaspheming. So Sahadev counters it all and speaks forcefully saying that there is no one who can match the glory of Krishna. He sticks out his neck for that purpose.
Then Sahadev’s word is also again strongly seconded by Bhishma and eventually of course Krishna himself unleashes the Sudarshan Chakra and silences Shishupal permanently. But there Sahadev uses his intelligence and his eloquence to ensure that Yudhishthira Maharaj’s desire that Krishna be made the Agra Purusha, the recipient of the foremost worship in Rajasuya, that desire be fulfilled. Now Sahadev before the Rajasuya Yajna also, he is asked to go towards the south and when he goes to the south, he is actually, Bhishma says that especially Sahadev should go south because southern warriors are often known to be good sword fighters and Sahadev is a good sword fighter.
So when he goes, he meets many formidable warriors over there. So now the southern part is where most of the action of the Ramayana took place. So when he goes to south, he meets Mahinda and Vividha.
They are Vanaras. They have been there also in Ram Leela and they are there ruling Kishkindha and they put up a stiff fight and Sahadev fights heroically and goes on for one day and the Vanaras are stunned. They feel that we are so powerful.
Who is this? Sahadev is just a warrior. How is he having so much strength? Second day the war goes on. Third day and Sahadev is unflinching in his determination to ensure that Yudhishthira Maharaj gets the imperial glory and for that he is ready to do anything and everything and as he waits and keeps fighting, third day, fourth day, fifth day, seven days the war goes on and at the end of the seventh day, Mahinda and Vividha are completely exhausted.
Their forces are devastated and Sahadev is just fighting on and on and on. There is no stopping him. It is zeal to ensure that ultimately Krishna is glorified and finally Mahinda and Vividha surrender and then they accept the glory of Yudhishthira and they agree to come and contribute to Piyush.
Then he goes forward and another historic fight he has is at Mahishmati. Mahishmati has long ago been the capital of Kartavirarjuna and now it is the capital of the king Neela. Now Neela had a very beautiful daughter and once when Akrudev was going through the airways, he saw Neela’s daughter and he fell in love with her and then he came and asked for the hand to Neela and Neela agreed and he requested that you please protect my kingdom by your power.
So, knowing that Akrudev was protecting him, so when Sahadev came to ask that Neela agree to come and attend and offer tribute to Yudhishthira’s Rajasuya Yajna, Neela refused and when the fight was about to start, suddenly a huge fire came up and Sahadev found that all his warriors were just being burnt, burnt, burnt and he was stunned to see this and then he just with his great wisdom he understood what was happening and he understood that it is Akrudev who is the guardian and Akrudev is protecting by putting fire. So, immediately God of his chariot or his fleet, he started offering obeisances to Agni and started chanting joyous prayers in praise of Agni and the prayers were his eloquence and his intelligence. He recited such beautiful prayers that those prayers appeased Agni and then Agni came, appeared himself and he blessed him and he said that I am pleased with your prayers.
I was only testing you and he said that Agni knew Arjuna, another Pandava, brother of Sahadev, had done him a great favor when Agni had been given the Khandava forest as Brahmandan and he had then burned the forest. So, at that time, Arjuna had done him a favor and he said, the Pandavas are great devotees of the Lord and Yudhishthir is Dharmaraj. So, he does deserve to do Rajshri sacrifice.
So, then Agni turned to Neela and he said that attending Yudhishthir’s Rajshri sacrifice will only add to your glory. Please go there. And when Neela saw that his guardian deity was instructing him, immediately Neela agreed and Sahadev went forward.
Sahadev went further to south and he met many other kings over there. When he met Vibhishan, Vibhishan actually welcomed him and gave him abandoned tributes and with those tributes, he came back. And then he ensured that the whole southern direction was conquered and it was ready for Yudhishthir’s sovereignty, paramountcy.
And then afterwards, when the gambling match took place and the Pandavas were exiled, now because Sahadev was the youngest among the five Pandavas and also because Sahadev was the son of Madari, Kunti, in order to make sure that they didn’t feel unduly the loss and the absence of their mother, she showed special affection on the twins and especially she showed affection on Sahadev. And when the Pandavas had to go to the forest, she told Yudhishthir, you know, let Sahadev stay with me. All the other Pandavas can go.
Sahadev stay with me. And she turned to Sahadev and she said, oh Sahadev, you know, you stay here and you earn the merit of serving your mother and let the other go in the forest and they can serve the sentence. So at that time, the Pandavas broke into tears seeing Kunti’s plight.
Sahadev especially cried. Although he was a Kshatriya hero, the pain of his mother, for all practical purposes, Kunti had become their mother and pain of mother was too unbearable. And when he departed, then again Kunti, unable to contain her affection, she told Draupadi, you know, Sahadev is very dear to my heart.
Please take special care of Sahadev. And Draupadi offered her respects to Kunti and said, so it will be. She assured him.
Now, prior to this in the assembly, when the fight was going on, at that time, when the gambling match was going on and eventually the Pandavas were dispossessed of everything. So when the Pandavas took vows, so at that time, Bhima took the vow to kill Duryodhana, Dushyasana and the Kauravas. And Arjuna took the vow to kill Karna and Sahadev took the vow to kill Shakuni.
And Shakuni was the person who was, you know, in one sense, the instrument. He was also the root. Of course, the root was Duryodhana’s envy, but the root of the scheming specifically, how things should be done.
Shakuni was an evil person, cunning, malicious, evil. And Sahadev took the vow, I will kill you. And then the Pandavas went to the forest and they lived in the forest.
So in the last year, Sahadev took on the role of a cowherd named Tantripal. And among the Pandavas, they all had their own secret names. So his name was Jayadwal.
And he also worked heroically. He had a son through Draupadi’s name was Sutakarma. And he also was a heroic warrior.
Now, in the Pandava camp before the war started, at that time, different warriors were invited to actually propose who could be, who would do what role. So Sahadev, along with Sutakarma, and he had a son through another wife also, Suhotra, her name was. They all were there in the war, ready to fight.
And Sahadev also proposed who would be the commander. Nakula also proposed, Sahadev also proposed. Arjuna and Krishna, when they proposed that let Dhristadyumna be the commander, then ultimately everyone agreed, especially because Krishna suggested that.
And then after that, as they kept marching ahead into the war, Sahadev fought many wars with many maharathas. And he was especially powerful and successful in the war on many occasions against many maharathas. So especially his greatest day came on the 18th day.
So on the 18th day, Shalya had become the commander at the beginning. And the morale of the Kaurava forces was already very low, because the death of Karna had shaken them and it had especially shattered Duryodhana. Duryodhana, the next morning when he got up, his sorrow gradually changed to anger and he felt Karna had been killed unfairly and it should be avenged.
So they made Shalya the commander and they started to fight. And as they fought, so fought and fought and fought and Shalya was eventually killed by Yudhishthira, we discussed that. And then Yudhishthira fell at that time, Shalya fell.
Again seeing that the commander killed, the Kaurava forces started fleeing. So Duryodhana came forward and started shouting to his warriors to keep fighting, goading them, reminding them of the Kshatriya duty, reminding them of the inglory of fleeing from war. Some Kshatriyas, some soldiers returned, but still many of them were fleeing.
And at that time, Duryodhana realized his army had become a sorry sight. Less than an Akshahuni remained and those who remained were also bedraggled, demoralized and they were totally a sorry sight. It could scarcely be believed how his mighty army had come near an end.
At that time, Shakuni was fighting with Sahadev and Shakuni’s forces were annihilated by Sahadev. And when he found Shakuni’s forces annihilated, he just, Shakuni was aghast and he fled from the battle arena and came to Duryodhana and said to Duryodhana, okay, just open, just see what the Pandavas have done to my forces. They are all destroyed.
So actually on the last day, Arjuna also finally finished off the Trigartas by, on this day, he killed Susharman. So now Duryodhana looked, Duryodhana was fighting, but his heart was not and he still not, the thought that Karna was dead had not just, his heart could not accept it. He looked at Shakuni vacantly and he had just been looking at the battlefield, saw practically only Kripa, Krithavarman, Shakuni and a few of his brothers were remaining and then Bhima made short work of them quickly.
Actually, I am sorry, this was in 17th day only Bhima had made short work of everyone except Dushasan. So now he was the only Kaurava remaining. He looked at Arjuna and he just couldn’t believe it.
He looked at Shakuni. Shakuni was goading him to do something. No, they have killed my entire army.
Take revenge, Shakuni was saying. Duryodhana looked and he said, he started speaking his grief. I can hear the words of Vidura once again.
Alas, why did not I listen to those words? But then as he fell silent, Shakuni was also despondent and Duryodhana said, no, come uncle, we cannot go away from this war and this is the way of life of Kshatriyas. Let us fight and we may still overcome our enemy if we fight vigorously. And saying this, he charged on to the Pandavas and seeing him charging at their head, the remaining warrior soldiers who were also fleeing, they turned and started fighting and they charged with spirit wanting to revenge their warriors who had fallen.
But the Pandavas were prepared for them and the Pandavas fell upon the Kaurava forces and Duryodhana watched in shock and horror and dismay as he saw his remaining forces being annihilated, nothing was left. And as he found that one by one everybody was just getting destroyed, he turned in horror and then Shakuni was contending with Sahadev and right in front of Shakuni’s eyes, whatever his relatives were remaining, they all fell and they died. And as they died, Shakuni was horrified.
Shakuni fought and fought with Sahadev using his best weapons. Shakuni created some mystic illusions and he had some mystic weapons, demoniac illusions he created. For some time Sahadev was overcome but then Sahadev countered those illusions with celestial weapons and as the celestial weapons were countered by Sahadev, Shakuni realized that he had been exposed.
Shakuni turned and fled for his life. He was looking back as he was fleeing for his life. He was thinking how his life had gone awry.
Initially he had been envious, jealous, angry because he felt that his sister Gandhari had not been given to the heir. Instead of marrying her to Pandu, he had been married to blind Dhritarashtra. That had created within him a desire to destroy the dynasty which had taken the kingdom away from him.
So he had befriended Duryodhana and he poisoned Duryodhana more and more. And he knew in his heart that what he was doing was wrong but somehow he had hoped that by his cunning he would ultimately succeed. Now he realized that there was no escape.
So as he was fleeing, Sahadev charged after him. Sahadev was principled. He knew that he could not shoot arrows when a Kshatriya was fleeing.
But although Shakuni was fleeing, Sahadev had no intention of letting him go. They knew that the war was almost at the end and unless the main antagonists in the Kaurava side were killed, the war would not end. So as Shakuni was fleeing, Sahadev charged after him and then very intelligently he realized that the way he could kill Shakuni was he had to goad him.
He had to inflame whatever remaining Kshatriya pride was and make him turn back and fight. And he shouted at Shakuni. He said, oh fool, where are you fleeing now? Did you think that on the battlefield you could use your gambling dice and cheat us? Here on the battlefield, dice doesn’t work.
Bows and arrows work. You are a Kshatriya and you are meant to fight. How have you forgotten your duty, your honor, your pride and you’re fleeing like a coward.
You will have to pay for the crimes that you committed against us, for the great suffering that you caused. You will not be able to flee. Be a Kshatriya and fight.
Where are you fighting, fleeing like a coward? Shakuni, although his grief struck to see his army and his family annihilated, he felt incensed by Sahadev’s words and he turned around and he took a massive spear. It was like lightning sparkling in the sky and he hurled it at Sahadev. But even before it left his hand, Sahadev shot swift moving arrows and it just cut off from his hand.
It just fell off from his hand. So Shakuni took his bow and arrow and started shooting arrows. He started using celestial weapons.
Sahadev countered them one by one. Shakuni soon realized that he was running out of weapons. He was fighting with a frantic frenzy realizing that death was close now.
He kept shooting, shooting arrows, shooting one after another. Sahadev slowly but surely overcalled him remembering how Shakuni had played with the dice in his hand and it sounded cheerfully. Draupadi is won and I have won.
Those words of evil joy were resonating in Sahadev’s mind and he shot arrow after arrow in fury as he overcame Shakuni. And as Shakuni’s weapons started getting exhausted, he was trying to fight. Sahadev shot an arrow and while he was just trying to discharge his weapons, he cut off his one arm.
Then he cut off his second arm and Shakuni watched in horror to see himself armless and Sahadev took an arrow and shot off his head. And as Shakuni fell dead on the ground, the Kshikara troops, horrified to see their last big warrior, one of the last big warriors falling dead, they turned and fled. Duryodhana also fled from there and the war was practically over.
There was nobody left on the Kaurava side in the Kurukshetra war. Duryodhana fled. Krithavarman and Kripa also fled.
Ashwatthama had already retreated and the battlefield was a mutilated mass of blood and corpses, human as well as animals who had been slain. In this way, Sahadev redeemed his vow and thereafter, Sahadev served the Pandavas faithfully in the administration of Maharaja Yudhishthira. He was again an efficient organizer and coordinator and he took up many important responsibilities in the administration.
And eventually, when the Pandavas decided that the Mahaprasthana Yuga Parvata, they had to renounce the world. Then when they departed, Draupadi fell first and the second to fall was Sahadev. And Bhima asked Yudhishthira, why has Sahadev fallen? So Sahadev Yudhishthira was grave and he said, he was extremely learned but he was proud of his learning, thinking that there was no one equal to him, no one to match him and that pride in his learning has been the cause of his downfall.
Here in this Bhima remained grave and they moved forward. So again, was Sahadev proud of his learning? Sahadev was very learned and we never see him either usurping the position of any of the other Pandavas or countering any sages or doing anything inappropriate. He was always very principled, very submissive, very obedient, very dedicated.
But the point here is that in this journey, it is basically illustrated how even a small defect can cause problems. So now, to have learning is not wrong or bad and even to be proud of learning is also not bad. But in this particular story, it is demonstrated how having such things can be a contamination which can check one’s future advance, advancement towards future.
So that is what is demonstrated. Sahadev as being one of the sons of Ashwini Kumara also descended from the gods and he was an extraordinary warrior and a combination of heroism and learning. Scripture learning is very rare and that combination was found in Sahadev.
Thank you.