Reading Notes: Pattanaik's Jaya, Part C

Reading Notes: Pattanaik's Jaya, Part C

(Krishna with the Pandavas and Draupadi)

Story Source: Jaya: An Illustrated Retelling of the Mahabharata by Devdutt Pattanaik (2010).

Marriage: Children from Shiva

• Gandharva
• Dhaumya
• Archery contest to win Draupadi
• Shiva granted Drupada his wish after being defeated by Drona and humiliated 
• Draupadi will be the cause of Kuru household splitting
• Draupadi is Amba reborn, according to oracles (87)
• this could be used in Rebirth story
• Drupada thought Arjuna died in a fire
• Lesson: Vishnu is world- affirming form of God, Shiva is world-renouncing form of God. Amba, Drupada, Arjuna all invoke Shiva for vengeance (88)
• useful for rebirth story

Draupadi's Swayamvara

• Duryodhana married to Bhanumati
• Karna went to compete but Draupadi said she would not marry the son of a charioteer so he withdrew :(
• People were going to fight Arjuna but his very strong brothers backed him up so people didn't want to cross him
• Note: Originally women could choose, but eventually they lost this right and it became and archery contest.
• Lesson: Draupadi rejecting Karna based on social status was driven by "external apparent truths rather than by underlying actual truths" (90)
• rebirth story

The Common Wife

• Other Pandavas found Draupadi attractive so Kunti had Arjuna share so Draupadi didn't split them up (91)
• Yudhishthira quoted Dharma allowing ten Prachetas brothers being married to Vidula
• Draupadi invoked Shiva asked for husband with 5 qualities, so karma caused her to have 5 husbands in next rebirth because no one man could have all the qualities (honest, strong, skilled, handsome, knowledgeable)
• Draupadi was Nalayani, the wife of a Rishi called Maudgalya in a past life, and she was lustful, so karma gave her many husbands (91)
• rebirth story
• Pandavas in previous lives served as "Indra's" and protected their queen, Sachi, in Amravati"
• rebirth story

Friendship: Krishna Enters

• Krishna is son of Kunti's brother, Vasudeva
• Krishna's father is Surasena
• Pandavas are Krishna's cousins
• Devaki and Vasudeva stole cows for their yagna in past lives, so they must now watch their babies die, and the babies in past lives angered sages with misbehavior (96)
• story of Krishna's birth
• Krishna is supposed to protect Draupadi

The Cowherd of Gokul

• Cow is the most sacred symbol in Hinduism
• Note: Vishnu establishes Dharma, the code of civilization. Each time code is broken, Vishnu descends on earth as an avatar. Krishna was the greatest of these descents (100)
• Krishna marked shift from distant sky god deity worship to avatar earth god deities (100)

Return to Mathura

• Krishna kills Kansa
• Rhada the milkmaid and Krishna

Migration to Dwaraka

• Krishna married A LOT of princesses to forge political alliances, which is what brought Krishna to Draupadi and the Pandavas

Division: Kuru Lands

• Krishna to Kunti: "You have faced your destiny fearlessly and triumphed over it with your decisions." (109)
• Pandava relation to Drupada made them powerful so that nobody wanted to harm them (110)
• The people blamed Bhishma's vow of celibacy for why the kingdom was divided

Burning of Khandavaprastha

• Krishna to Pandavas: "Knowing when to stop is the hallmark of a good king" (112)
• Krishna and Pandavas killed every living thing in the forest
• karma in rebirth story
• Nagas called for Indra, who created rain, and Arjuna made an umbrella of arrows to prevent the rain from putting out fire (112)
• Agni to Arjuna: "with these weapons, institute and maintain dharma on earth" (112)
• Pandavas spared Maya, the architect of the demons, and Maya built a city for the Pandavas called Indra-prastha, the city of Indra (113)
• Maya in the bad place? Architect like Indra?
• Maybe in the intro, Yudhishthira can mention how similar the city is to Indraprastha
• Note: Yudhishthira maintained the code of dharma in this city: all men do their duties determined by their father's role, all women take care of the men

Sharing Draupadi

• Men often fight over women, so Krishna told them to each have Draupadi for a year at a time, if a brother breaks this he goes into exile for a year
• Draupadi walked through fire between brothers to regain her virginity (115)
• Yudhishthira=honesty, Bhima=strength, Arjuna=skill, Nakula=beauty, Sahadeva=knowledge (115)
• rebirth story
• Draupadi had 5 sons, one from each man
• Pandavas married other women in intermittent years, but they couldn't live in Indra-prastha
• Arjuna entered the bedchamber to get his bow and save the city, but Yudhishthira was in there with Draupadi
• Arjuna went on a "pilgrimage"
• Note: Pandava brother leaves a shoe outside the door like a sock on the doorknob. A dog stole Yudhishthira's shoe, which is why Arjuna didn't know they were in there together, so Draupadi cursed the dog so their intimacy would be shameful and in public.

Ulupi and Chitrangada

• Ulupi to Arjuna: "It is against dharma to reject a woman who comes to you willingly and full of desire" (116)
• they had a son that Arjuna didn't know about
• Chitrangada of Manipur was in love with Arjuna, and Arjuna fell in love with her when he saw her manly warrior form

Eloping with Subhadra

• Krishna's sister, Subhadra was in love with Arjuna. They get married even though she was supposed to marry Duryodhana
• Subhadra tricked Draupadi into letting her stay in her kingdom
• Draupadi forgave Subhadra
• good karma

Beheading Gaya

• Krishna and Arjuna: "To keep one's word is the fundamental principle of dharma" (120)
• The Devas watching from Swarga begged Brahma, the creator of the world, and Shiva, the destroyer of the world, to intervene" (121)
• Lesson: Good intentions can disrupt the bonds of friendship, people can exploit friendship to their own advantage (122)

Nara and Narayana

• Arjuna talking about Ram of Ayodhya the great archer and asked why he didn't build a bridge of arrows to rescue Sita when Arjuna could build a bridge for Indra's elephants to descend to earth (122)
• Hanuman, monkey with Rama, mocked Arjuna for mocking Rama
• Arjuna contemplated killing himself because he was so humiliated
• Sage to Arjuna: "Strength alone is not enough in this world; divine grace is needed. Krishna is Ram...without Krishna you are nothing." (122)
• Yama, god of death
• Add Yama and the riddles at the lake to the hell story
• Arjuna contemplated killing himself because he failed to protect the baby
• Krishna took Arjuna on a chariot through the sky
• Krishna and Arjuna used to be Nara and Narayana, and they were sages that fought demons together. Now they are here to restore dharma on earth. (125)
• rebirth story
• they are "creatures of destiny. Their birth is not random; they are born for a reason." (125)
• Vishnu to Arjuna: "Krishna is wisdom, you are action"

Coronation: Death of Jarasandha

• Krishna to Yudhishthira: "Mighty brawn is no match for a nimble brain" (129)
• Bhima rips Jarasandha in half (130)

Duryodhana Falls into a Pond

• Coronation of Yudhishtira
• Duryodhana was jealous, fell into pond
• Draupadi made fun of him
• Duryodhana swore to take pleasure in Draupadi's humiliation
• bad karma, revenge
• Note: Draupadi's comment is why she was humiliated later. Don't make fun of disabilities (133)
• karma
• Note: Krishna compares Yudhishthira to Rama in upholding dharma on earth (133)

The Death of Shishupala

• Shishupala, Krishna's cousin, was hating on Krishna