The Greatest Indian Epic - Mahabharath

[Raghu]

hey!
slight misunderstanding. what krishna drops is his modhiram or ring. Jewel is something he is born with and in the last day of the war, shri krishnaa takes that jewel away from him as a punishment for his unjust practices in the war (by killing children of the pandavaas when they are asleep).

yes, Lord Krishna sends bhim anna to fetch it!

[Raghu]

Dear all,

Can somebody tell me, why Lord of Lords 'Maha Iswar' burnt 'Manamadhan' to ashes, was it a trick by Lord Krishna as well.

While Lord Shiva was meditating, Manmadha was performing a lustful dance to attract rathi and distract Lord Shiva, Maha Iswar got annoyed with his illicit act and burnt him to ashes, but one his temper cooled down, he granted a boon to Rathi, that her husband Manmadha will re-incarnate as some one(who) in some Yuga (was it Dwapara Yuga)??

[ts]

yes, Lord Krishna sends bhim anna to fetch it!

Arjuna and Krishna set out in pursuit of Aswaththama. They find him eventually and before he could be captured, he takes a blade of grass and sends it to abort Abhimanyu's wife's foetus by using the brahmastra. The foetus gets saved by the grace of Krishna.

Arjuna grabs Aswathama and brings him before Draupadi, who lost all her sons to his treachery. Draupadi says,

"Arjuna, please release Aswatthama forthwith.Dronacharya was your guru. He taught you everythingyou have known in archery. He loved you as a father might love a son. Aswatthama thus is like a brother to you. When Drona died, his wife Kripi, did not join her lord in the funeral fire because her son, this Aswatthama who stands now before us, was still alive. If you kill him now in this moment, Kripi will suffer the pain too of losing her only child. I do not wish upon Kripi the pain I as a mother have myself suffered in the loss of my children... Let this pain remain with me and let Aswatthama go.. let him go his way, for he has suffered both retribution and humiliation enough. Please release him!".

She asks him to shave Aswaththama's hair and take the gem off his head for in old days, one is considered to be dead if shaven by ones enemy. Arjuna Tonsures Aswaththama and takes the gem from his head and gives it to Krishna. Aswathama travels into the himalayas to do tapas.

[viggop]

The story I know is different.It is because of Asura Surapadman.He'll get a boon along with his 2 brothers that only shakthi from Shiva can destroy them.After that,he'll be a tyrant and kill all good people, torture rishis,disturn their yagna etc.So, the Devas will not know what to do.They need a shakthi of Shiva to destroy him.But,Shiva will be interested in meditation and will never be interested in procreation.He is supposed to be the highest yogi.

Then,the Gods will decide that Manmadhan is to be used to generate feeling of Kama in Lord Shiva towards Parvathi so that they can bring forth a child(shakthi of Shiva) to kill surapadman.I think Manmadhan will disturb Shiva's meditation with his arrows of love.
Angered by this,Shiva will burn him to ashes but on Rathi's pleading,he'll say that she'll appear only to her eyes in a beautiful form.
Anyway,the arrows of Manmathan will succeed and Shiva will unite with his consort Parvathi and hence Murugan/Karthikeya is born.He'll later destroy Surapadman as commander of Deva army.

[ts]

Dear all,

Can somebody tell me, why Lord of Lords 'Maha Iswar' burnt 'Manamadhan' to ashes, was it a trick by Lord Krishna as well.

While Lord Shiva was meditating, Manmadha was performing a lustful dance to attract rathi and distract Lord Shiva, Maha Iswar got annoyed with his illicit act and burnt him to ashes, but one his temper cooled down, he granted a boon to Rathi, that her husband Manmadha will re-incarnate as some one(who) in some Yuga (was it Dwapara Yuga)??

Unable to bear Taraka's harassment, sages and angels, all pious persons and Goddess Earth herself, went to Brahma and prayed for help.

Brahma said, "It is impossible for me to kill Taraka. Even Hari and Hara Cannot do it. He can be killed only by a son of Hara. If Hara has to get a son, he must marry Parvati. He is now, in penance. Parvati goes to him every day to attend upon him. But Shiva does not even open his eyes and see her. So how can this marriage come about?

Again the angels met in conclave. They were now engaged in making Shiva stop his meditation and marry Parvati. So they sent Brihaspati to Kusumapura to fetch Manmatha. Manmatha went to them with his sugarcane bow and flowery arrows along with his consort Ratidevi, and asked them, "What do you want me to do? Please tell me."

"Lord Kama," Indra replied, "Now you have to confer a great benefit on the world. Taraka's wickedness has become intolerable. The one to kill him is Shiva's son, who is not yet born. But Shiva has not ended his penance. Without ending it his marriage cannot take place. Parvati who is to be his wife is near him but Shiva does not so much as look at her. Now he must be made to fall in love with Parvati. And that, only you can do."

Kama realized the importance of his role. He now thought of aiming his floral arrow at Shiva and thereby ending his tapas. Even if he had to lay down his life in this venture, he would never mind. Would he not have done a great deed for the welfare of the world? So thinking, Kama arrived with Rati at Shiva's penance-grove.

Just at that time Parvati had also come as usual with fruits and flowers to worship Shiva. Her friends were also there. Parvati stood with folded hands singing in praise of Shiva. Pleased with her devotion and delighted with her sweet voice, Shiva just for a moment stopped his meditation and looked at her once. Kama decided that was the most opportune moment and got ready to make Shiva fall in love with Parvati. Unafraid of the eye of fire on Shiva's forehead, he shot five of his arrows of flowers at his heart. Shiva's tapas were broken.

This made Shiva terribly angry. He opened the fiery eye on his forehead. With a frightening noise a fierce blazing flame burst forth. It seemed the fire of final destruction had struck the body of Kama. As he stood, he was reduced to ashes. Shiva, smearing his body with the same ash, disappeared.

[viggop]

Kripi and Kripacharya are brother and sister.They are said to be born out of the reeds(kripa means reed in sanskrit)

Ashwathama is also said to be son of Lord Shiva too.There is a mythological story about this but it is quite erotic.(as other Hindu mythology stories)

[viggop]

TS
As I have posted earlier about Ashwathama,
Krishna curses him to be a chiranjeevi

[Raghu]

yes, Lord Krishna sends bhim anna to fetch it!

Arjuna and Krishna set out in pursuit of Aswaththama. They find him eventually and before he could be captured, he takes a blade of grass and sends it to abort Abhimanyu's wife's foetus by using the brahmastra. The foetus gets saved by the grace of Krishna.

Arjuna grabs Aswathama and brings him before Draupadi, who lost all her sons to his treachery. Draupadi says,

"Arjuna, please release Aswatthama forthwith.Dronacharya was your guru. He taught you everythingyou have known in archery. He loved you as a father might love a son. Aswatthama thus is like a brother to you. When Drona died, his wife Kripi, did not join her lord in the funeral fire because her son, this Aswatthama who stands now before us, was still alive. If you kill him now in this moment, Kripi will suffer the pain too of losing her only child. I do not wish upon Kripi the pain I as a mother have myself suffered in the loss of my children... Let this pain remain with me and let Aswatthama go.. let him go his way, for he has suffered both retribution and humiliation enough. Please release him!".

She asks him to shave Aswaththama's hair and take the gem off his head for in old days, one is considered to be dead if shaven by ones enemy. Arjuna Tonsures Aswaththama and takes the gem from his head and gives it to Krishna. Aswathama travels into the himalayas to do tapas.

Dear TS,

what I meant was, Lord Krishna sends Bhim anna to fetch the stone from his head and he does, not Arjuna (This was shown on Lord Krishna Series by Ramanad Sagar), once Druapadi finds all five of her sons killed by Aswathama, it was Bhima who get aggresive and runs after Aswathama, followed by Yudishtra and Arjuna, but Lord Krishna runs behind Bhima, on Arjuna chariot, but this time, Arjuna is riding the chariot !, he ctach up on bhima, but by that time Aswatham has already projected the bhrama asthira, so to retaliate Arjuna also projects the bhrama asthira, but lord Krsihna asks bhrama to disable it, he does, then lord Krishna curses Aswathama that he will be a Chiranjeeve and tellms Bhima to fetch the stone from Aswathama

[Raghu]

Dear Viggop & TS,

I remember the story now, both of you are correct regarding Maha Iswar burning Manmadha


Viggop, pls reply to my PM, thanks

[viggop]

Looking at TS story,even though Draupadi lets go off Ashwathama ,she wants to humilate him by shaving his head.

What about the character of Kunti devi in Mahabharatha?

She is a very playful as a girl who misuses the mantra given to her by Vyasa(?) and loses her virginity even before marriage.She too gets a boon to become a permanent kanya(another one of the panchakanyas)

Also,she disposes of baby Karna in a casket in the river and in the end of the war,she asks Karna to spare Arjuna's life by getting a promise to use Naga Asthram only once.This shows impartiality being a mother.

To her credit,she takes care of Nakula and Sahadeva as her own sons(children of Pandu and Madri) and undergoes lot of suffering along with the Pandavas even though born as a princess.After the war,she accompanies Dhiritharastra and Gandhari and lives with them in the forest serving them as both cannot see.
I think she jumps into the flame and dies following Gandhari.

Is there any other interesting stories in Mahabharatha concerning Kunti?