Friday 27 January 2012

Pandavas last day together before they enter Viraata Nagar. Mahabharata 90

I am translating more often from Vachana Bharata. I see from Kamala's version that Pandavas offer a prayer as they hide their weapons.

All the eyes were wet as they put away their weapons. Yudhisthira invoked the gods, 'I call upon all of you to be present here, now, to hear me. I ask Brahma, Indra, Kubera, Varuna, Rudra, Yama, Vishnu, Surya and Chandra, the sky, the earth, Agni and Maruts, I ask all of you to guard these our dearest possessions. I request you to return these weapons either to me or Arjuna at the end of our Ajnaatavaasa. It must not be given to Bheema even if he claims them. He is short-tempered and he may in a mad moment claim these weapons on his own before the year is completed.....You must guard us against discovery. We do not want to be exiled for another twelve years.... Please bless us.'

Yudhisthira climbs the tree and places the bundle on it. Looking at Bheema and his tear filled eyes, Yudhisthira embraces Bheema to console him. A few curious villagers collect around them when they see the bundle up the tree, the chanting and the weeping. The villagers are told the story of their mother's death and the dire consequences one would face if one tried to disturb the dead body. The villagers get worried and leave.

Later they become emotional as they realise that this will be last day together as they plan to go to the city one by one and after which they cannot meet each other openly. They decide on code names for each one of them and rest at the edge of the city for the night.

No comments: