Tuesday 31 July 2012

स्त्री Parva. Mahabharata 172

The chapter devoted entirely to स्त्री (women) after a war is significant.  .
Sanjaya has been reporting the events of the day in detail to Dhritarashtra. On the eighteenth day the king is overcome with grief as he hears the news of Duryodhana's death along with his entire army. The  king is unable to think and is stupefied and falls silent. He appears like a tree stump whose branches have been cut.

Sanjaya consoles his king and tells him 'What is the use of this grief Maharaja! Arrange suitable ceremonies for the dead,'  The king hears these words from Sanjaya and faints. Recovers and laments, 'Sanjaya what is the point of my living? My heart feels like it is sliced into many pieces. What did I do to cause me so much grief! I do not remember committing such a sin. It must be from my last birth! Is there any sinner who in his old age has faced unhappiness like me?'

Sanjaya says, 'Maharaja, you have been taught vedas, shastras and the doctrines to guide you, hence stop being sorrowful! You did not listen to your well-wishers and depended only on your sharp intellect! You are now facing the consequence! Even your son, ingnored Kripa, Krishna and others who were giving him sound advice, but depended on Karna, Dusshyasana and others and brought about the extinction of khsatriyas. Even if you did say that a war is always filled with adharma, you never took a firm stand and a balanced view. If a man follows the right path from the begining, he does not regret his actions later! Your life is like that of a man who, while looking up and dreaming about  the honey up in the tree as he walked missed noticing the ditch and fell into it. Feeling sad now does not help, it does not bring you happiness or victory. It is prudent to give up being sad.'

Vidura adds his bit of wisdom, probably it makes sense to have a seperate blog about  Vidura's words dealing with his brother's loss of his children and grand children.


1 comment:

Raghunath said...

Yes picking up the pieces is always painful, particularly, if you are on the losing side!
R