Lesser Known Secrets in the Great Epic #Mahabharata in this thread

The greatest tale in Hindu dharma, Mahabharata is full of stories that have the capacity to illuminate a person. From its internal meaning to its value in Hindu philosophy and practices, Mahabharata has developed a culture of its own amongst the Hindus.

However, there are many secrets hidden in Mahabharata that not many are unaware of: -

The birth of Draupadi

When Guru Dronacharya defeated Draupad – his friend – to take revenge by his students, Draupad had performed a yagya with the help of Tapasvis, and thus, Divya Kumar had been born.

Along with that, a yagya devi was born from yagya and was named as Draupadi. There had been a foretelling, an akashvani, that Divya Kumar was born to kill Dronacharya, and Draupadi was born to fulfill all the rishis.

The marriage of Draupadi

In her previous life, Draupadi was unable to get married and thus had meditated upon Lord Shiva. Lord Shiva, having been impressed with her commitment, asked her for a wish, for which she wanted the husband with all 14 qualities.

But repeated that wish five times. The result was that she got five husbands in her next birth.

The virginity of Draupadi

When Narad Muni finds out about this marriage, he suggests that she can only be intimate with one in her situation.

So she prayed Lord Shiva, and as you might have guessed, she had received a boon that she would regain her virginity periodically (some consider it to be a day, some consider year). So, every time she left one Pandava for another, she was a virgin.

The story of cheer haran

It is said that Krishna saved Draupadi at the ‘cheer-haran’. But it was not all him. According to Shiva Purana, she had received a boon by Rishi Durvasa.

One day when the sage was walking around Ganga and had his loincloth carried away by the Ganga, Draupadi tore a piece of her garment to cover him. Thus, when she received the boon, it caused an unending stream of cloth when Dushasan tried to strip her.

The Time Split for Draupadi

All the Pandavas made a rule that Draupadi would stay with each Pandava for a certain period of time.

So, if she was with one of the Pandavas, then the others couldn’t come near to her, and if any of the people break the rule, then he has to spend 12 years of ‘banbas’ – life in the forest – as a bachelor.

The Vanvaas

During Yudhisthir’s reign, one cow of a Brahmin got robbed and the Brahmin asked Arjuna for help. However, he had left his weapon at the palace. Considering how not protecting the cow is against the religion, he went back to collect it.

But Yudhishthira was alone with Draupadi when he entered, thus, breaking the rule. So, he spent 12 years in the forest.

Yaksh prashna

When Krishna died, the Pandavas lost interest in the world and decided to go to heaven, along with their dog and Draupadi. In some way, each of them died one by one, with only Yudhisthir remaining alive.

But because of his righteousness, he was the only human allowed in the world of the god alive.

The Surprise at heaven

When Yudhisthira entered the heaven, he was surprised to see Duryodhana there too. He came to know that he had the passage to heaven because he never showed cowardice and died a brave death in a holy place, Samanpanchaka.

Way before the war, Arjuna, and Duryodhana had gone to Krishna to seek his help. He had reached Krishna before Arjuna and sat near his head.

Arjuna, on the other hand, sat next to his feet. When Krishna woke up, he saw Arjun first as his eye view was in the same diagonal position as his feet. Thus, Krishna asked Arjuna first about his purpose of his visit.

But as Duryodhana had arrived first, he complained that he came first and his wishes should be fulfilled first. As Krishna saw Arjun first, he replied that he would first listen to Arjun.

So, Arjun asks Krishna to come on his side, while Duryodhan asked for the army. And it was the army that Duryodhan was looking for, so he was more than happy.

Both got their wishes fulfilled. Arjuna got Krishna while Duryodhana got his army. So, it is a mistake to think that Krishna was the one who picked the choice.

Krishna knew that Duryodhana would never consider Krishna as a God, and he also did not want to be at Kaurava’s side. Both Arjun and Duryodhan thought that their opponent’s choice was worthless.

Krishna could have easily denied the wishes and left off the massive destruction of in the aftermath of the war. But as one of his missions on earth, he had to restore the balance on earth and get rid of powerful warriors.

During those days, there were too many kings with too much power which had challenged the peace of society. Thus, he decided to give the army to Kauravas.

It was Arjuna who killed Krishna’s army with the support of Krishna as his charioteer. The Narayani Sena fought against Arjuna and Arjuna killed them all.

Even though Krishna fought against the Kauravas, he did not totally side with Pandavas, He fought the war as an independent body. He even protected the yadavas whenever he could, as part of his dharma. .

He just saw that the Pandavas were more abiding by the dharma and would fulfill his mission to establish dharma in the world. With that said, he had a good relationship with Kauravas.

Banumathi – Duryodhana’s wife – was his devotee and did not see them as total evil, but just that their actions were causing evil.

There is a story of why Karna despite being the noblest, bravest and one of the best warriors was destined to suffer his life.....

Much much before the Mahabharatha, there lived as asura called Dambhodbhava. Dambhodbhava wanted to be powerful. So he prayed to Surya, the Sun God.

Surya appeared before him, 'Open your eyes son! I am pleased with your devotion!'

Dambhodbhava bowed before him, 'Lord! I am blessed to see you!'

Surya smiled, 'I wish to grant you a boon! Ask anything from me!'

Dambhodbhava hid a smile, 'My Lord! Please make me immortal!'

Surya frowned, 'That is not possible! Everything that is born has to die! Immortality is out of question!'
His shoulder drooped. He knew that no matter how much he asked, Surya would never grant him the boon of immortality. All the time he had spent meditating were a waste....

Surya stood there patiently waiting for Dambhodbhava to ask him, when he suddenly saw a glint in Dambhodbhava's eyes. Surya's eye narrowed. Dambhodbhava bowed to him, 'My Lord! If you cannot make me immortal atleast grant me this boon!'

Dambhodbhava continued, 'I want to be protected by a thousand armours!'

Surya looked at Dambhodbhava with surprise as the asura continued, 'The thousand armours can be broken only by someone who performs penance for a thousand years! And that is not all...'

Surya looked at Dambhodbhava with horror as he continued, 'Whoever breaks my armour should die immediately!'

Surya was horribly worried. He knew that Dambhodbhava had performed a very powerful penance and that he could get the entire boon he had asked for.

And Surya had a feeling that Dambhodbhava was not going to use his powers for good.

However having no choice in the matter, Surya granted Dambhodbhava the boon. But deep down Surya still admired Dambhodbhava for the devotion with which he prayed to him...

Surya's worries were however correct. Immediately after getting the boon from Surya, Dambhodbhava started wrecking havoc on people. People were scared of fighting with him. There was no way of defeating him. Anybody who stood in his way was crushed by him.

People started calling him Sahasrakavacha [meaning one who has a thousand armours]

It was around this time that King Daksha [the father of Sati, the first wife of Shiva] got one of his daughters Murti married to Dharma - one of the 'Mind' sons of Lord Brahma.

It is said that Lord Brahma created his mind sons or Manas putras from his thoughts.

Murti had also heard of Sahasrakavacha and wanted to put an end to his menace. So she prayed to Lord Vishnu to come and help the people.

Lord Vishnu pleased with her, appeared before her, 'Murti! I am pleased with your devotion! I will come and slay Sahasrakavacha! Because you have prayed to me, you would be the reason for slaying Sahasrakavacha!'

Murti was happy. Subsequently she gave birth to not one child, but twin sons. She named them as Narayana and Nara.

Narayana and Nara grew up in the ashrama surrounded by the forests. They enjoyed praying to Lord Shiva. Their mother also encouraged them to learn fighting.

The two brothers also learnt the art of warfare and were inseparable. What one thought the other was always able to finish. Both of them trusted each other implicitly and never questioned the other.

As time went on, Sahasrakavacha started attacking the forest ares surrounding Badrinath, where both Narayana and Nara were staying. The two sages promised the others that they would come and help them.

Nara went to Sahasrakavacha, 'Sahasrakavacha! I challenge you to a fight!'

Sahasrakavacha bellowed looking at Nara, 'You pathetic human! You really think you can defeat me! ME! Do you even know how I am protected! Do you know anything about me!'

Nara smiled and said calmly, 'You want to talk some more or are you willing to fight me?'

Sahasrakavacha looked at the calm eyes of Nara and for the first time since he got his boon, felt fear building inside him. He said nervously, 'I can be killed only by performing penance for a thousand years. You cannot....'

Nara looked at Sahasrakavacha and spoke with you. 'I have not done any penance....But my brother Narayana is doing it for me! And instead of him, I come to fight with you!'

Sahasrakavacha frowned and then started laughing, 'Seriously, you cannot think that your brother's penance would come to help you...! He is separate! He is not you! That does not count.'

Nara merely smiled at the monster, his weapons raised.

Sahasrakavacha was now annoyed. This puny human was willing to challenge him to a fight and was not even remotely worried that fighting him would mean certain death for him and all for what? Destroying ONE of his armours....He still had 999 armours to go...

Sahasrakavacha raised his weapons and the fight started. Sahasrakavacha faced the attack of Nara and was astounded. He found that Nara was powerful and had indeed got a lot of power from the penance of his brother.

As the fight went on, Sahasrakavacha realized that the penance of Narayana was giving Nara strength. As Sahasrakavacha's first armour broke he realized that Nara and Narayana were for all purposes one.....They were just two persons having the same soul.

But Sahasrakavacha was not too worried. He had lost one of his armours. He watched in glee as Nara dropped dead, the minute one of his armours broke!

But Sahasrakavacha was not prepared for what happened next! He blinked his eyes as he saw Nara run towards him!

Sahasrakavacha could not believe what he was seeing. He had just seen Nara die before his eyes!

Sahasrakavacha focused again and saw that the sage was not running towards him but towards the fallen Nara! Sahasrakavacha remembered what Nara had told him. Narayana....

Sahasrakavacha looked at the running sage and bellowed at him, 'Your brother is dead! And all for what?' Sahasrakavacha sneered at Narayana. 'Just to destroy one of my armours!' Sahasrakavacha mocked at Narayana. 'Could you not make your brother see sense?

Did he really think it was worth dying just to destroy one of armours?'

Narayana smiled and looked at his brother. He closed his eyes and muttered a mantra. Sahasrakavacha could not believe his eyes when he saw Nara wake up!

Sahasrakavacha cringed as he realized that Narayana had performed penance for a thousand years and had hence obtained the 'mritunjay mantra' [It was a mantra to bring back the dead to life].

Sahasrakavacha realized that he was doomed ...

Narayana picked up his brother's weapon and challenged him to a fight. Nara now retired to the forest to perform the penance for the strength of his brother....
This went on. Both Nara and Narayana performed penance for a thousand years while the other fought with Sahasrakavacha.

The minute Sahasrakavacha's armour was broken, the person fighting with him fell dead only to be brought back to life by the other..

He lost 999 of his armours to the twins. Realizing that he could never beat the two brothers, Sahasrakavacha gave up the fight and ran away.

He decided to take refuge with the Surya as he was the one who had granted him the boon in the first place....

Narayana and Nara both went to Surya, 'Hand over that monster to us now!' Narayana said. 'He has caused havoc to the people everywhere! He is a monster!'

Surya slowly shook his head, 'My Lord! Despite everything this man has done, he is my devotee! He has worshiped me with unparalleled devotion! And he has come to me for help!' Surya vigorously shook his head. 'I cannot just turn him away now!'

Nara narrowed his eyes angrily. He pulled out some water from his kamandalam and threw it on Surya and cursed him. 'You have gone against my Narayana! He asked you for something and you refused! For this I curse you that you would be born as a human and suffer for this!'

Surya bowed his head. He knew that he should not have sheltered a monster but he was willing to pay the price for his devotee.Immediately after Surya refused to part with Sahasrakavacha, the Treta Yuga ended and the third Yuga started.

To fulfil the promise to destroying Sahasrakavacha, Narayana and Nara were reborn – this time as Krishna and Arjuna.

Due to the curse, Dambhodbhava was born as Karna, the eldest son of Kunti! Karna was born with one of armours as a natural protection, the last one left of Sahasrakavacha.

As Arjuna would have died if Karna had had the armour, Indra [Arjuna's father] went in disguise and got the last armour of Karna, much before the war began.

As Karna was actually the monster Dambodbhava in his previous life, he led a very difficult life to pay for all the sins committed by him in his past life.

But Karna also had Surya, the Sun God inside him, so Karna was a hero as well!