What are some unknown facts of the epic, the Mahabharata?
By Nitin Singh
1) The most powerful warrior in the Mahabharata was a mere spectator.
The battle of Kurukshetra was viewed from atop a mountain by Barbarika , Bhima’s grandson and Ghatotkacha’s son, was a brave warrior who was blessed by Lord Shiva and bestowed with three powerful arrows and a special bow from Lord Agni. The power possessed by Barbarika was such that he could kill anyone he wished using just one of those arrows. Krishna tested this virtue of the arrows and found it to be true. This scared him, because this inherent power would prevent him from saving the Pandavas on the battlefield, Barbarika’s arrows could easily destroy any or all of them without Krishna’s knowledge.
Krishna, therefore, asked Barbarika which side he would be on. Barbarika had earlier promised his mother that he would side with the weaker army, and therefore, to that extent, replied that since the Pandavas have a smaller army, he would be on their side. But here, Krishna explained the paradox of the situation: given the fact that Barbarika was so powerful, whichever side he chooses will only weaken the other side and he will have to take the latter’s side, eventually oscillating between the two sides and destroying everyone but himself. Thus, Krishna asked him for his head so that his involvement in the war could be avoided. Before giving his head to Krishna, Barbarik expressed his desire to view the war, leading to Krishna placing Barbarika’s head atop a mountain overlooking the battlefield.
2) It was Arjun who wiped out Krishna's army(the Narayani Sena), with Krishna's support as his charioteer. Krishna's army fought along with Samsaptakas against Arjun and he was the one who exterminated all of them.
3) Ekalavya was actually Krishna’s cousin. He was the nephew of Vasudeva who got lost in the forest and was found by a Nishada Hiranyadhanu. Ekalavya died protecting his father during Rukmini Swayamvar. He was killed by Krishna. For his great sacrifice of Guru Dakshina, Krishna blessed Ekalavya that he would be soon reincarnated and take revenge on Drona. This person was Dhrishtadyumna (who killed Drona).
4) Iravan, Son of Ulupi and Arjun self-sacrificed to the goddess Kali to show hisbhakti towards her and ensure favor and the victory of the Pandavas in the war, with a wish to marry a girl before dying; to fulfill his wish Krishna married to him as Mohini (the roop he took during Samudra Manthana to protectAmrit) and cried after his death like a real wife.
5) Post his death, Pandu wished that his five sons eat his flesh so that they can gather all his knowledge and experiences. Sahadev was the only one who ate three pieces and was enlightened and could foresee the future and had known everything in the history, even about Draupadi's marriage to him and his brothers and also about the war.
Updates:
6) The Narayani Sena of Dwarka fought from the Kaurava side but it's interesting to note that still a few Yadava warriors, in fact fought from the Pandava side too, including Krishna's sonPradyumna and one Maharathi, I am going to talk about.
Satyaki and Kritavarma, the two important Yadava Maharathis who fought on opposing sides. Satyaki fought on the side of the Pandavas, whereas Kritavarma joined the Kauravas. Interestingly, both of them survived the 18 day war.
> Satyaki was a valiant warrior, was devoted to Krishna and was a student of Arjuna.
Satyaki strongly and passionately favored the cause of the Pandavas over the Kauravas in the Kurukshetra War, despite the fact that the Yadava army had been promised to Duryodhana by Krishna.
During the war, Satyaki was the commander of one akshauhini of the Pandava army. On the 14th day, When Arjuna was attempting to pierce Drona's formation, in order to fulfill his oath of killing Jayadratha, Satyaki defends Yudhishthira from Drona, who was attempting to capture the emperor in Arjuna's absence.
Following pic shows Krishna as an envoy to the Kaurava court before the Kurukshetra war. Satyaki takes out his sword when the Kauravas, raise their sword against Krishna, while Krishna holds his hand
> Kritavarma was the bravest Yadava warriors and chieftain, and a contemporary of Krishna.
Though he is depicted as a devotee of Krishna in the Vishnu Purana, apparently he was not in good terms with Krishna.
Kritavarma was an ally of the Kauravas against the Pandavas and led the Yadava army (also called the Narayani Sena). He was one of the three survivors of the entire Kaurava army.
He had helped Ashwatthama in carrying out his night attack on Panchala warriors, in which the latter had slaughtered among others, Dhrishtadyumna, Shikhandi and the five sons of Draupadi.
He returned to his kingdom after the war and was later killed by Satyaki in Dwarka during the final destruction of the Yadavas.
Note:
*The Eklavya part in the actual literature ends when Drona asks him for his thumb.
* What happened to him after that can only be speculated from the various folk stories. One story says that he fought in the 18 day war. One other story says he was killed by Krishna when he tried to revenge Jarasandha by attacking Dwarka. While one story says he was killed by Krishna at the Rukmini Swayamvar. So, the fact of the matter is that we may never know what happened in reality.
*I would also like to clarify that the Iravan story here is a very popular South Indian folklore. Another popular version is that he fought and died in the Kurukshetra war.
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