The Aftermath

The Pandavas arrived victorious at Hastinapur. Nobody was greeting them there, no smiling faces. The people they knew were either dead in the war or orphaned by it. There was not a home, not a village, not a family in the whole of Aryavarta that was happy. Poverty brought by the war killed many, and rapes, murders and injustice prevailed. Many kingdoms were ruled by a king, and Many kings Heir less. People were fighting with their own families over property and wealth. After all, that's what this was about. Kings fought wars, and commoners just fought verbally.

Widows wailed over bodies, and some searched for missing people under the debris at the war fields. Mothers beating their chests in pain. Children are crying helplessly. The palace was silent and dark. The guards were dead, and the maids were crying over their dead husbands and children. The atmosphere was loud in the silence. Funeral preparations were everywhere. Dhritarashtra and Gandhari were speechless; their hundred children were dead. Dushala was with them, widowed by her own cousins. Kunti met Draupadi and Subhadra. Three of them burst into tears. They had lost their children. Their future. Their heart and souls. Their sobs were overpowered by the cries of an infant. Uttara's ray of hope, Parikshit. Abhimanyu's last sign. An heir. A future. Arjun took Vrishakethu as his son because he now knew he had killed his father and their elder brother Karna in the war. Guilt paved the way for fatherhood.

Dwarka was filled with hooligans. Men killing masses over wealth, raping wives and mothers, theft, injustice, and panic spread everywhere. The Lord had a tear in his eyes. He knew it was time. He remembered the curse. The Yadu clan started killing each other after petty fights. They perished.

Yudhisthir sat on the throne with Draupadi. Subhadra started training her grandson to be the next king. An Ashwamedh Yagna was performed by the Pandavas. Here, Arjun met his only surviving son, Chitrangada's heir Babruvahan, who ruled Manipur.

The surviving allies participated in the grandeur. Meanwhile, Vidur, Dhritarashtra, Gandhari and Kunti left the luxurious palace life to stay as hermits. They could no longer bear to live in such an environment. They regretted their decisions and the way they could not prevent their sons from killing each other. News arrived of their death in a forest fire. Yudhisthir's just and peaceful rule tried to balance the disorder in society. News arrived that Dwarka was eaten by the raging sea, and Krishna lost his life in an accident. Balarama has given up his life in Samadhi in a cave near the Somnath temples. Yudhisthir too knew it was time. Everyone mourned the death of the godly men.

Parikshit was crowned king. A new generation was ushered in. The Pandavas made their way to the Himalayas. The Kali Yuga was ushered in with the death of yet another Avatar of the Lord. Subhadra stayed back to act and guide as Raajmata, and Uttara and Parikhit attended the court. Yuyutsu, the son of Dhritarashtra and maid Sukhada, was his official advisor. Sukhada was given royal status because of him. Parikshit married Madravati and had four sons: Janamejaya, Bhimasena, Ugrasena, and Srutasena. He played an important role in the arrangement of the Vedic Hymns in the collection, and his contribution is credited and praised in the Atharva Vedas, which depict him as a just king, a great warrior like Abhimanyu and a patient ruler like Yudhisthir. News arrived that the Pandavas and Draupadi were no more. Subhadra and Uttara left for the hermitage. He consolidated the Kuru kingdom and paved the way for the development of the Srauta rituals. He ruled under great power for twenty-four years before dying of a snake bite at sixty. The Mahabharata suggests a murder plot by the Nagas, who felt underprivileged and insecure in their kingdom.

Janmejaya succeeded him on the throne and decided to perform the Sarpa Satra, calling on the great sages from across Aryavarta. Sages and Rishis decided to stop him from destroying the Nagas, so they narrated the tale of how their forefathers had fought and eliminated their own clan, and that resulted in nothing more than pain. This is how Jaya, the present-day Mahabharata, was composed. He decided to let the Nagas live safely in his kingdom and establish secular harmony.

It is believed that the present clan in Sri Lanka, known as the Karavas, are the descendant of Janmejaya, who gradually moved there in parts during Maha Padma Nanda and Ashoka's time. Mahapadma is, in fact, from the lineage of the Raghu dynasty, i.e. Rama's dynasty. The Karavas converted to Buddhism under Ashoka's daughter's influence. The flag of Hastinapur is said to contain the " golden lion, which was adopted in the Sri Lankan flag.

Kalki, the tenth Avatar of Vishnu, who will end the Kaliyug and hence the MahaYug and take the people and society back to Satyayug, where principles and truth will prevail, is stated to be born in " The Land of The Golden Lion." A sign or not, we do not know yet.

The Warrior and Princess

Dasharatha was very protective of his sons. He had got them after almost a lifetime of waiting and yajnas, so they were his lifeline. Ram, the eldest, won hearts with his humble, generous ways. Bharata, the second, was his favourite queen's brave son, and Laxman and Shatrughan were the twins to the lesser queen, who followed their brothers like shadows. They were a peaceful, happy family. Sage Vasistha was their Kulaguru, teaching them the Vedic hymns and the righteous ways of life. The Princes grew up in the luxurious, protected premises of the palace. The King of Mithila, too, was childless. Mother Earth granted him a daughter. Sita grew up learning and curious, followed by the king's second daughter, Urmila and their cousins Mandavi and Shrutakirti. They grew up knowing the natural ways of life, and their father took them to learn from men to know more about man and his natural instincts. The princesses were curious and always questioning the traditions, and the Princes lear...

Chawand: The Maharana's Capital

The road from Udaipur quickly fades into quiet countryside as you head toward Jaisamand Lake and Chavand, a journey that few package tours offer, but one that is forever imprinted on my memory. Just shy of an hour and 59km from the city bustle, you reach Jaisamand (Dhebar Lake), the “Ocean of Victory,” sprawling as Asia’s once-largest man-made lake . Built in 1685 by Maharana Jai Singh, who followed his father’s legendary tradition of dam-building, this vast sheet of water shimmers in the sunlight. I watched local ferries pass, and marble stairs dip into blue shallows, imagining bygone queens slipping into cooling water beneath the massive embankment. Even today, friendly boatmen linger, eager to usher you onto the lake for a breezy ride. They tell you stories of how once a Maharana roamed these dense forests in search of freedom. Do pause here and soak in the peaceful air before venturing further southwest, toward the forgotten echoes of Mewar’s pride. The drive to Chavand, ...

Rakhi Tales

A Rakhi to the Enemy: The year was 1535 CE. The Rajmata of Mewar, widow of Rana Sanga, was in a dilemma. On one hand was an attack from Bahadur Shah of Gujarat as a threat to her capital, Chittorgarh, and the throne of her beloved teenage son Vikramaditya. On the other hand, there was the son of her husband's archenemy, Humayun, who could be of some help. Rani Karnavati wrote a letter to Humayun, who was in the east at that time. Along with it, she sent a Rakhi, a thread of brotherhood, asking him, as a sister, for protection against the enemy. But the road was too long, and time was of the essence. Humayun arrived at Chittorgarh, in response to her letter, keeping his end of the bargain but a little late. Rani Karnavati had already performed the Jauhar. They never met. Humayun established Rana Vikramaditya on the throne of Mewar, as he had promised as a brother, and returned to his post. Two dynasties, political rivals and sworn enemies, from Sanga-Babur to Pratap-Akbar and even R...

The Prince of Mewar

Born on 16 March 1559 in the Kumbha Palace of Chittorgarh Fort, Bhanwar Amar Singh was the eldest son of Kunwar Pratap Singh (later Maharana Pratap) and Kunwarani Ajabdeh Punwar. As the first grandson of Udai Singh I, his birth prompted the Maharana's celebratory hunting expedition, during which a sage forewarned of impending danger. Heeding this, Udai Singh established a new palace by Lake Pichola, founding Udaipur as Mewar's capital. Amar Singh exhibited extraordinary valour from a young age, inheriting his father's martial skills and his mother's reputed compassion. His training commenced early; according to James Tod's Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, he participated in his first battle alongside Pratap at age eight. By ten, amid Chittorgarh's fall and familial divisions, he assumed responsibility for his siblings. Historical accounts recount his defence of the queens' entourage against enemy soldiers en route to Kumbhalgarh fortress. He shared a clo...

Taj Mahal

On the 17th of Jumada I 1041 (11 December 1631), the sacred remains of Her Late Majesty the Queen were sent from Burhanpur to the metropolis of Akbarabad, under the care of Prince Muhammad Shah Shuja, who was ordered to distribute at every stage, great quantities of victuals and money in charity upon the poor. To the south of the metropolis, a luxuriant piece of high ground, which had formerly been the property of Raja Man Singh and now belonged to his grandson Raja Jai Singh, was selected as the burial place of that “Dweller in Paradise”. Although the Raja offered the ground most willingly as a present, nevertheless His Majesty, with the scrupulousness so requisite in worldly transactions, conferred on him in exchange a splendid mansion out of the imperial properties. After its arrival at Akbarabad, the blessed corpse was consigned to the earth on the 15th of Jumada II 1041 (15 January 1632) at the beginning of the fifth Regnal year. At the royal command, the public authorities with i...

Asuras are not Demons

Demons in the Abrahamic religion are not the same as Asuras of Hinduism. Originally deities of Iranian origin, they were seen in the tribal context as no different from Devas but as counterparts to maintain balance. In early epics and Puranas, asura meant a chosen leader of great capacity. Only later, perhaps due to the Iranian link, their image declined. It was with the Brahmanas that the sharp divide appeared: devas as divine, asuras as evil. Puranic myths demonised them mainly to assert the superiority and immortality of devas, while asuras were cast as symbols of the "other." Since Tribes still worshipped them and embraced their power of negativity, being important to balance, they soon became synonymous with tribes, which was not the case mythologically. There are instances of Bali or Ravana being Kshatriya or Brahmin Asuras and competent kings. Indian demonology itself is vast and layered, shaped by surviving tribes, each with unique myths. Celestial, aerial, and terres...

The Annals of Rajputana

Col. James Todd’s Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan describes Rajputana through History, Geography, Mythology, Folklore, Veer Gathas, Traditions, Cultures, Heritage, Rules, Valour and its people. However, one must remember that he was commissioned to write the narrative and his resources are not based on historical evidence. However, it is worth a read and very interesting. The following excerpts are from his book. Please take note that Todd's accounts are based on hearsay, stories, and commissioned by royals and hence aren't treated as historically accurate. However, his book is important as it is the first English-language book to have extensive work done on Rajputana. Rajputs are commonly believed to be people from Rajasthan; however, their branches have spread far and wide into Punjab, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra and even parts of Bengal. The initial origination-based clans/tribes had been subdivided first in the book Prithvirajraso by Chand Bardai; howev...

Jahanara Begum Sahib: The Sufi Princess

Shah Jahan's quarters flanked on either side by identical bungalows for Jahanara and Roshanara. Background: The Timurid Dynasty, better (and wrongly) known as the Mughal Empire, ruled the Subcontinent from 1526 C.E. till the time the British East India Company successfully captured Delhi from Bahadur Shah II in 1857 C.E. (The size of the empire obviously varied). Hence, a large part of medieval Indian history revolves around the characters of this dynasty. Due to the extensive amount of contemporary records right from Babur, the founder of the empire, writing his own memoirs in “ Babar Nama ” to the accounts of court poets like Abu Talim and the extensive details of Abul Fazl, one has a clear idea about the functioning of the Timurid empire as well as the Harem involving the royal ladies of the dynasty. Almost nothing is left to the imagination when it comes to the lives of the first six and most famous and successful Timurid emperors, namely Babar, Humayun, Akbar, Jahangir...

A Veranda Vendetta

“Outrage in Calcutta; Terrorist Raid, British Officer Murdered” Read the headlines of The Times on Tuesday, 9 th of December, 1930 . 1930: A significant year 1930 was a very significant year in the history of India’s Freedom Struggle against the British Raj. The Indian National Congress went ahead to declare the 26 th of January as India’s Independence Day, celebrating it nationwide; the Civil Disobedience Movement was officially started by Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, and Subhas Chandra Bose was arrested for participating in the same. On 18 th April, Surya Sen, better known as MasterDa, had done the unthinkable, raiding the British Armoury with his students and fellow teachers at Chittagong. He was still on the loose, yet to be found. In this year of growing protests against the colonisers, an incident emerged that shook the British at their old capital. The Bengal Volunteers Corps was a group of volunteers organised in the 1928 Calcutta session of ...

The Timurid Empress

Ruqaiya Sultana Begum was born to Babur's second surviving son, Hindal Mirza, and his wife, Sultanam Begum, in 1542 C.E., merely a few months after Hamida Banu gave birth to the heir Jalaluddin Mohammad Akbar. She was well-versed in Persian, Urdu and Arabic and was attracted to poetry and music. Being a proud descendant of the Timurid clan, most of Rukaiya's childhood was spent in Kabul, near the Bagh E Babur, built by Babur himself. From early childhood, she had seen the struggle of her family to regain their lost power in Hind. Miniature of Rukaiya Begum as Empress In 1551 C.E., just after her father died young at a battle for Humayun, leaving her and her mother in the harem of the emperor, it was Hamida Banu who wanted the marriage of Rukaiya to her first cousin, Akbar. Theirs was the first in-house marriage of the Mughals, soon to be followed by many more in the generations to come. At the mere age of nine, she had married the crown prince, and when Humayun won back Lahore...

A Journey To Discover Life

Search This Blog