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The Vijaya Dashami Story

Dear All:

As with other stories, like the Diwali (Deepavali) and Dashera stories there are

many twists added to the Vijaya Dashami story (click here and here and here and

here). But, here’s the one that I remember, to the best of my abilities, from Rajaji's

writings (Chakravarthi Rajagopalacari, the last Governor-General of India, a

statesman, but also a prolific writer on many topics like Gita, Ramayana,

Mahabharata, Bhaja Govindam, Thirrvaluvar's Kural, to name just a few).

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After inviting the Pandavas to play dice (gambling), Duryodhana, with Shakunee’s

trickery, managed to force Yuddhishttira to wager everything. And he did. In the

process he lost all of his possessions and that also meant (according to the ‘old’

rules) Draupadi as well. Then followed the most notorious and disgraceful of all

Mahabharata episodes - the disrobing of Draupadi - the subject of so many poems

and comments in many scriptures including the Srimad Bhagavatam.

The Pandavas were then forced into 13 years of exile, the last of which was to be

spent incognito, which means nobody should know their identity. If there was any

failure to meet with these stipulations of the exile, the whole exile would start all

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over again. Duryodhana had spies all over watching what the Pandavas were doing

and created many troubles for them. It is these troubles that Kunti recalls when

Krishna is ready to leave for Dwaraka (after the Mahabharata war), in her famous

hymn with the verse below.

The slaying of RavaNa by Rama is also believed to have occurred on

Vijayadashami and is celebrated with the burning of the effigies of Ravana, his

brothers, and son (annual Ramlila event in New Delhi)

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Vipadah santu nah shashvat yatra tatra Jagad-gurO l

BhavatO darshanam yat syaat apunar-bhava-darshanam ll

विपदः सन्त ु नः शश्वत यत्र तत्र जगद्गरुो l

भितो दशशन ं यत्स्यात ् अपनुभशिदशशनम ् ll

We all want ‘sampad’, which means good fortune (as in the Apadaam apahartaram

sloka), not ‘vipad’ which means misfortunes. But, Kunti asks Krishna for

misfortunes here. Why? She adds in this verse, that she prefers misfortunes since

each time Krishna seemed to appear to help them. (So, folks, don’t start praying for

misfortune, yet, until you get the same assurance from KrishNa!)

Anyway, when the 13th year started, the Pandavas magically disappeared and

decided to take residence in the kingdom of ViraTa. This king was favorably

disposed to the Pandavas. He is also mentioned in chapter 1 of the Gita when the

kings on the Pandava side are listed. Since Arjuna was so easily recognized (he

was also considered to be one of the most handsome of men, they say, he was so

handsome that women all over were attracted to him and so he had a wife wherever

he went - back in those days polygamy was ok, there are some attempts to bring it

back even in the US, with all these new laws about marriage!), he took advantage

of the curse of the apsara Urvashee -- she cursed him to become a napumsaka

(enunch) for one year, for refusing her when he went to meet with Indra (to get

weapons to fight the Mahabharata war, Arjuna was also the son of Indra, through

the divine gift that Kunti had for conception).

As they approached the kingdom of ViraTa, Arjuna also had to get rid of all his

weapons which would make him easily recognizable. They came across the ‘vanhi’

tree (the Tamil word, shami tree in Hindi, see story click here), the tree that

produces ‘drumsticks’ that we use in Sambar. Like pizza, there is no graceful way

to eat the ‘drumstick’. One has to put it in the mouth and suck on it and enjoy and

everyone still does, unabashedly, since it is so tasty.

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http://pics.davesgarden.com/pics/2003/05/19/Chamma/390d9a.jpg The “vanhi”

tree with drumsticks hanging from it.

The ‘vanhi’ tree is also supposed to be a haunted tree where ‘vetalas’, or ghosts,

live. We come across this tree also in the famous Vikramaditya-Vetala stories. The

vetala was living on top of the tree and when the king happened to pass beneath it,

it jumped on to him and would not let go of him. He kept telling the king all kinds

of stories, ending each with a question, which the king had to answer correctly. If

he did not, his head would burst into 100 pieces. And, if he did, the vetala would

just tell another story and ask another question! (You can do the research now and

find out how Vikramaditya got rid of the ‘vetala’. There was kiddie magazine

called ‘Chandamama’ when I was growing up which would have one of these

stories in each issue. The magazine was universally popular all over India and

published in several languages with identical content.)

And so, everyone avoids this tree as much as possible. Arjuna decided to tie up all

his weapons in a big bundle and climbed the ‘vanhi’ tree and tied the bundle to one

of the topmost branches. This way it would be safe since, this tree is avoided by

all. Even if anyone saw the bundle, Arjuna felt no one is going to dare to climb the

tree to find out what was hanging from that topmost branch.

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http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v280/telophase14/arjuna-1.jpg

So, Arjuna became a napumsaka and took the name of Bruhannala - he used to do

what Urvashee did in swargaloka - dance in the court and entertain - during this

‘ajnaata’ vasam (living incognito). Duryodhana was constantly on the lookout for

the Pandavas and there are many episodes in Mahabharata describe how he tried to

force the Pandavas out of hiding. This brings us to the Vijayadashami story.

Duryodhana got word that the Pandavas were living with the king of ViraTa

desam, as we say, and he decided to attack the kingdom to force the Pandavas out.

He even employed Bheeshma in this task. The Kauravas went to the kingdom and

stole a lot of their cows to instigate a fight. The king himself was away at that time.

There was no one to defend the kingdom and avenge the insult of having their

cows stolen so brazenly. The king had a son but this prince (who was named

Uttara, with short vowel, with the long vowel it becomes the name of a female,

Arjuna’s daughter-in-law, the mother of King Parikshit of Srimad Bhgavatam) was

a total coward. He did not want to go and fight Duryodhana and his army.

Everyone, including the prince's mother, tried to encourage the prince to be brave

and fight the enemy. Finally, it was Bruhanala's (Arjuna's) turn. She said, “Don’t

worry. Come with me and I will teach you what to do.”

Then Bruhanala turned back into Arjuna and went to that ‘vanhi’ tree and got back

his arms. The prince was amazed. Arjuna then hid behind the prince and told the

prince to drive the chariot and proceed to battle.

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A furious battle followed during which Arjuna did all the fighting, unseen. The

young prince was victorious and mainly they were able to retrieve their cows. The

prince returned triumphantly back to the kingdom and all rejoiced. When the king

returned, he was very proud of what he heard about the adventures of his son, who

claimed all of the victory.

By this time the 13th year of exile was coming to an end. Duryodhana and his

emissaries came and claimed that Arjuna had been spotted before the end of 13

years and so the Pandavas must resume 13 more years of exile. But other experts,

who knew astrology, disagreed. Even Bheeshma said that on the day Arjuna

revealed himself, if one can so claim, the 13th year had just been completed. They

said Duryodhana did not calculate the Panchangam (ephemeris) correctly.

The day when Arjuna battled, unseen, is supposed to be Vijaya Dashami day. That

was the day of victory for Arjuna and a sign of victory to come in the Mahabharata

war as well.

There is another important part to this story. Rajaji has mentioned this in his

Mahabharata. It has to do with how Arjuna treated the cowardly young prince. The

valiant Arjuna never tried to make fun of the prince, or scold him, or say anything

humiliating to him, as the prince battled with his fears of going to the battle.

Instead, Arjuna (as Bruhanala) tried to inspire the prince and instill a sense of

fearlessness into him.

This is one of the episodes that is often mentioned about how Arjuna was

‘anasooya’, one who never found fault with anyone. This is also why he received

the Divine Gita from Krishna, who calls him as ‘anasooya’ in chapter 9, before

revealing the most secret of all the messages in the Gita. Chapter 9 begins with

Krishna calling Arjuna “anasooyave”.

Idam tu te guhyatamam pravakshyam-yanasooyave l

इद ं त ु त े गहु्यतम ं प्रिक्ष्यावम अनसयूि े l

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This quality of being “anasooya”, one who does not find fault in others, is an

extremely good quality and a very rare quality. Many times people ask why Arjuna

was chosen over all others. The reason is found in verse 1 of chapter 9. Arjuna was

“anasooya”. He was only interested in bettering himself. He was never concerned

about finding fault with others. They say, when he was a student, he practiced what

he was taught, even at night, and could shoot an arrow, with equal facility, with

both his left hand and his right hand (so he was savya-saccee, as mentioned in

chapter 11, verse 33, nimitta maatram bhava savyasaccin).

We should all try to become like Arjuna. Finding fault with others, a habit we all

have, is one of the most important reasons for interpersonal conflicts. It leads to

many of life’s unpleasant experiences. (For a solution to every “problem” in life –

look in the mirror! Talk to yourself first before talking to the “problem” person.)

More importantly, it also blocks the path to the “Saaraswatam”, the divine

knowledge, the most secret of all knowledge, that we all seek - the knowledge of

the Supreme, the knowledge of the Self. Saaraswatam, is derived from Saraswati

and yesterday was Mahanavami, the day dedicated to prayers for the Goddess

Saraswati. (The word “Saaraswatam” appears in the verses immediately after the

Vedic portion, in the hymn to Saraswati given in a recent document, click here.)

The qualities of a true bhakta are also described in chapter 12 of the Gita, which is

the topic that we will pursue soon. Happy Vijaya dashami.

Very sincerely

V. Laxmanan

October 24, 2012

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