In the previous episode, we had witnessed Arjuna getting married to Shubadra who was Bhagawan Krishna’s sister, finally after a lot of hiccups. Balarama, Yudishtra and finally Draupati gave their consent for the marriage to take place and it happened with a lot of grandeur. The son who was born out of this marriage was none other than Abhimanyu, who broke open the “Chakra Vyuga” during the Kurukshetra war and laid down his life without knowing how to come out of it. The word “Abhimanyu” has a very interesting connotation – “Abhi” means fearless, and “Manyu” means being extremely ferocious when it comes to fighting a war. Thus, Abhimanyu was an expert and a fearless person in warfare and he thus played a very important role henceforth in all the wars that the Paandavas had to fight through. With this event, this Parva comes to a close, and before this, Sage Vyaasas describes the next generation of the Paandava brothers. Draupati yielded five sons from her five husbands, and apart from this, each of the Paandava brother’s other wives yielded one son each.
As this Parva comes to a close and with the commencement of the next Parva, an interesting accord takes place. A couple of years after all these marriage events take place, Bhagawan Krishna once again pays a visit to the Paandava brothers, at Indraprastha city. By now, Indraprastha is a sprawling city with excellent infrastructure and luxury homes. This Indraprastha city is now much more beautiful than the Hastinapura city, wherein King Dhridriraashtra and Duryodhana were residing. Even in today’s scenario we would be able to see this – Newer towns would be much more planned and well-developed as compared to the older cities, isn’t it? For instance, we would be able to see some new suburbs that have developed of late, having excellent roads, drainage systems, streetlights, water connections, etc. Whereas the old city areas might severely lack in these basic infrastructure. This was the same case when it came to Indraprastha and Hastinapura. Since Hastinapura was an older city, it had its own problems, whereas Indraprastha being newly built, was excellent in terms of all infrastructure required for a luxurious living.
Upon seeing all this, Bhagawan Krishna was immensely satisfied that the Paandavas were leading a peaceful and a happy life after all the trials and tribulations that they had to go through during their earlier part of their lives. Specifically, Bhagawan Krishna wanted to meet Arjuna as He was missing Arjuna’s companionship a lot and it was for this reason mainly, Bhagawan Krishna made His way from Dwaaraka to Indraprastha. Upon seeing Arjuna, Bhagawan Krishna was extremely happy and He wanted to spend some time alone with Arjuna. Hence, He took Arjuna along with Him to a nearby lawn which was extremely beautiful with all types of plants and trees. Beyond this lawn, there was a dense forest area with many thorns and bushes, along with some poisonous trees and plants. It is inside this dense forest area, Snake Takshaka was living. Readers might remember who Snake Takshaka is! We’ve witnessed him in many of our earlier episodes and it was the same Snake Takshaka who bit King Parikshit much later. This Snake Takshaka would come in the Mahabharata story in multiple places, and hence, readers are requested to make a note.
Thus, as Bhagawan Krishna and Arjuna were walking close to this dense forest area, suddenly a Brahmana Rishi appears in front of them from nowhere! Upon seeing Bhagawan Krishna and Arjuna, the Brahmana Rishi pays his respects towards them and requests them thus, “Do you have anything for me to eat? I’ve been roaming around here for the past so many days without sufficient food or water. It would be helpful if you could provide me something to eat and drink!” As the duo heard this, they were more than happy to serve the Brahmana Rishi. Upon asking him what he wants to eat, the Brahmana Rishi gave a very interesting answer thus, “Oh Arjuna! I want this entire forest that you see in front of us! I want to consume the entire lot of trees and plants that are present there!” Bhagawan Krishna immediately replies thus, “Oh Rishi! You can feel free to consume whatever you want! Why are you asking us for permission?” The Brahmana Rishi then lets out an important problem thus, “Oh Bhagawan Krishna! If I’ve to eat this entire forest area, it should be burnt down first, since it is poisonous at the moment! However, it is not as easy as you think. Whenever I try to burn it down with my “Tapo-Balam”, Indra drenches the fire with a lot of rain! Hence, the fire gets puts off and I’m unable to burn it! This is where I need your help!”
As the Brahmana Rishi explains the problem thus, the duo think what can be done! Now what is their plan for the Brahmana Rishi? Let us continue this interesting segment in the next episode as well! Stay tuned! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 