In the previous episode, we had witnessed an accord on how Bhagawan Krishna, Bheemasena and Arjuna make their way towards the Magadha Desha, in pursuit of King Jaraasandha. The trio crosses through various geographical locations such as mountains, rivers, etc. and there are references that they have crossed through River Sarayu, River Yamuna, River Ganga and the likes. Also, there were many mountain ranges such as “Vipula Parvatha”, “Varaaha Parvatha”, “Vrishabha Parvatha”, “Rishigiri Parvatha” and “Chaityaka Parvatha” through which they’ve traveled. Of course, we do not know today whether these mountain ranges still exist in the northern and central parts of India – Maybe they do. But this requires a lot of research and comparison of today’s Indian map with the ancient Indian map. This would give us a fair idea as to which geographical features remain the same even today and which of those have changed over a period of time. For instance, many rivers might have changed their course because of various reasons. If we look at the River Ganga for instance, it has existed for over lakhs of years. We’ve seen references of this river even during the Ramayana time and now during the Mahabharata time as well. Even today we have the River Ganges flowing across the entire North-Indian plain. However, we never know what was the course of the river in those times and how it has changed to what it is today. Readers, if interested, can undertake this as a research and come up with findings. I shall be happy to understand from all of you! 🙂
Moving on further thus, Bhagawan Krishna and Co. reach the Magadha Desha now and they enter through the backdoor of the territory. As they approached King Jaraasandha, they did not go in front of him as Kshatrya princes. Instead, they adorned themselves like Brahmana Rishis and went to see him. Upon seeing three Brahmana Rishis coming towards him, King Jaraasandha bowed down to them. Any king, no matter how powerful he might be, will always bow down to a Brahmana Rishi. This is according to the “Raaja-Dharma”. Due respect should always be given to Brahmana Rishis by the king, and we’ve seen this in many instances earlier as well. This is exactly what King Jaraasandha was doing here as well, however, he had a mild doubt within him. Just before the trio arrived, he had obtained an information that somebody had broken the drums kept amidst the “Cahityaka Parvatha” mountain ranges. Moreover, instead of entering the territory through the main entrance, the trio had come through the back door. Upon analyzing all these, King Jaraasandha raises a question to the trio thus, “Oh Brahmana Rishis! I pay my respects to all the three of you! However, because of these two reasons, I suspect whether you are my friends or foes!”
As King Jaraasandha raises this question, Bhagawan Krishna immediately replies thus, “Oh Jaraasandha! Yes! As you’ve doubted, we are not your friends, but your foes!” Surprised by this answer, King Jaraasandha asks thus, “Oh Brahmana Rishis! What mistake did I commit to you? Why are you saying that you are my foes? We’ve never even seen each other earlier, and we’ve never had a dispute between us till date! Hence, how do you come to a conclusion that we are enemies to each other?” At this point, readers should remember one thing which is very important – Even though Jaraasandha had invaded Bhagawan Krishna’s Mathura seventeen times earlier, he had never obtained an opportunity to see Bhagawan Krishna physically so close. Perhaps, he might have seen Bhagawan Krishna at a distance every time, and hence, he was not able to identify that it was none other than Bhagawan Krishna who was standing in front of him. Only Kaalayavana knew who Bhagawan Krishna was, and of course, Kaalayavana was no more at this point of time. Hence, there was nobody to educate King Jaraasandha as to how Bhagawan Krishna looks like!
Thus, as King Jaraasandha raises this question, Bhagawan Krishna laughs within himself and decides to confuse him further! Jaraasandha is already confused here, and Bhagawan Krishna decides to play on for some more time, so as to create more chaos and confusion! Bhagawan Krishna replies to Jaraasandha thus, “Oh Jaraasandha! There are two people standing with me, aren’t they? They are none other than the brothers of King Yudishtra of Indraprastha! You’ve got a direct confrontation and a dispute with King Yudishtra and hence, these two have come here to fight with you! King Yudishtra is an epitome of “Dharma”, as you might have heard! He has come to know that you’ve imprisoned many kings from many other territories and trying to put them to death for no fault of theirs. This is a huge blunder according to “Raaja-Dharma”! Hence, to give you a punishment and to teach you a lesson, these two brothers of Yudishtra have come along with me to take you down!”
We should note here that Bhagawan Krishna was extremely smart enough not to introduce Himself to Jaraasandha! This is how Bhagawan Krishna operated – not only in this instance, but throughout the Mahabharata story! His alertness and smartness to take on His enemies knew no bounds and was impeccable! Bhagawan Krishna continues to provoke Jaraasandha thus, “Oh Jaraasandha! Thus for the fault that you’ve committed, these two have come to punish you! Don’t act as if you’ve not done anything! All of us know what kind of atrocities you’ve done in this world! Hence, you only have two options here – Either release all the kings you’ve imprisoned and seek their forgiveness, or, try fighting against these two people and prove your might! Refrain from giving all these arguments that you do not have any dispute with us! Get to action without any further unnecessary talks!”
These words from Bhagawan Krishna provoked Jaraasandha sharply! So what is Jaraasandha’s reaction going to be? Is he going to take up the weapons and fight them down? Let us wait till the next episode to find out! Stay tuned! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 