In the previous episode, we had witnessed Bhishmachaarya giving a lengthy accord to Duryodhana on the strengths of both armies put together. In Management terms we call this accord “SWOT Analysis”, which is nothing but analyzing the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats being posed by the enemy. Accordingly, Bhishmachaarya talks about the strengths of the Paandava army, which in-turn can be equated to the “threats” that the Kaurava army might face in the battlefield. Bhishmachaarya talks about two important people – Purujith and Ghatodgaja and what kind of threats they pose to the Kaurava camp. Purujith is Bheemasena’s uncle and Ghatodgaja is Bheemasena’s son. Both of them are “Maha-Rathis” and their capabilities are infinite. Bhishmachaarya has a special note about Ghatodgaja because he is one person who is highly capable of waging an illusionary war! We’ve seen this during our previous Ramayana project as well, wherein Ravana’s son, Indrajith had this same capability, and with this, he even succeeded to mislead Bhagawan Rama and Lakshmana in the war at Sri Lanka. Similarly here also, since Dhatodgaja is perfectly capable of unleashing an illusionary warfare, Bhishmachaarya warns Duryodhana to be very careful if he comes to fight!
In fact, if we’ve to talk about Ghatodgaja in detail and how he is going to protect the Paandavas during the war, it is going to be a very long “Charitra”. We’ve seen earlier that before Bhagawan Krishna called Karna to His side, Karna had refused to come. Subsequently, Indra Bhagawan came in front of Karna and knowing that Karna is an epitome of “Dhaanam” (Charity), he asked for Karna’s “Kavacha-Kundalams” (Powerful ear-rings that Karna was wearing). Indra knows that if these “Kavacha Kundalams” are there in Karna’s ears, nobody can defeat him in the war. Hence, in order to protect his son Arjuna in the war, (Arjuna is Indra’s son as we’ve witnessed earlier), Indra plays this trick with Karna, so as to render him powerless. However, when Karna was sleeping that night, Surya Bhagawan came in his dream and warned him not to give these Kavacha Kundalams to Indra if he asks for them. However, Karna was very firm in his characteristic of “Dhaanam” and replied to Surya Bhagawan that nobody can stop him from donating something to someone! Accordingly, when Indra obtains these Kavacha-Kundamalams from Karna, of course he doesn’t leave Karna empty-handed. He gifts a powerful weapon in return to Karna as he leaves back.
Giving Karna this weapon thus, Indra assures Karna that he would be safe until and unless this weapon is in his hands during the war! Bheemasena and Arjuna know this fact through Bhagawan Krishna that Karna has this lethal weapon with him and the only way to neutralise this weapon is to send Ghatodgaja to the battlefield to fight Karna. As Ghatodgaja knows the art of illusionary warfare, he was able to take on Karna single handedly, however, at some point, Karna had no other option but to take out this lethal weapon gifted by Indra to fight Ghatodgaja. One problem with all these kinds of divine weapons is that, if used once, these cannot be employed again forever! Thus, at a point when Ghatodgaja was after Karna’s life, Karna had to employ this weapon of Indra to kill Ghatodgaja. Thus, Ghatodgaja had to bear the brunt of this lethal weapon and sacrifice his life, which otherwise would have been employed by Karna upon Arjuna! We’re going to witness this incident in more detail as we come to that section of the Kurukshetra war, but for now, I narrated this instance to highlight the significance of this person called Ghatodgaja.
So for today, let us understand up to this point and in the next episode, we shall witness the details of the last Upa-Parva within the main “Udyoga Parva”, which is the “Amba-Upaakhyaana Parva”! Stay tuned for more updates! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 