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, heres 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 Shakunees 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

l 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, dont 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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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, Arjunas 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, Dont 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

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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 lifes 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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