Hindu Festivals No 28A.

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Dear friends and devotees,

 

Bhakti is eternal.

 

This is the concluding part of the topic HINDU FESTIVALS. It does not mean

that those I have covered are only the total Hindu festivals. There are some

more, which I could not collect and cover in the present list. I am quite aware

of the fact that almost all of you are cognizant of these festivals and even

celebrating the same also. But my aim is to bring out those which are prevalent

in all parts of our country and to consolidate them. The style and mode of

celebrating these festivals may vary from one place to the other.

 

I have collected the details of festivals from different sources. Some are

from the discourses of our great Gurus. Some are from Sanskrit, Telugu, Tamil

and Kannada books. In my work of transcribing words of our Gurus and translating

the topics from vernaculars to English language, there might be some lapses from

my side.

 

I request you all, to forgive me for those lapses.

 

Further, though the topic is one, each part is dissimilar and therefore, in

sending the details of one Festival at a time, I had to deviate from our

convention of restricting the matter to three paragraphs, for which also I may

be pardoned.

 

With love and regards,

 

Sastry.

 

28a. Bheeshma Ekadasi.

(Magha Sukla ekadasi - dwadasi)

 

This festival is celebrated as a token of respect to Bheeshma who preached

Dharmasutras to Dharmaraja. In fact, this is commenced on Ashtami, with

starving on ekadashi day and ends on dwadashi, during which period, one should

read Mahabharatha in full or atleast Bheeshmaprva.

 

Since I know that the present life style of every one has become so

mechanical, due to the duties and other living factors, it may not be possible

for every one to read one entire Parva. I am, therefore, giving the following

abridged one of all the episodes of eighteen parvas, throwing much light on the

Avatar of Lord Krishna, for those who desire to study on the day.

 

The Mahabharata

 

The Pandavas were merely a pretext. Krishna used the Pandavas to rid the world

of evil men.

 

Yayati’s son was Puru. In Puru’s line were born Bharata and Kuru. One of

Kuru’s descendants was the king Shantanu. Shantanu married Ganga and Bhishma

was born from this marriage. But Shantanu also married Satyavati and had two

more sons, Chitrangada and Vichitravirya. Bhishma never married. Chitrangada

died young. When Vicitravirya grew up, Bhishma defeated the king of Kashi and

brought two of the king’s daughters, Ambika and ambalika, as brides for

Vichitravirya. Vichitravirya was also quite young when he died of tuberculosis.

Since Vichitravirya had left no children, Vyasadeva was brought to

Hastinapura. Vyasadeva and Ambika had a son named Dhritarashtra and Vyasadeva

and Ambalika had a son named Pandu. Dhritarashtra married Gandhari and they had

hundred sons, of whom the eldest and most important was Duryodhana. Pandu had

two wives, Kunti and Madri. Kunti’s sons were Yudhishthira, Bhima and Arjuna

and Madri’s son were Nakula and Sahadeva. But Yudhisthira was really the son

of the god Dharma and not Pandu’s son. Similarly, Bhima was the son of the god

Pavana. Arjuna was the son of Indra and Nakula and Sahadeva the sons of the two

Ashvinis. Earlier, Kunti had had a son named Karna from the sun-god. This was

before she had got married to Pandu. Karna immediately after the birth was left

in the river Ganga, recovered and brought up by one Sootha (charioteer) and

became a friend of Duryodhana. Because of a curse imposed on him by a sage,

Pandu died in the forest.

Duryodhana tried his best to kill the Pandavas. He set fire to a house of lac

(Lakkagriha) in which Kunti and the five Pandavas were staying. But the Pandavas

were saved and fled to a city named Ekachakrapura. There they lived, disguised

as Brahmans. In their stay at Ekachakrapura, Bhima destroyed a rakshasa named

Bakasura. They then won the hand of the daughter of the king of Panchala. Her

name was Droupadi and all five Pandava brothers married her. When Duryodhana

learnt that the Pandavas were alive, he handed over half the kingdom to them.

Meanwhile, the forest Khandava had to be burnt by Agni to be cured from his

Mandya (indigestion). Indra was not at all allowing Khandava to be burnt. Agni

sought the help of Krishna and Arjuna, to fulfill his desire. Krishna had

briefed Arjuna of the matter. When both successfully helped Agni at the

burning of the Khandava forest, Agni gave him several divine weapons. Arjuna had

also obtained divine weapons from his guru Dronacharya.

On the Pandava side, Yudhishtira had become king. The Pandavas organised a

Rajasuya yaga (royal sacrifice) in which they conquered several kingdoms and

accumulated a lot of wealth. This made Duryodhana envious. He arranged a game of

dice (pachika) between Yudhishtira and Duryodhana’s uncle Shakuni. Shakuni did

not play fairly and Yudhistira lost the game. As a penalty for the loss, the

Pandavas were to spend twelve years in the forest and one additional year

without being detected. Droupadi went with them to the forest, as did the

Pandava’s priest, Dhoumya.

After the twelve years were over, the Pandavas came to the kingdom of King

Virata where they proposed to spend the additional year that had to be spent in

disguise. Yudhishtira pretended to be a brahmana, Bhima cook, Arjuna dancer,

Nakula and Sahadeva stable-hands. Droupadi became the queen’s maid. The

queen’s brother Kichaka tried to molest Droupadi, but was killed by Bhima.

When the year was over, the Kauravas attacked King Virata to rob him of his

cattle. But Arjuna defeated all the Kauravas and saved Virata’s cattle. After

this success, the identity of the Pandavas could no longer be kept a secret. But

thankfully, the one year during which identities had to be kept a secret, was

over.

King Virata’s daughter Uttara was married to Abhimanyu, Arjuna’s son.

Abhimanyu’s mother was Subhadra, whom Arjuna had married. Subhadra also

happened to be Krishna’s sister.

The Pandavas now demanded their rightful share of the kingdom, but Duryodhana

refused. A war was imminent. A huge battalion of soldiers was known as an

akshouhini. Duryodhana collected eleven akshouhinis for the war and Yudhishtira

collected seven. Krishna was sent as a messenger to Duryodhana to try and

preserve the peace, Krishna told Duryodhana that the Pandavas would be satisfied

with a mere five villages. Duryodhana refused to give them even this without a

fight.

So the armies gathered for a war on the plains of Kurukshetra. Noticing that

elders and relatives like Bhishma and Dronacharya were fighting on the side of

the Kauravas, Arjuna was reluctant to fight. But Krishna gave Arjuna lessons

which have come down to us as the Gita. He taught that there was no reason for

sorrow if Bhishma or Dronacharya died. That true identity of a person was his

atman (soul) which never died, but passed from one body to another. True bliss

was obtained when the atman united with the brahma (divine essence) or paramatma

(supreme soul). This was always the goal of a yogi that is a person who sought

union with God.

Thus instructed by Krishna, Arjuna started to fight. With the help of

Shikhandi, he defeated Bhishma. This happened on the tenth day of the fighting.

Bhishma did not however die. He had earlier received the boon that he would only

die when he actually wished to do so. For many days, he lay there in the

battlefield on a bed of arrows. After Bhishma’s defeat, Dronacharya became the

general of the Kauravas. Dhrishtadyumna was the general on the Pandava side.

Dronacharya killed Virata, Drupada and several other kings and soldiers on the

Pandava side. Dhrishtadyumna also killed many Kaurava soldiers. On the fifteenth

day of the fighting, a rumour gained currency that Ashvatthama, Dronacharaya’s

son, had been killed. Dronacharya abandoned his weapons on hearing this bad news

and Dhrishtadyumna faced no problems in killing him. Karna now became the

Kaurava general and lasted for two and a half days before he was killed by

Arjuna. Shalya was the last Kaurava general. He

fought for only half a day and was killed by Yudhishtira.

Bhima and Duryodhana fought the last duel of the war with maces. Bhima broke

Duryodhana’s thighs and killed him. Ashvatthama had been fuming ever since his

father Dronacharya had been killed by unfair means. In the dead of the night, he

entered the Pandava camp where he killed Dhristadyumna and the five sons of

Droupadi. Droupadi was disconsolate and demanded revenge. Arjuna and Ashvatthama

let loose divine weapons at each other. Since this might destroy the world, they

were asked to withdraw these weapons. Arjuna could withdraw his weapon, but

Ashvatthama could not. Ashvatthama’s weapon killed the baby that was in

Uttara’s womb, but when the dead baby was born, Krishna brought it back to

life. This baby was Parikshita.

Many kings and soldiers died in the course of the Kurukshetra war. The only

ones left alive were Kritavarma, Kripacharya and Ashvatthama on the Kaurava side

and Satyaki, Krishna and the five Pandavas on the Pandava side. After the war

was over, Bhishma taught Yudhishtira the duties of a king. It was only after

this that he died.

As a king, Yudhishtira performed many yagas and gave a lot of alms to

Brahmins. When Yudhishtira learnt that the Yadavas had been destroyed, he no

longer wished to rule. He handed over the kingdom to Parikshita and the Pandavas

left on a pilgrimage, in the course of which they reached abode.

It was Krishna who had used the Pandavas as a tool to rid the world of evil

kings and establish the good ones. Realizing that the Yadavas were also evil,

Krishna also ensured that the Yadavas would be destroyed. He then gave up his

life at the place of pilgrimage that is known as Prabhasa. After Krishna died,

the city of Dvaraka was swallowed up by the sea.

 

This was the story of the eighth avatara of Vishnu.

(A collection)

 

With love and regards,

 

Sastry.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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