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Pandu and kunti marriage12/21/2023 You should have known the importance of the moment. You have learnt all the Vedas and associated Shastras. Could you, at least, not wait till we passed our ecstasy? When did kings become so cruel and insensitive to deny ecstatic moments that nature grants equally to all animals? Don’t you realize that this is the right of all animals? Your act certainly does not behoove your being a great king, born in that great dynasty that always upheld dharma- the kuru dynasty. But did you not see that we were both in the deepest of love, and in the most gentle and sensitive of our being. The deer now reveals, “ Oh King, neither do I blame you for hunting animals, nor for hurting and paining me. ![]() How does it apply to you – you are a deer! Even if I alerted you, you would run, and I would still have to hit you from behind”. How could you then kill me?”Īmused Pandu says, “ Oh deer, all that you said applies to an enemy. Nobody goes behind an enemy, and kill from the back. Only in a direct battle can an enemy be killed. “ Oh Rajan, even when you hit the enemy, you are not supposed to do so when the enemy is already in a disadvantageous situation, or in trouble, or when not ready yet for the battle. The deer patiently responds but with a rhetoric. He has still not understood where he crossed the line. Further he cites references from the past in his defense. It was an acceptable practice sanctioned by dharma for kings. Pandu recovering from the shock responded that hunting was a pastime that was allowed for kings. Here a deer, speaking in the voice of a man, was doing the unthinkable. Nobody had ever dared to reprimand Pandu and question his dharma. Yet, being born in a dynasty of ones that upheld dharma, how could you be so guided by desire and greed that you lost a sense of perspective?” However learned and farsighted you are if fate decides an act it is difficult to better that. I know that one is not beyond one’s destiny, one’s burden of the past deeds. “ Oh King, how could you indulge in a wrong that even the lowest, the most unlearned and the ever indulgent in the wrong would hesitate to do. ![]() The hermit, pained by the shot of the arrow, hurt by the denial of ecstasy, and enveloped by the sorrow of his life ending begins with very harsh words. What ensues is an unforgettable conversation between the King and the hermit, and a dwelling upon what is right and what is wrong. One of them escaped and the other which fell was not a deer but a hermit, the son of a sage. The result though, took all the thrill away from Pandu. Rather, it may have been that very passionate moment on the other side, which increased the thrill of his hunt – Mahabharata is quiet about it. He picked five beautiful arrows with golden wings, describes Mahabharata, signifying Pandu’s passion for hunting, completely oblivious of the tender moment of love on the other side. He did not think twice whether it was just to target animals in deep love. ![]() The hunt, the speed of the hunt, the thrill of the hunt, the sense of power that comes with it, and continuously being in it, blinded Pandu. In that was a pair– a male and a female, blissfully unaware of the world, in an embrace of deep love for ecstasy. One day, King Pandu was as usual on the move for his hunt with his bow and arrow. Speed always blinds to realities other than the very purpose itself. It involves being on the move continuously, with an immense focus on the target at great speed. It can be disastrous when it crosses a line. Hunting, apart from being addictive, also builds a certain insensitivity towards life. The net result is he over-indulges in that great kingly pastime of hunting. Pandu’s life has been one of a tight discipline, and now in the absence of a watchful ecosystem he lets himself loose. Naturally, it is a well-earned retreat that is designed for him to recharge himself and live with a free mind. He has been working very hard – first as a pupil, as a prince, then as a king, and finally as the leader of a campaign. What is not well known though is the immense detail of this episode, and the perspective hidden beneath the detail.Īfter the success of his military campaign, King Pandu retreats himself along with his wives into the Himalayan forest. ![]() It is a turning point in Mahabharata – the penultimate one, the last turning point being his eventual death after which Mahabharata plunges into the conflict between the Kuru princes. The story of King Pandu and the curse that he earns at the hands of a hermit are quite well known.
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