The War of Kurukshetra

The Mahabharata is an extremely integral part of Hindu mythology that basically revolves around the principles of war, dharma and justice. It is a known fact that the war of Kurukshetra was fought because of the greed, ego and urge to gain power and land. The war was fought between the Kauravas who were the 100 sons of the blind king Dhritarashtra and on the other side were 5 sons of Pandu. The Mahabharata is an epic that basically involves generations of people, a handful of sacrifices and curses given by one to another. What usually isn’t spoken about is the series of events that took place after the Pandavas emerged victorious from the 18 day long war. This is a little piece of information not acknowledged by people and it is what I want to talk about in my blog today. So, after the war the Pandavas ruled the Kingdom of Hastinapur for 36 long years. Yudhistir being the eldest brother has given respectable positions to the wives of all the Kauravas in the palace. During the course of Yudhisthira's rule the former king Dhritarashtra, his wife Gandhari, sister-in-law Kunti, who was the mother of the Pandavas and brother Vidur, all left the kingdom with the aim of penance. At the same time a grieving Gandhari who had lost all her sons in the war cursed Lord Krishna that he and the entire Yadav clan would die a painful death just like her sons. Soon Ghandharis curse had started working and several obnoxious events took place at Dwarka which led Lord Krishna to lead the Yadav clan to Prabhas. Unfortunately, a murderous rebellion took place which led to the almost extinction of the Yadav clan. With the aim of stopping the rebellion Lord Krishna was mistakenly hit by an arrow which led to his death. It is believed that Lord Krishna leaves his mortal body in the form of Vishnu. At this moment Ved Vyasa told Arjuna that the purpose of his and his brother's life was now over, after which the 5 Pandavas and Paanchali- Draupadi left for penance to the Himlayas. Gradually they started dying starting with Draupadi and ending with Bhima. Only Yudhistira and Lord Yama disguised in the form of a dog made it to the end, heaven. I believe that although the rest of Pandavs went to hell they had immense power, courage and love which together made them strong and capable of winning a war at this scale.This is a little piece of information i found to be extremely new and informative, I hope you find it too :)

- Priyal Jhaveri

by Saanika Shah