Misconceptions about Mahābhārata

When the Govt announced Lockdown , I thought, with nothing much significant to do, I should utilize this Quarantine in some Svādhyāya (Self-study), So I dug up my old archives, and started to re-read the Mahābhārata. When the Govt announced the re-telecast of Mahābhārata & Rāmāyaṇa, it was like icing on the cake. While interacting with different people both personally and on internet, I noticed there are a lot of misconceptions about the epics prevalent in public. So I thought, it would be the best time to address those misconceptions. while the epic buzz is still on.

First and foremost, I would like everyone to know that whatever about Mahābhārata has been depicted in the TV serials are not completely accurate, especially newer ones. They have distorted original Mahābhārata by showing false stories, regional folklores, incidents from Purāṇic tales and derived & secondary literature.

Karṇa

Karṇa was not some tragic victim of Casteism, infact he supported caste system and even owned slaves. He was from the elite Sūta class, which had close ties with the Kuru royals, and were next only to Brahmins and Kṣatriyas. Sūta were no less than a royalty in the social hiearchy. In his kingdom, Anga, state sanctioned slave trade was prevalent, even married women and childrem were sold like farm animals. He is not mocked in Mahābhārata as Sūta-Putra, as shown in the TV serials. He was friends with Duryodhana right from the childhood, and was actively & willingly involved in every evil plot of Duryodhana against the Pāṇḍavas, from poisning Bhīma to Lākṣāgṛha. He was initially trained by Kṛpācārya and Droṇācārya, with the Kuru princes. Droṇa never denied him education, because of his identity. Droṇa only refused to give the bramhāstra to him, so he went to Paraśurāma to learn bramhāstra. He never defeated Arjuna and spared his life. Infact he was defeated by multiple times by Arjuna, Sātyaki, Abhimanyu and also even by the foot solidiers. Drupada defeated him. Bhīma too defeated him, and also conquered his kingdom during the digvijaya.

He was not offered any divine chariot from from Sūrya, which he supposedly rejected. He is not eulogized to be Dānavīra. He’s not addressed by this name even once. Not only Karṇa but many kings including Pāṇḍavas used to donate things in charity, even more than Karṇa. Karṇa wasn’t intoxicated when Gandharvas attacked Duryodhana. Karṇa helped Duryodhana forcibly abduct the princess of Kalinga.
Karṇa didn’t die like it is shown in the TV serials. Kṛṣṇa never suggested Arjuna to attacked unarmed Karṇa. Karṇa requested Arjuna to allow him to pull his chariot which was stuck in mud, by citing dharma. Kṛṣṇa turned down that request, counting all the evil deeds of Karṇa. The battle went on and Karṇa was distracted because he was fighting with Arjuna and tried to extract the chariot even after the request was turned down by Kṛṣṇa. He died in the process. Arjuna removed the standard of Karṇa’s chariot before firing anjalika arrow to kill him. Arjuna had defeated Karṇa on multiple previous occasions, each time sparing his life.

Kṛṣṇa didn’t perform the last rites of Karṇa and neither did Duryodhana. Yudhiṣṭhira did, lateron when Kuntī asked him. In fact last rites of every warrior was performed together after the war was finally over, in the Jalaprādānika (Upa)Parva of the Strī-Parva. It was then only when Kuntī revealed the truth about Karṇa’s birth after the cremation was completed, not on the battlefield as shown in the TV serials. The animals used to come in battlefield and used to eat flesh of the dead bodies. This scene is described in Mahābhārata.

Bhīṣma didn’t forbid him to fight under his banner, Karṇa himself promised not to fight until Bhīṣma is slayed, because he felt insulted by the remarks of Bhīṣma. Karṇa is not glorified in Mahābhārata, like in the TV serials. In the Yāna-Sandhi (Upa)Parva of Udyoga-Parva, Dhṛtarāṣṭra tries persuade Duryodhana to drop the idea of war and make peace with the Pāṇḍavas, he says, none of the elders, wise men, warriors present at the Kuru court want war, and he adds,

You yourself do not desire it(war). Karṇa is making you do this, and Duśśāsana, with evil in his soul, and Śakunī Soubala.

In the Sañjaya-Yāna (Upa)Parva of Udyoga-Parva, Kṛṣṇa describes,

Duryodhana is a big tree of evil passions; Karṇa is its trunk; Śakunī is its branches; Duśśāsana forms its abundant blossoms.

Karṇa wasn’t some good guy in the wrong faction, he was the catalyst that fueled Duryodhana’s ego. Duryodhana was damn confindent with Karṇa that he even said, he didn’t need anyone’s help, he and Karṇa alone will defeat Pāṇḍavas. Infact it was Karṇa only who consistently kept on instigating Duryodhana against Pandavas. He didn’t have a hard childhood. His foster Parents were the royals of Anga, who loved him and he grew up as a prince. But his actions on the Kurukshetra battlefield show that he didn’t care much about his foster family but only his goal, i.e. slaying Arjuna.

Draupadī

Draupadī never insulted Duryodhana calling him blind. She never had any secret desire for Karṇa either. She didnt reject him, calling him Sūta-Putra. Sūta is not a low caste in Mahābhārata. As per the, Mahābhārata Draupadī was Vīryaśulka, which means she had no right to reject anyone. Drupada and Dhṛṣṭadyumna both declared that who ever successful in shooting the target would win the hand of Draupadī. Karṇa, like other kings, simply failed to lift the bow and complete the task, by which Draupadī could be obtained. People ignorantly blame for allegedly exercising a right that she never even had.

In the interpolated versions Draupadī is mentioned to be rejecting Karṇa. But in them also, she does it on her own accord. There is no role of Kṛṣṇa in her rejection of Karṇa whatsoever, as shown in TV serials.

She didn’t tie any part of saree in hand of Kṛṣṇa after he slayed Śiśupāla. She never cursed any one in Mahābhārata whatsoever. Neither she took any vow to keep her hair open till some one gives the blood of Duśśāsana. Hiḍimbā and Draupadī never met. Therefore no question of them cursing each others’ sons to death. Draupadī didn’t put any condition barring other wives of Pāṇḍavas to stay in Indraprastha. Kuntī loved Draupadī more than her own sons. There was no “daily soap” like fight mentioned between Kuntī and Draupadī.

Śakunī

Śakunī didn’t want any revenge against Kurus. He loved his sister and just wanted to see her son on throne. In fact after dice game once he even suggested Duryodhana to make friend with Pāṇḍavas and stop the hostilities. He was nothing like what is shown in TV Serials, evil mastermind with a sinister plan for vengeance. On the contrary, just a man who loved his nephew and wanted good for him.

His brothers and father were not killed by Bhishma, they died in the Kurukshetra fighting on Duryodhana’s side. So no question of him ever possessing any magical dice made of their bones which he supposedly kept with him always. He was skilled at the game and he chose unskilled Yudhiṣṭhira as opponent so that Yudhiṣṭhira won’t be able to catch any deceit done by him. Śakunī was not the main conspirator of all evil schemes by duryodhana except for the game of dice which he had to plot giving into Duryodhana’s tantrums. He was just happen to be there and know about the evil schemes, and participated in them, just because of his love for duryodhana and close proximity with the prince. Initially he did advised Duryodhana to make peace with Pandavas and let them have Indraprastha.

He didn’t have any limp, he must have been a tall and handsome guy being From the modern day Afghanistan region. The limp was purely a concoction of Gufi Paintal, which BR Chopra allowed for dramatization. The subsequent TV serials further expanded the limp thing.

Read :Truth about Shakuni

Birth of Pāṇḍavas

The Pāṇḍavas were born from the womb of their mothers only. Kuntī became pregnant and gave birth to them. They didn’t drop out of the sky, by devas, like it is shown in TV serials. The Gods had actually put their seeds in the wombs of two queens, through actual physical contact.

Karna too was born through normal 9 month pregnancy only.

Birth of Dhṛtarāṣṭra, Pāṇḍu and Vidura , and Vyāsa

Vyāsa had actual intercourse with Ambikā, Ambālikā and the maiden, while he fathered Dhṛtarāṣṭra, Pāṇḍu and Vidura. He didn’t just make them pregnant just by looking them in the eye.

Bhīma

Bhīma used a sword to cut through chest of Duśśāsana, he didn’t used bare hand to severe Duśśāsana’s arms or chest. He never took Duśśāsana’s blood to tent to put it on hair of Draupadī neither she came in battlefield to put the blood on her hair. She was not present in battlefield. She was present, with other women, in Upaplavya – a different city in the Matsya Janapada, far from the Kurukṣetra.

Karṇa and Bhīma also shared a much vicious animosity Karṇa and Arjuna. Bhīma defeated Karṇa multiple times on the 14th day. He also defeated Karna once on 17th day when he was using his Vijaya Bow. Bhīma insulted Karṇa when Karṇa was crowned as Anga by Duryodhana while Karṇa insulted him on 14th day. It can be said that among Pāṇḍavas, Bhīma was amongst the most hated by Karna but also underestimated as an archer initially. Bhīma was a skilled archer and swordsmen as well. He’s addressed as a ‘great archer’ multiple times for his skill in archery on the battlefield, while defeating his opponents.

Bhīma can be said as the strongest amongst Kurus, in terms of physical strength.

Arjuna

Arjuna defeated each and every major warrior in the battle of Kurukṣetra including Karṇa, Bhīṣma and Droṇa. Aśvatthāmā,superior to them all, acc to Bhishma, but Arjuna defeated him as well.. Though Arjuna himself was overpowered many times in the great war. Arjuna faced only a few defeats in his entire life of military combat. Śiva, Droṇa and Babhruvāhana are the three who defeated Arjuna though Arjuna willingly lost to his son and also he was in the effects of his wife Ulūpī’s illusions.
Hanumāna wasn’t on Arjuna’s chariot, instead there was a celestial ape made by Viśvakarmā. Hanumāna only blessed his chariot. The ape on Arjuna’s car made loud roars that dampened energy of the foes.

Arjuna never insulted Rama or had his ‘ego’ pacified by Hanumana. He is not even mentioned to have travelled to Rameshvaram.

Abduction of Subhadrā

It was Arjuna who got attracted to Subhadrā, not the other way around. Arjuna abducted Subhadrā and married her forcibly. There’s nothing mentioned about how Subhadrā felt. Subhadrā had no involvement or information about Arjuna’s plan. It was Kṛṣṇa who suggested Arjuna, to abduct Subhadrā, when he saw Arjuna is infatuated by her. Kṛṣṇa even said, if a svyamvara is organized, its uncertain that who she will chose, so best is to abduct her. Before abducting Subhadrā, he took permission from both Kṛṣṇa and Yudhiṣṭhira.
Not just Arjuna, all other Pāṇḍava brothers married several other women. These marriages resulted in matrimonial allianes, which helped them in the Kurukṣetra war militarily.

Bhīṣma

Bhīṣma didn’t take any vow to protect Hastināpura forever. The only vows that he had was celibacy and not to sit on the throne as King. He sided with the Dhartarashtras on his own accord, not because of some vow. Ambā never wanted to marry Bhīṣma. She asked a follower of Paraśurāma whom to blame for her misfortune and it was he who decided that Bhīṣma should be blamed. Bhīṣma never vowed to not to kill the Pāṇḍavas. He himself said to Duryodhana that he will slay the Pāṇḍavas during the war.

He was very much responsible for the evils done by the older Kurus, to an extent. He wasn’t an undefeated warrior. He was defeated multiple times by various warriors and also engaged in group attacks on his lone oppnents during the Kurukshetra war. Whenever Bhishm found himself being overpowered, he resorted to blindly firing divine weapons blindly even on the less skilled or younger` warriors.

Bhīṣma was not the eldest Kuru alive.

The eldest Kuru alive was the elder brother of Bhīṣma’s father Śāntanu, Bāhlīka, i.e. the uncle of Bhīṣma and great-great-grandfather of Pāṇḍavas & Dhārtarāṣṭras. Śāntanu’s father, Pratipa, had 3 sons. With his eldest son, Devāpi set to inherit, Pratipa gifted some newly-conquered land to his second son, Bāhlīka ; the land was given the name Bāhlika as a result. But Devāpi became a hermit and retired into the woods. Śāntanu, the youngest son, then became the crown prince and upon Pratipa’s death became the king of Hastināpura. Bāhlīka was present at the Rangabhūmi where the Kurus princes showed the skills they had learned from Kṛpācārya and Droṇācārya. He was also present at Yudhiṣṭhira’s appointment as the crown prince. He was also present in the Rājasūya sarcifice & attended Yudhiṣṭhira’s coronation as the emperor, gifted him a chariot that was made from pure gold. Bāhlīka along with his family also attended the game of dice between Duryodhana and Yudhiṣṭhira. He with his sons and grandsons fought from the side of Duryodhana in the great war. He was there when Abhimanyu was slayed. His only son Somadatta as well as his grandson, Bhūriśravā, were slained by Sātyaki on the 14th day. Bhūriśravā’s 2 sons, Pratipa & Prajanya were also slained by Sātyaki, on the 13th day. Bhīma slayed Bāhlīka on the 14th day.

Sahadeva

Sahadeva didn’t have any magical foresight to see the future, nor did he eat the flesh of his father Pāṇḍu. He conquested the entire South India including Lanka for Yudhiṣṭhira’s Rājasūya.

Abhimanyu

Abhimanyu did not learn the cakravyūha from his mother’s womb but was taught by his father Arjuna who himself trained Sātyaki, Pradyumna and others. It’s just that Abhimanyu couldn’t learn or didn’t have time to learn the art of breaking from the cakravyūha. He was killed by the son of Duśśāsana in a mace fight but by that time he was very much exhausted after having defeated Droṇa, Karṇa, Aśvatthāmā, Bṛhadbala , Duryodhana, Śakuni, Vṛṣasena in fight simaltaneously. Padmavyūha and cakravyūha are the same thing. The scriptures mention 11 different battle formations, cakravyūha being one of them; many of the different battle formations were used on different days in the war.

Duryodhana

Bhīṣma never offered any boon of five arrows to Duryodhana and neither did Duryodhana offer any boon to Arjuna for protecting him from Gandharvas. Duryodhana wasn’t blessed by Gāndhārī to have a strong body. The upper part of Duryodhana’s body was made with a combination of vajras whereas the lower part of his body was soft and much fragile compared to the upper, from birth only. Duryodhana was the best mace fighter after Balarāma. Bhīma indeed had to kill Duryodhana by deciet and also because Bhīma had vowed to break the thighs of Duryodhana. The name Duryodhana doesn’t have any evil connotation. His name wasn’t changed to Duryodhana becuase of his evil deeds. Duryodhana means invincible, unconquerable or he who is difficult to fight with.

Dhṛṣṭadyumna

Dhṛṣṭadyumna was not the Ekalavya reincarnated. Ekalavya was alive when Rājasūya sacrifice happened. Eklavavya reincarnation story is in the Indonesian versions of Mahābhārata, not in the Vyāsa-Mahābhārata.

Ekalavya is very much overrated. Arjuna was surprised at Eklavya’s feat of shooting seven shafts into the mouth of a barking dog, Arjuna himself later on shot arrows in the mouth of a crocodile while Droṇa’s thigh was stuck in their. And he did it in such a way that his thigh would not be harmed by the arrows.

Ghaṭotkaca was present in Kurukṣetra battle since the very beginning. He didn’t appear suddenly at Kurukṣetra on the 14th day.
Pāṇḍavas knowingly burned down the lac palace(Lākṣāgṛha), so that the corpses of the Niṣadhas can be mistaken as theirs.

Karṇa’s Vijaya bow, which he got from Paraśurāma, was given to Paraśurāma by Indra, not Śiva as shown in the TV serial. The bow ultimately didn’t prove to be of much worth in front of Gāṇḍīva.

Barbarīka

There is no one named Barbarīka in the Mahābhārata. The story of Barbarika is a folklore which was later canonised into Skanda-Purāṇa. And also The stories associated with Barbarīka doesn’t make sense at all in the context of the plot of the Mahābhārata.

Almost all of the stuff shown in the spin-off show by B. R. Chopra regarding the Aśvamedha, was not from the Vyāsa-Mahābhārata at all. No sons of Karṇa survived the the battle of Kurukṣetra. The is no character named Vṛṣaketu in the Vyāsa-Mahābhārata. It comes from Jaimini-Bhārata. The name of the wives of Duryodhana and Karṇa was not mentioned in Mahābhārata. Therefore Vrushali, Uruvi, Supriya or Bhanumati were names created in mythic-fictional novels.

Kṛṣṇa

In the main storyline of the epic, Kṛṣṇa is introduced as an adult, as a member of the Royal family of Dvārakā, with no backstory. The backstory of Kṛṣṇa and the exploits of Yādavas, are in the Harivaṃśa, which is in the Khila(appendix) of Mahābhārata, not a part of the main plotline. All the Kṛṣṇa-centric stories are in that only.
Kṛṣṇa was also born from the womb of Devakī, he didn’t just appear like the Vaiṣṇavas propogate. Devakī was Kaṃsa’s cousin, not blood sister. Devakī’s father was Devaka, the brother of Ugrasena.

The modern day Yādavas are not from the dynasty of Kṛṣṇa. Yādavas had several sub-dynasties, clans formed after the different sons and descendants of Yadu. Kṛṣṇa was from the Vṛṣṇi-Yādava sub-dynasty, originating Yadu’s son named, Kroṣṭā. Kaṃsa was from Kukura-Yādava dynasty. Rukmiṇī was from Vaidarbha-Yādava dynasty. Kuntī’s foster father was from Bhoja-Yādava dynasty. Similarly there were several Yādava dynasties, such as Andhaka, Haiheya, Caidya(Cedī), Śainyā, Satvata, Śaśabindu , etc. Yādava warriors fought from both sides in war, which also resulted in a certain animosity between the different factions of Yādavas.
There is no ‘Rādhā’ mentioned in Harivaṃśa who loved Kṛṣṇa as ‘Gopī’. The only Rādhā mentioned in Mahābhārata was mother of Karṇa. There are many popular tales associated to Kṛṣṇa, such as ‘Cīra-Haraṇa'(stealing of clothes of cowherd women), which are nowhere mentioned in the Harivaṃśa. The ‘Cīra-Haraṇa’, Sudāmā incident and other such stories mainly from Bhāgavata Purāṇa or Brahma-Vaivarta.

For more on Kṛṣṇa please see: Kṛṣṇa in the Mahabharata

So, Jāmbavan also doesn’t appear in the main storyline of Mahābhārata. The characters of Rāmāyaṇa, that appear in the Mahābhārata are : Paraśurāma, Hanumāna, Vibhīṣaṇa, Agastya, Viśvamitra, Vaśiṣṭha.