Thursday, May 19, 2011

Krishna's help for the Pandavas

Krishna's help for the Pandavas
The Five Pandavas in Wayang form. From left to right: Bhima, Arjuna, Yudhishtira, Nakula, and Sahadeva. Indonesia Museum, Jakarta.

Lord Krishna being a well wisher of the Pandavas, helps them in various ways during the time of their ordeals from time to time as described below:

1) Krishna protected Draupadi's honour in the court of Hastinapur when Dushasana tried to strip her saree. Nobody was able to say any word against Duryodana including Bhishma, Drona and Kripacharya among others.


2) When sage Durvasa and his students visited Yudistra's hermitage during their exile to have food, the Akshaya paatra which used to produce huge chunk of food, was unable to supply any further food for the rest of the day. At such an odd moment, Lord Krishna appeared before Draupadi and Pandavas and said that he was very hungry. He ate the only last grain of food that was left in the Akshaya patra. The sage Durvasa and his students hunger gets quenched immediately by this act of Krishna. Thus, lord Krishna saved the Pandavas from the curse of Durvasa.

3) Nakula was very good in Astronomy. Duryodana, on the advice of Shakuni approached Nakula in order to seek the right time (muhurtaam) to start the Mahabharata war so that the Kauravas will be victorious. Nakula disclosed the same for the Kauravas in spite of knowing that Kauravas were their enemy, as Nakula was known to be very honest. Then, Lord Krishna planned to create an eclipse much before the beginning of the war. In the mean time, both Sun and Moon got shocked by lord Krishna's thought and appeared before Krishna stating that this will create a huge imbalance in the entire Universe. Then, lord Krishna smilingly declared that as Earth, Moon and Sun are together in one place, this in itself was an eclipse.

4) Lord Krishna rescued Arjuna from Karna's shakthi weapon by not exposing him to Karna, until Karna used it against Ghatotchkacha.

5) When Karna shot Nagastra on Arjuna, then Lord Krishna pressed the chariot and the chariot sinked by two inches below the ground, as a result of which the astra hit Arjuna's crown instead of his head.

6) When Ashwatama launched the Narayanastra on the Pandavas immediately after the death of Dronacharya, then lord Krishna rescues the pandavas army by instructing them to put down their arms and to surrender themselves completely towards the weapon.

7) When Bhagadatta launched the Vaishnava astra on Arjuna, then lord Krishna intervened. Consequently, this weapon turned into a garland and fell on Krishna. The Vaishnava astra is an astra of Vishnu. By this way, that weapon came back to Vishnu and Arjuna was saved.

8) When Duryodana was about to meet his mother by being totally naked, then lord Krishna instigates him to wear the leaves of banana in order to cover his thighs before meeting Gandhari. When Gandhari opened her napkin and saw Duryodan, then all of his body turned into an iron except his thighs. So, his thighs becomes vulnerable which was later exploited by Bheema in order to defeat Duryodana in Gadayudda.

9) Lord Krishna saved the pandavas when Ashwatamma launched an ambush attack on the pandavas camp during night. Consequently, Ashwatamma ended up killing the upapandavas (sons of Draupadi and Pandavas) instead of Pandavas.

10) Lord Krishna revived Parikshit who was killed in Uttara's womb by Ashwatamma's misuse of Brahmastra.

11) Lord Krishna saved Bheema from getting killed from the hands of Dhritarashtra when all the Pandavas came to meet him after the war. Dhritarashtra insists each one of the Pandavas to hug him. When, Bheema approached Dhritarashtra, then Lord Krishna instructed him to place Bheema's iron statue that was used by Duryodayana while practicing Gadayudda, before Dhritarashtra instead of Bheema himself hugging Duryodana's father. Dhritarashtra crushed the iron statue into pieces. Thus, lord Krishna prevented Bheema from getting crushed from the hands of Dhritarashtra.

12) After the end of the Mahabharata war, Krishna and Arjuna were to descend from the chariot. Lord Krishna being the charioteer, asked Arjuna to descend from the chariot first. It was against the practice followed those days, wherein, it was the charioteer who first descended from the Chariot followed by the Maharathi. So, Arjuna was surprised by this act of Krishna, and yet he heeded the his advice and descended from the chariot first. Krishna also descended from the Chariot. Lord Hanuman who was in the Arjuna's Flag also moved away from the Chariot. Then, soon, the chariot burst into flames. Arjuna asked Krishna as why did the Chariot burst? So, lord Krishna replied to Arjuna that the divine weapons hurled by Bhishma, Drona, Karna and Kripacharya on his chariot were the cause for the bursting of this chariot into flames. It was lord Krishna's and Hanuman's presence, the effect of these astras were postponed. So, if Arjuna were to descend after Krishna, then Arjuna would have got killed when the Chariot burst into flames.

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