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Mahabharata is a significant Hindu epic that describes the war between cousins the Kauravas and Pandavas. The story tells how Lord Krishna helped Pandavas in winning the war of succession. The story of Mahabharata is commonly known, that how Draupadi was insulted and how Krishna saved her dignity and who won the war in the end. But still there are some unknown stories from Mahabharata which are not commonly known, let's explore:
After the end of war, Pandavas left the royalty and decided to go for the final journey in the Himalayas. A stray dog also accompanied them in the journey. One by one, each pandava fell down and only Yudhishthira left with the dog. At the gate of heaven, Yudhishthira was told that dog is not allowed, but he refused to enter without his final companion. The dog was god Dharma who was testing Yudhishthira capability, who showed his worth of receiving heaven after death.
Have you heard the story of Barbarik? He was son of Ghatotkacha and grandson of Bhima. Barbarik was considered the undefeated warrior with three celestial arrows given to him by Lord Shiva which were enough to end the war at once. Barbarik said that he will in the favor of weaker side when was asked whom he will support in the war. Lord Krishna, sensed the danger and asked him to show his talent. Lord Krishna told him to make hole in each and every leaf of a tree standing in front of them with one arrow. Barbarik accepted the challenge and when he shot his arrow, arrow went to make hole in leaves but stopped at the feet of lord Krishna who was hiding one leaf under his foot. As per the condition that Barbarik will sacrifice his head if failed in the test, he cut down his head and watched the whole war from the top of a hill.
Dronacharya’s father sage Bharadwaja once saw an apsara Ghritachi bathing in river Ganga. He became attracted toward her after seeing her beauty. His semen dropped which was caught in a pot called drone. Dronacharya was born from this pot and was named as such. He was an excellent scholar and taught war skills to both Pandavas and Kauravas.
Vidura, the most ignored but wisest counselor of Kuru dynasty was an incarnation of Yama, the god of death. He came to this mortal world due to a curse but always followed the path of Dharma and guided kaurava on every occasion, even if his words were not taken seriously by them.
We know about Pandavas’ sons Abhimanyu, Ghototkacha and Yaudheya due to their contribution in the war, but do you know about other sons of Pandavas including Shrutakarma, Babhruvahana, Iravan, Satanika and Srutsena who also fought bravely in the war and were slain to death in the war. All the sons of both pandavas and kauravas were killed in the war, and those who were spared were killed in the disguise by Ashwathama.
It is said that once, river goddess Ganga appeared in front of Karna after being impressed by his skills and asked him to join the side of Pandavas. But Karna rejected the proposal out of pride and said that he would defeat Arjuna. This angered the river goddess who foretold him that he would die, and his blood would stain her water, which became true when Karna’s body was washed in the same river before his funeral.
Once Arjuna discovered a mystical kingdom which was a ruled by all women. The kingdom’s queen told him that no man can enter this kingdom unless transformed himself into a woman. Arjuna was so impressed by the beauty of the place and was keen to visit that he temporarily became a woman and again gained his manly identity. But this experience helped him in his exile when he has to disguise as a woman when he taught dance to Uttara.
We know story of love of Arjuna and Draupadi, we also know love story of Arjuna with Subhadra, but we rarely know about other marriages of Arjuna. While travelling in the long way, he was bathing in the river when Ulupi saw him and fell in love with him. She proposed Arjuna who also accepted and the couple married each other. They also had a son named Iravan, who was killed in the Mahabharata. Their love story was not described much and very few people know about other marriages of Arjuna, besides Draupadi and Subhadra.
Draupadi’s brother Dhrishtadymna who was born with the sacred fire with the sole purpose of killing, Dronacharya was cursed by a sage that he would die a miserable death and would remain uncremated. He was slain by Ashwatthama while sleeping alongside five sons of Pandavas.
After being devastated with the death of her sons and destruction of her clan, Gandhari cursed Lord Krishna that his Yadu clan will be destructed same as Kauravas. After the end of war, Yadu clan also came to end and finally, Lord Krishna took his last breath after getting shot with an arrow on his foot when a hunter mistook him as a deer. All the stories in the epic is interesting and has a deep meaning, every time you come across Mahabharata, you will know about new things. Sometimes the story has deep devotional meaning which could be learned after thorough reading of Bhagavad Gita which is a part of Mahabharata. Every epic gives life lessons including that truth will win in the end and God is always on the side of right person.
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