Madhuvidya

SR No.: 006525
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: S D Laddu, T N Dharmadhikari, Madhvi Kolhatkar, Pratibha Pingle
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad
Publication Year: 2001
Total Pages: 762
Language: English
Classification: Book_English, Literature, & Philosophy
File Size: 17 MB

Page 447

180
M. A. MEHENDALE
epic. When he comes to the end of the incidents in the Assembly, he writes : " Whilst still further speeches are being exchanged, the loud cry of a jackal and other sounds of ill omen are heard in Dhstarāşțra's house. Terrified by these, the old king Dhstarāșțra at last feels himself called upon to intervene." (p. 345). This means that the jackals and the donkeys were responsible for the intervention of Dhstarāşțra.!
(2) Shri Anand Sadhale in his book T 374 1973 16 E' says at one place : “At this stage Fate, in the form of a donkey, came to the rescue of Draupadi.... One does not know how long this humiliation would have gone on, but just at that moment a donkey began to bray which foreboded evil ...... .... Dhrtarăştra lost all courage due to those evil signs. He immediately restrained his sons to avoid the evil ” 2 (p. 63).
The general belief thus is that the sounds uttered by certain animals foreboding calamity were responsible for putting a stop to Draupadi's humiliation and for freeing the Pāņdavas from bondage. This belief is not of recent origin. It is to be met with in the older poetic epitomes of the Mahabharata, Here are a couple of examples :
(1) The Bharatamañjari : Kșemendra wrote this poem in the first half of the eleventh century. Kşemendra's description of the game of dice follows the one in the Mahabharata. When Bhima uttered his terrible vow to break the thigh of Duryodhana the jackals began to howl and flames of fire, covered with smoke, arose (2.435-437). Noticing these ill omens Vidura and Gāndhari immediately held consultations with Dhstarăştra. Soon Dhstarāştra showered his favours on Yudhisthira and the latter started to go home from Hastinapura. Kșemendra does not expressly mention the boons conferred on Draupadi by Dhstar işçra, but his description leaves no one in doubt that in his view it was the ill omens which gave a turn to the events happending in the Assembly Hall.
(2) The Balabharata : Amaracandra's Balabharata belongs to the thirteenth century. He too narrates that there were ill omens immediately after Bhima's vow (2.5.61 ). Then Dhstarăstra upbraided his eldest son and offered boons to Draupadi.
Since the order of the events in the Assembly Hall as reported in the Mahābhārata itself shows that the boons were granted by Dhstarāştra to Draupadi
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1 Similarly F. Edgerton : "At last evil omens forced Dhstarāşțra to intervene ". The Sabhäparvan, Poona, 1944, p. xxvi.
२ "अशा प्रसंगी देव का गाढवाच्या रूपाने द्रौपदीच्या साहाय्यास धावून आले...ही विटंबना आणखी कुठवर चालती न कळे. पण तेवढयांत अका गाढवाने अशुभसूचक अशा आवाजात रेकावयास सुरुवात केली. ... धृतराष्ट्राचा धीर त्या अशुभ शकुनाने अकदम खचला. अशुभाचें निराकरण करण्यासाठी म्हणून धृतराष्ट्राने आपल्या पुत्रांना अकदम आवरिलें."
Madhu Vidyā/422