Madhuvidya

Author(s): S D Laddu, T N Dharmadhikari, Madhvi Kolhatkar, Pratibha Pingle
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad

Page 443

MÉHENDALE : Nemesis and some Mahābháruta episodes
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(3) Only six beings escaped alive from the holocaust - Aśvasena, Maya, and the four young ones of Sārnga; and one more, the Nāga Taksaka, remained alive as he was not present in the forest - a total of seven.'
Only one could escape alive from the holocaust at the camp; and seven others - Krsna, Satyaki, and the five Pandavas - remained alive as they were not present in the camp - a total of eight.
(4) The Khändava forest enjoyed the protection of Indra ; Krsna and Arjuna defeated his attempt to extinguish the fire.
God Sankara, in the form of a gigantic being, protected the camp of the Pandavas; Asvatthāman himself praised Sankara and obtained entry into the camp.
... (5) Kęsna receives from Agni the famous Sudarsana disc, and Arjuna the famous Gandīva bow and two inexhaustible quivers.
Sankara himself enters the body of Aśvatthäman to confer on him superhuman strength and also presents him an excellent sword.
(6) The author of the Mahābhārata says that when the fire began to burn the forest it appeared as if the age had come to an end (yugānta 1.216.32)
The author says that one had exactly similar feelings when killing took place in the camp (10.8.137).
(7) A Celestial Voice which dissuaded Indra from continuing his fight with Arjuna also indicated that the destruction of the Khāndava forest was predestined' (distam 1.219.18).
God Sankara tells Asvatthäman that the Pancālas have been humbled by Kāla and can no longer remain alive (abhibhūtās tu kālena 10.7.63 ).
These similarities between the incidents related to the forest-fire and the camp-killings are so striking that they lead one to suspect that there is some rela. tion between the two. The author of the Mahābhārata, presumably, indicates this relationship by comparing Aśvatthaman, about to enter the camp of the Pandavas with the fire burning down a forest of dried up trees (kakşam dīpta ivānalah 10.3.28). The Pandavas fought the Kauravas with a view to regaining the kingdom that was theirs and incidentally, fulfil the vows they had taken on various occasions. The joy and the satisfaction which they may have felt at the fall of Duryodhana turned out to be too short-lived. Yudhisthira's sense of total frustration is reflected in his words : " although we conquered the enemies, it is
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