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URUBHANGA AND THE CRITICAL EDITION OF THE MAHABHARATA
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The concessions clearly show that Yudhisthira had no knowledge of either the vow or the curse. If he had, he would have asked Duryodhana to get out of the pond and fight with mace with Bhima so that the latter could fulfil his vow.
Krsna took Yudhisthira to task for his thoughtlessness. 15 The Pandavas were, however, very lucky. Duryodhana did not take the easy way to victory. He was too proud for that. He no doubt chose mace as the weapon, but did not challenge any one of the Pandavas since he considered all of them inferior to him for a mace-duel. He, therefore, said: "Let any one of the Pandavas who could think of fighting with me lift up his mace and step forward." 16 Bhima took up the challenge and a duel between the two began."
We now come to the two heroes engaged in the duel to see whether they showed any knowledge of the vow (or the curse).
A few days before the duel, there was an occasion for Bhima to refer to the yow. When Bhima killed Duhsäsana and started to drink the blood from Duhśāsana's chest he declared loudly : "Today I have fulfilled my vow related to Duḥśãsana. I shall also today cut Duryodhana to pieces like a sacrificial animal and give offerings."18 That is surprising. If Bhima had taken the second vow he should have rather declared : "Today I shall also break Duryodhana's thighs with my mace and fulfil my vow related to him." He then should have proceeded to seek Duryodhana out and challenge him for a duel. But this did not happen.
in the description of the duel itself we do not find anything that might even distantly suggest that Bhima was looking for an opportunity to hit Duryodhana's thighs. The description rather gives the impression that he was fighting strictly according to the rules. It was only when Arjuna, at the instance of Krsna, gave a hint to him that he threw his mace at Duryodhana's thighs. The vow had nothing to do with it. Bhima thus had no knowledge of the Vow
Duryodharia too is never seen conscious of either the vow or the curse. He never mentioned it, nor was he ever worried about it. While fighting his decisive duel with Bhima he is not described taking special care of his thighs. On the other hand, he even once wished to jump up in the air to avoid being hit by the mace of Bhima. 19 This act meant exposing his thighs and Duryodhana would certainly not have wished to do that if he knew of Bhima's vow. The way Bhima had fought the duel must have convinced Duryodhana that he (Bhima) was not going to violate the rule of the duel and hit him below the navel. Unfortunately for him his understanding of the situation was not correct. Bhima had decided to act on the suggestion received by him from Arjuna. When Duryodhana, therefore, did jump in the air, Bhima got his golden opportunity to bring Duryodhana down. The hero with broken
Madhu Vidya/528
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