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THE BHOJAS
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Though the Bhojas are condemned in the above passage, yet there appear to have been very cordial relations between them and the Pauravas, the children of Puru, Vayati's favourite son, from whom the Kurus and Pandavas traced their descent. Thus we find that when Arjuna in the course of his expedition of pilgrimage went to Dvārakā, the Bhojas and their allied tribes, the Vrsnis and Andhakas, hurried to have a look at the great Pandava hero as he marched along the road. Arjuna was welcomed and honoured by the young men of his own age among the Bhojas, Vrsnis and Andhakas, and went to take up his residence in the house of Krsna, who evidently belonged to these people.1 We then meet with an account of festivities celebrated by the Bhoja-Vrsni-Andhakas on the hill of Mahendra.2 When the report of the abduction of Subhadra, Krsna's sister, was proclaimed at the assembly of the allied tribes, then the Bhojas along with the Vrsnis and Andhakas took up arms to recover the princess from the clutches of her abductor.3 Again we read that Kṛṣṇa, accompanied by a host of Bhoja-VrsniAndhakas, paid a visit to Indraprastha when Arjuna returned there after his exile; and we are further told that Krsna paid a formal visit to the Pandava king, attended by Vrsnis, Andhakas and Bhojas.*
It appears from many passages in the Mahabharata that the Bhojas formed a confederacy for offensive and defensive purposes with the Vrsnis, Andhakas, and also the Yadavas. They were evidently descended from the same main stock, and were therefore bound together by consanguinity as well as by mutual interest. Besides the references given above, we may mention Vanaparvan, Chap. 120, where the prominent warriors of the Vṛsnis, Bhojas and Andhakas are mentioned together; and Viraṭaparvan, Chap. 72 and Udyogaparvan, Chap. 7, where we are told that a large crowd of Vrsnis, Andhakas and Bhojas followed Kṛṣṇa to Dvārakā.5 When Krsna returned to Dvaraka after the Kurukṣetra war was over, the Bhojas, Vrsnis and Andhakas received him with honour. In the Mausalaparvan, where the extermination of the relatives and followers of Krsna by internecine quarrel is described, we have a mention of the Bhojas who along with the Vrsnis and Andhakas took part in that mutually destructive combat.
In the Sabhaparvan, we find Kṛṣṇa telling Yudhisthira of the oppressive domination of Jarasandha, king of Magadha. In this
1 Adiparvan, Chap. 218, verses 18-21.
2 Ibid., Chap. 219, verses 2ff.
3 Ibid., Chap. 220, verses 12 and 32.
4 Ibid., Chap. 221, verses 33 and 38.
5 See also Udyogaparvan, Chap. 28. 6 Mahabharata, Asvamedhaparvan, Chap. 59.
