Reading Notes: PDE Mahabharata, Part C

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Not a lot goes on in this section - for the first 12 years of their exile, the Pandavas are merely living in the forest and obtaining new weapons/training for war. It has been pretty clear for a while to the Pandavas that they will eventually be fighting the Kauravas, sooner or later, especially after the deadly vows the Pandavas had made to kill the Kauravas for humiliating Draupadi. Although there are few interesting scenes, the real action happens when the Pandavas are hiding in the Virata Kingdom. 

Following the 12 years of exile, the Pandavas are in hiding for the 13th year. For one year, they must make sure to not let anyone discover their identity, or they will have to do the 12 years of exile all over again. While the Kauravas are tearing the forests trying to find them, the Pandavas assumed various disguises as servants in the Matsya Kingdom.

One thing I found really interesting is that, if I recall correctly, Matsya Kingdom was founded by Matsya, King Vasu's son and Satyavati's older brother! According to this site, Matsya was Virata's great-grandfather; considering that Satyavati is the great-grandmother of the Pandavas, King Virata is actually a third cousin of the Pandavas, since they share a great-great-grandparent in King Vasu.

So just to trace their ancestry and justify my connection:

Vasu --> Matsya --> Nitantu --> (5 sons) --> Virata

Vasu --> Satyavati --> Vyasa --> Pandu --> Pandavas

Also just some other interesting things I wanted to mention when looking more into these lineages:

  • Technically, the Pandavas are not blood-related to Satyavati or even Pandu for that matter, since they were sons of Gods (since Pandu was cursed to not be intimate with his wives an Kunti had a boon that allowed her to be blessed with a son from a god of her choice); nonetheless, they are considered sons of Pandu and therefore are the great-grandsons of Satyavati
  • Nitantu, Matsya's son, married a daughter of Satyavati, although it doesn't say with whom Satyavati had the daughter (I'm guessing with Shantanu) --> here is one of the many examples of consanguineous marriages between blood-relatives during the Mahabharata
  • Nitantu's five sons all married the same woman (Shaivya), just like the five Pandavas all married Draupadi! I'm kind of surprised this did not get as much attention as Draupadi, since, judging by generations, Shaivya is of the generation prior to the Pandavas so her case of polyandry would have occurred before Draupadi's marriage chronologically.
  • Arjuna's son Abhimanyu later marries Virata's daughter Uttaraa --> another consanguineous marriage; Abhimanyu and Uttaraa's son, Parikshit (and later his son Janamejaya) is the only one left after the Kurukshetra war to continue the Kuru bloodline
    • This actually makes sense now why Arjuna refuses to marry Uttaraa himself and instead suggests his son --> Arjuna would be an uncle to Uttaraa, while Abhimanyu and Uttara are fourth cousins
After Bhima kills Kichaka, the Kauravas put two-and-two together, and realize that the Pandavas are hiding in Matsya kingdom. They come to attack the kingdom, and after a series of events, Arjuna's identity is revealed. A dispute occurs as these events occurred on the last day of the Pandavas' exile; the Pandavas argue that Arjuna only revealed himself after sunset that marks the end of their hiding, but the Kauravas argue that it was before and refuse to give the Pandavas back their kingdom, saying that they must go through another 12 years of exile. This argument launches the Pandavas and Kauravas into the inevitable Kurukshetra War.

Bibliography: PDE Mahabharata, Written by Arnold, Besant, Devee, Dutt, Ganguli, Kincaid, Macfie, Mackenzie, Nivedita, Seeger, and Tagore, Link.

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