Rakshabandhan can be traced back to a tale from Mahabharat about the bond between Krishna and Draupadi. Draupadi once tore a piece of her sari and tied it around Krishna’s wrist to stop the bleeding from a minor injury. This started the Rakshabandhan tradition. Touched by her gesture, Krishna promised to protect her in times of need.

Though not siblings by birth, Krishna and Draupadi shared a unique and powerful bond of love and friendship for each other. Krishna was so fond of Panchali that he addressed her as ‘sakhi’. One of the names of Draupadi is Krishnaa. It would normally mean the dark one referring to her colour. It is also taken to mean the ‘sakhi’ of Krishna.

Picture: Rediff

Subhadra wants to marry Arjuna. However, Balarama, her other brother, favours his disciple, Duryodhana. Thus, Arjuna comes to Dwaraka in disguise. Krishna plans a secret marriage for Subhadra. He says that Subhadra is unwell and therefore Yadavas must not disturb her. He ensures that Subhadra and Arjuna marry in secret. They escape in Krishna’s chariot.

Subhadra is an expert charioteer and Arjuna becomes the passenger. She asks Arjuna not to hurt the guards during the escape. Arjuna uses an astra that makes the guards’ weapons fall to the ground, without hurting them. Balarama is initially angry, but reconciles and takes gifts for them. Shubhadra and Arjuna’s child, Abhimanyu plays a pivotal role in the great war.

Picture: Ravi Varma painting of Arjuna and Subhadra.

Jagannatha, Subhadra and Balabhadra are the deities at the Puri temple. The deities are carved from sacred neem logs. The famous Rath Yatra also sees the siblings travel to their aunt’s place in three separate Rathas.

The worship of Shubhadra with Krishna Balarama was common in earlier times. Sculptures discovered in the Mathura – Rajasthan region show Krishna Balarama with a female that is interpreted as Shubhadra.

Picture: Patachitra painting of the siblings by Arjun Vallabha, Tumblr

The modern day city of Kandahar in Afghanistan owes its name to the ancient province of Gandhara. This also shows the spread of Indian culture over a much larger region. This region also has had a strong Buddhist heritage represented by the famous Bamiyan Buddhas, destroyed by the Taliban.

The blind king Dhritarashtra was married to Gandhari, the princess of Gandhara (modern day Afghanistan). Her brother Shakuni was the chief mentor of her children. A genius strategist, he was behind most of the crooked schemes of Duryodhana– the burning of Pandavas at the lakshagruh (wax house), the dice game etc. Gandhari despaired of his bad influence but he had a hypnotic hold on his nephew. Shakuni perished in the great war.

Picture: Shakuni and Gandhari sketch by Creative Hatti

Drupada, the king of Panchala was humiliated by the Kurus and their guru Drona. He held a sacrifice to get a son who would avenge this humiliation. A girl and boy emerged from the fires of the Yagya. The daughter, Draupadi was also called Yagyaseni/ Yajnaseni (fire born) because of this. The son was Drishtadyumna (full of splendour).

Drishtadyumna became the supreme commander of the Pandava army during the Mahabharata war. He also killed Guru Drona during the war who had killed their father, Drupada in the early stages of the war. Drona’s son Ashwathama murdered Drishtadyumna and five sons of Draupadi in their sleep on the last night of the war. Therefore he was cursed by Krishna to an eternal life of sadness with no salvation.

Picture: Painting from Persian Mahabharata, birth of Drishtadyumna.

Jayadratha was the king of the Sindhu kingdom. He was married to Dushala, the only sister of the hundred Kauravas. He played a key part in the great war.

During the Pandavas‘ exile, Draupadi was once alone at the ashram. Jayadratha saw Draupadi and was struck by her beauty. Despite knowing her identity, Jayadratha proposed marriage. Enraged by her rejection, he abducted her. When Pandavas found out, they gave chase and utterly defeated him. They spared his life but Jayadratha felt humiliated and did penance to avenge himself.

He got a boon that he could defeat the Pandavas decisively once. On the 13th day of the war, Jayadratha cut off the Pandavas from Abhimanyu. Left alone, Abhimanyu died a heroic death.

Picture: Ravi Varma painting of Jayadratha abducting Draupadi

The temple at Mehrauli, Delhi is of Devi Yogamaya who is believed to be sister of Shri Krishna. Like all old temples, Devi is present in the form of ” Pindi ” (holy rock) and not a vigraha. The present temple was restored in early 19th century and there may have been an older temple. Adjacent to the temple lies a water body, Anangtal Baoli, named after a king of Tomar dynasty who established present day Delhi in the 11th cent CE.

Kamsa, the king of Mathura, wanted to kill all babies of his sister Devaki because of a prediction that he would be killed by Devaki’s eighth child. When Devaki had her 8th baby, her husband Vasudeva managed to save the infant Krishna by substituting him with a baby girl. Kamsa came to kill the infant girl. She assumed the form of Yogamaya and cursed Kamsa.

The story of Krishna’s birth is not part of the Mahabharata proper but is told in the Harivamsa which generally is thought of as an addendum to the epic. This story is best told in the 9th-10th cent CE Bhagavat Purana which today is the main fulcrum of Krishna worship and has some of the most monumental Sanskrit poetry.

Picture: Raja Ravi Varma painting of Kamsa Maya

Shanta’s husband Rishyashringa presided over the Putrakeshai Yagna for Dasaratha. There are many references to Shanta in Valmiki Ramayan, though not explicitly as Dasaratha’s daughter. Her coming to Ayodhya is described as like she is coming home; Rishyashringa, Shanta’s husband, is referred to as like son-in-law of Dasaratha. All of these may only mean that Dasaratha and King of Anga had a very close relationship.

Further, in the Vana Parva of Mahabharata, Rishi Lomasa narrates the story of Rishyashringa to Yudhishthira. The king of Anga, Lomapada is said to have given his daughter Santa in marriage to Rishyashringa.

Some interpret these verses to say that Santa was Dasaratha’s daughter given in adoption to his dear friend, King of Anga. Prof G.B. Kanuga and Ralph T. H. Griffith both refer to Shanta as Dasaratha’s daughter in their works. This may have arisen because Lomapada was also called Dasharatha in Mahabharata and is also referred to as friend of King Dasharatha. Later on, in local versions, Santa is referred to as Rama’s sister.

In a discourse in 2002, Sathya Sai Baba in a moving story described how Shanta came to this yagya and was reunited with her parents. Even if versions of Ramayana differ and diverge, they end up bringing various regions together in a mainstream tradition of epics. Ramayana forms ‘the center of the integration’ of Indian civilization and has a great influence as the ‘network of regional cultures.’

Picture: Painting of Rishyashringa coming to Ayodhya with Shanta

Shalya, on the request of Bishma, gave his sister Madri in marriage to Pandu as the second wife. Before the war, Shalya was on his way to join the Pandavas, but was tricked by Duryodhana to join his side instead. An enraged Yudhisthira vowed that he would kill Shalya in the war. They faced each other on the first day itself. Shalya broke Yudhisthira’s bow and Yudhisthira injured him in return with another bow.

Shalya was the charioteer for Karna. Karna refused to listen to Shalya’s advice to aim the Ashwasena snake arrow at Arjuna’s chest and instead aimed at Arjuna’s head. Krishna pressed his foot and drove Arjuna’s chariot into the earth and the arrow missed Arjuna’s head and hit the crown instead. Shalya was eventually made the commander-in-chief of Kauravas. Yudhisthira fulfilled his vow and killed him.

Picture: Karna and Shalya

Rama Upakhyana is a short anecdote (upakhyana) describing the story of Ramayana in Mahabharata’s Vanaparva. Draupadi was once abducted by Jayadratha. Yudhisthira asked Maharishi Markandeya whether any other person had the same ill-fate as the abduction of his wife. Markandeya then describes the story of Ramayana.

The story of Ravana’s origin and his family has a much more prominent place in Ramopkhyana than in Valmiki Ramayana. It appears in the last kanda (Uttara kanda), which some consider to be an interpolation. The story of how Sita’s abduction was schemed is the same in both the tellings. It gives us an insight about how oral traditions repeated and retold important events to keep them alive.

Picture: Raja Ravi Varma painting of Sita’s abduction

Krishna’s brother Balarama stayed neutral in the great war as both Kauravas and Pandavas were dear to him. The other warrior to stay out was Rukmi. He was the brother of Rukmini, Krishna’s chief queen. He ruled Vidarbha. He was not wanted by either side because of his boastfulness.

When Rukmini wanted to marry Krishna, her family arranged her marriage to Shishupala. Krishna arrived on the eve of the marriage and took Rukmini away. Rukmi and his associates fought Krishna but were defeated. Rukmi’s life was spared at the request of Rukmini. Since he had vowed never to set foot in his capital without killing Krishna, he had to set up a new capital to keep his vow.

Picture: Guler Style painting of Krishna releasing Rukmi, Chamba Museum.

Kripacharya is one of the seven Chiranjeevis (immortals) on the earth. He was named Kripa and had a twin sister called Kripi. He was the royal guru of the Kuru dynasty. Kripa was one of the seven great warriors who killed Abhimanyu in the Chakravyuah. He also participated in the massacre of Draupadi’s sons on the last night of the war along with the two other Kaurava survivors. Later he became the guru of Parikshit, Abhimanyu’s son and the heir of Hastinapur.

The Mahabharata had participation from almost all royal houses of Bharat. It was like a world war of its time and an equally big disaster. On the Pandava side, a few thousand survived. On the Kaurava side, there were only three survivors – Drona’s son, Ashwatthama; Ashwatthama’s uncle, Kripacharya; and Kritavarma, a Yadava commander.

Picture: Arvind Neelakantan, Facebook