Pandavas Dwelling in the forests ( Pandava Vanavasam)

 Pandavas started their journey towards the forest. They only had their weapons with them. Along with Draupadi, they started moving towards North direction. Indrasena and other servants followed Pandavas in fourteen thousand chariots. Subhadra, Abhimanyu, and the five sons of Draupadi also accompanied them in the chariots.

As Pandavas started their journey leaving their kingdom, the people in Hastinapur cried their hearts out. " What is this injustice? Dhritarashtra and Duryodhana treacherously deceived the sons of Pandu Raju and made them play a Game of Dice full of Adharma. They drove them away towards the forest. They are heartless! Duryodhana is the one who conspired this act of  sin. Bhishma, Drona, and Kripacharya did not even stop this Adharma from happening. They just kept quiet. The virtuous Vidura also did not utter a word to stop this injustice. Not sure what they had in their minds to let this act happen."

Duryodhana is very greedy. He is the King! Karna, Jayadratha, and Shakuni are his close ministers. What else can we say? How can we live in this kind of Kingdom? Pandavas are very righteous and Dharma abiding. Without them, how can the Dharma survive? Who will save the people of the Kingdom? Let us go to wherever Pandavas are going to settle down. Let us stay with them.

Saying this, the citizens of the Kingdom left their houses and farms. Men, Women, and everyone in the kingdom started marching along with Pandavas.

" Oh Meritorious and Virtuos Ones! Please do not leave us and go. Is this fair on your part? Who is going to look out for us? Duryodhana and his subjects are wicked. Sadhus will suffer when wicked people rule. Even if they do not do the wrong things, a man will become wicked if he is ruled and in the company of wicked people. Even if one touch, speaks, or in joins the company of wicked men, they go on to perdition."

"You are wise ones by birth. Your education and wisdom are superior. Your nature is very pure. Hence, we will stay with you. Only if we stay in the company of good people will we learn to be good ourselves. We will learn Dharma. We will become successful. If earth, Sesame seeds, water, clothes are placed with flowers, they will also smell like flowers. Duryodhana is a wicked person. We will not stay in his kingdom, we will come with you. Please accept our plea!" Saying this, the citizens of the kingdom started pleading Pandavas with folded hands.

Dharmaraja looked at the citizens kindly. " If you all want to come with us, then we will be most humbled. Your affection is on us, hence, you are praising us for the qualities we don't have. But, dwelling in the forests is very difficult. You will not be able to bear it. No, please listen to me, please stop, please go back to your homes." Saying this, Dharmaraja coaxed them in to turning back and going to their homes. The citizens were very saddened and held themselves up and returned to Hastinapur.

The next day morning, many brahmins came and met the Pandavas. They came along with their relatives, disciples, and Agnihotras. They are all equal to Lord Brahma. They have gotten rid of their sins by chanting the Vedas. They are in a stage to receive prayers from mankind. They all came to dwell in the forests with Pandavas. Dharmaraja offered obeisance to all the brahmins with great reverence. They all blessed him immensely. But, he did not like that they came to the forest for him. 

"Because of the deceit of my cousins (who have behaved as enemies), we have lost everything. We now have to dwell in the forests. We will have to eat fruits, roots, and shoots and will have to be very austere. Why do you need to undergo this trouble with us? No, I pray you to please return to your homes. There are wild beasts, elephants, and tigers living in this forest. It is going to be very difficult for you to dwell here. You will not be able to bear this." Dharmaraja said.

The Brahmins were pained by the words of Dharmaraja. " We do not have anyone except you. Please do not forsake us." said the Brahmins not swerving an inch. " We do not have anywhere to go. Please do not leave us like this. This is not Dharma. No one leaves the side of refuges and devotees. You are Kings, you are the guardians of Dharma. We are Brahmins, it is not fair for you to ask us to leave. You must be thinking about how you can feed us. Do not worry about that. We will cater to our needs for food. We will do Japas, Homas, and continuous religious and spiritual activities and make you happy. Dhritarashtra's sons have sought to very wrong deeds, they have done a great deal of harm to you. Whatever happens, we will not live in their kingdom." said the Brahmins.

Dharmaraja was in a fix. How could he say no to so many people? He had to agree to what they said. But, he was worried about one thing. The brahmins eat sumptuous food three times a day. How can he bear the pain of letting them eat roots and shoots? He was very unhappy thinking about this and fell on the ground.

Shounaka (one of the brahmins) came and pacified Dharmaraja and asked him not to worry. He started to recite the slokas from Janaka Geetas about Aatma-Vyavasaya (Soul Agriculture) and started illustrating their meaning.

Adi Parvamu- The Oath of Bhishma

 Devavrata had understood the intention of King Dasa, he immediately decided what he was going to do. "Oh! King Dasa, I hereby take an oath in front of all these people, I am giving up my rights of becoming a king at this very moment. The royal heir of the kingdom would be the one born to King Shantanu and your daughter Satyavati, he would be the king and the sole Lord of our dynasty." Everyone around were very unhappy by this decision and felt sorrowful.

King Dasa said "What you say is true, you are a strong follower of Dharma, you will abide by your words....but..." and he paused again and then said "What is the guarantee that your kids would abide by your decision?"

Devavrata said " Do not hesitate, I will not be marrying anyone. I take an oath to remain celibate, I do not care if I do not have kids or reach the Punya Loka." and took an oath. Gods started to shower flowers in praise of his mighty oath and called him Bhishma , people started singing praises in his glory. He was referred as  Bhishma by one and all.

King Dasa succeeded in achieving what he wanted, he sent YojanaGandha along with Bhishma. He took her to Hasthinapur in a golden chariot. Shantanu hugged his son in extreme happiness and said "You have done something that is not done by humans, you are my beloved" and kissed him on his forehead. "You will not have death until you wish for it" blessed the father to his son Bhishma who had sacrificed his happiness for the sake of the dynasty.

Shantanu and Satyavati got married in a very lavish and royal manner. They had two sons  Chitrangada and Vichitravirya, before their sons could reach adolescence Shantanu passed away. Bhishma performed the last rights to his father and crowned Chitrangada as the next king. Chitrangada was always a very fickle minded person, very arrogant and would not care for anyone or heed to anyones words. He would pick up fights with everyone and would disrespect gods and gandharvas. A gandharva named Chitrangada could not handle this behaviour of Kaurava Chitrangada  and waged a war against him. The grounds of Kurukshetra were turning in to extreme battle grounds, the Kauravas and gandharvas went in to a very fierce battle. Kaurava Chitrangada and gandharva Chitrangada fought like bulls. Gandharvas are known for their tricky magical spells, they fought the battle with deciet, Kaurava Chitrangada was assasinated.

Bhishma throned Vichitravirya as the king, he also started looking for alliances for Vichitravirya. At the same time , the King of Kashi was also looking for alliances for his three daughters Amba, Ambika and Ambalika. He had declared a Swayamvara for his daughters. Bhishma immediately started to Kashi and was armed with weapons.

Many kings from various lands had come to the Swayamvara, Bhishma made his way ahead of all of them. Everyone was surprised at the way Bhishma was progressing, he asked the princesses to be seated in his chariot and said " I am taking the princesses for my brother Vichitravirya, if you are capable, take them away from me" and challenged all the kings who had assembled there. " Showing demonic behaviour in weddings is a trait of gandharva kings, winning princesses in a Swayamvara is even more great. Hence, I will win over all the kings aeembled here and leave" said Bhishma to the King of Kashi. All the kings were offended, they waged a war against Bhishma, the place had turned in to a battle field. There was a shower of arrows all over.

 Bhishma became Pralaya Rudra (Lord of destruction), he held his bow and arrows and started to wage war fiercely. He defeated all the kings, everyone ran to save their lives. Bhishma was stopped by King Salva while he tries to head home. Salva challenges Bhishma to wage a war, everyone around starts praising Salva for his brave attempt. King Salva shot thousands of arrows and fought a very fierce battle against Bhishma. This did not stop Bhishma, he started to retaliate back, with one of his arrows he killed the charioteer of King Salva, then his two horses, then broke the chariot. King Salva begged for his life and left the battle.

Bhishma was the unstoppable, he took the princesses and came back to Hasthinapur, he brought them to his mother Satyavati. She wanted to get the princesses married to Vichitravirya, but the older princess Amba was in love with King Salva, she refused to marry Vichitravirya. She requested Bhishma to follow Dharma and return her back to King Salva. Bhishma and Satyavati thought about her request and consulted many saints and sages, they then sent her to King Salva's kingdom along with some elderly people, they got Ambika and Ambalika married to Vichitravirya. The wedding was a grand ceremony, but Vichitravirya had changed completely after that. He was a very responsible king but after the wedding, he was in the comfort of his wives enjoying marrital bliss and had shunned all the responsibilities as a King. Ambika and Ambalika were very beautiful and he was spending his whole time admiring their beauty, he was a lustful person always engaged in his own world of lust. Having engaged in bodily happiness and lust all the time, he passed away very soon due to tuberculosis. He did not have any heir, Bhishma has to perform his last rights. All her dreams were shattered, Satyavati was mourning the loss of both her sons. Ambika and Ambalika were mourning the death of their husband, the kingdom has no king now. Bhishma was the only heir of the dynasty, he consoled his mother and his sisters in law., he had to take up the responsibility of the kingdom once again.

One day Satyavati called Bhishma and said " The glory of King Shantanu lies in your hands, you are the sole heir performing his last rights and death ceremony each year. I want his glory to shine and go for generations, for that I would need your help. You have studied all Dharmas and you know everything, please do not say no to my request. You will have to rule the Kuru Kingdom and also marry and have kids. Our dynasty started from Lord Brahma and has flourished well with kith and kin, I do not want our dynasty to stop with you."

" Please do not order me to do this Mother, I have taken an oath to be celibate. The Moon may give up his cold and the Sun may give up the heat, but I will not give up on the oath taken for my father. But, I will make sure your wish is fulfilled. I will make sure that my father's dynasty survives and prospers. I do not have to give up my oath for this, there are many alternatives in Dharma, there has always been a Kshatriya Dharma which has been coming down from ages. " Bhishma said.

He immediately summoned the ministers, sages, learned people of the community and started conversations with them regarding the problem mentioned by his mother. " Parashurama's father was killed by Karthaveerya Arjuna. Parashurama not only killed Karthaveera but also made sure that he even killed the babies of these kshatriyas in their wombs. The women were left with no husbands and
 had to resort to brahmins to keep their dynasty intact(they had bourne the kids of brahmins).

Adi Parvamu- The Story of Shantanu and Satyavati

Four years passed by, one day while hunting Shantanu reached the banks of river Yamuna. As soon as he reached, he could smell a wonderful perfumed filled air which are blowing from the river. He was dragged towards the smell and started going towards the river. As he went more towards Yamuna, he saw a boatyard and on a boat was this beautiful young lass named Satyavati, who is also called YojanaGandha, meaning that she will have fragrant smell for even many Yojanas distance. He was spell bound by her beauty and her fragrance. She glowed with golden hue, her body was slim and curvaceous. Her eyes resembled those of a frightened deer, her smile was so beautiful. Shantanu was just taken aback by her divine beauty. He went close to her and tried to involve her in a conversation saying " Who are you? Why are you rowing the boat alone here? I am surprised". She smiled and looked at the king and said " I am the daughter of King Dasa and to keep up with his Dharma, I work on the banks of the river helping people cross it.

Shantanu had heard of Satyavati's beauty before and now he got to see her. He went to King Dasa directly and asked for Satyavati's hand in marriage. King Das was very happy and he greeted the king with great honours and said " It’s a custom to give the girl to her groom in marriage, but I am booned to have the great king as my son in law. What else do I want? But I do have one concern in my mind, if you agree to it then I will give my daughter's hand in marriage". " If the request that you are making is worth giving then I will surely abide by it" said the king. " I request that Satyavati's son be your royal heir and become the king after you" said King Dasa. Shantanu was taken back by his request, he already had Devavrata, who had been crowned a prince. How could he agree to King Dasa's request of making Satyavati's son as the royal heir?. Shantanu said " Please ask me for something else". He tried to convince King Dasa that he has an older son who is already a prince, but King Dasa was not convinced. He said that unless his request is granted he cannot give his daughter's hand in marriage.

Dissapointed and sad Shantanu returned to Hastinapura. He could not get Satyavati out of his mind, he could not concentrate on anything, he seemed lost and stayed as a loner. Devavrata was worried about his father's behaviour. He went to his father and said " Father! We don’t have any enemies even in the dreams, our people are very happy. Kings from far of lands and kingdoms are bound by your word. We are all worried about you being drifting away from normal life". After a long pause and thought process he replied to Devavrata saying that " Having one son is never like having sons, having one eye never gives the satisfaction of complete eyesight. Having one son is like not having any sons says Dharma Shastra. You are a very good archer, a very brave knight. Anything might happen to you anytime, how can I rely on you to carry my family name? Agnihotras and Vedas and kids- the best lineages should never leave them. That is the reason I would like to have some more sons so that they can help you".

Devavrata consulted his knowledgeable ministers and realized that Shantanu had his heart stuck on Satyavati. He went to King Dasa with all his relatives and asked Satyavati's hand in marriage for Shantanu. King Dasa honoured Devavrata and said " You are an embodiment of Dharma, you know the difference between Artha and Anartha(demonic tendencies) and are very responsible. Since you have come to talk about your father's wedding I am very happy. Satyavati was born to the Chedi king Vasu (also known as Uparichara Vasu) and a fish, who was actually an Apsara, Adrika. Vasu wanted her to be married to Shantanu, that is the reason I rejected Devala who had come to ask her hand in marriage, I know I cannot get a son in law like Shantanu. But I do have a problem here, step son, i.e. you. I feel that you are their enemy as you are extra ordinarily powerful. One you knot your eyebrows, even the most powerful will succumb to you. So, now you know what my issue is, so please find a solution to this problem".