#Kurukshetra War

[musingsonthemahabharata]

check out this stunning futuristic Mahābhārata art by Vamchi Vams!

the tendency with modern Mbh-inspired artwork is for it to still adhere to 'traditional' / historic conventions and for these to be seen as more 'accurate' renderings, but, especially with the war books (parvas), i'd maintain that one needs only to skim-read to see that the futuristic artwork most likely is a more 'accurate' representation of how the war is said to be fought. it would not be an exaggeration to claim that the astras (supranatural weapons imbued with mantras) used by warriors such as Arjuna, Karṇa & Aśvatthāmā functioned like nuclear weapons. i personally adore futuristic Mbh artwork because in my opinion it enlivens the epic & grounds it in our present as a timeless dynamic work and not as an ancient lifeless poem.

i do wonder if it is the inescapable archaic tone of 99% of the Mbh translations from sanskrit (which my dear friend Avi Sato pointed to me once & now i can't unsee!) that which contributes to this overall impression that traditional renditions * must * be more accurate. perhaps. i for one would love to see a truly futuristic translation and interpretation of the Mbh (both in literature & in film / TV) that also follows the narrative thread faithfully. might take it upon myself.

[alokastrology1]

Mahabharata War Aftermath: What happened?

Some people died in the great war of epic size that was fought to get rid of evil. In the battle for what is right, good, or evil, everyone has to deal with the results, which are their Karma. Mahabharata was a great story about how people feel, including greed, acceptance, sacrifice, and, in the end, death.

Know about the Kurukshetra War of Mahabharata. Get an online astrology consultation by the world-renowned Astrologer Mr. Alok Khandelwal.

Throughout the epic, the rules of Dharma and moral superiority are always changed to fit the purpose or need of the time. All men take advantage of, hurt, and use women to satisfy their egos. Men fight against their ambitions, talents, and birth. Even the pious Bhishma’s efforts to seek wives for his brother and nephew caused severe injustice to the women in question.

The Battle of Kurukshetra

Many people died in the Kurukshetra war, but the death of Abhimanyu, the son of Arjuna and Subhadra, was the most heartbreaking. Drona made a Chakravyuha creation while Arjuna was sidetracked by Susharma and Bhagdataa. Only Arjuna knew how to get in and out of the formation, but Abhimanyu just knew how to get in. Once he was inside, Jayadratha made sure that nobody would follow him, and the killing started.

While Abhimanyu killed Brihadbala and hurt Duryodhana and Karna caught his bow from behind, Drona hit from the front. The Kauravas attacked at the same time, and Dushashana’s son hit the king with a mace to kill him. Abhimanyu was able to kill him with the same mace because he was so brave and stubborn.

As a form of revenge, Bhima cut off the head of an elephant called Ashwatthama and told Drona that his son had died. Drona dropped his arms, and Dhristadyumna killed him. When Ashwatthama heard that his father had been killed by a traitor, he, Kripacharya, and Kirtvarma killed all of the Pandavas’ sons while they were sleeping.

Ashwatthama let go of the Brahmashira just to kill the Pandavas and their only grandson, who was in Uttara’s womb. The others had died in the war. Lord Krishna went into Uttara’s womb to protect her unborn child from Brahmashira, who was sent by Ashwatthama to kill it. So, it was called Parikshit. The Sanskrit verb root – pari-ki means “around-possess” (or, less likely in this case, “around-destroy”). This is where Parikshit’s name came from.

Read Also:- What is the significance of Adhik Mass in Hinduism?

King Parikshit's family tree

After Parikshit was born, the chief priest Dhaumya told King Yudhishthira that he would be a great follower of the Supreme Lord Vishnu. Since Krishna saved him, he would be called Vishnurata, which means “one who is always shielded by the Lord.” Dhaumya Rishi says that Parikshit will always be dedicated to morality, religious fundamentals, and the truth. He will also be a wise king, just like Ikshvaku and Lord Rama. He would be a good example of a warrior like his grandfather Arjuna, and his family’s reputation would grow. He is called Parikshit because he would look for the Supreme Lord, whom he had seen as an unborn child, all over the world and in every person.

Hastinapur’s king After Krishna Avatar leaves the world and the Kali Yuga, the dark age of sin, begins, the five Pandavas brothers leave the world. Young Parikshit is made king, and Kripa is made his advisor. Under Kripa’s direction, he did three Aswamedha yajnas.

When King Parikshit was out searching in the woods, the demon Kali, who was the personification of the Kali Yuga, came up to him and asked to come into his kingdom. The king refused. Parikshit gave him five places to live after he kept asking: places with gambling, drinking, prostitution, killing animals, and gold. Kali sneaked into Parikshit’s golden crown and messed with his mind.

Takshaka, Janamejaya, and Parikshit

Since Kali had gone into the gold, this made people want gold. Parikshit went into the forest to hunt. At one point, he stops and takes a bath in the lake. He takes off his crown and puts it on the river bank. Takshaka, the king of the snakes, sees the throne and wants it. He tries to steal the crown, but Parikshit’s guards catch him. Parikshit jails him. When he is finally free, Takshaka gets revenge on Parikshit and brutally kills him. When Parikshit’s son Janamejaya hears this, he swears to kill Takshaka in a week.

He commences the Sharpamedha Yajna, which makes every single snake in the universe fall into the hawankunda.  But a snake got tangled around God Sun’s Ratha, and due to the power of the Yajna, the Ratha also was pulled into the Hawankunda. This could have put the God Sun Ratha in the Hawankunda and ended God Sun’s rule in this universe. All the gods then asked that the Yajna be stopped. Astika Muni stopped this Yajna from happening when Takshaka came, which is why Takshaka is still alive.

Read Also:- Rare Mars-Moon conjunction brings luck or not?

[mplanetleaf]

అభిమన్యుడిని శ్రీకృష్ణుడు ఎందుకు కాపాడలేదు? | Why didn't Krishna save Abhimanyu in Mahabharata...

[thisisbjoeblog]

Religion 101: Mahabharata Part 3 - The Brutal & Decisive Kurukshetra War

The Kurukshetra War, central to the Hindu epic Mahabharata, was a colossal battle fought between the Kauravas and the Pandavas, two factions of a royal family vying for the throne of Hastinapura. The battle took place at Kurukshetra, Haryana, India, just over 100 km north of New Dehli, on the way to Chandigarh. This war also serves as the backdrop for the sacred Bhagavad Gita, where Lord Krishna…

[druidicentropy]

Abhimanyu

Arjuna and Subhadra were the parents of Abhimanyu. He belonged to the Kuru dynasty. He was Hastinapur's heir until his death at the age of sixteen on the thirteenth day of the Kurukshetra War. Parikshit, his son born after his death, succeeded him as heir and ultimately as king.

[h0bg0blin-meat]

"The Trojan War was started because of a woman"

"The Kurukshetra War happened because of a woman"-

How about you read those epics with your eyes open and put your single braincell actually to work for once?

[empty-dream]

Karna and Arjuna in FGO Memorial Movie 2023

[martian-astro10]

Marilyn Monroe's birth chart observation

when I first started studying Atmakaraka's, the very first thing that I thought was, "Marylin Monroe definitely had Saturn Atmakaraka" and today I finally got a chance to look at her birth chart and she has Saturn Atmakaraka in her 4th house, and her Saturn which is also her 7th lord is placed in the 6th house of her d9 or navamsa chart. She has her ascendant in ashlesha and her moon in dhanishta nakshatra and the way all of these things fit together is just so...incredibly fascinating to me but also sad because......I think if I write more, I'll start going into the philosophical aspects of life and the things going on inside my mind right now are just too difficult for me to put into words.

[darabeatha]

/ What are the chances that a bat god would fall in love with (insert ur muses' name)-

[zeherili-ankhein]

#mahabharat podcast

Poor Uttar he was just not made for fighting.... He was a pookie who should have done something like dancing with his sister

[lanliingwang]

hmm...huang feihu and arjuna as friends (more thoughts on the matter in the tags)

[musingsonthemahabharata]

the formidable Bhīma! 🤍 impulsive, strong and quick-tempered as well as fiercely devoted to Draupadī, he avenges her by slaughtering the Kauravas. in certain versions, he drinks the blood of her principal offender, episode of great cosmological significance encapsulating the cyclicity of nature mirroring the motif of the menstrual blood shed by Draupadī in the royal hall. how i adore him so!

you can find my Mbh tidbits on IG here: @musingsonthemahabharata 🤍

artwork: Gita Press Mahābhārata, 1968 | Ravi Varma Press

[esmeraywrites]

OOH OOH I'LL TELL YOU THE BIGGEST SIMILARITY??I GREW UP LISTENING BOUT ABHIMANYU AND

THE BIGGEST SIMILARITY IS

HEARING ABOUT BOTH MAKES ME CRY MY HEART OUT IN ABSOLUTE RAW PAIN COZ NEITHER DESRVED IT AND M CRYING NOW FML BUT LIKE ITS SOOOOOO SAD!!

So anyone here who has an idea about the great Indian epic Mahabharata and knows about the battle of Kurukshetra and has also read Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller..... DID YOU ALL ALSO NOTICE THE HUGE HUGE HUGE SIMILARITY BETWEEN THE DEATHS OF ABHIMANYU AND PATROCLUS.... please don't tell me I am the only one.!!

(If you want I can explainnnn) *aggressively puts forward a similarity-comparison chart between the Indian and Greek mythology complete with diagrams and footnotes and highlighted key points*

[whimsiquix]

The irony of Ashwatthama of all people going “no warrior deserves to die like that” about Karna in Kalki, when he was involved in Abhimanyu’s death, slaughtered the Pandava army at night, Dhrishtadyumna, tried and failed to commit a genocide, almost murdered a foetus, and saw his own father’s head being chopped off in what was possibly one of the worst things that happened in the entire Kurukshetra is just-

To reinforce just how terrible this is, here is Arjun, AFTER Ashwatthama slaughtered his entire army and family countering his Brahmasira released to destroy his grandson, still praying for Ashwatthama’s welfare.

The mighty-armed one spoke to Arjuna. "O Arjuna! O Pandava! O Arjuna! In your mind, you have the knowledge of the divine weapon that was instructed to you by Drona. The time to use it has arrived. O descendant of the Bharata lineage! It is needed to save yourself and your brothers. You should release it, since it is capable of countering all weapons."

Having been thus addressed by Keshava, Pandava, the destroyer of enemy heroes, swiftly descended from the chariot and grasped his bow and an arrow. The scorcher of enemies spoke words of welfare, addressed to his preceptor's son, then to himself and all his brothers. He bowed to the gods and all his pre-ceptors. Meditating and pronouncing auspicious words, he released that weapon, so as to pacify the other weapon.

- BORI CE

Arjun who is so kind, who is so empathetic, who is the only one in all the world who understands just how much it hurts Ashwatthama to have lost Drona, who is so quick and easy to forgive crimes against himself, Arjun who couldn’t bring himself to kill Ashwatthama even on Day Fourteen, Ashwatthama who knew even in the end that if he had told Arjun to desist from war, that he would have because of how much they loved each other, that Arjun and Ashwatthama.

They deserve better than this.

[stxrrynxghts]

Okay so, recently there was a huge kaand. As y'all know, I usually post incorrect quotes or my rewatching series of Star Plus Mahabharata. Now someone took my posts and blew them out of proportion. I have blocked them, yes, not because I'm afraid, but because I don't want any stress. I get easily affected by this stuff, and I don't wish to fall into depression again.

I'm writing this post to clarify MY opinions, if y'all are willing to listen. Currently, all the quotes and rewatches are deleted. I will post them either publically or privately again, but it depends if you all wish to see them.

I use basic meme templates from the incorrect quote generators, and put the names of the MB characters which I think suite the template. So there was this specific incorrect quote:

Draupadi: I love you guys, you are the best thing that happened to me. The Pandavas: we are the best thing that happened to you? Draupadi: yeah. The pandavas: we are starting to feel a little sorry for you.

Now, this is a very popular incorrect quote. I don't see how this is derogatory towards the Pandavas, or Draupadi for that matter. It's just a joke. And I'm allowed to make jokes. You, however, are not allowed to post screenshots of my posts on social media without my permission/giving credit.

Tell me honestly, did this feel insulting to any of you? If it did, then I will accept my mistake. I did not make it from the intention of hurting anyone. I just thought it would suit them.

Now change the characters. If I had written this for Krishna and Balarama, would it feel insulting? No. IT IS JUST AN INCORRECT QUOTE!

And then this person says that I used "derogatory" language for my favs. WAIT WHAT? Does this person even know who my favs are? Pls tell me where have I used derogatory language for Abhimanyu or Uttaraa. Yes, I have made incorrect quotes. But these quote templates are used by 100s of ppl online, it's not just ME who is making these quotes, srsly. And no one has ever said that "hey I find them insulting".

Then, my rewatch series. First, it is solely, SOLELY based on what SP MB portrays the characters to be like. If I put any references from the OG MB, I MENTION IT explicitly. My rewatch series was inspired from @demonkidpliz's rewatching MB series (yes, I did take permission before starting it.)

Now, Dhrishtadyumna was trying to kill Drona, right after his birth. So I said it was "out of his aukaat". Why? Because he is very weird. He insults Draupadi in a very sexist way, and is downright irritating till this point. So I used this language for him. It is a satire on the show, God.

OG Dhrishtadyumna was a very nice warrior, but are his warrior skills shown in the show ? Are they? No. And if you consider this to be an accurate representation of him, then...you are special.

Then, this person posts stuff about me calling Arjun depressed. THIS was the biggest issue. I saw some of my friends commenting under it, without even clarifying it with me, first, so it did hurt initially.

The show does not show Arjun to be the great warrior he is. Arjun in the OG MB does not hesitate to fight UNTIL the Kurukshetra war, and he has proved his mettle as the best warrior of his time multiple times in the text. In the show...well, all of his gr8 warrior sequences are just removed. Almost all of them.

In the Varnavrat thing, the Pandavas (and Arjun) are eager to kill the Kauravas, which is very uncharacteristic for SP MB Arjun. So I said that "oh, he wants to fight? He won't want to fight after the depression hits in."

IT IS FOR SP MB ARJUN.

NOT FOR THE REAL ARJUN, GOD.

Yes, I know that he was a gr8 warrior. Yes, I know that he did tapasya and pleased all the Gods. Because he was GREAT. And I know that. The title of the post was "Re-watching Mahabharata", and the tags were "starplus mahabharat", "starbharat recap" and "starbharat". Srsly? You will say that I am calling the OG Arjun depressed?! Really?! It's a satire on the show!

Asking me to show even a single verse in the text where he is mentioned to be depressed is kinda weird since I DID NOT CALL HIM TO BE DEPRESSED! And I know how serious depression and suicide is. I suffered from it once. I don't need anyone teaching me about how serious it can be, or how it can affect your life. I am NOT trying to pick fights with anyone, okay? I am not. I am not interested in weird kalesh at all.

I want y'all to tell me if I have done anything wrong, or if any of you ever had similar feelings seeing my incorrect quotes or rewatch series. Since they are currently deleted, I will start posting them again if y'all are interested in seeing them.

[h0bg0blin-meat]

What hindu gods/deities are lgbt (I'm sorry if this is rude or ignorant I just wish to learn as I've heard some are)

Dw it's neither rude nor ignorant. Now before I start I do wanna say that almost all the queerness we see in Hindu mythology is highly subtextual most of the time, which is like pretty obvious cuz these were the ancient times. So this might lead to a varied number of interpretations, and I can only offer the same. But most of them are pretty convincingly queer, so let's get into it cuz why tf not. (This is gonna be a loooooong post so buckle up)

Vishnu

This fella is probably the most pan-coded deity in the entire pantheon. Extremely comfortable with both his masculine and feminine side, Vishnu can sometimes be considered one of the peak genderfluid icons out there. His avatar, Krishna, despite being referred to as the Parampurush (in other words the manliest man in the entire universe), his physical appearance (which is what is considered to be a very feminine body for a man today, i.e., slender and soft) breaks the stereotype of what masculine man should look like. There are paintings of him and Radha where I've stared for like a hot minute trying to figure out which one is Radha (mostly in grayscale cuz otherwise their complexions are a dead giveaway) and yet, he slays it like a badass.

Then we also have Mohini, the goddess of beauty probably the best seductress out there, and the only female avatar of Vishnu. Through her having a union (yk what they mean by that) with Shiva (AHEM subtext amirit), Vishnu gave birth to Ayyappa, and wouldja look at dat he has two dads, which was actually prophesized. Mohini in one of the versions of Mahabharata (not the original one) ALSO slept with Iravan (Arjun's son) the night before he was gonna offer himself as a sacrifice for the Kurukshetra war. Reason was that Iravan had a wish to get married and spend the night with his wife before dying, and wishing his wife would mourn for him after his death. So Krishna felt bad for him, turned himself into Mohini and married him. The next day she held her husband's body and mourned for him like any wife would. We can also go back to the time where he sported (make of that word what you will) with Arjuni (female version of Arjun) as well as the female version of Narad (for a year in the latter's case).

In short, we can see how chill Krishna is with his fluidity with sexuality and gender, so much so that it's hard to put a label on him sometimes, which is fine. But yes interpreting him as queer wouldn't necessarily be a preposterous claim after all.

Shiva

Tbh Shiva is also pretty queer-coded, given his union with Mohini (and yes he specifically ASKED Vishnu to turn into her and hence he KNEW it was his best friend after all), and him turning into a woman to join Krishna's leela that one time, which also denotes that he's pretty confident in his gender fluidity as well, to some extent. He also has a sort of female avatar, who's actually very underrated. I think it's called Shivani. Also no one can deny the tension between Shiva and Vishnu let's be real here. They even have a ship name- Harihar, PLUS that "Vishnu is in the heart of Shiva and Shiva is in the heart of Vishnu" line. Btw this was a joke, but now you know why they're one of the popular ships of Hindu mythology. I personally have very neutral stance to the kind of bond they share, whether you call it platonic or something else.

(Note that I personally do not consider Ardhanarishwar and Vaikunthakamalaja as any genderfluid thingy because I just see them as literal fusions of the two couples, but yes many consider these two fused versions of Parvati-Shiva and Lakshmi-Narayan respectively to be gender-nonconforming, or non-binary of some sort.)

Lakshmi

Why did I add her here? Because I have a feeling she might be bi, given the fact that her husband is also technically her wife, considering we take Mohini into account, who I'm pretty sure she loves just as much as she loves Vishnu. But again, that's just my take on it.

Agni

Now he's one of the more popular queer-coded Hindu gods, specifically known for his implied poly-esque relationship with his wife Svaha and Soma (the wind god). Now many sites on Google have claimed Soma to be his husband, but I am yet to find a scriptural evidence for that claim, so I suggest you to take their words with a grain of salt. But what IS true is that these two guys do share a pretty profound bond. There was also this one instance where Soma went to a mountain and Agni followed him. Then both of them at the top of that mountain, 'became one' (what does that mean? not sure but it sure as hell sounded romantic. anyways). Also Soma is considered the "seed" and Agni the "progenitor" hence releasing the "seed". Now again what does that mean? Idk but that's sus as hell for sure.

Plus, Agni is also very well-known to be the (oral) receptor of Shiva's (and sometimes Soma's but not sure about the second one) semen, which he then flung into Ganga cuz it was too hot to bear for him, and that's how Kartikeya/Murugan/Skanda (Shiva and Parvati's son and a God of war) was born. So yeah.

Mitra-Varuna

These two.... are another pair of popular queer-coded Hindu deities. They're almost always summoned and worshipped together, and you can say they have canonically.... well had a union, and good news is none of them became a woman for the deed. Their union is recorded in the Shatapatha Brahmana 2.4.4.19, where Mitra is said to have "implanted his seed in Varuna" (hmmm nothing homosexual going on here) during the waning moon. Many people consider this a metaphor for the cyclic nature of celestial phenomena so it's upto you to interpret it however you want.

Now they also give off that sunshine x grumpy vibe, with Mitra being the god of friendship, sun, daylight, dawn and stuff while Varuna is the god of the waters, moon, nighttime, dusk etc. Plus, the latter has anger issues but he has a bubbly Mitra (pun intended) to calm him down for dat :D.

They are also known for siring two sages, Agastya and Vasistha after they accidentally released and mixed their semen into a pot as a result of getting enchanted by Urvashi (one of the apsaras or celestial nymphs).

Budh and Ila

Budh is technically an AMAB non-binary (or intersex) deity (and technically the planet Mercury) born to Chandra (who's also synonymous to Soma most of the time) and Tara, to put it simply, and got cursed to be neither male nor female because Chandra had an affair with someone else's wife -_- (Tara was the wife of Brihaspati, or Jupiter, who was also the guru of the gods).

Ila is another genderfluid deity. Some versions of the myth says they were born a woman, some say they were born a man called Sudyumna, while some say they were born a woman, but since their parents wanted a son, Mitra-Varuna (who they preyed to) changed their gender and Sudyumna was born (but then there was some issue with the rituals, which led to the duo to turn him back to a woman, which is when they took the name of Ila. Ik, too much gendershifting going on, bear with me). Anyhoo they got this genderfluidity from Shiva's spell and every month they'd change sex from Sudyumna to Ila and back to Sudyumna and so on. Budh got enchanted by Ila and married her, and bore the Pururavas with her.

Later on, some versions say Ila permanently turned into a man with Parvati's boon. But personally interpreting, Budh was technically still married to Sudyumna so..... idk what happened to them afterwards tho. I hope they were still spouses...