Hindu Mythology

Lesson 6: The Mahabharata

The Descendents of Yadu and Puru

Yadu created his own lineage in which Krishna, the eighth incarnation of Vishnu was born. Hence Krishna too was as such descended from Som, but was not in the Lunar dynasty. Yadu’s descendants were known as Yadavs.

A powerful king in this dynasty was Sashibindu. He ruled at the same time as Maandhaataa of the Solar dynasty and was Maandhaataa’s father-in-law. Between them they annexed all the lands belonging to the descendants of Yayati’s sons from his second wife. Another important king in this line was Vidarbh. One of his descendants (not in the Yadu line) established the state of Chedi, which was later antagonistic to Krishna.

Satvatta was a contemporary of Rama of the Solar Dynasty. After Rama the Solar dynasty became weak and soon its states were taken over by the descendants of Yadu and Puru. After Satvatta the Yadav clan split into groups, the most powerful being the Andhak and Vrishni groups.

The Andhak group was headquartered in Mathura. Ahuk was a descendant of Andhak. He had two sons, Devak and Ugrasen. Devak's daughter, Devaki was married to Vasudev of the Vrishni group. Ugrasen’s son, Kans, jailed his father and usurped the kingdom. At the time Sursen was the leader of the Vrishni clan. The marriage of his son Vasudev to Devaki united the two clans. Sursen’s daughter was Pratha. She was adopted by Kuntibhoj (another Yadav) and named Kunti.

Vasudev had many wives. Rohini, mother of Balrama and Devaki, mother of Krishna play a major role. Rohini was daughter of King Prateep and Sunanda. King Prateep was a descendant of Puru and ruler of Hastinapur. Because it was prophesied that a child of Devaki would kill Kans, he jailed Devaki and Vasudev. Krishna however escaped and later slew Kans.

Vishnu resides in Kshirsagar or the Lake of Milk. He is often depicted as reclining on a many-hooded serpent known as Seshnag. Balrama is the incarnation of Seshnag. In the Ramayana Lakshmana was the incarnation of Seshnag. At that time he complained of having to become the obedient younger brother. Hence Vishnu made sure that in his incarnation as Krishna, Balrama was elder. Balrama often tried to order Krishna about but Krishna had the knack of getting things done his way without offending Balrama.

The earliest descendant of Puru to leave a significant mark on Hindu mythology was Dushyant. Dushyant is famous for his affair with Shakuntala, the daughter of Menaka the apsara and sage Visvamitra. Dushyant meets Shakuntala while on a hunt and marries her according to the Gandharva tradition. He consummates the marriage and leaves for his capital. He gives Shakuntala his ring as a token of remembrance. A son is born to Shakuntala. When Shakuntala does not hear from Dushyant she takes her son to the capital. She loses the ring on the way. Dushyant fails to recognise her. Shakuntala takes her son to her mother in heaven. Later a fisherman gives Dushyant the ring that Shakuntala had lost and he remembers everything. He goes to heaven and sees a boy grappling with a lion. This is his son, Bharat. Shakuntala refuses to return to Dushyant but allows Bharat to go with him. After Dushyant Bharat becomes the King.

Bharat was the most illustrious king of the dynasty. He expanded the empire greatly and was widely respected. Bharat, the Hindi name for India, is derived from him. Bharat had three wives each of whom begat a son. However they realised that the boys were but a pale shadow of their father and had them killed. Hence Bharat adopted Bharadwaja as his heir. A descendant of Bharadwaja was Hasti who founded the city of Hastinapur, which was the capital of the kingdom at the time of the Mahabharata war. Hasti’s son Ajamidha had many sons who gave rise to dynasties of kings and Brahmins. However the Lunar dynasty continued through his son Riksha. Riksha’s grandson was Kuru. The name Kauravas used for Duryodhana and his brothers derives from this king. Kaurava means “of Kuru”. Kurukshetra, the battlefield on which the Mahabharata war was fought means the region of Kuru. Several generations after Kuru was Shantanu, from whom the tale of Mahabharata commences.

King Shantanu had married Ganga, who gave birth to Bhishma. Satyavati, the daughter of Nisada was the second wife of Shantanu. She begot Chitrangada and Vichitraveerya. Chitrangada had died in an encounter with a demigod of his own name, while Vichitraveerya who was married to Ambika and Ambalika the princesses of Kashi died without producing a child. Since, Bhishma had vowed to abide by celibacy till death, the sage Vyasa was summoned to produce children from Ambika and Ambalika. From Vyasa the two queens gave birth to Dhritarashtra and Pandu respectively. Dhritarashtra had one hundred sons, the Kauravas, while Pandu's five sons were known as the Pandavas. Yudhishthir, Bhim and Arjuna were sons of Kunti (Krishna’s father’s sister) whereas Nakula and Sahadev were Madri’s sons. Arjuna, Pandu's third son, married Subhadra, the sister of Lord Krishna. Subhadra begot Abhimanyu who was married to Uttara, the daughter of King Virat, who begot Parikshit. After the Mahabharata war in which all the Kauravas were killed, Pandu's eldest son Yudhishthir ascended the throne. Since all the sons of the Pandavas were killed in the Mahabharata war, Parikshit succeeded Yudhishthir and the lineage continued through his son Janmajeya. 26 generations after Janmajeya the Lunar dynasty ended.

Optional Exercises

3a. Read in detail about Krishna’s lineage from the following site.
http://www.yadav.com/yadavhist.html

3b. The following site has an image of Vishnu and his consort Laxmi sitting on the Seshnag
http://www.saranam.com/Pujas/image-9.asp

3c. The voluntary union of lovers without the consent or presence of elders was called the Gandharva tradition of marriage. The ritual normally involved an exchange of garlands in a temple with the deity as a witness. It was named after the group of celestial beings called the Gandharvas. They were experts in various arts and sexually more permissive. Why do you think society accepted this system? Why would such a system fail today?

Can you locate other instances of Gandharva marriage in Hindu mythology?

3d. Read in detail about Shakuntala from ‘The Indian Epics retold’ on page 591.

3e. Read in more detail about Puru’s dynasty from the following sites.
http://srimadbhagavatam.org/canto9/chapt... http://srimadbhagavatam.org/canto9/chapt... http://srimadbhagavatam.org/canto9/chapt...

If you find the reading tedious, then look at the family tree from the following site. You will find some other familiar names here.
http://srimadbhagavatam.org/images/famil...

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