Iravan by Devdutt Pattanaik
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Arjuna prepared to leave. He had said enough. Yuvanashva, however, could not resist one more question. 'Did you ever feel like a woman? A wife? A mother?'

 

'No never.'

 

'Do you know of any man who would have experienced a woman's emotions?'

 

'Krishna perhaps.' Arjuna then told Yuvanashva the story of Iravan, known only to the Pandavas. 'Sanjaya who saw the whole war with his mind's eye and narrated all to my blind uncle Dhritarashtra did not see this. It was done in secret.'

 

Long ago, Arjuna had met a Naga princess called Uloopi. He was bathing in the Ganga when she came from below, swimming like an eel, and dragged him under. He tried to come up but she kept pulling him down till he fainted. When he awoke, he found himself naked on her bed. She lay beside him. 'Beautiful Pandava, make love to me, make me your wife.' Arjuna refused. 'You cannot refuse me. Don't you know the price of refusing a willing woman in season.' Arjuna protested. He did not love her. He did not care for her. 'I love you. I want to be the mother of your child,' she said. 'Give me your seed, Arya. Don't deny me that. It is against dharma to turn away from me. An ancestor stands on the threshold of Vaitarni right at this momenti. Don't disappoint him.'

 

Arjuna made love to Uloopi and then left her bed. Soon she was forgotten, like yesterday's meal.


On the eve of the Kuru-kshetra war a young warrior presented himself to the Pandavas. 'I am the son of Arjuna, born of Uloopi,' he said. 'My name is Iravan. Let me fight with you.'

 

Arjuna was not sure. Krishna said, 'You have seven armies. The Kauravas have eleven. You need as many warriors as you can get. Acknowledge him as your son, even if you don't remember his mother. Hug him. Bind him. Don't let him go.'

 

Arjuna hugged Iravan. Iravan felt so happy to finally meet his father that he fought furiously.

 

For eight days, the war continued with no end in sight. Both the Pandavas and the Kauravas were equally matched. Everybody turned to Sahadeva. He never spoke unless spoken to. He answered only what he was asked. 'How must we win this war?' they asked.

 

Sahadeva looked at the stars and said, 'We must offer Kali the blood of a perfect man so that, satiated, she will force Yama to rewrite his books in our favour.'

 

'Human sacrifice?' Yudhishtira did not like the idea.

 

'You must agree,' said Bhima. 'Blood has to flow. Either in the battlefield or in the sacrificial altar.'

 

'How do we find the perfect man?' asked Yudhishtira.

 

'He will have thirty-six sacred marks on his body,' said Sahadeva. Everyone looked around. They found not one but three. Krishna, Arjuna and Iravan.

 

The Pandavas said, 'We cannot sacrifice Krishna, he is our guide. We cannot sacrifice Arjuna, he is our best archer. That leaves us with Iravan. Let us sacrifice him.' Arjuna nodded his assent.

 

Iravan realised his father did not love him as he loved his father. No one in the battlefield really cared for him. He mattered only because he had thirty-six marks on his body. Krishna felt his pain. But the sacrifice had to be done. 'We can only sacrifice you if you are willing.'

 

'I am willing. I want to be remembered as a hero who sacrificed himself for his father.'

Arjuna felt guilty. But there was no turning back. 'Do you have a last wish?' asked Krishna.

 

'Nobody here cares for me. My mother told me not to go. She told me it would be so. She told me if I died, only she would cry. I defied her. Told her there would be others who love me. I want that to happen. I want someone to cry for me. A widow. Who beats her chest and unbinds her hair and rolls in mud in my memory. Who breaks her bangles to mourn for me. Give me a wife Krishna. Tell the Pandavas to find me a wife.'

 

'No woman will marry a man doomed to die at daybreak. A bride of a night and a widow for eternity. Who will seal their daughter's fate thus? Not all fathers are like Ahukaii. Not all daughters are like Shilavatiiii,' said Bhima.

 

Krishna knew this was true. But the war had to be won. The boy had to be sacrificed. And he had to go to the altar willingly. 'Cover your eyes, cousins,' he said, 'Let me do tonight what must be done. Few will understand this. Fewer still will accept this. A temple needs to be built in memory of this event. For no society will ever enshrine it.'

 

Krishna then became a woman. A perfect woman. Mohini, the enchantress. She became Iravan's bride. She approached him bearing the sixteen love-charms of marriage. He put the sacred thread dipped in turmeric round her neck. He put vermilion powder in the parting of her hair. They took seven steps together around the sacred fire. Then they were taken to a tent. The bridal chamber on the battlefield Through a tear in the tent, Iravan showed her the Arundhati star. She gave him betel nut and milk. They talked. She laughed. He felt loved. They spent all night in bliss.

 

The next day Iravan was stripped of all his clothes, covered with neem leaves, smeared with turmeric and led to the alter. Sahadeva sang the hymns. Nakula lit the lamps. Yudhisthira offered flowers to the goddess. Bhima raised the axe. 'One stroke, it must be. Just one. He must die instantly. No pain. No suffering. No curse,' instructed Arjuna. The axe swung. The head rolled. Mohini wept as a widow should.


Arjuna told Yuvanashva, 'We never spoke of that night ever again. But it was the only time I had seen Krishna cry. I have seen many widows cry. But none like Krishna.'

 

*


i  Ancestors wait to be reborn by crossing the Vaitarni river that lies between the earth and the realm of Yama, the god of death
ii  Character in The Pregnant King
iii  Character in The Pregnant King

 

Extracted from The Pregnant King, published by Penguin India, 2008. To quote from the Author's Note in the original, 'This book is a deliberate distortion of tales in the epics. History has been folded, geography crumpled. Here, Yuvanashva is a contemporary of the Pandavas who engages Arjuna in a dialogue.'

A medical doctor by education, a leadership consultant by profession, Devdutt Pattanaik is essentially a mythologist by passion. He has written and lectured extensively on the nature of sacred stories, symbols and rituals and their relevance in modern times. More about him on his website http://devdutt.com/.