The Unusual Boon Of Madhavi

Madhavi was one of the most notable characters in the Mahabharata. She was the daughter of Yayati and an Apsara. Madhavi had a boon of virginity which meant that after every birth, she wouldremain a virgin. She was also destined to give birth to four brave warrior sons who would earn a great name thereafter. However, despite such a boon, the life of Madhavi always remained a void of happiness. One could say that these boons made Madhavi's life miserable. One day, Galav, a student of Vishwamitra wished to give his teacher Guru Dakshina, but Vishwamitra denied it. However, despite his refusal, Galav was adamant about his wish. Thus to teach him a lesson, Vishwamitra ordered 800 divine white horses with black ears known as Divyalakshani. Galav then went to several rulers to ask for help, yet none answered. Finally, he asked Yayati for his help, and Yayati, not having anything to offer, gave him his daughter, Madhavi. Galav, hearing about the divine boon, accepted the gift from Yayati.

Galav then took Madhavi to the king of Ayodhya from whom she gave birth to her first son, Vasumanasa. Galav took 200 divine horses from the king in exchange for his son. This was a fair deal for Galav however the king returned Madhavi to Galav after receiving the child. Galav took her to the King of Kashi, where she gave birth to Pratardana and left him under the care of his father. Again as an exchange for the kid, Galav took 200 divine horses. But this was not close to the actual number of 800, thus he sought to take Madhavi to the King of Bhoj, where she gave birth to her third son named Sibi. Galav yet again took 200 horses in return. Now he had 600 such horses but no ruler in the world was left with anymore to offer.

In the end, he returned to Vishwamitra and offered him 600 Divyalakshani horses. For sparing the rest of the 200 horses, Vishwamitra asked him to give them to Madhavi. Galav left Madhavi with Vishwamitra and returned to the forest. From Vishwamitra, Madhavi bore her fourth son. Then he ordered her to return to her father. Madhavi, still a virgin, left for her father's place, soher father, Yayati, arranged for Madhavi's marriage but she refused. Madhavi, now tired of marriages or having any family desires, she chose to go to the forest and live there as a hermit.

Her story depicts that not every boon provides happiness.

Kichaka Vadha

During the Agyatavaas, the Pandavas took refuge inside the Matsya kingdom and disguised themselves into Kanka (Yudhishtira), Ballava (Bheem), Brihannala (Arjun), Granthika (Nakul), Tantipala (Sahadeva), and Sairandhri (Draupadi). Kichaka on the other hand was a great warrior of the Matsya kingdom and also the brother of Queen Sudeshna, wife of King Virata. Having such a huge authority at the palace, Kichaka was an arrogant person who had everything he desired.

One day Kichaka laid his eyes on Sairandhri (Draupadi) who was the personal maid of the queen herself. He proposed to her, to which disguised Draupadi refused. This made him furious and he asked his sister to give him Sairandhri.

Queen Sudeshna couldn't refuse her brother's wish and ordered Sairandhri to go to Kichaka's room to serve him wine. Inside his dorm, Kichaka again showed his evil intentions to Draupadi. This time she refused Kichaka by telling him that she had been married to five Gandharva with divine powers and they would not cooperate with such an affair. Kichaka was now furious and dragged Draupadi by her hairs to the courtroom and yet again insulted her. The disguised Pandavas saw everything and sought a plan for revenge. They told Draupadi to invite Kichaka to the dance hall at night where they would ultimately kill him. Draupadi obeyed the order and proposed Kichaka the same and he obliged. In the night, intoxicated Kichaka when entered the hall, Bheem disguised as Sairandhri, brutally killed Kichaka.

After Kichaka's death when Sairandhri was questioned about the incident, she told everyone the same story about her Gandharva husbands. However, nobody believed her, and Kichaka's relative ordered her to be cremated along with his body. Draupadi yelled for help yet none helped. Finally, Bheem changed clothes and came to the rescue of his beloved wife. To everybody's horror, he killed all 105 relatives of Kichaka. It was such a bloody Massacre that the story spread like wildfire not only in Matsya but to the neighboring kingdoms and soon to Hastinapur where Duryodhan recognized the protagonist to be Bheem as none was as mighty as Bheem to took out such a huge massacre.

Yudhamanyu And Uttamaujas

For the major part of the story, only Dhrishtadyuma, Draupadi's brother and Drupad's son who was destined to kill Dronacharya is mentioned. But much to everyone's surprise, Draupadi had two more brothers named Yudhamanyu and Uttamaujas. They played a crucial role in the battle of Kurukshetra.

Yudhamanyu and Uttamaujas both took part from the Pandava's side. They were placed to protect the rear side of Arjun's chariot. They both were mighty warriors who protected Arjun at every turn. Once when Arjun had to infiltrate inside the Chakravyuh, Yudhamanyu and Uttamaujas protected him and fought with Duryodhan. They also took one on one with Drona, Kritaverma, Karna, and Kripacharya.

When the 18-day long battle was about to end, Duryodhan hid near the lake. Yudhishthira asked Yudhamanyu and Uttamaujas for their help in finding Duryodhan. This made Duryodhan sought help from Ashwathama and told him to take revenge on the Pandava brothers for the death of his father, Drona. Angry Ashwathama killed several mighty warriors that night including Yudhamanyu and Uttamaujas.

Yayati

Emperor Yayati was known as one of the ancestors of the Pandavas, becoming famous for a ruler devoted to his subjects' welfare. However, the curse of Sukracharya forced him to age prematurely, as a result of wronging Sukracharya's wife, Devayani. Now an old man, he was still haunted by his intense desires. He still managed to have five sons, all accomplished in different ways. All loyal to their father, Yayati tells them that one should bear the burden of his old age, so that his youth can return to him. Whoever agrees to do this will become the next ruler of Yayati's kingdom and allow their father to enjoy youth once more.

First, he asks his eldest son. His eldest son declines, believing the women and servants will mock him if he takes his father's place, so he must ask one of his younger brothers.

Next, he asks the second son, who also refused him. The second son refuses him on the grounds that old age will destroy his strength, beauty, and wisdom, but is not strong enough to give all of those up.

His third son refuses, explaining that an old man can't ride a horse or elephant.

Emperor Yayati becomes angry because his three sons refused to agree to his wishes, so he reaches out to his fourth son, hoping he would accept his offer. He changes his offer to his fourth son, saying that he will return the son's youth after some time. This fourth son was the only one who appeared to repent for his refusal, thinking that an old man had to reach out to others for help as simple as helping him clean his body, something he didn't want to resort to.

Saddened by his four sons' rejection, he still had hope because he had one last son to present the offer to. He pleads to his last son, begging him to save him from his old age and promising he will return his son's youth once he has had time to enjoy youth for a while. His fifth son, Puru, agrees to relieve his father of his sadness. Emperor Yayati touches Puru and instantly becomes young, whereas Puru became old and ruled the kingdom in his absence.

After Emperor Yayati experiences the splendors of youth, he realizes his materialistic and sensual desires will never be quenched. It is only through mental poise he can achieve peace. He returns his youth to Puru, becoming an old man again, but Puru remained king. Emperor Yayati retreats to the forest, where he spent the remainder of his life.

Vidura

Mandavya, a sage, spent his days in penance after acquiring an insurmountable amount of knowledge. He lived in the forests, on the outskirts of the city. It wasn't until one day when a group of robbers appeared, with a group of the king's officers chasing them. They entered the ashrama for a place to hide, and the soldiers of the king followed them to the ashrama, searching for them. They ask Mandavya if has seen the fugitives, but he is deep in meditation. The soldier questions him again, mistaking his silence for insolence. Mandavya still doesn't hear the soldier.

They search the ashrama and find stolen goods, which are reported to the commander. They also found the robbers in their search. The commander mistakes Mandavya's silence for treachery, thinking he didn't respond because he led the robbers. The ashrama is placed under guard, while the commander reports the findings to the king. The king believes the leader of the robbers is a man, pretending to be a sage and becomes outraged. Without further investigation, he demands that the leader of the robbers be executed. The commander does as instructed by the king and returns the stolen items to the king. However, Mandavya does not die. Being in deep meditation, it keeps him alive.

Other sages pass through the ashrama and ask him how he got himself into such a situation. But Mandavya doesn't point the blame at anyone. When the king learns of Mandavya surviving the execution, it frightened him. He demands that Mandavya is removed from the spear they impaled him on. Once done, the king begs for forgiveness at Mandavya's feet. Mandavya was surprisingly not angry with the king, but instead, beseeches Dharma to ask what he did to deserve such treatment. Dharma replies, "Osage, you have tortured birds and bees.Are you not aware that all deeds, good or bad, however small, inevitably producetheir results, good or evil?"

Mandavya is taken aback by his response and asks when he committed such acts. And Dharma points out that it happened during his childhood. Mandavya explains he cannot be held liable for something he committed as a child, citing the execution as too severe of a punishment for an innocent child. Dharma is cursed by Mandavya and is incarnated as Vidura, the handmaiden of Ambalika, wife of Vichitravirya.

Vidura became regarded as a mahatma. Bhishma appointed him as the chief counselor of King Dhritarashta. It was said that no one could equal Vidura in virtue and knowledge.

Kunti Devi

Sura, the grandfather of Sri Krishna was a scion of the Yadava race. His daughter Pritha was well known for her beauty and virtue. His cousin Kuntibhoja was childless, so he allowed him to adopt Pritha. From that day forth, she became known as Kunti.

During Kunti's childhood, the sage Durvasa stayed in her adoptive father's home, where she served him with the greatest hospitality. He greatly appreciated her kindness and decided to give her a divine mantra, which said: "If you call upon any god repeating thismantra, he will manifest himself to youand bless you with a son equal to him inglory." This boon was granted due to what misfortune he foresaw in her future husband's future.

Kunti, impatient and recklessly young, decides to test the strength of the mantra by repeating it and invoking the sun. When the sky turns dark, the sun god approaches her. She converses with the sun god, introducing each other and explaining that she's not ready for motherhood and doesn't yet desire it, but wanted to test the effect of the boon. However, the sun god couldn't leave because the mantra kept him grounded. It is only after she gives birth to his son can he leave.

And so, she gives birth to Karna, one of the world's greatest heroes. After the birth, she regained her maidenhood through the boon granted by the sun god. She didn't know what to do with the child, so she placed it in a sealed box and set it free upon the river's waves. A childless charioteer finds it and is surprised to see a beautiful child inside, thus Karna grows up as a charioteer's child.

Meanwhile, Kunti's time for marriage comes up and her adoptive father invites all the neighboring princes and hosts a swayamvara for her to choose a husband. Many suitors arrived, upon hearing of her otherworldly beauty. Kunti chooses King Pandu, a representative of the Bharata, and returns to his capital of Hastinapur. And after that, Pandu took Mandri as his second wife.

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