War in Ancient India c4.s6.t6.8

c4.s6.t6.8

In the examination of this jealousy motive we find an unbridled indulgence of almost all evil passions. The *Atharva Veda* (Bk. V, 8. 3) says: ‘Let not the gods go to his call; come ye only unto my call’. Jealousy, if nothing else, was the real cause of the great Mahābhārata war fought at the historic Kurukṣetra, the belligerents being the Pāṇḍavas and Kauravas who were after all agnates. When king Pāṇḍu was unable to wield the reins of administration, Dhṛtarāṣṭra was elected to the throne. The five sons of Pāṇḍu and the hundred sons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra were trained by common teachers, and the Pāṇḍavas gained the knowledge of science and the use of weapons much more quickly and much more easily than the Kauravas. At this the Kauravas became jealous of their cousins, and from that time they, under the guidance of their eldest brother Duryodhana, laid plans to get rid of the growing power and influence of the Pāṇḍavas. Kṛṣṇa, the king of Dvāraka and a skilled diplomat, saw the justice of the Pāṇḍava cause and threw his whole weight on their side. This further increased the jealousy of Duryodhana, who sought secret means to do away with the five brothers. Finding that all his plans had failed, Duryodhana angered his cousins to such a pitch that nothing short of war, it was thought, would result. Huge forces were brought into the field especially by Duryodhana, and war was waged for eighteen days. We need not enter into the details here. The result was that all the Kauravas and their soldiers were ruthlessly killed, and the Pāṇḍavas won a decisive victory. The Bharatakaṇḍa lay at the feet of Yudhiṣṭhira, the royal sage, and his four brothers. The Pāṇḍavas became the virtual rulers of all India and their alliance was sought by many a prince including those of the Tamil kingdoms of the South, with whom the Pāṇḍavas had relations of a social and political nature. If we are to believe the second stanza in the anthology of the Tamil classic Puranānūru, it is one Udiyan Ceral that fed the combatants of the Mahābhārata war.