| Besides the fact that the battle
between the Pandavas ands the Kauravas was already fought, decided and over
before it even began, as revealed by Krishna in his visvarupa to Arjuna, the
reason the Kauravas lost was basically due to an act of apparent stupidity which
can be traced back to one pivotal incident. Krishna was taking an afternoon nap
when both Duryodhana and Arjuna came to his place. Duryodhana came a little
earlier and, being a proud person, felt his place should be at the head of the
sleeping Krishna. Arjuna, who came a few moments later thought his rightful
place should be near the feet. So when Krishna awoke and sat up he saw Arjuna
first and let him have the first say. (How
dumb would Duryodhana have to be in order not to realise a simple physical detail
like this? Did he think the first thing people do on waking is turn their head
upwards to look at what's behind their skulls? Besides, didn't he also know that
Arjuna being younger would be given first chance to speak in any case? If he
really didn't know such simple things like these, he was hardly a worthy
opponent to fight against. Or is that the whole point of the Mahabharata?
Anyway, the nadir of his particular brand of brainlessness was demonstrated
immediately after this.
Both had come to Krishna to seek help before the
great battle and Arjuna said simply: "you know, of course, the battle is about
to take place. I want you to be with me. "To which Krishna replied in words to
the effect that even though he would be at Arjuna's side he would only act as
his charioteer and not take part in any active fighting as such. He also gave
Arjuna to understand that by choosing him solely, the other side would have the
right to his entire army. Which is exactly what Duryodhana did. He thought
Arjuna was being dumb by choosing God to be on his side!
This was obviously fated to be: even if Duryodhana
had been the first to speak he would have chosen the army instead of God. It is
thought he didn't really believe in the actual divinity of Krishna; but surely
his peers did. For when Krishna almost broke his word and ran out of the chariot
to kill Bhishma since Arjuna wasn't being able to do so, Bhisma's joy knew no
bounds. "Come, my Lord," he said. "For if I die in your hands then I go
immediately to heaven." Looks like everyone knew the whole story behind the
story but dim-witted Duryodhana. |
