Epic grudges, deadly brawls

I recently read about a man who was killed in Delhi, allegedly over a fight about who would pay for chicken at a party, and it got me thinking about how party brawls can prove quite fatal. A case in point – the Yadavas in the Mahabharata.

Everyone interested in the Mahabharata knows about how the young son of Arjuna, Abhimanyu, was killed by multiple warriors fighting against him, when he had no chariot and his bowstring was cut off from the back. And the killing of Drona, after Yudhishthira lied to him that his son Ashvatthama was dead, is well known too. But there was another killing that not only made ripples in the Mahabharata war but had deadly consequences decades after the incident.

Satyaki, a Yadava warrior and Arjuna’s disciple in archery, was a powerful presence in the Pandava army. Bhurishravas was a Kuru prince, the son of Somadatta, who fought on the Kaurava side. The two never missed an occasion to attack each other during the Mahabharata war because of a long-standing conflict between their families. Bhurishravas’s father and Satyaki’s grandfather had once fought a battle over Devaki, who later became Krishna’s mother. Ultimately, Satyaki’s grandfather, who had fought on behalf of Vasudeva (who later became Krishna’s father), triumphed. But Somadatta was angry at how he was kicked, and his hair was pulled in the fight. He performed penance to Shiva to obtain a son who would avenge the insult he suffered. This bad blood between the two families continued even after Devaki was married, Krishna was born, grew up, and served as Arjuna’s charioteer in the war!

In the war, an exhausted Satyaki, who had been battling against Drona all day, was challenged by an enthusiastic Bhurishravas and could not refuse. Bhurishravas overpowered Satyaki and dragged him by the hair and kicked him in battle – thereby avenging the insult done to his father several decades ago. Meanwhile, Krishna informed Arjuna that Satyaki was being dragged around, unconscious, and right before Bhurishravas could cut off Satyaki’s head, Arjuna shot an arrow from a distance that lopped off Bhurishravas’s arm.

Bhurishravas was stunned and let go of Satyaki. Then, he began to rebuke Arjuna for breaking the rules of the battle by attacking an opponent who was not engaged in battle with him without warning. Before Arjuna even replied, Bhurishravas decided that he was done with battle and renounced the world, preparing to give up his body. At this point, Satyaki regained consciousness and retaliated by decapitating Bhurishravas, while he was lost in meditation. Satyaki’s actions were criticised by warriors on both sides of the battle, but he justified himself by claiming that he was only avenging the insult that was meted out to him by kicking him while he was unconscious.

The battle continued and ended. Bhurishravas was dead, but Kritavarma, a fellow Yadava who fought on the side of the Kauravas, survived along with Satyaki. Several decades later, when the Yadavas were at a drinking party, Satyaki brought up some wrongdoings of Kritavarma from decades ago. Kritavarma, of course, lost no opportunity in reminding Satyaki that he was no paragon of virtue himself. After all, he had cut off the head of Bhurishravas when the latter was unarmed and had even renounced the world. When Satyaki picked up some grass to strike Kritavarma with, it turned into a missile in his hands, thanks to a sage’s curse. The fight that so began ended with all the Yadavas killing each other.

Now, what are we supposed to take from all this? Perhaps the lesson is simple. If politics turns into a highlight reel of old grudges, everyone loses.

The writer is the author of How to Love in Sanskrit and likes writing new things about very old things.

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author's own. They do not necessarily reflect the views of DH.