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STORIES · THE MAHĀBHĀRATA · Virāṭa

The Pāṇḍavas Revealed; Uttarā Wed to Abhimanyu

Classical

Virāṭa returned from his own victory over the Trigartas and was told that Uttara had ridden out alone against the Kurus with Bṛhannaḍā driving. He grieved, and sent his army to guard the prince, doubting that one could win with a eunuch charioteer. Yudhiṣṭhira said that no one could defeat a warrior guided by Bṛhannaḍā. Messengers then came with the news of victory. Overjoyed, Virāṭa had the city decorated. He then called for a game of dice. Yudhiṣṭhira warned that a man overflowing with joy should not gamble, but played. When Virāṭa boasted of his son, Yudhiṣṭhira replied that with Bṛhannaḍā driving it was certain. Angered by the praise of a eunuch over his son, Virāṭa called him a wretch and struck him in the face with a die, drawing blood. Draupadī caught the blood in a golden vessel so none fell to the ground, since it would have burned the country. Yudhiṣṭhira told the gatekeeper to let Uttara in alone. Bṛhannaḍā had vowed to kill anyone who shed Yudhiṣṭhira's blood outside battle.

Uttara came in, bowed, saw Kaṅka covered in blood, and asked who had struck him. Virāṭa admitted it. Uttara told his father to appease the Brahmin quickly or a curse would destroy him. Yudhiṣṭhira said he had forgiven the blow long ago, adding that if the blood had fallen on the ground the kingdom would have been destroyed. Then Virāṭa praised Uttara, and Uttara said the victory was not his: a youth of celestial birth had stopped him from fleeing, taken the reins, driven back Kṛpa, Droṇa, Aśvatthāman, Karṇa and Bhīṣma, and stripped them of their clothes. Virāṭa asked where the youth was; Uttara said he had vanished and would show himself in a day or two. Arjuna gave the garments to Uttarā.

On the third day the five brothers bathed, dressed in white, and walked into the council hall, taking seats reserved for kings. Virāṭa came in, angry to see Kaṅka in a royal seat. Arjuna, smiling, defended him, listing his virtues and naming him Yudhiṣṭhira, whose retinue had been ten thousand elephants and thirty thousand chariots, and who had supported eighty-eight thousand householder Brahmins.

Virāṭa asked about the others, and Arjuna identified each: Bhīma the cook who had killed Kīcaka, Nakula and Sahadeva the horse- and cattle-keepers, Draupadī the sairandhrī for whom the Kīcakas were killed, and himself as the third brother. Virāṭa apologised, offered his kingdom, and proposed that Arjuna marry Uttarā. Arjuna declined: he had taught her dance for a year in the women's rooms, and to protect her good name he asked that she marry his son Abhimanyu. Virāṭa agreed. The Pāṇḍavas settled at Upaplavya, and allies arrived: Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma, Drupada with Śikhaṇḍin and Dhṛṣṭadyumna, and the kings of Kāśī and Śaibya. Uttarā was married to Abhimanyu with Kṛṣṇa guiding the rites, and Virāṭa gave seven thousand horses and two hundred elephants. The marriage-alliance would be central to the coming war, and its son Parīkṣit would carry the line.

Told by Vaiśampāyana → Janamejaya

Who: Virāṭa, Yudhiṣṭhira, Arjuna, Uttara, Uttarā, Abhimanyu, Draupadī, Kṛṣṇa

Bound to

Arjuna Routs the Kaurava Host Alone origin

Abhimanyu: Varchas, Soma's son, lent for sixteen years geneal

Parikshit's curse: the dead snake and Takshaka geneal

Places: Virāṭanagara, Upaplavya

Where this comes from

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