After receiving a list of pilgrimage spots across the continent by Narada, the Pandavas are told of a similar list by sage Lomasha. Then, a rishi acting as messenger from Indra’s abode tells them that Arjuna is doing alright in heaven (he shares the throne with his father, Indra) and wishes for his brothers to take up the pilgrimage. It is after receiving this message that Yudhistira decides to begin with the tirtha yatra.
Around this point in the epic, Arjuna’s exceptional nature is being informed repeatedly and excessively, and the other Pandavas and Draupadi seem somewhat relegated in importance (while Arjuna achieves great things, all they can think of is pilgrimage). Yudhistira is the only one who receives any importance.
Draupadi and Bhima have had interesting arguments with Yudhistira in the initial period of Arjuna’s exile, but after that it is Yudhistira’s anxieties and questions alone that the events in the story seem attuned to respond to. Draupadi, Bhima, Nakul and Sehadeva do not get any air time. Perhaps it is that Yudhistira is a placeholder for all of them and articulates the issues common to all when he seeks answers from, say, Brihadashva, Narada, or Lomasha.
But if Yudhistira is indeed a placeholder here, then it is queer that this phase in the epic has been preceded by the caustic verbal attacks he faces from Draupadi and Bhima, exchanges which showcase dissent within the Pandava household and undermine Yudhistira’s status as one who is a representative of the entire family simply by virtue of being the eldest.
One can assume, though, that Arjuna’s exile has brought the family together. Yet, if one thinks of the epic as a modern novel, it seems highly unlikely that the dissent doesn’t resurface again, given that Arjuna’s adventure lasts more than five years. There is something missing, but, surely, the answer isn’t in the original Mahabharata.
Trudging through this boring time in the story, it is natural that I notice — rather, turn something into — a ridiculous moment just as the Pandavas are about to begin their great pilgrimage. Sage Lomasha, who has convinced them of the value in pilgrimage, advises Yudhistira to not make it a grand expedition. ‘O great king! Travel light. If you travel light, it will be easier to go.’
The Pandavas presumably don’t really have a great many possessions to carry along with them. What they do have, though, is a large retinue of brahmans who are feeding off the boon that the Pandavas obtained from the Sun god. Yudhistira exhorts the brahmans not to follow them but to go to Dhritarasthra or, in case Hastinapura doesn’t accept them, to Drupada. The brahmans, however, want to partake in the cosmic credit that shall befall on the Pandavas as they visit all the holy places in the continent.
Travel light, therefore, turns into travel extraordinarily heavy with a great number of people behind you. The funniest aspect is that sage Lomasha himself travels with the Pandavas.
Tanuj Solanki
Twitter@tanujsolanki
The writer is reading the unabridged Mahabharata