Neither friend nor foe

War was imminent. Drupada, father of Draupadi and father-in-law of the Pandavas, was addressing an assembly of kings in Virata's court. The Pandavas had just completed 14 years in exile with the final year being spent incognito in King Virata's service. Drupada thundered: "Let us send word to our friends that they may collect an army for us. Let speedy messengers go to Salya and Dristaketu and Jayatsena and the prince of the Kekayas."*

The Pandavas could not fight this battle on their own and Drupada was signing up allies. Marriage, old friendships and favours bestowed in times of need - the Pandavas played every chip they had as they readied for battle; just like present-day political parties. Smart alliances, data indicates, have helped increase vote shares of the national parties in every election.** No surprise then that the political landscape is bustling with frenetic parleys between friends, foes and strangers for seats and votes; quite like the way it must have been in the time of the ancient epics.

The Pandavas were masters at sewing up strategic alliances. Arjuna's marriage to Ulupi, the sea princess, and Bhima's to Hidimba from the rakshasi clan were hugely advantageous relationships. Ghatotkacha, son of Hidimba and Bhima, killed several Kauravas and forced Karna to use a weapon that he had been saving up for Arjuna against him. Ulupi provided access to the might of the Naga army. In the larger Mahabharata narrative, however, both were treated poorly. Krishna rejoiced at Ghatotkacha's death and Ulupi was never allowed to live in the main palace with the other wives. The victor does not always play fair.

Another powerful partner for the Pandavas was Virata - his daughter had married Abhimanyu, Arjuna's son. He supplied soldiers and elephants and his sons fought valiantly on the side of the Pandavas. Choosing the right ally was always critical. In Odyssey, Athena who plays mentor to Telemachus, son of Odysseus, tells him to seek out his true friends to find his father. He finds Nestor, Menelaus and Helen who help him by providing him with clues and moral support.

The Kauravas were not as fortunate in their choices. Few kings and princes were willing to ignore their deep familial bonds with the Pandavas and even fewer believed in Duryodhana's cause. Karna was the exception, but he sat out most of the battle because of his grouse with Bhisma; somewhat like Achilles in the battle of Troy.

To add to his woes, Duryodhana also chose poorly. He accepted and was even elated at the prospect of having Krishna's army by his side, while Krishna chose to be Arjuna's charioteer. Without their commander, the soldiers were not as effective; and Krishna provided a huge moral, tactical and psychological advantage to the Pandavas, even though he did not fight on the battlefield. Some of Duryodhana's choices also did more damage than good. Shalya, uncle to the Pandava twins, was tricked into joining him. Shalya was on his way to align with the Pandavas. But Duryodhana's men intercepted him and his army, asking them to rest a few days before resuming their journey. Unaware that he was Duryodhana's guest, Shalya and his men agreed. And so pleased was he with the attention and care he received that when he discovered that it was Duryodhana and not Yudhisthira who was his host, he felt obliged to ally with the Kauravas. However he asked to meet Yudhishthira and his nephews before the battle to which Duryodhana agreed. At the meeting, Yudhishthira asked Shalya "for my sake though it may not be proper to be done"* to break Karna's spirit in the battlefield. Shalya as Karna's charioteer did just that, demoralising him and shattering his resolve as he went to battle against Arjuna. Snatching friends of rivals is never a good idea or an enemy's friend is never a good ally.

Strategic relationships have been a critical aspect of the mythology of the subcontinent. Vishnu, for instance, who is part of the trinity and highest in the hierarchy of gods, rides on the Garuda (a mythical bird) and rests on the Ananta Nag (the world serpent). The two were strong animistic deities who were assimilated into the Vedic fold, albeit in positions lower than the main gods. Alliances with tribal gods helped spread the Vedic way of life. They widened their influence.

Fighting wars and elections can't be done without allies. Not only do they provide access and influence, they can also be invaluable in the propaganda war. Drupada, for instance, not only brought in an army of kings, he also sent his priest to Dhritarashtra and asked him to sing the glory of the Pandavas: "If you speak words of righteousness unto Dhritarashtra, you will certainly gain the hearts of his fighting men. Vidura will also make use of those words of yours and will thus alienate the hearts of Bhisma, Drona and Kripa and others." Breaking the enemy's spirit was important and Drupada knew that. Given the scramble for alliances today, Drupada would definitely have been a sought-after campaign manager for the 2014 elections.

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*Mahabharata, Udyoga Parva, Translated by K M Ganguli
**"The mathematics of the Modi Wave,"Praveen Chakravarty, Business Standard, March 3, 2014

The yellow robed god

Vishnu is the yellow robed god or Pitambari. But how he became one is an interesting aside in the larger mythic play.

To begin at the very beginning, Prajapati the creator god had just finished creating and was sitting back, satiated, on a lotus leaf. The myths (in the Vedic hymns) tell us that he made all beings that inhabit this universe from the heat generated from his own body or his 'tapas'. The heat led him to perspire and from his perspiration, came the world.  This is a motif that many creation myths follow where the creation process is usually faciliated by a liquid -- it could be spit, sweat, rain, the foam on the waves in the sea and even sweetened milk. But that's not the point of this story.

As Prajapati watched his world go past, he called out to the tortoise. "You have been created from my body," he told him. But the tortoise was disdainful and perhaps, a tad dismissive.  "I have been here long before you", it said. The myths leave it there, capturing our society's collective inability, at that time, to verify the truth of who came first. That too is not the point of the story but, the tortoise is.

From being identified as a timeless creature, it moves on to becoming a symbol of the sun in later myths. According to folklore, once upon a time, very long ago, the sun grew afraid of his own lustre. He ran away from himself and sought refuge in the tortoise. He did go back as the world had stopped without him but, he left behind his heart in the tortoise. Thus an entire tribe of sun worshippers also became tortoise worshippers. The tortoise and the sun were now looped in a link and preserved as collective memory. Interestingly the tortoise family is among those animals that aestivate -- or monitor their metabolic levels by going dormant during dry periods where they conserve their energies by staying out of the sun.  






Vishnu on a tortoise, Thrissur Pooram procession

 Vishnu, the preserver god of the trinity, rests on water, lies on a snake and flies on an eagle. He is closely associated with the tortoise which is one of his avatars and a permanent fixture in all his temples. Given the association between tortoise and the sun, Vishnu also became a solar god. The disc in his hand and his yellow robes, the direct symbols of an indirect relationship with the Sun God.

(Photograph: Rajrishi Singhal)

War and peace

The iconography associated with Vishnu is quite fascinating. Typically he is shown reclining on the snake god Adi Sesha and riding on his vahana Garuda, the bird god.

As is well known, the serpent and the eagle are arch enemies. In the animal kingdom, the eagle preys on the snake and the snake, on the eagle's young. This relationship has been explored in great detail in folklore and myth -- the birth of Garuda and his subsequent journey to free his mother is a famous case in point.

However the enmity motif becomes inconsequential in the depiction of Vishnu. Both Adi Sesha (serpent) and Garuda (eagle) are his devotees and I haven't yet come across any stories that bring out their mutual antagonism in this role. Clearly though the two never meet -- Vishnu is unlikely to recline and fly at the same time and perhaps that is the reason why there are no idols that have Vishnu, Adi Sesha and Garuda in the same frame. Most Vishnu temples have sculptures of both but they are never shown together. If there is one, and if any of you have come across such a temple or painting or sculpture, please write in.

But to come back to the serpent-eagle relationship, how and when did things change?

Was it under the unifying influence of the Vedic pantheon? Or was it the outcome of the assimilating power of an old religion such as Hinduism? Or was it, the bulldozer effect -- where a majority sucks in minority faiths to make one composite whole, often assigning a deferential role to their gods?

It would be impossible to answer any of the above with authority. But, whatever be the reasons and the reasoning, the iconography records a turning point in the serpent-eagle relationship in the kingdom of myth. It represents an understanding that natural enemies can co-exist without one knocking out the other.

Finally, this is not the only explanation of the iconography. There are many more theories that are extremely relevant and perhaps far more popular and I would love to collect them all. My search has just begun but as and when the explanations pour in, will publish them on the blog.