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Twists in the Tale of Mahabharat Anand K Bhatt "I was born in 1944 in Lalooland. Did M.A. in Economics (Allahabad University) and later, on a sabbatical, did M.A. in Development Economics from Sussex University (U.K.). After putting in 34 years in the Indian Administrative Service, I put in my papers in 2003 when I was Additional Secretary to Govt. of India (working as Chairman, Forward Markets Commission, Govt. of India). Since 2003 I am Administrative Member in the Mumbai Bench of the Central Administrative Tribunal which is a body to look into the grievances of central government employees. I belonged to Madya Pradesh cadre which is full of forests and wild life. I developed a keen interest in forests, trees and plants, both wild and ornamental. I was Divisional Commissioner in Bastar (now in Chhattisgarh) which has the largest area under forests in entire Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. I occasionally do some birdwatching as a hobby and like to read novels. I do try to write occasionally on anything which comes to my mind."

Probably the real turning point in the story of Mahabharat was when Duryodhan went to the newly built palace of the Pandavas in Indraprastha and mistaking the still water of a decorative pond at ground level to be hard surface, fell in it and Drauapadi uttered cattily that the blind beget blind. Duryodhan could never forget this remark of Draupadi which led to her disrobing after her dear eldest husband lost her to Duryodhan in the game of (loaded) dice. And which led to Bhim vowing to kill Dushasan and ultimately to the great battle. But the story has other unexplained surprises also. Let us think over them:

Why did Shantanu allow his first wife, Ganga, to drown seven of their new-born?
• Why did Yudhishthira agree to play with Duryodhan the game of dice the second time when ultimately out of shame Dhritrashtra had intervened and had forced his sons to return to the Pandavas what they had lost initially?
• Even Krishna was present at the place, so why did he or somebody else not warn Yudhishthira that either the dice were loaded or Shakuni had a dishonest way of throwing them?
• Why did Yudhishthira send Bhima and Arjun to rescue Duryodhana when he was defeated and taken prisoner at Dwaitavana by Chitarasena, the king of the Gandharva?
• Why did Bhishma stop fighting when he knew full well that it was Arjun who was shooting arrows at him from behind Shikhandi?

Then there are a few incidents which are described as happening in a divine way, which can be easily explained scientifically now:

The first is the slaying of Jayadrath. The story goes that when Abhimanyu entered the lotus formation made by Drona which he knew how how to break but not how to get out, Bhima was supposed to follow him for support. However, once Abhimanyu broke through the formation and entered the chakravyuha, Jayadrath quickly sealed the gap and Bhima could not enter thereby depriving Abhimanyu of any support from other Pandavas. Abhimanyu was trapped inside, and surrounded by 5 of the Kaurav warriors, was killed after a bitter fight. When Arjun came to know that Jayadrath was thus mainly responsible for the death of his son, he vowed that he would kill Jayadrath before sunset the next day; otherwise he will ascend the funeral pyre himself. The next day, Kauravas arrayed a list of big warriors to protect Jayadrath, and Arjun with the active support of Bhima and Satyaki could reach Jayadrath only in the late afternoon where Jayadrath gave him a tough fight. The sun was slanting in the west, and suddenly there was dark. People thought that the sun has set, and Jayadrath let loose his guard. At that moment the sun reappeared and Arjun beheaded Jayadrath. Now the story is that Krishna told Arjun in secret earlier that it was his divine intervention to help Arjun. However, it could very well have been full solar eclipse, it was not sunset, and when the eclipse was over the sun reappeared. The other obvious inference from this story is that people were not aware of the eclipse, at least solar, at that point of history.

The second is the submergence of Dwarka. As the story goes, Krishna ruled Dwarka for thirty-six years after the Kurukshetra battle. During this time, Yadav clan of Krishna became lazy and drunkard. They started quarrelling among themselves and annihilated themselves. Then the sea submerged entire Dwarka. This was believed to be a mythology till under a directive by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, an undersea exploration by Archaeological Survey of India with the help of the National Oceanographic Institute at Dona Paula in Goa actually found remains of an entire city undersea near Bet Dwarka. The Dwarkadhish temple is at Dwarka, and there is an island a couple of kilometers from the mainland Dwarka known as Bet Dwarka where the palace of Krishna was believed to have been located. Maybe Krishna built his abode at a height, and it was not submerged during a Tsunami-type of calamity. Our mythology has the description of ‘Pralaya’ after which only Manu and Shatrupa (Indian version of Adam and Eve) survived. Jaishankar Prasad in his epic ‘Kamayani’ has mentioned it thus: ‘Upar him tha neeche jal tha / ek taral tha ek saghan / ek tatva ki hi paradhanta/ kaho use jad ya chetan.’ (Above there was snow, below there was water, one was solid, the other liquid; whatever be, it was only one element everywhere, call it dead or alive, that is, either frozen or moving). This was also a Tsunami which came to our Western coast (my guess) in prehistoric times. During the recent tsunami, the disaster was worst in Nicobar Islands. The island which has the southernmost point of India (known as Indira Point) has tilted permanently to the south, with the result that the northern part has gained height permanently, and the erstwhile Indira Point is underwater for good - Krishna’s Dwarka and then Indira Point.

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