Pandavas, Krishna & their family- Admiration Thread # 3 - Page 27

Originally posted by: Patrarekha

ok here is my take on pandava actors

yudi- initially i found rohit flat and named yudi as dumb big bro but after kunti's order of sharing drau he started improving and now he is best actor among pandavas (six pandavas including karna) , his breaking dice gave me goosebumps and i felt like its not bheem but yudi who loved drau most , his expressions r always perfect

bheem - saurabh from day one portrayed bheem's innocence and jovial attitude well ,i love his innocence and humor and his anger is very well placed , i always find him more handsome with beard without beard looking for exile , i foundhim perfect bheem

arjun - always my most favourite pandava , surprisingly initially when all found him not up to the mark i found him perfect arjun , the attitude prince , arrogant , taunting yet fun loving care free , shaheer always had a problem with diction and dialogue delivery and he accepted that but i found the perfect handsome prince material in him , he was really perfect during action , i loved him during drupad war , his riding horse , his shooting arrow , his rough and tough attitude was mind blowing
then with krishna he was more than perfect being completely devoted to his madhav ,an innocent , confused yet surrendered , he is best as madhav's parth
as Brihannala , he simply made me forgetting he is a guy , one og his best act , he enjoyed and made us enjoying

here comes his drawback - his emotional sequence , when he cries and his outburst in anger , i simply feel annoyed coz while shouting his voice doesn't carry weight , and makes him whining and i have to lessen my tv volume, and when he cries i feel like not watching it

sadly makers mad him doing these 2 works more often than giving actual arrogant yet composed attitude of warrior prince

nakul- he has not much space and dialogues but i love vin's face , perfect Narcissus prince Nakul but he has heart . once his silent cry touched my heart

sahadev- innocent bachha , always scared and love his big bros soo much i love when he calls panchali , seems like baby is trying to be mature , lovely mamma's boy , Lavanya really looks a baby lovable one

Krodhavasha War

Bhima leaves Hanuman at Kadlivana and travels towards the source of the Blue Lotuses. His heart is filled with the happiness of meeting the long lost brother, an omen that he will soon meet another long lost brother. He also saluted his father who had blown that rare flower their way enabling his most famous sons to meet each other.

He took measured steps in this land of Yaksharaj Manibhadra, ruler with an army of 88000 Rakshasas and four times that many Yakshas and Kinnaras.

Manibhadra is a powerful Yaksha and he with his legions could easily overthrow Indra himself. He was looked at with askance by Devas. They were fundamentally neutral to human affairs and did not like Humans encroaching on their territory. Other such Sachivas of Kubera ruled Raudra and Maitra Rakshasas and were not sympathetic to Pandavas or any humans for that matter.

In these dangerous regions, Bhima's strength and Lomasha's tapobala had been protecting Pandavas. Bhima wanted to find the Blue lotuses and hurry back to Draupadi. The blue lotuses which were of same color as the love of his life, she will be eagerly waiting for them. Since entering this region, on Yudhishthara's advice, he had not eaten or drank anything for fear that mayavi Rakshasas may poison it. He relied on his father Vayu to feed him and when Hanuman hugged him, his strength, stamina and vigor were also instantly restored.

He remembered how Yudhishthara had planned to send him in command of all the servants, soldiers, Rathas with Dhaumya and Draupadi back to Haridwar while only Lomasha, Yudhishthara and Nakula would trek on to meet Arjuna. But Bhima persuaded Yudhishthara to include him, Sahadeva, Dhaumya and Draupadi. King Subahu had come to their rescue; he gave refuge to Indrasena, servants, the chief cook Paribhrashava, Draupadi's maids and her equipment. This enabled them to move into the dangerous and difficult to travel mountains with little more ease.

As an aside, Bhima took his bow and arrows with him on this trip and also his Mace and sword.

Like Hanuman and the Vanaras searched for Sita, Bhima looked at little upavanas and orchards for the flower and continued his search. Then he found a flowing vast river filled with Golden lotuses and in middle of the river, a sweet smelling aromatic vana was present. He had reached his destination.

The Scented forest was surrounded by huge waterfalls and protected by Rakshasas. Looking at the pure water bereft of mud, Bhima drank his heart out and quenched his thirst. The region was protected by one lakh Krodhavasa Rakshasas.

They saw a man dressed like Sadhu but armed with Bow, Mace and Sword as well as wearing golden angadas. Bhima identified himself and requested that he wanted to take some flowers for his beautiful wife. The Rakshasa told Bhima that this was the personal resort of Kubera himself, not even Devas or Rishis dared come here without his permission. You should get permission from Yaksharaja and drink water and then take flowers.

Bhima explained "I do not see any Kubera around here. Secondly, the sanatana dharma states as a Kshatriya, I should not request but win with the strength of my arms. This region is blessed by gods for all to enjoy. That waterfall watering those lotuses was created by God and is not inside Kubera's house, is it? All living things have equal rights to this water and these lotuses. Why would one petition for things which should be available for all?"

Disregarding the Rakshasas, with cool mind (Amarshayukta), Bhima entered the Lake. At that all the Rakshasas picked up their arms and weapons and attacked Bhima. Taking his mace, Bhima advanced to meet them. Moving away from lake, in few minutes Bhima had killed a hundred of these warriors. The rakshsasa retreated, joined in groups and attacked from all sides and were again killed by Bhima. The rakshasas fled the battle leaving their dead behind. Bhima took the opportunity to drink some clear water and started carefully harvesting the lotuses and arranging in groups for easy transportation. (Not only cook or wrestler, Bhima probably had future as florist in Agyastvasa as well.)

Rakshasas complained to Kubera who laughed and told them that they should allow Bhima to take flowers for Draupadi. They returned to find Bhima creating bouquets of various types of beautiful flowers.

Meanwhile down the mountain, there was a sudden heavy storm which dropped water and stones on the hermitage where Yudhishthara was staying. As the astrologer proclaimed, these are signs of a forthcoming battle. Yudhishthara had not seen Bhima the whole day and assumed he was with Draupadi but seeing Draupadi sitting with twins, he was suddenly worried.

Remember the flowers the wind blew in, I asked Bhima to fetch some more and so taking his weapons he left in the eastern direction. At this, Yudhishthara asked twins to get ready and leave with him in same direction. He asked Ghatotkacha to carry Draupadi and his fellow Rakshasas to carry the munis. Reaching the place soon enough, Yudhishthara saw Bhima and hugged him repeatedly and surveyed the remains of the battlefield.

Then informing the protectors that they wish to dwell at the Lake, Yudhishthara and company spent the days waiting for the Arjuna enjoying the beautiful lake. Few days later, Yudhishthara wished to meet Kubera so an akashvani told them to return to Nara-Narayana ashrama, stay there for few days and then travel to Vrishparva's ashrama then after staying there a fixed time, travel to Arishtshena's ashrama and then you can meet Kubera.
(Arishtshena was a proto-Visvamitra who had through his tapas attained Brahaminhod back in Satayuga.)

Pandavas returned to the Nara-Narayana ashrama near Vishalaapuri, near Badrinath. (In the Puranas, a daughter of Bhima is called Vishalaa (born in Vishala) who married the King of Ayodhya. Later in in Aitreya and Shatapatha, the next generation after the War, for some period, the Kingdoms of Kasi, Kosala and Videha were united under an Upapandava descended from Yudhishthara. Svetaketu failed to impress him in his quest to become Royal priest. In Puranas, Bhimas son by Kashi princess succeeded his uncle Prakant on Kasi throne, but Draupadi is shown to be only wife in the Vana parva section, Jalandhara had gone to Shuktimati city. Or Bhima had/will travel(led) to this region earlier/later. As Ghaotkachha lived nearby, it could be his daughter, Suta means daughter as well as descendent.)

Another point, the common name of Kubera's city in Puranas is Alkapuri but in Vana Parva, there is another city described.

Jatasura

While Pandavas waited for Arjuna at nara-Narayana ashrama, many days passed. Ghaotkacha and his supported left for their kingdom. The ashram fell into humdrum routine and all was well with world with Arjuna expected to be back soon. The Pandavas also relaxed their watchfulness since they had entered the region. Bhima would leave for longer trips. He had a secret friend he would drop by to meet from time to time.

(Puranas have more stories of this period with some asuras sent by Duryodhana and other stuff, apsaras and simhika et all. Hanuman also participated actively against the asuras. In Puranas, Hanuman helped Krishna with Paundraka Vasudeva and Kasi battles and was part of organizing committee for Rajasuya yagna. He takes Bhima on a tourist trip to Rama's battlefields and shows him the huge skulls of Rakshasas killed by Rama. We will publish those stories separately, they are not canonical to Epic. )

Anyway, there was a Brahmin rakshasa called Jatasura. He was king of a rakshasa kingdom and was one of permanent invitees of Yudhishthara's Sabha. He was related to Hidimba and hence related to Ghatotkacha and so trusted by the Pandavas. He preferred to dress and act as Brahmin. There were other such rakshasa brahmins in Yudhishthara's entourage, Varaha Rishi was related to Bhagdatta, he wrote a samhitas on Yajurveda. There were others genuine converts to new way of thinking Yudhishthara espoused. Jatasura also resigned his throne to his son Alambusha and joined Yudhishthara in vanavaas. He loyally stuck it out as Yudhishthara established Ashramas at four places and reduced his entourage by huge number. Leaving most of his guard and servants with King Subahu, Yudhishthara had very few Brahmins left including Jatasura at Vishalaa other than his brothers.

Seeing the weak security of Pandavas, temptation entered Jatasura's heart. He waited for right opportunity when Bhima might be away and he could seize the bows of Pandavas and Draupadi. Like they took care of all brahamins, Yudhishthara and Draupadi fed Jatasura also, not realizing the fire hidden inside the ashes on his forehead.

One day, Bhima left on a hunt to kill some dangerous animals on request of some locals, Ghatotkacha was called by some task back home, Lomasha was practicing austerities and remaining Brahamins had left to collect flowers and fuel from the forest. The rakshasa saw his chance and took on a huge magical form and got hold of the bows and arrows of Pandavas as well as Draupadi. Seeing this Yudhishthara and Nakula intervened but were also kidnapped. Sahadeva freed his sword and stated shouting for Bhima. Yudhishthara advised the Rakshasa that by his treachery he is destroying all the good deeds he had done for past few years. Yudhishthara could not kill him under the guest rules.

Yudhishthara tried to convince the Rakshasa other wise.
"Even rakshasa take great care of dharma. Rakshasas are the root of dharma. Your own upbringing tells you that you should stick with us. Your own prosperity is dependent on good relations and commerce with humans. You are rakshasa by birth and Brahmin by choice and you are betraying both paths by your actions. As Nation's protectors and Kings, Rakshasas should be faithful to us. Without injury by the king, no Rakshasa is allowed to insult the King. On top of that, you have eaten our salt. You have been our friend. Do not put us in situation where we need to kill a friend, a refugee, a guest. I will forgive you, we will forget this momentary madness that has engulfed you. You can stay with us. Why are you wasting your life needlessly? If you wish to win Draupadi, you give us the weapons and we will fight you. You leave me with no choice."

Yudhishthara has a super power. He could increase or decrease his weight by huge amounts at moment's notice. He made himself so heavy that the Rakshasa could not carry him and could not run away.
Comforting Draupadi, Yudhishthara said "Don't worry, this rakshasa is not going anywhere and Sahadeva will fetch Bhima soon and within 48 minutes this rakshasa will be dead".

Sahadeva had returned earlier and started attacking the rakshasa with sword. Rakshasa was unable to run away and maddened by Sahadeva's attacks, he saw Bhima and his mace approach.

Bhima said "You rascal, I knew your intentions were not honorable when always looked at our weapons. I had let you live because everyone deserves a second chance. As Brahmin guest, you were avadhya. But, your actions have nullified your friendship, nullified the guest rules and nullified your brahamtva. You will die as an ordinary sinner."

Bhima and Jatasura fought for few minutes, almost 48 minutes before getting a signal from Yudhishthara, Bhima made a fist and hit the rakshasa on his neck, Rakshasa fell down so Bhima picked him up and threw him down with huge force, and with a slap separated his head and then literally wiped the floor with him.

As gods praised and threw flowers on him, Bhima hugged his brothers and wife.

The life resumed its normal humdrum with Ghatotkacha posting extra soldiers. Soon, the 4rth year of the teerth yatra and 9th year of Vanvasa ended and Yudhishthara decided to travel again.

Jatasura's sons (santati) will come and fight on the Kaurava side with one Akshauhini. They were maneaters and one would die under Bheeshma and other under Drona's command. The other son's head was cut by Ghatotkacha and thrown into Duryodhana's chariot.

The Image is from India Press edition of complete Mahabharata in all its 14 volumes.
The image is Pandavas enjoying the Lake after fighting Bhima there and Kubera's servants serving them.

Originally posted by: -Shani-

Suku, thanks for the article...😊

I highly doubt if we'll get to see all this in the show considering that it will be a highly truncated Vana Parva (CVs are almost skipping the Vana Parva, it seems )...and the Virata Parva could be ONLY the Virata War (since we have NO news about the actor playing Keechak so far)...