Preface
The epic begins with mentions of universe formation, creation of various Gods, demons and demigods, animals and birds, family trees of Rishis, kings and so on. In such a plethora of information, many curses and boons are listed as well and I have tried to reproduce those in this post. Some of these precede, probably by millenniums, the entire Mahabharat event as we know(let’s say, from reign of King Shantanu). Note that these listings are mere mentions of the curses and boons, the background/events that culminated into these curses and boons are not described. If I receive substantial requests for elaboration, I might expand this post.
Curses
- Kach(Hindi: कच) politely denied Devayani’s(Hindi: देवयानी) marriage proposal, whereby she uttered a curse that would deny Kach completion of his education in ‘Sanjivani Vidya'(Hindi: संजीवनी विद्या).
- Kach retributed by cursing Devayani which would deprive her marriage to any Rishi’s son.
- King Yayati(Hindi: ययाति) instantly grew old due to a curse of Shukracharya(Hindi: शुक्राचार्य).
- Yayati wanted to ‘borrow’ youth to enjoy pleasures and asked his sons, one by one, to ‘lend’ their youth. When they denied, he cursed his sons, as following:
- Yadu‘s(Hindi: यदु) heirs would fail to become successors to his throne.
- Turvasu(Hindi: तुर्वसु) would become a ruler of races e.g: Mlenccha(Hindi: म्लेंच्छ), Chandal(Hindi: चांडाल) which eat raw meat, have a (primitive, savage)lifestyle similar to animals, and desire eye wives of their teachers(Hindi: गुरुपत्नी).
- Druhu(Hindi: द्रुहू) would migrate with his family to a region where people could move around only in a boat. The people of that region would be referred as Bhoj(Hindi: भोज).
- Anu(Hindi:अनु) would himself turn old, and his children, if any, would die in their youth.
- Rishi Kindam(Hindi: किंदम) cursed King Pandu(who had mastered the art to control his sexual desires) that the moment the latter tried to copulate, he would die.
- One day, King Kalmashpaad(Hindi: कल्माषपाद) and Maharshi Shakti(Hindi: शक्ति) found themselves at the ends of a bridge wide enough only for one person to cross, at a time. None of them budged, eventually, Kalmashpaad assaulted Rishi Shakti and the latter fell unconscious but cursed the former to be transformed into a cannibalistic ‘Rakshas‘(Hindi: राक्षस).
- An unnamed Brahman requested some vegetarian food from King Kalmashpaad. The king made the Brahman wait till midnight, then ordered his cook to serve cooked human flesh to that Brahman. The Brahman immediately figured out that the food contained meat, infuriated, he cursed the king to be voracious for human flesh.
- As the curse started to take effect, King Kalmashpaad started to lose his senses and turned into a cannibal. He was wandering in a forest where he came across a Brahman couple. The king didn’t pay heed to the woman’s begging(to spare her husband’s life), killed and ate the man. The woman cursed the king to die the moment he tried to copulate with his wife and the latter would have to perform a ‘Niyog‘(Hindi: नियोग) with Maharshi Vasishtha(Hindi: वसीष्ठ) to bear successors for the empire/kingdom. After uttering the curse, the woman immolated self.
- Five Indras(Hindi: विश्वभुक्, भूतधामा, प्रतापी इन्द्र शिबि, चौथे शान्ति और पाँचवें तेजस्वी) from various eras(cursed by Rudra) as Pandavas. Rudra proclaimed that they would kill a large number of humans, for various causes.
- Dharma‘s/Yam’s(Hindi: धर्म/यम) incarnation as Vidur(Hindi: विदुर) was a result of Rishi Mandavya‘s(Hindi: मांडव्य) curse.
- Kadru(Hindi: कद्रु), a Nag(Hindi: नाग) woman, cursed her own sons to be incinerated in a Sarpa Yagya(Hindi: सर्प यज्ञ) that would be performed by King Janamejaya(Hindi: जनमेजय).
- Vinata(Hindi: विनता) was Kadru’s sister (and Garud‘s(Hindi: गरुड़) mother). When Kadru’s sons were born, Vinata lost her patience and broke one of her two, externally gestating eggs(ovaries??). Her son(Arun(Hindi: अरुण)) had not yet completed his physical growth, hence, he cursed Vinata to become a slave of Kadru for 500 or more years.
- When Duryodhan, Karna and Shakuni planned to kill Pandavas during their exile, Rishi Maitreya(Hindi: मैत्रेय) rushed to the court of King Dhritarashtra and tried to persuade him to stop Duryodhan. Duryodhan was present in the court, he deliberately ignored Maitreya, started to pat and scratch his thigh, tapped the fingers of his legs on the floor. Maitreya got agitated, and cursed Duryodhan that in the 14th year, his thighs would break(in accordance to Bhimsen’s oath) and he would meet a painful death.
- Rishi Shamik’s(Hindi: शमिक) son, Rishi Shrungi(Hindi: श्रृंगी), couldn’t stand the insult of his meditating father at hands of King Parikshit(Hindi: परीक्षित), thereby, he cursed the king to die at the seventh day, by a venomous bite by Takshak(Hindi: तक्षक).
- Maharshi Narad(Hindi: नारद) was present during the closing ceremony of the ‘Rajasuya‘ yagya performed by the Pandavas. Almost all the ‘Janpada‘(Hindi: जनपद) kings had gathered there, which saddened Narad as he recalled an ancient discussion held in the ‘Brahmalok’(Hindi: ब्रह्मलोक) – Narayan(Hindi: नारायण) had ordered the various ‘Deva’s(Hindi: देव) to incarnate on earth as humans, kill each other in a catastrophic war and return to the ‘Devlok‘(Hindi: देवलोक).
Boons
- Garud desired to be part of Vishnu‘s(Hindi: विष्णु) flag(as an insignia) which the latter blessed immediately.
- Upon Garud’s request to ask for a boon, Vishnu requested Garud to be his carrier/vehicle, which the latter promptly agreed to.
- Since Rishi Astik(Hindi: आस्तीक) saved Nagas from Janamejaya’s sarpa yagya, they were eager to bless him. Rishi Astik asked for immunity (from bites and other menace by the Nagas) for any individual who recites ‘Aasit’, ‘Aartimaan’ & ‘Suneeth’ mantras.
- Yayaati was salvaged by his daughter’s sons(‘Dauhitra'(Hindi: दौहित्र)), hence, the former blessed all the mankind such that a family would attain salvation if the sons of their daughter conducted the ritual of ‘Shraddha‘ (Hindi: श्राद्ध)for that family.
- After scorching Khanda wan(Hindi: खांडव वन), Agnidev(Hindi: अग्निदेव) gifted Arjun the following:
- King Uparichar(Hindi: उपरिचर), after enthroned on Chedi desh(Hindi: चेदी) by Indra, was also blessed with:
- A large plane, at his disposal.
- A garland of unwithering lotuses. The said garland would protect him from any injury by any weapon, during a battle.
- If the subjects of Chedi desh would celebrate an yearly festival commemorating and worshipping Indra, they would gain ‘Punya‘(Hindi: पुण्य) equivalent to donating land.
- Satyavati‘s(Hindi: सत्यवती) body smelled of fish. Maharshi Parashar(Hindi: पराशर) blessed her, thereafter, her body emitted fragrance that could be felt even from a distance of one ‘yojan‘(Hindi: योजन), hence, the name Yojangandha.
- Yayaati blessed his son Puru(Hindi: पुरू) with happiness for his subjects.
- Shantanu(Hindi: शांतनु) blessed his son Devavrat(Hindi: देवव्रत) with the ability to die only when the latter wished.
- Vyas gave Gandhari boons to have
- 100 sons.
- A daughter, so that her family can (later)be salvaged by ‘Dauhitra’s
- An unnamed Rishi’s daughter (also unnamed) didn’t find a suitor, in spite of being beautiful and learned, hence, she worshipped Mahadev. When he manifested and agreed to grant a boon, in her excitement, the woman quoted ‘I want a versatile husband’ 5 times. Mahadev then said that she would have five husbands.(Honestly, on reading this, I couldn’t control an outburst of laughter).
- A gandharva named Chitraratha provided Arjun with the following
- Chakshushi Vidya(Hindi: चाक्षुषी विद्या). (I couldn’t really comprehend, the text says something like ‘Any thing in the three worlds can be seen, and in a form desired by the viewer’).
- Horses reared by the ‘Gandharva’s((Hindi: गन्धर्व). These horses could change their colour at their own will, adapt speed at the rider’s will and they would manifest only when the rider desired(otherwise, they need not be kept by the rider, thus, freeing him from any maintenance).
- Ulupi(Hindi: उलूपी) blessed Arjun with capabilities to control aquatic animals and be immune to any threat from them.
- Agnidev granted safety to Rishi Mandapal’s(Hindi: मंदपाल) sons from the impending Khandav wan wildfire.
Disclaimer
- I am interested in factual history, rather than novels or fictional depictions of historical entities and with this hat on, I have started to read Mahabharat.
- My primary goal is to slice-and-dice the epic on several parameters – it’s characters, geographical listings, specific events e.g. boons and curses, facts lesser-known to the masses(that includes me), and so on.
- I have tried to reproduce the facts as mentioned in the original epic, in other words, AS-IS. I have also tried my best to avoid expressing my own guesswork & opinions but wherever I couldn’t avoid, I have marked the text in grey.
- Related to point 3. – I have refrained from commenting/skipping/justifying/opposing facts that seem unrealistic, unscientific, improbable, etc.
- Errors in translation, interpretation of metaphors, geographical entities might have crept in. Constructive corrections are welcome.
- The posts should be read and interpreted with the above points in mind, otherwise, I have no intentions and capabilities to evaluate or criticize a timeless legend like Mahabharat and it’s characters.
- As an epic, I doubt there would be any Indian who is unaware of Mahabharat and I belong to that humongous population. My intention was/is to gain, at least a brief, understanding of the political and social events during that era. I wish to learn about the simultaneous and sequential events that occurred in the then known geographical areas.
- I am completely aware of the rule of reading History – one should not judge the past based on the present standards, paradigms and situations.
- I dislike the English language’s norm of appending ‘a’ to Indian epic names(Rama, Ravana, Ganesha, Shiva, etc.), hence, as far as possible, I have deliberately avoided the English language interpretation of ‘schwa‘. This is not always possible though e.g: ‘Kaurav’ and ‘Pandav’ are terms that designate lineage, not a number. So, plural reference, it is necessary to use ‘Kauravas’ and ‘Pandavas’. Another deviation from English language rules is spelling words as per their phonetic sound in Hindi e.g: ‘यज्ञ’ has been written as ‘yagya’ and not ‘yajna’.
- The readers can be of diverse backgrounds, especially, in terms of their knowledge about Mahabharat. My posts are written based on my ( limited)knowledge of facts, which may differ from the readers. Constructive feedback is welcome. For discussions, please drop a personal message.
Life is about being kinetic 