Kurukshetra

“ For what that crisis stands, what is the significance of the battle of Kurukshetra and its effect on Arjuna’s inner being, we have first to determine if we would grasp the central drift of the ideas of the Gita.
Very obviously a great body of the profoundest teaching cannot be built round an ordinary occurrence which has no gulfs of deep suggestion and hazardous difficulty behind its superficial and outward aspects and can be governed well enough by the ordinary everyday standards of thought and action. ”

“ The third stage of the Epic and Manu . . . THE GITA. 12It has thus become perfectly clear that The Gītā cannot have been uttered on the battlefield of Kurukshetra; for it is the last member of a long series, the final product of a clearly defined and elaborate process of development. To ascribe the Gītā to the age of Kurukshetra is much the same as if one were to ascribe the poetry of Tennyson to the age of Alfred the Great. A thousand years intervene; the thought and toil of a millennium were needed to produce the great result. ”

“ The country of the former, called Kurukshetra, is specifically the holy land of the Yajurvedas and of the Brāhmaṇas attached to them. It lay in the plain between the Sutlej and the Jumna, beginning with the tract bounded by the two small rivers Dṛishadvatī and Sarasvatī, and extending south-eastwards to the Jumna. ”

“ Hence the shrine of Guru Nanak at Kurukshetra, alongside which we shall, no doubt, some day have one in honour of Swami Dayanand, when the Aryan sect is sufficiently grown to impress the Brahmans with its importance; the mere matter of orthodoxy or unorthodoxy being somewhat unimportant.
The reason for the wonderful persistence with which the affectionate regard of the Hindus has hovered round their old shrines and holy places for thousands [202] of years, though at first sight rather strange, is not difficult of explanation. ”

“ They choose a certain holy place, Kurukshetra, and assembling all their queens and wives, make the slow journey to it. When they arrive, a festival is in progress. They bathe and make offerings. While they are still encamped, other kings come in, including the Pandavas and Kauravas. With them are their wives and families and Kunti, the mother of the Pandavas, is thus enabled to meet once more her brother, Vasudeva, the father of Krishna. A little later, Nanda and Yasoda along with the cowherds and cowgirls also arrive. ”

“ The material and spiritual forces were gathered together, in all possible grades from the Pândavas downward to the sons of Dhrita-râshtra and their allies. The poetical genius of the author of the Mahâbhârata has called forth characters in the Drama of the Kurukshetra battle, that stand out in all the details of real life and find a permanent place in the genealogy of the Lunar dynasty. The study of the racial account of the line of Bharadvâja becomes therefore extremely difficult. ”

“ It is the Purushottama beyond the Self that acts not, beyond the Prakriti that acts, foundation of the one, master of the other, the Lord of whom all is the mani- festation, who even in our present subjection to Maya sits in the heart of His creatures governing the works of Prakriti, He by whom the armies on the field of Kurukshetra have already been slain while yet they live and who uses Arjuna only as an instrument or immediate, occasion of this great slaughter. ”

“ The Kauravas, profiting by Kīchaka's death, now invade the Matsyan kingdom, when the Pāṇḍavas side with King Virāṭa, and there ensues, on the field of Kurukshetra, during eighteen days, a series of fierce battles, ending in the annihilation of the Kauravas. Yudhishṭhira now at last becomes yuva-rāja, and eventually king-Dhṛitarāshṭra having resigned and retired with his wife and Kuntī to the forest, where they soon after perish in a conflagration. Learning also the death of Kṛishṇa, Yudhishṭhira himself at last becomes tired of life and resigns his crown ”

“ The reader will remember that the “Bhagavatgita” is a dialogue between Krishna and Arjuna, on the eve of the tremendous struggle at Kurukshetra, and that the dialogue arose out of the refusal of the latter to take part in a contest destined to lead to such unprecedented slaughter of kinsfolk.
It appears from the “Gita” that Arjuna was not only moved by feelings of tenderness towards his kinsmen, but was appalled at the thought of the far-reaching consequences of the impending slaughter of so many men. ”

“ Another son of Ajamidha was called Riksha, whose son was Samvarāna, whose son was Kuru, who gave his name to the holy district Kurukshetra. His sons were Sudhanush, Jahnu, Parikshit, and many others. The son of Sudanush was Suhotra, whose son was Chyavana, whose son was Kritaka, whose son was Uparichara the Vasu, who had seven children: Vrihadratha, Pratyagra, Kusamba, Mavella, Matysa and others. The son of Vrihadratha was Kusagra, whose son was Rishabha, whose son was Pushpavat, whose son was Satyadhrita, whose son was Sudhanwan, whose son was Jantu. ”

“ Their message demanding back their possessions [293] receiving no answer, they prepared for war. The rival armies met in the sacred region of Kurukshetra, with numerous allies on both sides. Joined with the Kurus were, among others, the people of Kosala, Videha, Anga, Banga (Bengal) , Kalinga on the east, and those of Sindhu, Gandhāra, Bahlīka (Balk) , together with the Çakas and Yavanas on the west. The Pāṇḍus, on the other hand, were aided by the Panchālas, the Matsyas, part of the Yādavas under Kṛishṇa, besides the kings of Kāçi (Benares) , Chedi, Magadha, and others (v.) ”

“ He that thinketh with joined hands morning and evening, of the Pushkara, practically batheth, O Bharata, in every tirtha. Whether a male or a female, whatever sins one may commit since birth, are all destroyed as soon as one batheth in Pushkara. As the slayer of Madhu is the foremost of all the celestials, so is Pushkara, O king, the foremost of all tirthas. A man by residing with purity and regulated vows for twelve years in Pushkara, acquireth the merit of all the sacrifices, and goeth to the abode of Brahma. ”

“ When a month had gone past Nala took leave of King Bhima and went towards Nishadha with one great chariot, sixteen elephants, fifty armed horsemen, and six hundred foot soldiers. The whole force entered the city boldly and made the earth to shake. Nala at once went before Pushkara and said: “I would fain throw dice with thee once again. I have much wealth and will stake all my treasure and even Damayantí upon the hazard. Thou, Pushkara, must stake thy kingdom. Let us stake everything; let us play for our lives. ”

“ Men of self-control, by even thinking mentally of Pushkara, are cleansed from their sins, and regarded in heaven. O king, the illustrious grand-sire having the lotus for his seat, had dwelt with great pleasure in this tirtha. O blessed one, it was in Pushkara that the gods with the Rishis having acquired of old great merit, finally obtained the highest success. The person who, devoted to the worship of the gods and the Pitris, batheth in this tirtha, obtaineth, it hath been said by the wise, merit that is equal to ten times that of the horse-sacrifice. ”

“ Fawcett and others, the Kuricchas are given the character of remarkably innocent, truthful, and trustworthy people. For the following note, I am indebted to Mr. E.Fernandez. The Kuricchas usually live by cultivation, but it is considered a great stroke of good luck to obtain a post as postal runner or amsham peon. When on a hunting expedition, they are armed with bows and arrows, or occasionally with guns, and surround a hill. ”

“ The Pātañjala view, as we have seen, maintains that Īśvara removes all obstacles of prakṛti in such a way that this purpose may find scope for its realisation. Thus Sūtrārthabodhinī, IV. 3, of Nārāyaṇa Tīrtha says: “According to atheistic Sāṃkhya the future serviceability of purusha alone is the mover of prakṛti. But with us theists the serviceability of purusha is the object for which prakṛti moves. It is merely as an object that the serviceability of the purusha may be said to be the mover of the prakṛti.” ”

“ Beholding those two exceedingly active heroes pierce through (the divisions placed in the van) , and seeing the ruler of the Sindhus also within reach of the shafts from Gandiva, what, indeed, was the measure adopted by the Kaurava impelled by fate? At that time, when all were fighting intently, what became of them? O sire, I regard the assembled Kurus to be overtaken by Death himself. Indeed, their prowess also in battle is no longer seen to be what it once was. Krishna and the son of Pandu have both entered the (Kuru) host unwounded. ”

“ There were indications as to the direction from which the dead traveller had come. Indian legends would alone have been my guide, for I found that rumours of a strange land were common among all the riverine tribes. You have heard, no doubt, of Curupuri?"
"Never."
"Curupuri is the spirit of the woods, something terrible, something malevolent, something to be avoided. None can describe its shape or nature, but it is a word of terror along the Amazon. Now all tribes agree as to the direction in which Curupuri lives. It was the same direction from which the American had come. ”

“ Adare turned to the men behind him.
"You who have brought axes cut logs with which to batter in the doors," he said. "We will not ask them to surrender. We must make them fight, so that we may have an excuse to kill them. Two logs for eight men each. And you others fill your pockets with birch bark and spruce pitch-knots. Let no man touch fire to a log until we have Josephine. Then, burn! And you, Kaskisoon, go ahead and watch what is happening!"
He was calmer now. As the men turned to obey his commands he laid a hand on Philip's shoulder. ”

“ And the waiting men were silent—deadly silent—as they listened. For they knew that the low Te-dum was the call to death. Their hands gripped harder at the barrels of their guns, and when Kaskisoon and his braves came from behind the rock they faced the smoke above the Devil's Nest, wiped their eyes to see more clearly, and followed John Adare down into the plain.
And to other ears than their own the medicine-drum had carried the Song of Death. Down in the thick spruce of the plain a man on the trail of a caribou had heard. ”

“ Now this was the army of Jamrkan who, espying the host of the Kafirs and seeing them as a surging sea, called a halt; so his troops pitched the tents and set up the standards, calling upon the name of the All-wise One, the Creator of light and gloom, Lord of all creatures, Who seeth while Him none see, the High to infinity, extolled and exalted be He! There is no God but He! The Miscreants also halted and pitched their tents, and Kurajan said to them “Keep on your arms, and in armour sleep, for during the last watch of the night we will mount and trample yonder handful under feet!” ”

“ One evening the sage Vyasa instructed them to bathe in the Ganges and then stand on the banks of the river. He then went into the water and prayed, and coming out stood by Yudhi-sthira and called the names of all those persons who had been slain at Kuruk-shetra. Immediately the water began to foam and boil, and to the great surprise and terror of all, the warriors lost in the great battle appeared in their chariots, at perfect peace with one another, and cleansed of all earthly stain. Then the living were happy with the dead ”

“ When this Kurchuk started to apostatize, you could have gone to him at the head of a procession of priests, all paratimers and all armed with energy-weapons, and pointed out his spiritual duty to him, and if he gave you any back talk, you could have pulled out that needler and rayed him down and then cried, 'Behold the vengeance of Yat-Zar upon the wicked king!' I'll bet any sum at any odds that his successor would have thought twice about going over to Muz-Azin, and none of these other kings would have even thought once about it. ”

“ But sure, no honeyed pastures of the flock
Where lover's arms in lover's arms enlock,
Was ours that May.
If Curithir is gone to-day
To teach the little scholars of the school,
Small help he'll get who does not know his rule;
Curithir's thoughts are very far away.
At length the news is brought to her that Curithir is gone for ever, and she breaks out into a passionate lament.
The Cry of Liadan after Curithir
'Tis done! ”

“ We made him a sign not to come and interrupt our sketching, but from the opposite walk there debouched Kurruck Singh, and Ajeet Singh, and the old fakeer, sent by Runjeet to see that all was right. The brothers Kurruck and Shere don’t speak, and G. said it was horrible to see the agitation with which Shere Singh clutched hold of him, and Kurruck laid hold of the other hand, and they handed him along towards us, oversetting our tonjauns, and utterly discomposing our perspective. G. bears a real ceremony beautifully when he has made up his mind to it, and indeed rather likes it ”

“ They are heavy-jawed, with large mouths, thick lips and projecting teeth. They reverence the sun, and acknowledge a supreme god, Dharmi or Dharmest, the holy one, who is perfectly pure, but whose beneficent designs are thwarted by evil spirits. They burn their dead, and the urn with the ashes is suspended outside the deceased’s hut to await the period of the year especially set apart for burials. The language is harsh and guttural, having much connexion with Tamil. In 1901 the total number of speakers of Kurukh or Oraon in all India was nearly 600,000. ”