Jayadratha
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In the epic Mahābhārata, Jayadratha (Sanskrit: जयद्रथ) is the king of Sindhu. He is married to Dushala, the sister of the Kaurava brothers.
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[edit] Boon from Shiva
Jayadratha insults Draupadi, the wife of the Pandavas, by attempting to abduct her and forcibly marry her. After Bhima chases and captures him alive, he is saved from death by Yudhisthira, who proclaims him as his slave. Bhima then shaves his hair & makes Jayadratha bald. Desiring to avenge his humiliation, Jayadratha performs a tapasya to please Shiva. He asks for the power to defeat the Pandavas, but Shiva says that is impossible - but he does grant Jayadratha the power to hold all the Pandava brothers at bay for one day in battle - all except Arjuna (as Arjuna was protected by Lord Krishna.) Although Lord Shiva loves his devotees equally as he does not ignore the tapasya of rakshasas, asuras or anybody with bad intentions such as Jayadratha, he always finds ways to protect dharma and not allow any evil to triumph over good. Thus, Arjuna ultimately defeated Jayadratha. This episode indicates that Shiva indeed protects those who uphold Dharma.
[edit] In the War
The Sindhu king sides with Duryodhana in the Kurukshetra War. Jayadratha uses his boon when he stops the Pandava brothers from entering the near-impenetrable Chakra Vyuha, that Arjuna's son Abhimanyu enters, depending solely upon the support of the rest of the army to get out. Trapped inside, Abhimanyu is murdered by unfair means.
The Pandavas are startled that Jayadratha was able to hold the most powerful warriors in the world at bay. Arjuna blames Jayadratha for Abhimanyu's death, and vows to kill him the next day.
[edit] Arjuna's revenge
Having pledged to enter the fire if he failed to kill the Sindhu king Jayadratha, whom he held principally responsible, by the end of the day, Arjuna in the process kills an entire akshauhini, or more than hundreds of thousands of soldiers. In the climactic moment, the sun is close to setting and thousands of warriors still separate Arjuna and Jayadratha. Seeing his friend's plight, Lord Krishna, his charioteer raises his Sudarshana Chakra to cover the Sun, faking a sunset. The Kaurava warriors rejoice over Arjuna's defeat and imminent death, and Jayadratha is exposed in a crucial moment, where upon the Lord's urging, Arjuna loosens a powerful arrow that decapitates Jayadratha. This note of the act of protection of Krishna of his righteous friend and disciple will be incomplete without adding that Jayadratha's father, the old and sinful king Vridhakshtra had blessed his son that anyone who caused his head to fall to the ground would cause his own head to burst. Jayadratha's head is carried by the arrow to his own father's hands, who was meditating near the battlefield; who in his shock drops the head and himself dies of his own blessing.
An Alternate take on the story:
(with a reference from Mrityunjaya) When Arjuna pledges to kill Jayadratha before end of next day, Krishna thinks of how it can be made possible. He calls an astrologer the same night and confirms of a 'total solar eclipse' next day. Next day on the field, Kauravas purposefully keep Jayadratha behind huge number of soldiers, so that Arjuna could never reach him. Arjuna kills thousands of soldiers but he still has many akshauhinis of soldiers. Due to the eclipse, the sky turns dark and everyone thinks sun has set. As per the pledge Arjuna prepares himself to enter fire. The Kauravas inform Jaydratha of Arjuna's inevitable suicide. Hearing such good news, Jayadratha makes his way through the hordes of men to watch Arjuna's death with his own eyes. When he arrives Krishna surprises everyone by showing sun who recovers out of eclipse, and alerts Arjuna. Arjuna immediately picks up his bow and beheads Jayadratha with an arrow.
[edit] Aftermath
After the war, Arjuna fights with the Sindhu army when it refuses to honor Yudhisthira as the World emperor. When Dushala, his cousin, comes out and begs for her son, the young king's life, Arjuna stops fighting and makes amends.
[edit] See also
- Mahabharata (1999) by Krishna Dharma
- Hindu mythology, Wars of Hindu mythology
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