Parva 4

Virata Parva

A year in hiding, five new names, and the one that nearly gave them away

Five disguises

The thirteenth year meant living in hiding. A full year had to pass undetected, or another twelve years in the forest would follow. The five chose the kingdom of Matsya, ruled by King Virata. Before entering, they tied their weapons in a shami tree and hung a corpse above it, so no one would come near, dare to touch it, or ask what lay hidden inside.

Then each of them took a new name and role. Yudhishthira became Kanka, a brahmin who sat with the king playing dice, the very game that had brought him here. Bhima became Vallabha, a cook, arms strong enough to tear an entire army apart. Arjuna became Brihannala, teaching Princess Uttara dance and music, Urvashi's curse finally useful, since it lasted exactly one year, and this was that year. Nakula became Granthika and took charge of the horses, Sahadeva became Tantripala and took charge of the cattle. And Draupadi became Sairandhri, maidservant to Queen Sudeshna. People who had lived as royalty until now had to spend a year in service to others, quietly, eyes lowered.

The killing of Kichaka

The queen's brother Kichaka was the kingdom's commander, and real power lay with him. His eye fell on Sairandhri. He pursued her, she refused, he would not listen. One day he kicked her in front of the full court. Yudhishthira sat right there and could do nothing, speaking up would expose them all, undoing thirteen years of sacrifice in an instant.

That night Draupadi went to Bhima. A plan was made. Draupadi arranged to meet Kichaka in the dance hall. In the dark, Kichaka arrived, not to Draupadi, but to Bhima. Bhima killed him, and mangled the body so thoroughly that no hand, foot, or head could be told apart, kneaded into a shapeless mass. This was deliberate, so no one would think it the work of a man, if people realized someone of such strength was here, the disguise would end that very day. People said a gandharva had killed him.

The cattle raid

With Kichaka dead, Matsya grew weak, its greatest warrior gone. Word reached the Kauravas, who were also searching for the Pandavas. They raided Virata's cattle. The king and his army rode out to fight on one side, leaving only Prince Uttara in the city. Uttara boasted that he alone would defeat everyone, if only he had a good charioteer. Brihannala was sent as his charioteer.

When the chariot reached the Kaurava army, Uttara saw Bhishma, Drona, Karna, Duryodhana, all standing together, and leapt off the chariot in fear and ran. Brihannala caught him, brought him back, and said, now you drive. They went to the shami tree, took down the Gandiva, and returned. A single chariot held off the entire Kaurava army. Bhishma recognized them, so did Drona. But by then the thirteenth year was already complete, Bhishma himself counted it out and said so. The terms had not been broken.

Arjuna revealed

Uttara returned and began telling everyone he had won. King Virata was delighted. Uttara said he had not won it, and explained who his charioteer had been. Then the five dropped their disguises. Virata wished to marry his daughter Uttara to Arjuna. Arjuna declined, but not unkindly, he said that having been her teacher for a year, teaching her dance, she was like a daughter to him. Instead, he said, let her be my daughter-in-law. Uttara was married to Abhimanyu. The people who gathered for that wedding would go on to plan the war.

Note: Hiding the weapons in the shami tree, the five new names, the killing of Kichaka, the cattle raid, Arjuna revealed and the marriage of Uttara and Abhimanyu are all in the Virata Parva of Vyasa's Mahabharata. Arjuna becoming Brihannala ties back to Urvashi's curse in the Vana Parva, and the text records it as a blessing. Arjuna's refusal to marry Uttara is in the text, and so is the reason — he had been her teacher, and so she was as a daughter to him. Bhima crushing Kichaka's body into a shapeless mass is in the text too, and so is the reason: to protect the disguise.

Source: Mahabharata (ascribed by tradition to Vyasa), Virata Parva

Now — how much stayed with you?

Who am I?

For a year I taught a princess to dance. This disguise came to me from an old curse. Who am I?

  • Nakula
  • Sahadeva
  • Yudhishthira
  • Arjuna
Read the whole story — The curse that became a shield

In Indra's world Urvashi's curse was a humiliation to Arjuna, and Indra had it limited to a year.

For the whole thirteenth year this was the hardest problem — how does a warrior like Arjuna stay hidden for a year?

As Brihannala he could live in the women's quarters, where nobody suspected him.

So the thing that was a curse became the only reason the Pandavas got through the thirteenth year.

Fact

What disguise did Yudhishthira take in the year of hiding?

  • A cook
  • A keeper of horses
  • Kanka
  • A charioteer
Read the whole story — The man who went on playing dice

The Mahabharata puts a bitter irony here and makes no comment on it.

The man who lost a kingdom, his brothers and his wife at dice chose, to hide himself, exactly that work — playing dice with a king in his court.

As Kanka he became a favourite of Virata's, and it was sitting in that same court that he watched Draupadi humiliated.

It is the quietest stretch of the whole parva, and perhaps the heaviest.

What happened?

Kichaka kicked Draupadi in open assembly. What did Yudhishthira do then?

  • He punished Kichaka
  • He sent Bhima
  • He left the assembly
  • Nothing
Read the whole story — A year of silence

This scene repeats the silence of the Sabha Parva, but the reason is different this time.

Draupadi said in open court that the men sitting there were husbands in name only. She was speaking straight at Yudhishthira.

Yudhishthira said only that Sairandhri should go to her room, and that this was a matter for her gandharva husbands.

That night Draupadi went to Bhima, and it was settled there that Kichaka would be killed quietly, so the thirteenth year would not break. Bhima caught him in the dark of the dancing hall and crushed him so badly that by morning he was hard to identify.

Riddle

I was a tree. Weapons were tied in me, and a corpse was hung above so nobody would come near. What am I?

  • A banyan
  • A shami tree
  • An ashoka
  • A shinshapa
Read the whole story — Where the weapons slept

Hiding the weapons was not easy. A bow like the Gandiva does not go into a box.

The Pandavas tied them high in the branches of a shami and tied a corpse above them.

The nearby villagers were told it was their old mother's body, placed in a tree by the custom of their family. After that nobody went near it.

At the end of the thirteenth year Arjuna comes back to that same tree and takes down his weapons, the Gandiva among them. The hiding began at the shami and ended at the shami.

Who am I?

I made large speeches, then saw the army, jumped off the chariot and ran. Later I became the charioteer of that same chariot. Who am I?

  • Abhimanyu
  • Virata
  • Uttara
  • Kichaka
Read the whole story — The roles changed places

Uttara had boasted in the women's quarters that with a charioteer he would beat the Kauravas single-handed.

Draupadi suggested that Brihannala had once been Arjuna's charioteer, so he should be taken along.

At the sight of the army Uttara ran, and Brihannala caught him by his hair.

Then the two changed places — the prince who had gone out to fight took the reins, and the one who taught dancing stood up with the Gandiva.

Why is that?

Arjuna refused to marry Uttara. Why?

  • He was already married
  • Because he had been her teacher, so she was as a daughter to him
  • Virata had set a condition
  • Because Uttara had refused
Read the whole story — What a year had done

Virata made the offer out of gratitude — Arjuna had saved his kingdom.

Arjuna said he had been Uttara's teacher the whole year, and in the women's quarters had looked on her as a daughter.

He then accepted the offer for his son Abhimanyu.

The importance of this marriage grows enormously later. Abhimanyu will be killed at Kurukshetra, and the child in Uttara's womb is what saves the line — Parikshit, whose son Janamejaya was listening to this story in the first parva.

Who said it?

"Sairandhri's husbands are gandharvas, and they will settle this." — why was this put about after Kichaka's death?

  • So that nobody would suspect Bhima had killed him
  • Because it was true
  • Because Virata said so
  • Because Draupadi was frightened
Read the whole story — What was called a gandharva's killing

Kichaka's body was found in a state that did not look like a man's work.

To hide who she was, Draupadi had said she had five gandharva husbands who protected her. It was her own invention, and after Kichaka's death everyone accepted it.

It did two things — the disguise held, and nobody dared trouble Draupadi again.

But in Hastinapura Duryodhana drew exactly the opposite conclusion. He said who but Bhima could do such a thing — and the plan to take the cattle came out of that.

Put it in order

Which is the right order of these events?

  • Taking the disguises → Kichaka's killing → the cattle raid → Arjuna revealing himself
  • The cattle raid → Kichaka's killing → taking the disguises → Arjuna revealing himself
  • Taking the disguises → the cattle raid → Kichaka's killing → Arjuna revealing himself
  • Kichaka's killing → taking the disguises → Arjuna revealing himself → the cattle raid
Read the whole story — A short parva on a tight clock

The Virata Parva is among the shorter parvas of the Mahabharata, and all its tension comes from one condition — recognised, and it is twelve years again.

So every event in it is bound to time. Kichaka has to die quietly. The cattle are taken at the very end of the thirteenth year.

The Kauravas' whole attempt was to find the Pandavas before the term of hiding was complete.

They missed it by the count. When Arjuna revealed himself the year was already done — and after that the matter went straight to war.