Virata Parva

Kannada translation

04_VirataParva_19 May 2021

Structure

According to the Critical Edition, this Parva (Book) has a total of 1824 Shlokas (Verses) organized into 67 Adhyayas (Chapters) rolled into 4 Upa Parvas (Sections). The Upa Parvas are:

Vairata Parva (12 Adhyayas 1-12; 282 Shlokas)
Kichakavadha Parva (11 Adhyayas 13-23; 353 Shlokas)
Goharana Parva (39 Adhyayas 24-62; 1010 Shlokas)
Vaivahika Parva (5 Adhyayas 63-67; 179 Shlokas)

Summary

Virata Parva, the fourth book of the Mahabharata, tells the story of the Pandavas’ final year of exile, when they live disguised in the city of King Virata. While they live incognito as Virata’s servants, Kıchaka, the Matsyan general, falls in love with Draupadi, the Pandavas’ wife, disguised as a hairdresser. Realizing that Virata will not protect her, Draupadi convinces Bhima to kill Kıchaka. Once he is dead, the Kıchaka kinsmen attempt to immolate Draupadi on Kıchaka’s funeral pyre, so once again Bhima comes to her rescue and kills the entire clan. Meanwhile, in their attempt to find the Pandavas, Dhritarashtra’s spies discover that Kıchaka is dead and so the Kurus and the Trigartas launch an attack on Virata. All the Pandavas, bar Arjuna, join Virata’s army and ride out to stop the Trigartan cattle rustlers. They do indeed defeat the Trigartas, but while they are engaged in battle, Duryodhana and the Kurus take advantage of the undefended city to steal the rest of the cattle. As a result, Prince Uttara and Arjuna are forced to go out alone to win them back. This battle takes up a large part of the book. Though almost no blood is shed, Arjuna wins a convincing victory over the Kurus. At the end of the book Abhimanyu is married to Virata’s daughter Uttara.

This book has been the subject of much debate. It has been shown to be a fairly late part of the Mahabharata, though some of the most convincing evidence for this involves the hymn to Durga, which hardly proves that the entire book is a late addition. Regardless of when it was included in the epic, Virata proves to be a crucially important part of the Mahabharata.

This thirteenth year acts as a microcosm of the twelveyear exile. Bhima tells us (MBh III.36.31) that twelve years can parallel twelve months, for example in the Veda. The thirteenth year acts as a buffer to close off the exile years and prepare for the next part of the epic, which should be peaceful but will inevitably turn to war, as the battle in this book demonstrates.

The points of interest that I shall discuss here are the “carnival” feel of Virata, the reasons for the Pandavas’choice of disguises, the book’s use as a harbinger of the overall war to come and its inversion of the Bhagavad Gita.

While it is important not to overplay the importance of the “carnival”aspect of this book, it is undoubtedly there. Virata is filled with various kinds of humor, and the story itself involves a festival, a wedding and a city-wide victory celebration.

There are echoes of the Holi festival in this book, as van Buitenen (1980) has noted. This festival, which since ancient times celebrated Kama and fertility as a New Year revel, could perhaps underlie the book insofar as there is a generally festive feel and a hope for regeneration. The Pandavas spend this year waiting for a new beginning and phase in their life, but, on the other hand, the sexual license of Kama’s festival is clearly not encouraged here. Sex is often in the air, but mostly unconsummated. Kıchaka’s amorous advances bring him death, Arjuna’s time spent living among women is entirely self-controlled and the book ends with regeneration and new beginnings are more dominant, while sexual restraint is preferred to sexual license.

The city of Matsya itself is made the perfect setting for a book of humor, since its king, Virata, is bumbling and incompetent. He offers his kingdom to every stranger he meets, falls into the Trigartans’ trap by taking all his troops to battle, leaving no defensive force behind, and unquestioningly believes that his spoiled and untested son has managed to defeat an entire army single-handedly. When Kıchaka boasts to Draupadi that he is the true ruler of the kingdom (MBh IV.14.42), it seems entirely plausible. Certainly theTrigartas believe it, which is why they attack.

The Pandavas themselves are all disguised in ridiculous ways. Here we see them as “tragic clowns,” to use Shulman’s (1985) phraseology. Yudhishthira disguises himself as a master gambler, and no one could deny the irony in that. Bhima is a cook, emphasizing his size in a new humorous light, displaying his enormous appetite, while his strength is now used to fight wild beasts for general entertainment. Nakula and Sahadeva take charge of Virata’s horses and cattle, respectively. ’ Arjuna is undoubtedly the most ridiculously disguised son of Pandu. He presents himself as a eunuch, and one can just imagine how absurd he would look dressed as a woman. Indeed, even Virata, who is portrayed as a simple-minded fool, immediately points out how unconvincing this costume is. The humor gets cruder, for Arjuna’s chosen name as a eunuch is Brihannala, meaning “lady with a large reed.” A great deal of the humor in this book is obvious and pantomime in character. For example, when Bhima lies in wait for K’ıchaka, he pretends to be Draupadi and compliments Kıchaka on his touch when he unwittingly caresses the son of Pandu (MBh IV.22.48). Then again, when Arjuna defeats the Kurus at the end of the last battle, he does not kill them, but instead settles for stealing their clothes, leaving them looking ridiculous and laughing at them just as they laughed when they saw him running around as a transvestite.

Apart from their humorous connotations, we may wonder why the Pandavas chose these particular disguises. Many suggestions have been offered. Arjuna’s disguise as a eunuch is by far the most puzzling and so has garnered the most interest. The explanation offered by the Mahabharata is that U rvashi cursed him to live as a dancer among women because he rejected her (MBh III.46). However, there is undoubtedly more to it than that. Transvestism is a common motif, with everyone from Indra to Achilles (though some do not accept a common Indo-European heritage) doing it at some stage or another.

There is the view that the Pandavas’ disguises still mirror their Dumezilian functions; so Yudhi·shthira is a brahmin, Bhima a warrior and the twins take vai’sya occupations. The problem here is, of course, Arjuna, though he is often an exception to the rule, fulfilling what Nick Allen calls the fourth function. However, even if we accept the “function”aspect, it does not entirely explain the exact occupations that the P’andavas undertake.

Hiltebeitel argues that the choices parallel Nala’s disguise, since skill with dice, skill with horses and skill with cookery all feature as part of his charade, while his wife served as another queen’s maid. Furthermore, Nala’s ability to control fire and water are traits associated with the twins Nakula and Sahadeva. This leaves only Arjuna once again, but Hiltebeitel believes that he, too, can be accounted for since Damayanti says thatNala has become a eunuch to her (MBh III.77).

Other explanations for the choice of disguises rest primarily on the idea of inversion. The Pandavas have become the embodiment of all that a king should not be, Arjuna, for example, becoming the most literal embodiment of impotence, but this is a pattern we see time and time again. Indra is depicted as a “tragic clown,” for example in the story of his brahminicide in ‘Preparation for War’ (Udyoga parva). In both these cases and in others, it is possible to see symbolism of ritualized separation—like a sacrificer's consecration. The text itself says that the Pandavas lived as though returning to the womb (MBh IV.13.12). Though many suggestions have been offered, one should not necessarily accept that only one is right, but, rather, that all these varied theories are useful and not mutually exclusive. Much of the Sanskrit literature we still have today is highly complex and functions on many levels, so we should not underestimate how sophisticated Virata was intended to be.

It has been noted that Virata concludes the exile, neatly encapsulating the ideas of the Pandavas’ fall from power, and prepares them for the future in terms of an initiation, but it also foreshadows the great war between the Kurus and the Pandavas which will follow. This foreshadowing can be found in the cattle rustling. Just as the Trigarta brothers take an oath to protect Duryodhana in the real war, the Trigartas here tempt out the entire Matsyan army, leaving Duryodhana free to steal almost without risk. When Arjuna and Uttara drive out to face the full force of the Kuru army, the battle itself is clearly depicted as a rehearsal. It does not seem serious; in fact it becomes something of a spectator sport, since the gods gather in the skies above to watch. The showmanship of Arjuna’s talents is on display here, just as Bhima’s strength was paraded for entertainment earlier on. The Kuru heroes are humiliated and defeated in turn, though almost bloodlessly. The battle even has a suitably dramatic ending, almost designed for an audience: when the Kurus are stunned, Arjuna sends Uttara to collect all the heroes’ clothes, so they are humiliated in a public fashion. These chapters certainly feel like a dress rehearsal, and, as for what they tell us of the plot to come, we see that when Arjuna shoots his final weapon it stuns all his enemies, except Bhishma, just as they will all die in the real war, except Bhishma, who will be merely incapacitated on a bed of arrows. Once the battle is over, Abhimanyu and Uttara marry, and after the real war is over their son Parıkshit carries on the race.

No one who has read the Bhagavad Gita will fail to see similarities in the scene that takes place before the second and lengthier battle, when Arjuna tries to convince the reluctant Uttara that war is the only way. Once again the comic tone predominates. Uttara runs off, and we watch with the Kurus as Arjuna chases him, his women’s clothes and plaits flying in the wind. In the Bhagavad Gita (6.24) Krishna begs Arjuna not to become a eunuch, but here it is that very figure of cowardice who proves to be the most manly. So Virata foreshadows the war to come but emphasizes humorous aspects at the expense of the philosophy. The lighthearted take on war which we find in this book is in stark contrast to the sense of horror and foreboding that permeates the next book, ‘Preparation for War.’

Virata Parva

Virata Parva

Kannada translation

Structure

Summary

Episodes/Stories/Spiritual Discussions

Resources

The other Maha Parvas