The tournament of arms at Hastināpura

Classical

When Droṇa judged that his pupils had finished their training, he asked Dhṛtarāṣṭra for permission to show their skill. The blind king was glad, said he envied those who could see the display, and told Vidura to arrange everything. Droṇa measured out a level plot of ground with wells and springs, made a sacrifice on an auspicious day, and the king's craftsmen built a great stage, with a hall for the women and platforms for spectators. Citizens put up tents all around. On the day, the king came with his ministers, Bhīṣma and Kṛpa. Gāndhārī, Kuntī and the other royal women took their seats in the viewing hall. The crowd gathered so fast and so loud that it looked like a churning ocean.

Droṇa entered dressed in white, with his son Aśvatthāman, and the Brahmins performed the blessing rites. The princes came in, led by Yudhiṣṭhira, in order of age. They rode horses and shot at targets with their names on them, and the crowd shouted "Well done!" in one voice. Then they showed swordplay and shield-work, with grace and balance. Vidura described each feat to the blind Dhṛtarāṣṭra and to Gāndhārī and Kuntī, who could not see it. Bhīma and Duryodhana came in next with maces, roaring and circling each other like two elephants. The crowd split into two sides, each shouting for its own champion.

Droṇa saw the danger and told Aśvatthāman to hold the two back, so that the quarrel might not turn into a fight in front of the court. Then Droṇa called for silence and presented Arjuna, whom he called dearer than his own son. Arjuna entered in golden armour with his bow and quiver, and the whole assembly cheered. Kuntī wept, her milk mixing with her tears. Arjuna used celestial weapons to make fire, water, wind, clouds and mountains, and then made them vanish again. He changed his height and his position, appearing on the chariot's yoke, on the chariot, on the ground. He shot five arrows into the mouth of a moving iron boar and twenty-one into a swinging cow's horn. Then, as the display was ending, a loud sound of slapping arms was heard at the gate.

The tournament plays two roles. As spectacle, it is the first time the court sees the Pāṇḍavas and Kauravas as a full generation of warriors, and the audience divides in its sympathies. As foreshadowing, it shows the rivals in their final form: Bhīma and Duryodhana, mace in hand, held back by Aśvatthāman so that the quarrel does not start too early; Arjuna's display in front of the court; and the sudden noise at the gate. Dhṛtarāṣṭra needs everything described to him by Vidura, which reminds the reader that the king of the Kurus watches this entire contest through another man's words. That dependence on Vidura, and on Sañjaya later, is one of the epic's quieter themes.

Told by Vaiśampāyana → Janamejaya

Who: Droṇa, Dhṛtarāṣṭra, Vidura, Bhīṣma, Kṛpa, Yudhiṣṭhira, Bhīma, Duryodhana, Arjuna, Aśvatthāman, Kuntī, Gāndhārī

Bound to

Droṇa arrives at Hastināpura: the ball in the well and the bird's eye origin

Karṇa enters the arena and is crowned king of Aṅga origin

Duryodhana's thigh: Maitreya's curse and the Danava armour mirror

Places: Hastināpura (the arena)

Where this comes from

read for this telling · Mahabharata, Ganguli translation (mahabharataonline.com) Adi Parva, Section CXXXVI (Droṇa asks leave; the display begins)
read for this telling · Mahabharata, Ganguli translation (mahabharataonline.com) Adi Parva, Section CXXXVII (Arjuna's entry and weapons)

See it on the tree · All stories

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