Jayadratha's boon from Śiva: why one man could hold back four Pāṇḍavas

Classical

When Abhimanyu had cut his way into Droṇa's array, the Pāṇḍava heroes charged in behind him along the road he had made. Yudhiṣṭhira, Bhīma, Śikhaṇḍin, Sātyaki, the twins, Dhṛṣṭadyumna, Virāṭa, Drupada and the others all rushed forward to rescue the boy. At that moment Jayadratha, the Sindhu king and Dhṛtarāṣṭra's son-in-law, rallied the Kuru troops who were turning away, and stood in front of the Pāṇḍavas with his celestial weapons. He held them off, as Sañjaya puts it, like an elephant standing its ground in a swamp. Because of him, Abhimanyu was left alone inside the circle.

Dhṛtarāṣṭra, hearing this, was struck by how heavy the load on Jayadratha had been. One man had resisted all the angry Pāṇḍavas who were trying to save a son. He asked Sañjaya what gifts, sacrifices and austerities could have given Jayadratha such strength. The question is the whole point of the passage: the old king wants to know whether the feat was a matter of skill, or whether some power stood behind it. Sañjaya answers that it was a power given to him, and begins with a humiliation.

Sañjaya says that Jayadratha had once insulted Draupadī and had been beaten for it by Bhīmasena. Burning with the shame of that defeat, the king went away to practise severe austerities, hoping to earn a boon. He restrained his senses, endured hunger, thirst and heat until the veins stood out on his body, recited the eternal words of the Veda, and gave his devotion to the god Mahādeva. Śiva, always kind to those who worship him, was at last pleased. He appeared to the king in a dream and told him to ask for whatever he wished.

Jayadratha bowed with joined palms and asked that he alone, on a single chariot, might stop in battle all the sons of Pāṇḍu in spite of their terrible energy. The god answered that he granted the boon, but with a limit. Except for Dhanañjaya, the son of Pṛthā, Jayadratha would be able to hold back the other four sons of Pāṇḍu. The king said that it should be so, and woke up. The wish for revenge on the brothers was met, and the one exception, Arjuna, was the part that was to matter later.

Sañjaya then brings the story back to the field. Strengthened by this boon and by his celestial weapons, Jayadratha single-handed held the whole Pāṇḍava host. The twang of his bowstring and the slap of his palms frightened the enemy Kṣatriyas and delighted the Kauravas, who saw that he had taken up the burden and charged forward in a great shout toward Yudhiṣṭhira's army. This is why Abhimanyu was cut off from his own side, and why Arjuna, who was far away with the Saṃśaptakas and was the one man the boon did not cover, vowed to kill Jayadratha the next day.

Told by Sañjaya → Dhṛtarāṣṭra

Who: Jayadratha, Śiva (Mahādeva), Bhīmasena, Draupadī, Abhimanyu, Dhṛtarāṣṭra

Bound to

Day thirteen: the wheel array and the death of Abhimanyu boon

Arjuna learns of Abhimanyu's death and vows to slay Jayadratha or burn origin

Shiva the hunter gives Arjuna the Pashupata mirror

Day fourteen: Droṇa's cart-and-lotus array hides Jayadratha boon

Jayadratha slain: the darkened sun and the head in his father's lap boon

Places: Sindhu, Kurukṣetra

Where this comes from

read for this telling · Mahabharata, Ganguli translation (read via archive.org copy of the sacred-texts text) Drona Parva, Sections XXXIX–XL (the boon is told in XL; Yudhiṣṭhira repeats its effect in LXXIII)

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