MAHABHARATA SERIES BOOK#2: The Seeds of War (Mba) Read Online Free PDF Page A

shall still teach it to my father’s followers. And others shall learn its use and put it to work. Therefore my dharma shall be fulfilled.’
    And with those final words, Kacha, son of Angirasa, started forward and set out on his way, leaving the ashram of Shukracharya forever. 

    4

    Strange are the ways in which events twist and turn, throwing the most unexpected of companions together and separating those that seemed destined to stay together forever. Oftentimes, by our own free will we choose to take the path of least resistance, flowing with the onrush of pressing expectations, rather than struggle against an obstacle-strewn white-water course. Kacha’s part in Devayani’s life was over yet the impact of his loss impacted Devayani herself forever and undoubtedly changed the choices she made thereafter as well as altered the course of other crucial events. Her path was about to cross with that of the Bharata line and the fates of the devas and mortals intertwine once again, this time in a manner that would affect the course of itihasa. 
    Thus does the pathway through the forest of stories turn and turn upon itself time and again, until we look down and see ahead of us footprints. Following them for miles, yojanas even, we realize at least that they were our own prints. Yet the forest we are passing through appears quite different and unfamiliar. Then we hear someone approaching behind us, and slowly turn to see who it might be. What if it is our own self, following in our own footprints, until we come face to face with ourselves once again? The storyteller tells his tale, hearing a strange echo, as if another speaker’s voice intrudes on his narration, and pauses in his narration to hear himself still telling the tale, with yet another voice in the background, also his own, also telling the same tale… Infinite storytellers, telling infinite versions of the same story…throughout history, across time. Who am I who speaks or writes these words now? Am I Vyasa? Ugrasrava Lomarsana? Vaisampayana? One of infinite retellers of a tale retold infinite times, what does my name matter? I am no longer merely the teller. The teller lives and dies, mortal. The tale lives on, taking on a life of its own, immortal. I am the tale itself, made manifest, imbued with a life of my own. I breathe, I feel, I am blooded. I live. 
    Listen now. 
    It-i-ha-sa…

||paksha two||

    the immortality of yayati

1

    Kacha returned home and was welcome by his father Brihaspati. Together they proceeded to the court of Indra. All the gods were delighted to see him after the ritual formalities of greeting, they learned the great news of his success. Overjoyed, they praised him highly and promised that from that day henceforth a share of their sacrificial offerings would always be set aside for him, for what he had accomplished could never be forgotten. Kacha then passed on the knowledge he had acquired and taught others the secret of Sanjivani. Enthused by their achievement and confident that they could never be defeated now in battle, the devas entreated Indra, also named Shatakratu because he was the performer of a hundred sacrifices and Purandara, destroyer of cities, to launch a fresh assault on the asuras. Maghavan, for that was another of Indra’s names, assembled the armies of the devas and set out on a new campaign of war. On their way through the asura realms, Indra was distracted by the sight of many beautiful women frolicking in a forest that was exquisite beyond description. Watching the women as they sported in the river, his mischevious side could not resist playing a prank. Using the force of the wind, he mixed up their garments, then continued on his way for he had a war to wage. Unknown to him, one of the women bathing in the river was the same Devayani, daughter of Kavya Ushanas, whom Kacha had loved and lost so recently. And the playful prank played by Indra in passing resulted in a series of mishaps that changed the course of