Mahabharata -Chakravarti Rajagopalachari
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46. PRINCE UTTARA
O prince, you will soon see me defeat the Kauravas even in the sight of Bhishma, Drona and Aswatthama and recover the cows. You will also gain renown and it will be a lesson to you." Then Uttara folded his hands and said: "O Arjuna, how fortunate I am to see you with my own eyes! So, Arjuna is the victorious hero whose very contact has put heart and courage into me. Forgive the wrongs I have done through ignorance." As they approached the Kaurava host, Arjuna recounted some of his heroic deeds, so that Uttara might not lose grip of his newly awakened courage. Arriving in front of the Kauravas, he got down, prayed to God, removed the conch- bangles from his hands and put on leather gauntlets. He then tied a cloth on his flowing hair, stood facing the east, meditated on his armor, got into the chariot and gloried in the familiar feel of his famous Gandiva bow. He stringed it and thrice twanged the string whose shrill note raised an echo from all sides. Hearing the sound, the heroes of the Kaurava army said to one another: "This surely is Gandiva's voice." When Arjuna stood on the chariot in all his godlike stature and blew his conch Devadatta, the Kaurava army was alarmed and a frenzied shout arose that the Pandavas had come. The story of Uttara, who spoke boastfully in the ladies' boudoirs and fled in panic at the sight of the hostile array, his not been introduced in the Mahabharata, merely as a comic interlude. It is in ordinary human nature to look with contempt on lower levels of conduct in ability. The rich scorn the poor, the beautiful scorn the plain, and the strong scorn the weak. Brave men despise cowards. But Arjuna was no ordinary man. He was a great soul and a true hero who felt that his duty as a strong, brave man was to help others to rise above their weakness. Knowing that nature had endowed him with courage and bravery at birth, and that he owed them to no special exertions on his part, he had the true humility of the really great. And he did what he could to put courage into Uttara and make him worthy of his lineage. This was Arjuna's characteristic nobility. He never abused his strength and power. One of his many names is Bibhatsu, which means one who shrank from doing an unworthy act, and he lived up to it. |
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