Abhimanyu and Uttarā
The marriage of Abhimanyu and Uttarā is the closing event of the Virāṭa Parva. Abhimanyu is the son of Arjuna and Subhadrā and the nephew of Vāsudeva Kṛshṇa. Uttarā is the daughter of King Virāṭa of Matsya. The wedding was held at Upaplavya with great joy. Kṛshṇa, Balarāma, Drupada, Dhṛshṭadyumna and many other kings and friends came to it.
Context
On the third day after the great Uttara Gograhaṇa battle, the Pāṇḍavas came before King Virāṭa in full royal splendour. They had bathed, put on ornaments and dressed in white. They took their seats in the royal assembly like kings.
Virāṭa came to do the day’s business. He was astonished to see his servants and his dice-companion sitting on royal seats and shining with a divine glow. Arjuna then introduced each of his brothers and Draupadī to the king and told him the truth about the year of service (Mahābhārata, Virāṭa Parva, Chapter 70).
Virāṭa’s offer
Virāṭa was full of joy that the great Pāṇḍavas had lived in his house. He was also full of remorse for the disrespect he had shown without knowing, which ended with his striking Yudhishṭhira. He gave himself up completely. He said that his kingdom, his treasury, his army and everything he had belonged to Yudhishṭhira. He honoured each Pāṇḍava and embraced each one with deep love, and he could not look at those divine forms enough (Chapter 71).
To bind the two families as closely as possible, Virāṭa offered his daughter Uttarā to Arjuna as his wife. Arjuna had been the most visible hero of the past months. He had fought as Bṛhannaḷā and had beaten the whole Kaurava army alone.
Arjuna’s refusal
Arjuna refused the offer, and he gave a clear and dignified reason. He had lived in the antaḥpura (the women’s quarters) for a full year as Uttarā’s teacher of dance and music. She had looked on him as a father or a teacher, and he had looked on her as a daughter or a pupil. In such a case, if he took her as his wife, people would have doubts about how he had behaved during that year. The purity of his brahmacarya and of the teacher and pupil bond during the ajñātavāsa (the year lived unknown) would be questioned. The only way to make the bond clearly pure was to take her as a daughter-in-law (Chapters 71–72).
Arjuna therefore asked that Uttarā be given in marriage to his son Abhimanyu. Abhimanyu was Subhadrā’s son, born in the family of Kṛshṇa and the nephew of Vāsudeva. He was trained in every weapon and was a great hero in his own right. Arjuna said of him:
He is the son of Vāsudeva’s sister, almost the son of a deva, dear to Śrī Kṛshṇa, skilled in all astras (divine weapons) and strong-armed. This Abhimanyu is worthy to be your son-in-law and worthy to be the husband of your daughter.
Virāṭa agreed with real joy. He knew that a bond with the family of Kṛshṇa would be most auspicious (Chapter 72).
The gathering at Upaplavya
Messengers were sent in every direction. Upaplavya is another city in the kingdom of Matsya, and it was chosen for the celebrations. A splendid company gathered there.
- Vāsudeva Kṛshṇa came wearing his vanamālā (garland of forest flowers). With him came his elder brother Balarāma, who carried the plough as his weapon, and a great Yādava army of ten thousand elephants, twenty thousand horsemen, ten thousand chariots and ten crore foot soldiers. The great Yādava warriors came too: Kṛtavarmā, Sātyaki (Yuyudhāna), Anadhṛshṭi, Akrūra, Sāmba, Niśara and others. Kṛshṇa brought the young Abhimanyu with his mother Subhadrā (Chapter 72).
- Drupada, king of Pāñcāla and father of Draupadī, came with one full akshauhiṇī (a very large army division).
- Dhṛshṭadyumna, commander of the Pāñcāla forces and Draupadī’s brother, came with his armies.
- Śikhaṇḍī and Aparājita, another Pāñcāla prince, came too.
- Kāśirāja and Śaibya came together with two akshauhiṇīs.
- The five sons of Draupadī came. Indrasena and other long-serving attendants, who had spent the year with the Yādavas, also came back with their chariots.
Virāṭa received all these kings and friends with full honour and saw to every need.
The marriage
The marriage was done by the full Vedic rites, with homa (fire offering), pūjā and all the prescribed saṃskāras. Conches (śaṅkhas), bherīs (drums), gomukhas (horns) and ḍamarūs (small drums) sounded for joy. Music of every kind filled the air, and bards and poets sang praise.
Virāṭa gave Abhimanyu rich gifts: one thousand swift horses, two hundred elephants, much gold and many kinds of wealth. The ladies of the Matsya court, led by Sudeshṇā, came beautifully dressed. But rich as their clothes were, they were outshone by the beauty and bearing of Draupadī. Uttarā was dressed as befits a princess and a bride, and she shone like a daughter of Indra.
Arjuna formally accepted Uttarā as his daughter-in-law on behalf of his son. Yudhishṭhira, with Kṛshṇa at his side as the foremost, presided over the welcoming of Uttarā into the family. The ceremony was complete and auspicious (Chapter 72).
Yudhishṭhira then gave to the brāhmaṇas the wealth that Kṛshṇa had brought: thousands of cattle, gems, garments, ornaments, vehicles, beds, fine food and drink, in great plenty. The whole city of Matsya was full of feasting, joy and plenty.
The son of Abhimanyu and Uttarā
Abhimanyu and Uttarā had a son, born after Abhimanyu’s heroic death at Kurukshetra. He was Parīkshit, the future king of Hastināpura. In his presence the Bhāgavata Purāṇa was told by Śuka Mahāmuni.
Sources
- Mahābhārata, Virāṭa Parva, Chapter 70
- Mahābhārata, Virāṭa Parva, Chapter 71
- Mahābhārata, Virāṭa Parva, Chapters 71–72
- Mahābhārata, Virāṭa Parva, Chapter 72