Sunda and Upasunda Upākhyāna
The Sunda and Upasunda Upākhyāna is the account Nārada told the Pāṇḍavas at Indraprastha to show why they should make an agreement about Draupadī. Sunda and Upasunda were two inseparable sons of the dānava Nikumbha. They did fierce tapas and won from Brahmā a vara (a boon) that no being could defeat them. They overlooked one condition: each could be killed by the other. They conquered the three worlds and drove out the devas. Brahmā then had Viśvakarma make the apsarā Tilottamā from the finest part of every beautiful thing in creation. When she appeared before the two brothers, both at once were seized by desire for her, and they fought and killed each other with their clubs. The Mahābhārata tells this in the Ādi Parva, Chapters 210 and 211.
The sons of Nikumbha
Nikumbha, a great dānava, had two sons, Sunda and Upasunda. From birth they were so loyal to each other and so inseparable that they shared everything: food, clothes, weapons, home and purpose. Where one went, the other followed. They spoke with one voice, thought with one mind and fought as one unbeatable force.
Together they did hard tapas in the forest, so severe that it shook the three worlds. They fasted, stood on one leg in ice-cold water and kept complete silence. They went on for years, until Brahmā himself came down to give them a vara.
(Ādi Parva, Chapter 210)
The vara of invincibility
They asked Brahmā for one vara: that no being should be able to defeat them, whether deva, human, nāga, rākshasa, gandharva or any other creature. Brahmā gave it, with one limit: they could be killed only by each other. They believed they would never raise a hand against one another, so this seemed to them no limit at all.
With this vara they set out to conquer. They attacked the devas and drove Indra out of svarga. They drove the ṛshis from their āśramas. They took every kingdom on earth. The three worlds lay at their feet. They moved together in their power like twin suns, destroying everything in their path.
(Ādi Parva, Chapter 210)
Tilottamā is made
The devas could not defeat Sunda and Upasunda, so they went to Brahmā. Brahmā thought it over and found a way. He called Viśvakarma, the divine builder, and ordered him to make an apsarā of such great beauty that no one who saw her could stay unmoved. Viśvakarma set to work. From every substance in creation he gathered the finest share of its beauty: from every flower its purest colour, from every gem its brightest lustre, from every element its most perfect quality.
From this gathered beauty of the universe he made Tilottamā, a woman of beauty beyond measure, every part of whose form was the pure essence of something beautiful.
Brahmā brought Tilottamā forward and told her to walk before Sunda and Upasunda.
(Ādi Parva, Chapter 211)
The end of the brothers
Tilottamā went through the forest and came to the place where Sunda and Upasunda sat together. The moment both saw her, desire rose in each of them at once. It was so strong that it swept away all their brotherly love and unity in an instant.
Both brothers reached for her at the same moment. Each claimed her for himself alone. Words became a quarrel, and the quarrel became a fight. They struck each other with their clubs, the huge weapons with which they had won the three worlds, and beat each other to death in their rage of desire.
The devas watched from the sky. Flowers fell to mark the freeing of the worlds. Brahmā’s plan had worked.
(Ādi Parva, Chapter 211)
What Nārada told the Pāṇḍavas
Nārada told this account to the Pāṇḍavas at Indraprastha as a warning. Sunda and Upasunda loved each other completely, yet they destroyed each other over a woman both desired. The Pāṇḍavas were five brothers who shared one wife, and they needed a firm agreement so that the same end would not come to them.
The Pāṇḍavas accepted this wise counsel and made their agreement. Each brother would have Draupadī for one year in turn. During that year none of the others would come near them. If any brother entered their private room in that year, he would accept twelve years of exile of his own free will.
(Ādi Parva, Chapter 212)
Sources
- Mahābhārata, Ādi Parva, Chapters 210–211
- Mahābhārata, Ādi Parva, Chapter 212