Bhūdevī-Kali Upākhyāna

In Chapter 8 of the Strī Parva, Vyāsa comes to Hastināpura. Dhṛtarāshṭra is grieving. To steady him, Vyāsa tells the Bhūdevī-Kali Upākhyāna. This sacred account shows the background of the Kurukshetra war. It tells how Bhūdevī (the Earth devī) went to the devas and then to Bhagavān Vishṇu, and how Duryodhana came to be born as a part of Kali.

Why Vyāsa told it

Vidura had already tried to console Dhṛtarāshṭra with philosophical teaching, in Chapters 2 to 7. Vyāsa then came to Hastināpura. Dhṛtarāshṭra’s grief had not eased, and no argument had yet reached him. So Vyāsa chose to tell a sacred history. It would show the king that the loss he mourned was not a chance disaster. It was the working out of a larger plan.

Bhūdevī’s burden

The Earth, Bhūdevī, was weighed down by a very large number of kshatriyas. There were powerful kings, armies and heroes among them. Their dharma had turned to adharma, and their strength to pride. This was a bhāra (burden) that the Earth could no longer bear.

Bhūdevī went to the devas. The devas could not settle the matter alone, so they went with her to Bhagavān Vishṇu. Bhagavān Vishṇu heard her appeal with compassion. He told the devas that those of divine descent were to be born on earth as aṃśas (partial forms). Then a great war could take place and destroy the excess kshatriyas, and so lighten the Earth’s burden.

Kali’s part in Duryodhana

In this sharing out of births, Duryodhana was given the aṃśa of Kali. Kali is the being who presides over the Kali Yuga, the force of darkness, quarrel and adharma.

The fall of the Kauravas, the death of the hundred sons of Dhṛtarāshṭra, and the lightening of the Earth’s kshatriya burden were all part of the plan of Bhagavān Vishṇu.

What Vyāsa wished Dhṛtarāshṭra to see

Vyāsa tells this upākhyāna (story within a story) to steady Dhṛtarāshṭra. The war was not the failure of Duryodhana alone. It was ordained from before Duryodhana’s birth. Dhṛtarāshṭra’s sons were born to serve this purpose, and their deaths were as much within the plan of Bhagavān Vishṇu as their births.

The same account in other Purāṇas

The appeal of Bhūdevī to Bhagavān Vishṇu is told in several Purāṇas. The Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, the Vishṇu Purāṇa and others tell the sequence of Bhūdevī, Brahmā and Bhagavān Vishṇu as the background to the birth of Bhagavān Kṛshṇa. The Strī Parva version speaks in particular of Kali’s aṃśa in Duryodhana.

Sources

• Mahābhārata, Strī Parva, Chapter 8 (Vyāsa’s account to Dhṛtarāshṭra); Chapters 2 to 7 (Vidura’s consolation)
• Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa and Vishṇu Purāṇa (the appeal of Bhūdevī, named without chapter numbers)