Māya Sabhā Nirmāṇa

After Kṛshṇa and Arjuna saved the dānava builder Māya from the Khāṇḍava fire, Māya wished to repay his debt. At Kṛshṇa’s request he built a wonderful assembly hall (sabhā) at Indraprastha for Dharmarāja Yudhishṭhira. No hall in the three worlds matched it.

The Mahābhārata tells this in the first chapters of the Sabhā Parva. The hall became the seat of the sovereignty of the Pāṇḍavas.

Māya’s offer

When the burning of the Khāṇḍava forest (Khāṇḍavadāha) was over, Māya Dānava stood before Kṛshṇa and Arjuna. Arjuna had saved his life from the fire of Agni, and Kṛshṇa had spared him from the Sudarśana Cakra. Māya was a craftsman of the dānavas. He was their counterpart of Viśvakarmā, their chief architect and the builder of great wonders. He did not want to leave with only a word of thanks.

Māya came to Arjuna with folded hands and said: “Pārtha, you saved me. I am the Viśvakarmā of the daityas, a mahākavi (great poet). I wish to repay my debt. Tell me what I shall build for you.”

Arjuna answered: “What I did was right action, nothing more. Do not think that you are in my debt. But if you must do something, do it for Kṛshṇa.”

Then Śrī Kṛshṇa smiled and said: “Daitya! If you truly wish to please me, build a sabhā for Dharmarāja Yudhishṭhira. Let it be one that no human hand can copy, one that shows the wonderful works of all the worlds.”

Māya accepted the work gladly.

Gathering the materials

Māya went to the north-east, to Maināka Parvata beyond Kailāsa. Long ago the dānava king Vṛshaparvā had stored rich materials there for a great yajña-sabhā (a hall for a fire ritual). There was crystal gem-dust mixed in measured amounts to give the colours of a parrot’s green, a dove’s grey, a pomegranate’s red and deep blue. There were heaps of pearls, sheets of lapis lazuli and a great hoard of other treasures. These had never been fully used. They still lay at Bindusaras.

At Bindusaras Māya also took two articles of great power.

• Kaumodakī. A huge golden gadā (mace) marked with drops of gold. It was so heavy that among mortals only Bhīmasena could lift it. It had belonged to Vṛshaparvā and had been consecrated in battle.
• Devadatta. The great conch of Varuṇa, white as a swan. Its sound could shake the earth. Māya gave it to Arjuna.

Māya brought these materials to Indraprastha. He began the work on an auspicious day. First he offered pūjā to the directions, gave gifts to ten thousand qualified brāhmaṇas and completed all the rites of foundation that the śāstras lay down.

The sabhā

The finished sabhā had no equal. It was ten thousand cubits (mūra) on each side. Its floors were laid with flawless crystal and set with inlaid gems. Some parts looked like dry land but were ponds, and some looked like ponds but were dry land. Many kings who came to the sabhā stepped into what they took for firm ground and fell into a pool set with gems. Others kept away from what looked like water but was really a polished floor.

Inside the sabhā Māya made an artificial lake of great beauty.

• It had emerald-green lotus leaves on stalks of maṇi (gems).
• It had Saugandhika flowers and golden tortoises and fish.
• Its water was so clear that it looked like a patterned floor.
• It was ringed by gardens of trees with golden leaves that swayed in the breeze.

The sabhā shone with a light like the sun, like Agni and like the moon together. It resembled the sabhā of Brahmā, the Sudharmā of Indra and the hall of the Daśārhas. Māya finished it in fourteen months and gave it to Yudhishṭhira.

Gifts to the Pāṇḍavas

Before he left, Māya gave Bhīmasena the great gadā Kaumodakī. It was forged of iron and gold and could withstand the blow of a hundred thousand maces. It was a fitting weapon for the mightiest of the Pāṇḍavas. To Arjuna he gave the divine Devadatta śaṅkha (conch) of Varuṇa, whose blast shook every living creature.

He also gave Arjuna a divine white chariot with horses born in Devaloka. It carried the vānaraketana, the monkey banner. This flag could not be caught on the branches of trees, and in battle it rose high like a comet.

The sabhā as the seat of sovereignty

Yudhishṭhira entered the sabhā after he had fed ten thousand brāhmaṇas and performed the proper rites. From that day the hall was the centre of Pāṇḍava rule. Ṛshis and kings from all the known world gathered there. The ṛshis were Asita-Devala, Satyavān, Mārkaṇḍeya, Bhṛgu, Gālava, Dhaumya, Yājñavalkya, and Paila, Sumantu, Jaimini and Vaiśampāyana, the disciples of Vyāsa. The gandharvas Citrasena and Tumburu came too, and kings from every direction.

A dānava built the sabhā out of thanks, ṛshis blessed it by their presence, and kings from every corner of Bhārata filled it. The great Rājasūya Yajña was soon to be planned in this sabhā. The fateful game of dice would also be played here later.

Sources

• Mahābhārata, Sabhā Parva, Chapter 1 (Māya’s offer)
• Mahābhārata, Sabhā Parva, Chapter 3 (gathering the materials)
• Mahābhārata, Sabhā Parva, Chapters 3–4 (the sabhā and the gifts)
• Mahābhārata, Sabhā Parva, Chapter 4 (the sabhā as the seat of sovereignty)