Uttara Gograhaṇa
The Uttara Gograhaṇa (the Northern Cattle Raid) is the high point of the Virāṭa Parva of the Mahābhārata. The whole Kaurava army, led by Bhīshma, Droṇa, Karṇa, Aśvatthāman, Kṛpa and Duryodhana, raided the northern cattle herds of King Virāṭa of Matsya. The raid was a plan to make the Pāṇḍavas come out of hiding, since the Kauravas thought they might be living in Matsya.
Arjuna had to leave his disguise as Bṛhannaḷā. Alone, he defeated the whole Kaurava army and won back the cattle.
The Kaurava plan
The Kauravas had sent spies across Bhāratavarsha and had not found the Pāṇḍavas. Duryodhana then called a council. Bhīshma, Droṇa, Karṇa, Kṛpa and Suśarman, the king of Trigarta, each gave his view.
Suśarman proposed a joint attack. The Trigartas would first raid Virāṭa’s southern cattle and draw away Virāṭa and his army. Then the Kauravas would strike the northern herds. If any of the Pāṇḍavas were hiding in Matsya, they would be drawn out to defend the kingdom.
Bhīshma, Droṇa and others read the signs. They counted the death of Kīchaka and the report of a strange maidservant who had powerful Gandharva husbands. From these they judged that the Pāṇḍavas might indeed be living in Matsya.
(Mahābhārata, Virāṭa Parva, Chapters 25–26)
The two parts of the plan were carried out together. Suśarman raided from the south, and Virāṭa rode out with his army. Virāṭa was captured in the southern battle and was then rescued by the Pāṇḍavas in disguise. Before he had returned to the capital, news came that the great Kaurava army was coming from the north and had already taken thousands of cattle. With it were Bhīshma, Droṇa, Karṇa, Duryodhana, Aśvatthāman, Kṛpa and others.
Alarm in Virāṭanagara
Virāṭa and the main army were away, and there was great alarm in Virāṭanagara. Citizens reported that the enemy was driving off the herds. The only prince left in the city was Uttara, Virāṭa’s son. He was a young man with more eagerness than battle experience.
Uttara was in the women’s quarters, showing off his courage to the princesses and the maidservants. He boasted that if there were a charioteer able to guide his horses, he alone could drive away the Kaurava army.
(Mahābhārata, Virāṭa Parva, Chapters 36–38)
Sairandhrī (Draupadī) was there. She at once suggested Bṛhannaḷā, the dance teacher, who she said had once been Arjuna’s charioteer. She said he would be an ideal charioteer for a warrior like Uttara. Uttara agreed and sent for Bṛhannaḷā.
Arjuna and Uttara ride out
Arjuna put on the charioteer’s dress and made the chariot ready. Uttara put on his armour and rode out of Virāṭanagara to the cheers of the citizens.
But when Uttara saw the Kaurava army drawn up on the field, his courage failed completely. He saw Bhīshma, Droṇa, Karṇa, Duryodhana, and the huge force of soldiers, horses, elephants and chariots. He dropped his bow, shook with fear, and tried to run from the chariot. Arjuna reached out and dragged him back by the hair.
(Mahābhārata, Virāṭa Parva, Chapters 41–42)
Uttara begged to be let go. He said he was not ready to fight warriors like Bhīshma and Droṇa. Arjuna then began to tell him the truth.
Arjuna reveals himself
Arjuna told Uttara plainly that he was not only Bṛhannaḷā the dance teacher. He was Arjuna, the son of Pāṇḍu, the son of Indra, the student of Droṇa.
As proof of who he was, he spoke his ten names, the Daśa-nāmāni: Arjuna, Phālguna, Jīshṇu, Kirīṭī, Śvetavāhana, Bībhatsu, Vijaya, Kṛshṇa, Savyasācī and Dhanañjaya. He explained the meaning of each name. Uttara was struck with wonder, accepted the truth, and felt deeply reassured. He asked to serve as charioteer while Arjuna fought.
(Mahābhārata, Virāṭa Parva, Chapter 44)
The weapons at the śamī tree
Arjuna told Uttara to drive to the great śamī tree at the edge of the śmaśāna (burning ground) outside Virāṭanagara. There the divine weapons of the Pāṇḍavas lay wrapped in cloth and scented, so that they looked like a bundle for a funeral.
Arjuna unwrapped them and named each one. There was his own Gāṇḍīva, which shone like sunlight and had no equal among bows. There were the quivers that never ran empty, the conch Devadatta, and the sword. There were the weapons of Yudhishṭhira, the iron club of Bhīma, and the twin swords of Nakula and Sahadeva.
Arjuna took up the Gāṇḍīva and strung it. He twanged it so that its sound filled earth and sky, and the white horses were yoked to the chariot. He blew the conch Devadatta, whose sound rolled like thunder and put fear into the Kaurava ranks.
(Mahābhārata, Virāṭa Parva, Chapter 45)
The battle
The Kauravas saw Arjuna in full battle dress, with the Gāṇḍīva in his hand, the Devadatta at his lips and the Kāpī banner flying. They knew him and were alarmed. Bhīshma said it was indeed Arjuna, because the sound of the Gāṇḍīva could not be mistaken.
Some argued whether this meant that the year of ajñātavāsa (living unrecognised) had been completed properly. Karṇa and Duryodhana said it had not. Bhīshma said it had. But the talk was soon cut short by the fighting.
Arjuna drove into the Kaurava army. Uttara had been terrified at first, but once Arjuna took charge he served bravely as charioteer. The battle went as follows.
Against Bhīshma
Arjuna and Bhīshma shot mighty volleys of arrows at each other. Bhīshma fought with full power, and Arjuna showed the whole range of his divine archery. The exchange was magnificent, and neither could be said to have overcome the other. Yet in the end Arjuna pressed on.
(Mahābhārata, Virāṭa Parva, Chapters 51–53)
Against Droṇa
Droṇa and Arjuna met. Arjuna honoured his guru even as he fought. Droṇa too fought with power. Arjuna passed beyond Droṇa without doing him serious harm.
(Mahābhārata, Virāṭa Parva, Chapters 54–55)
Against Kṛpa and Aśvatthāman
Arjuna fought both the teacher Kṛpa and his son Aśvatthāman. His archery was so quick and so true that both were hard pressed.
(Mahābhārata, Virāṭa Parva, Chapter 56)
Against Karṇa
Karṇa and Arjuna met in a fierce fight. Karṇa’s arrows struck Arjuna’s horses and the horses of Uttara. But Arjuna won, and Karṇa was driven from the field and fell back.
(Mahābhārata, Virāṭa Parva, Chapters 57–60)
Against Duryodhana
Arjuna struck Duryodhana’s crown and banner and drove him back. He told Duryodhana to flee or be beaten in battle. Duryodhana could not go on with the fight.
(Mahābhārata, Virāṭa Parva, Chapters 61–63)
The Sammohana astra
At one point in the battle Arjuna used the Sammohana astra, a weapon of bewilderment. It left a part of the Kaurava army unconscious and helpless. It showed that his divine weapons were whole and undiminished.
The trophy garments
After he had beaten the Kaurava commanders, Arjuna gathered the fine upper garments of the defeated warriors as trophies, a formal mark of victory. He gave them to Uttara to present to Virāṭa’s court.
(Mahābhārata, Virāṭa Parva, Chapter 64)
The Kauravas withdraw
The Kaurava army pulled back. The cattle were won back and brought toward Virāṭanagara. Arjuna drove back in his disguise as Bṛhannaḷā with Uttara, who had been boastful before and was now truly brave. The citizens who saw them return celebrated Uttara’s apparent victory. The news reached Virāṭa, who had just come back victorious from the battle with the Trigartas.
The blow with the dice
Virāṭa came home and heard that Uttara had gone to fight the Kauravas with Bṛhannaḷā as his charioteer. He asked Kaṅka (Yudhishṭhira) anxiously whether Uttara was safe. Yudhishṭhira calmly and confidently said that with Bṛhannaḷā as charioteer, victory was sure.
Virāṭa was proud of his son. He took this to mean that Kaṅka was giving the credit for any victory to the charioteer and not to his son. He grew angry and struck Yudhishṭhira on the nose with a dice piece, so that it bled.
Draupadī (Sairandhrī) was there. She at once placed herself so as to catch the blood before it fell on the ground. She knew that a single drop of Yudhishṭhira’s blood falling on the earth in anger would bring terrible results. She caught it in a cup. Yudhishṭhira, in complete command of himself, bore this insult without hitting back. He kept the dharma of the ajñātavāsa to the last.
(Mahābhārata, Virāṭa Parva, Chapter 68)
When Uttara came back in triumph and saw Yudhishṭhira bleeding, he blamed his father for this act of adharma. Uttara said it was wrong to strike a brāhmaṇa. He urged Virāṭa to ask forgiveness of so great a man. Virāṭa saw his fault and was moved by his son’s words. He went to Yudhishṭhira and tried to make peace. Yudhishṭhira, always the picture of forgiveness, told Virāṭa that he bore no anger and never had.
(Mahābhārata, Virāṭa Parva, Chapters 68–69)
After the raid
This episode ends the hiding of the Pāṇḍavas and begins open conflict with the Kauravas again. Arjuna alone defeated the combined strength of Bhīshma, Droṇa, Karṇa, Kṛpa, Aśvatthāman and Duryodhana. Yudhishṭhira took the blow without a word, and Draupadī caught his blood.
Sources
- Mahābhārata, Virāṭa Parva, Chapters 25–26
- Mahābhārata, Virāṭa Parva, Chapters 36–38
- Mahābhārata, Virāṭa Parva, Chapters 41–42
- Mahābhārata, Virāṭa Parva, Chapter 44
- Mahābhārata, Virāṭa Parva, Chapter 45
- Mahābhārata, Virāṭa Parva, Chapters 51–53
- Mahābhārata, Virāṭa Parva, Chapters 54–55
- Mahābhārata, Virāṭa Parva, Chapter 56
- Mahābhārata, Virāṭa Parva, Chapters 57–60
- Mahābhārata, Virāṭa Parva, Chapters 61–63
- Mahābhārata, Virāṭa Parva, Chapter 64
- Mahābhārata, Virāṭa Parva, Chapters 68–69