Sun TV Mahabharatham

The Voice of Parashara I have often noticed something about destiny. Its turning points rarely arrive with noise. The moments that change the course of history usually appear ordinary when they first arrive — a conversation, a decision, a chance meeting upon a lonely road. People think the Mahabharata begins with kings, princes, and the great war of Kurukshetra. It does not. Long before armies gather, before Bhishma takes his terrible vow, before Krishna speaks the Gita, the story begins quietly upon the waters of the Yamuna. That day, when I stepped into a small ferry boat, I did not see merely a fisherman’s daughter carrying travelers across the river. I saw the beginning of something far greater. I am Parashara, son of Shakti, grandson of the great sage Vasishtha. You know Vasishtha from the Ramayana — the royal guru of Rama, the embodiment of dharma. In Rama’s age, righteousness still stood firm upon the earth. Kings looked toward sages for guidance. Truth still carried p...

Bhishma lies on the bed of arrows he had chosen for himself. As long as he stood at the head of the army, the war could not move forward. Arjuna would not strike him down. The battle would continue without end. Bhishma himself had shown them the way — that he could be brought down only if Shikhandi stood before him, for he would not raise weapons against one who had once been Amba, whose life had been broken by him long ago. The arrows hold him in place. The body does not resist them. As Bhishma lies upon his bed of arrows, Arjuna shoots an arrow into the earth and brings forth the sacred waters of Mother Ganga to quench his grandsire’s thirst. When Arjuna draws water from the earth and offers it to him, he drinks. The coolness settles through him and carries him, for a brief moment, away from the field — back to the river, to his mother, to a time before vows and kingdoms. The war does not pause. Command has passed. Men come to him, speak of the battle, re...