Gandharis Curse: Yadav Vs Yadav

When the Mahabharata war ended, it said, the Kauravas bodies lay strewn all over Kurukshetra. Their mother, Gandhari, was distraught with grief and wanted to place a curse on the Pandavas.

But her father reminded her that when Duryodhana came for her blessings before the war began, she had turned her face and merely said let Dharma prevail. Now that it has, he asked her, how can you curse the Pandavas?

Gandhari accepted this but her anger still needed an outlet. Soon her eyes fell on Krishna who was standing around, apparently with a smirk on his face. Whether it was the smirk that incensed her or just his presence, the Great Book does not say. But what it does say is that Gandhari let Krishna have it.

 

It was in your power to have prevented this terrible war, she raged at him, but you didnt. Instead you abetted the war. Now all my sons and grandsons are dead and I am bereft. So, O Krishna, I am going to place a curse on you that, exactly 36 years from now, your clan will destroy itself in an internecine war. Krishna, in case you dont know, was a Yadav.

Lest some people point out that Gandharis curse was, in modern parlance, time-barred, the Mahabharata contains yet another story about the Yadavs asking for trouble. This one is contained in the mausala parva, mausala meaning a club with which things are pounded into granular shape.

What happened was this. Some playful Yadavs, albeit with a retarded sense of humour, came upon a rishi in deep meditation. They dressed one of their mates up as a pregnant woman (with a mausala covered by a cloth masquerading as the belly) and asked the rishi whether she would give birth to a boy or a girl.

The rishi, as rishis will, saw through the trick and became very annoyed. So he placed a curse on the Yadav clan as a whole. Surprisingly, he also said the clan would destroy itself in an internecine war. The details of how this would come about are a little complicated. Suffice it to say that he ordained that they would club each other into oblivion.

Well, it seems to have taken a bit longer than 36 years. And it isnt clubs that our friendly neighbourhood Yadavs are using against each other. But if Messrs Laloo Prasad Yadav and Sharad Yadav have their way, they will surely ensure that the clan is destroyed as a political force pretty soon. (It is also interesting to note that the Janata Dal election was to have been held on June 18. The Mahabharata war also ended on the 18th day).

Why are these two Yadavs fighting against each other? Surely, they know that if the fight goes on to its logical end, the Janata Dal