Barbarika (Khatu Shyam) (3 arrows) and Krishna story | What was the boon of Barbarika? | Why Barbarik was not allowed to fight in Mahabharat? | How is Ghatotkacha related to Krishna? | Why Krishna asked Barbarik head
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Just before going to “Barbarika (Khatu Shyam) (3 arrows) and Krishna story | What was the boon of Barbarika? | Why Barbarik was not allowed to fight in Mahabharat? | How is Ghatotkacha related to Krishna? | Why Krishna asked Barbarik head“, let us have a brief some brief information.
Barbarika (Barbarik) was the grandson of Bhima and the son of Ghatotkacha.
(Note : In Rajasthan, Barbarika is worshipped as Khatu Shyam in Khatu Shyam Temple, and in Gujarat, he is worshipped as Baliyadev.)
How is Ghatotkacha related to Krishna? : Kunti is maternal aunty to Krishna. Kunti and Vasudeva (Krishna’s father) were brother and sister.
Since Ghatotkacha was the son the Bhima and grandson of Kunti, and Bhima and Krishna were cousins, Ghatotkacha was like a son of Lord Sri Krishna.
Barbarika (Barbarik) was supposed to be a brave warrior having learnt the art of warfare from his mother.
What was the boon of Barbariaka : Lord Shiva pleased with Barbarika’s talent as a warrior granted him a ‘Three Special Arrows’. He also got a special bow from Lord Sri Agni Deva (God of Fire).
Why Barbarik was not allowed to fight in Mahabharat? : It is said that Barbarika was so powerful that according to him the war of Mahabharata could end in 1 minute if he alone was to fight it.
Barbarik would always support the losing side, and thus if one side was winning, the other side will be on the losing side.
Thus, this would make Barbarik to change the sides every-time a side starts to lose the battle. For this reason Barbarik was not allowed to fight in Mahabharat war.
The story of Barbarika (Barbarik) and Lord Sri Krishna is as given below:
Before the war started, Lord Sri Krishna asked everyone how long would it take for them to finish the war alone.
Bhishma replied it would take 20 days. Dronacharya said it would take 25 days. Karna said it would take 24 days, whereas Arjuna said it would take him 28 days.
Barbarika had expressed his desire to watch the war of Mahabharata to his mother.
Barbarika’s mother agreed to let him go watch it, but asked him before leaving as to which side he would join if he felt the urge to take part in the war.
Barbarika promised his mother that he would join the side that was weaker. Saying this he set up on the journey to visit the battlefield.
Lord Sri Krishna having heard of Barbarika and wanting to examine Barbarika’s strength disguised himself as a Brahmana (Brahmin) came in front of Barbarika.
Lord Sri Krishna asked Barbarika the same question about how many days would it take to finish the war if he were to fight it alone.
Barbarika replied it would take him only 1 minute to finish the battle if he was to fight it alone.
Lord Sri Krishna was surprised at this answer of Barbarika considering the fact that Barbarika was walking towards the battlefield with just 3 arrows and a bow.
[We should note that Lord Sri Krishna is svayam Bhagavan (God) and was doing the nataka / drama / pastime / vidambana in front of the Barbarika)
To this Barbarika explained the power of the 3 arrows as given below:
The first arrow was supposed to mark all the objects that Barbarika wanted to be destroyed.
The second arrow was supposed to mark all the objects that Barbarika wanted to be saved.
The third arrow was supposed to destroy all the objects marked by the first arrow OR destroy all the objects not marked by the second arrow.
And at the end of this all the arrows would come return to the quiver. Lord Sri Krishna eager to test this out asked Barbarika to tie all the leaves of the tree that he was standing under.
As Barbarika started meditating to perform the task, Lord Sri Krishna took one leaf from the tree and placed it under his foot without Barbarika’s knowledge.
When Barbarika releases the first arrow, the arrow marks all the leaves from the tree and eventually starts revolving around Lord Sri Krishna’s feet.
Lord Sri Krishna asks Barbarika as to why the arrow is doing this. To this Barbarika replies that there must be a leaf under your feet and asks Lord Sri Krishna to lift his leg.
As soon as Lord Sri Krishna lifts his leg, the arrow goes ahead and marks the remaining leaf too.
This incident scares Lord Sri Krishna (this is only a nataka / drama / pastime / vidambana done by Lord Sri Krishna) about the phenomenal power of Barbarika. He concludes that the arrows are truly infallible.
Lord Sri Krishna also realizes that in the real battlefield in case Lord Sri Krishna wants to isolate someone (for e.g., the 5 Pandavas) from Barbarika’s attack,
then he would not be able to do so, since even without the knowledge of Barbarika, the arrow would go ahead and destroy the target if Barbarika intended so.
To this Lord Sri Krishna asks Barbarika about which side he was planning to fight for in the war of Mahabharata (Kurukshetra).
Barbarika explains that since the Kaurava Army is bigger than the Pandava Army and because of the condition he had agreed to with his mother, he would fight for the Pandavas side.
But, to this Lord Sri Krishna explains the paradox of the condition he had agreed with his mother.
Why Krishna asked Barbarik head : Lord Sri Krishna explains that since he (Barbarik) was the greatest warrior on the battlefield, which ever side he joins would make the other side weaker.
So, eventually he would end up oscillating between the two sides and destroy everyone except himself.
Thus Lord Sri Krishna reveals the actual consequence of the word that he had given to his mother.
Thus Lord Sri Krishna (still disguised as a Brahmana / Brahmin) asks for Barbarika’s head in charity to avoid his involvement in the war.
After this, Lord Sri Krishna explains that it was necessary to sacrifice the head of the greatest Kshatriya – in order to worship the battlefield and that he regarded Barbarika as the greatest Kshatriya of that time.
Before actually giving his head, Barbarika expresses his desire to view the forthcoming battle.
To this Lord Sri Krishna agreed to place Barbarika’s head on top of the mountain that overlooked the battlefield.
At the end of the war, the Pandavas argued amongst themselves about whose was the greatest contribution to their victory.
To this Lord Sri Krishna suggests that Barbarika’s head should be allowed to judge this since it has watched the entire war.
Barbarika’s head suggests it was Lord Sri Krishna alone who was responsible for the victory in the war. His advice, his strategy and his presence was crucial in the victory.
PS: I think the English word Barbaric is the mispronounced word from the Sanskrit word Barbarika,
since many of the Samskruta / Sanskrit words have been taken from Sanskrit as per the requirement of the English people.
You can visit the below link, where I have discovered / found out over 1000 words of various other languages of the globe, which has been taken from our Great Samskruta / Sanskrit language:
List of English words derived from Sanskrit
More information will be added to this on regular, please visit after some time to know more information.
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Pandavas unknown facts and information
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