Second episode depicting the soft-hearted, righteous or peculiar nature
of Yudhisthir:
Once Duryodhan and his army men reached Kamyak forest to see for themselves
the ill-fated life and hardships of pandavs. They halted at a nearby
lake where a group of Gandharvas - musicians from heaven - and their
consorts were taking bath.
Chitrasen was their leader. Duryodhan started misbehaving with them
on the false euphoria of having many army personnel with him. But the
Gandharvas used their divine powers to render Duryodhan and his army
helpless. Duryodhan was defeated and was intensely ashamed of his poor
defeat.
Chitrasen wanted to teach Duryodhan a lesson. So he fastened him and was about
to beat him up when Pandavs happened to pass by that side. Seeing the poor
condition of his brother, Yudhisthir advised Arjun and Bhim to free Duryodhan
who was in the clutches of the Gandharvas. Both the brothers protested that
Yudhisthir should be more practical and use his common sense; how and why
could they help the tormentor of Draupadi?
But Yudhisthir pacified them and said, "Our differences should not come in
our duty to protect any of our brothers in difficulty." Then Pandavs defeated
Gandharvas and Duryodhan was set free. He ran away ashamed of himself.
Story of Jarasangh
Jarasangha was the cruel king of Maghadha State. He had planned a sacrificial
ritual where he was to sacrifice one hundred and eight human beings
from royal families. Thus far he had conquered and jailed one hundred
such kings and princes.
Sri Krishna knew about this cruelty and inhuman tendencies of king Jarasangha.
Many messages were sent to him through the wives of such imprisoned
princes and kings. Sri Krishna planned to release these jailed inmates.
During the period of forest exile, he took Bhim to the kingdom of
Jarasangha and asked Bhim to challenge Jarasangha for a wrestling duet.
As was customary, Jarasangha accepted the challenge.
The powerful Jarasangha was not to die easily. He had a Tantric power
obtained through rigorous sadhana to heal himself even if any part of
his body was detached! But there was one flaw; the detached part must
remain on the same side of the body. For instance, if right hand is
broken it will get attached to his body again if it lies on the same
side! Sri Krishna knew this.
The fight between Jarasangha and Bhim was intense, and nobody seemed
to come victorious. Bhim was puzzled, what should he do now! He looked
at Sri Krishna for advice, and Sri Krishna at that moment took a small
twig and broke it into two. But he threw the two broken parts in opposite
direction, crossed. Bhim understood. In one peculiar position, Bhim
caught hold of the leg of Jarasangha and tore him into two. Quickly
he threw two parts of Jarasangha's body in opposite direction. Thus
came the end of the demon king.
The kings and princes in his captivity were released and as an act of gratitude
promised Sri Krishna to fight or support him and Pandavs in case of necessity.
That necessity arose later, and all these kings decided to side with Pandavs
in the war of Mahabharat.