Barbarika, was the son of Ghatotkacha and Ahilyawati. He is the grandson of second pandava, Bheema who married Hidimbi after their escape from Lakshyagriha. Hidimbi was a dimasa kachari princess. Bheema left her after a year after their son Ghatotkacha was born. Ghatotkacha was a powerful warrior, who was a half rakshaasa due to his maternal side. Ahilyawati was the daughter of mighty asura Murra, who was killed by Lord Krishna after Murra defeated Indra. That is why Lord Krishna is also called as Murrari, the enemy of Murra. After her father’s death, Ahilyawati challenged Krishna to seek revenge. Lord Krishna was about to kill her in a combat, but was protected by timely intervention of Goddess Kamakhya as she was her devotee. Goddess Kamakhya did tell Ahilyawati that Krishna was Lord Vishnu incarnated. Thus, Ahilyawati corrected her ways, sought forgiveness from Krishna for challenging him and mend her ways. Krishna forgave her and asked Ahilyawati to marry Ghatotkacha, and blessed her with a child who would be a skilled warrior, a master of knowledge and all powerful.
As a child, Barbarika was very bright and a brave warrior. He was
taught on warfare by his mother. He also mastered the shashtra. He once
asked his mother about the goal of a follower of dharma. Ahilyawati explained
him about the cycles of birth, the path of dharma and
what it takes to receive moksha. That was
a long path and Barbarika wanted to know if there was any faster way to reach moksha. She
responded that if one gets killed by Narayana himself, one
gets liberated from the cycles of life and be part of God himself. Barbarika
made up his mind to get himself killed by Vasudeva Krishna.
But he had to do some action to provoke Vasudeva Krishna to kill him, like his
maternal grandfather.
Barbarika did penance and lord Ashtadeva gave
him three infallible arrows. When he heard about the inevitable war of
Kurukshetra, he wanted to witness the great war. This was the war between Kaurava and Pandava. All
options to avoid the war were lost. Barbarika promised his mother that if he
had the need to participate in the war, he will join the losing side. He rode
to the war carrying his bow and three arrows.
The war was inevitable and great armies and warriors were getting
ready for the war. Lord Krishna went to all the great warriors from both sides
to ask how many days they would take to finish the war themselves. Bhishma said
he would take 20 days, Drona said he would take 25 days, Karna said he would
take 24 days, Arjuna said he would take 28 days. Lord Krishna met and got an answer
from all the other warriors.
Lord Krishna, the all-knowing, was worried of the lone warrior
riding towards Kurukshetra, Barbarika.
Krishna disguised as a brahmin, met
Barbarika on his way. Barbarika could see through the disguise of Krishna too,
and found it as an opportunity to provoke the Lord. The brahmin asked
why he was riding alone and without an army. Barbarika responded that he had
come to see the great war, and that he alone is enough for an outcome and does
not need an army. The brahmin asked
how many days he would take to finish the war alone. Barbarika answered that he
could finish it in one minute. The brahmin then
asked Barbarika how he'd finish the great battle with just three arrows in his
arsenal. Barbarika replied that a single arrow was enough to destroy all his
opponents in the war, and it would then return to his quiver. He stated that,
the first arrow is used to mark all the things that he wanted to identify. The
second arrow would destroy all the things that were marked. He did not have to
use his third arrow, as it would destroy all things that are not marked. After
their work, all the arrows would return to his quiver. The brahmin asked
him that he wanted to examine his strength, to which Barbarika readily agreed.
The brahmin pointed
him to a banyan tree, and asked if he could mark all the leaves of the tree
with one arrow. Barbarika, agreed to the challenge, pulled out an arrow from
his quiver and closed his eyes to call out a mantra. The brahmin quietly plucked a leaf from the tree and hid it under his
foot. When Barbarika releases his arrow, it marked all the leaves of the tree
and finally started hovering around the leg of the brahmin. The brahmin asked
Barbarika why the arrow was hovering over his foot. Barbarika replied that
there must be a leaf under his foot and the arrow was targeting his foot to
mark the leaf that is hidden underneath. The brahmin lifted
his leg, and the leaf he had hidden had been marked. Barbarika explained to the brahmin that
his arrows were so powerful and infallible, that even if Barbarika was unaware
of the whereabouts of his targets, his arrows would find their targets.
This incident of the hovering arrow of Barbarika, was the cause of
Krishna’s death later. The foot below which he hid the leaf become a weak spot
of Krishna. Much later after the great war, a hunter by name Jara, hit
Krishna's foot with arrows, mistaking him for a deer. This lead to the death of
Krishna.
After seeing the work of Barbarika’s
arrow, the brahmin asked
whom he would favour in the war if he must participate. Barbarika revealed that
he had promised his mother to fight for the side whichever was weak, if ever he
chose to fight. He might consider Pandavas as the weaker side as they had seven
Akshauhini armies compared to the eleven of the Kauravas. The brahmin told
him that whichever side he supported will end up making the other side weaker
due to his power. He would then switch sides. Nobody will be able to defeat
him. He will keep switching sides and eventually all armies will be destroyed
in both sides and he would be the lone survivor.
Barbarika did not agree to the
interpretation and said that he would finish the war with a single arrow. He
would support the Kauravas as Lord Krishna was with the Pandavas. He
desired for Lord Krishna to kill him in the battlefield with his sudarshan chakra,
and give him moksha.
The brahmin,
disclosed his identity that he was Krishna himself. Krishna then explained to
him that before a battle, the head of the bravest kshatriya is
required to be sacrificed, to worship the battlefield. Krishna said that he
considered Barbarika to be the bravest among kshatriyas, and
was hence asking for his head in charity.
Krishna showed Barbarika a vision of His Divine Form as Narayana, and
thus blessed him.
Before decapitating himself, Barbarika
told Krishna of his great desire to view the forthcoming battle and requested
him to facilitate the same. Krishna agreed to it. In fulfillment of his
request, Barbarika gave his head to Krishna. This happened on the 12th day of
the shukla
paksha (bright half) of the month of phaagun on
Tuesday
The body less head was placed in the
center of Kurukshetra. On the first day of the battle, the head started to
laugh loudly and scare the soldiers away from both side. Krishna then had the
head placed on top of a hill overlooking the battlefield. From the hill, the
head of Barbarika watched the entire battle of Kurukshetra.
Barbarika was a yaksha in his previous birth. Once Lord Brahma and several other Devas came to vaikuntha and complained to Lord Vishnu that the adharma on Earth was increasing; it was
not possible for them to bear the tortures causes by the wicked people. Hence,
they came to seek the help of Lord Vishnu to check them. Lord Vishnu told the
Devas that he will soon be incarnated on Earth as a human being and destroy all
the evil forces. Then, a Yaksha told
the Devas that he alone is enough to
kill all evil elements on the Earth, and it was not necessary for Lord Vishnu
to descend to Earth. This hurt Lord Brahma very much. Lord Brahma cursed this Yaksha that whenever the time comes to
eliminate all the evil forces on Earth, then Lord Vishnu will first kill him. Later,
the yaksha took birth as Barbarika
and Lord Krishna sought his head in charity because of this curse.
At the end of the battle, the victorious
Pandava brothers argued among themselves as to who was the most destructive
warrior who ensured their victory. Krishna suggested that Barbarika's head,
which had watched the whole battle should tell them who was the greatest
warrior in Kurukshetra. When the Pandavas asked the question to Barbarika, the
head laughed out loud ridiculing the warriors. Barbarika's head replied that
from his vantage point, he saw two . One was Vasudeva
Krishna who alone was responsible for the victory, as he saw no warriors,
but the sudarshan chakra
spinning all around the battle field, killing all those who were not on the side
of dharma. The other was Draupadi, their wife, who has taken her original form of Goddess Mahakali,
who spread out her tongue on the battle field and consumed all the sinners as
her sacrifice. Listening to this, the Pandavas realized that it was Lord Narayana and Goddess Parvati (Mahakali) who actually cleaned up the world from adharma, and the Pandavas were mere
instruments.
After this meeting, Barbarika left for the
heavenly abode to be with his lord.
Interesting number from Kurukshetra war:
It is said that the size of Pandava army in the Kurukshetra war
was 7 akshauhinis,
and those of Kaurava 11 akshauhinis. Akshauhini is a
battle formation consisting of 21,870 ratha (chariots); 21,870 gaja (elephants);
65,610 turaga (horses) and
109,350 pada sainyam (infantries) as
per Mahabharata totaling 218,700. The ratio is 1 chariot: 1 elephant : 3
cavalry : 5 infantry soldiers. Also, the sum of the digit in the numbers
is 18.
DISCLAIMER:
These narrations are from various stories that were narrated to me and
some that were read in various publications, watched on television and internet over time.