The Untold Story Behind the Death of Lord Krishna
By Meghnad Desai
Initial Book Cover Impressions:
- The book’s cover conveys a variety of messages, such as the factual account of Krishna’s demise. Why is this named Mayabharat and not Mahabharat? That must have to do with the time period following the Mahabharat.
- Yet, the scenario completely changes when you look at the reverse cover, just like in the movie Drishyam. It’s not what you anticipated. That has to do with MAYA. He has been referred to as a Deva (god), an Asura (demon), and a king in this book.
- This increases interest in what makes this Maya King so intriguing that a whole book has been written about him. It surely builds up the excitement.
What? (Is this book about)
- The focus of this book is Maya and his movements, including how he arrived in Aryavrat, where he was prior to the war, what he was doing while it was happening, and what happened to him afterwards.
- The Mayan, or Maya, was from a different country. After arriving by ship in Aryavrat and spending some time there, he made some extremely odd but very clear observations about people:
1. Humans acted strangely towards their siblings, cousins, uncles, and grandfathers and engaged in arguments, hunger for land, infatuation with weapons, and conflicts.
2. They used basic cheating techniques, such as saying outright lies, hiding behind women to fire arrows in unfair combat, and trapping that young Abhimanyu since he was unable to understand the plan that had led to his capture.
3. It was a senseless war as much as the life they had led before the war. Due to the fact that Karna was raised by a charioteer after being abandoned by his mother at birth, they refused to give him his rightful rewards.
4. Drona requested Eklavya’s thumb on the fictitious pretext that he had been his teacher in order to appease Arjuna, whom he believed to be the best archer.
Why? (Should anyone read it or not?)
- You should read it. Maya provided me with an incredible insight on Krishna and the Mahabharat.
- He challenges Krishna about the conflict and how, if he had wanted to, he could have stopped the entire tragedy.
- Before I express my thoughts on the book, I feel it is necessary to disclose some of the controversial claims the author has made in it.
1. The author claims that Krishna used plants to give Arjun the will to battle. These plants caused Arjun to have Krishna-related Vishwaroop hallucinations. These claims may fit the narrative flow of the book, but they are completely at odds with what the general population is aware of and accepts.
2. The Pandavas were not born as the offspring of five Devas, but rather as the product of coupling between other men and Pandu’s women; yet again, this is completely at odds with what we know. This claim negates the divine element of the Mahabharata.
3. Parikshit is Uttara’s child; nevertheless, Draupadi’s womb was transferred to Uttara because Uttara’s foetus was dying. Unlike Draupadi, who had five husbands, Uttara had only her foetus, and if she lost it, no one would be worse off than her.
4. The only spot from which Krishna may be killed is in the sole of his foot; therefore, in the end, Krishna requests Maya to shoot the arrow there. But no one in the entire Aryavrat has the strength or ability to do so. Maya was voluntarily urged to do that by Krishna.
My Opinion:
If you are interested in the Mahabharata, I would certainly advise reading this book because Maya’s origins aren’t really discussed or written about much in the Mahabharata. And who was Maya? Where did he come from, and why? After creating Indraprastha, where did he go?
The Mahabharat War could have benefited from his presence, but he wasn’t there. As the entire Aryavrat was included in the war, why didn’t the Pandavas or the Kauravas take his assistance?
Many of these questions had their answers. The book was written by the author in a very straightforward language.
I’ll leave you with a few queries. What Maya asked Krishna might cause you to rethink the entire war.
1. Why did Krishna fail to assist the Pandavas despite saving Draupadi in the royal court?
2. Why did Krishna not stop gambling before it got that far?
3. Why not intervene before Draupadi has already been taken there, covered in her own blood and dressed only in a single piece of cloth?
4. Why didn’t Krishna stop the injustice or the dice game earlier?
and mostly importantly,
Did Krishna really wanted to die or it was the course of time which did it ?
