The Birth of Parikshit

This poem is based on the story of the great King Parikshit which appears in our revered scripture Srimad Bhagvatam. After the great war of Mahabharat was over with huge casualties on both the sides, Ashwatthama killed Draupadi’s sons in the middle of the night when they were asleep in their camp. It was a cowardly act of revenge but not still satisfied, Ashwatthama used ‘Brahmastra’ on the unborn child of Uttara, wife of Abhimanyu. Lord Krsna protected this unborn child who was the only hope of Pandavas after losing all their sons in the battle.

Lord Krsna is always there to protect his devotees. Nobody can harm a true devotee of the Lord. Pandavas won the great war of Mahabharata because Lord Krsna was on their side. He was there with them at every step to guide them and Pandavas obeyed every word of Lord Krsna without a doubt having utmost faith in Krsna.

By saving Parikshit in his mother’s womb, Krsna showed that he can go to any extent to protect his devotees. One just needs to surrender to him with true devotion.

Brave warriors along with the wicked lying wounded or dead in the battlefield

The Great War of Mahabharta had ended with scars never to be healed.

But the hatred and anger in the heart of Ashwatthama was not dead

To wreak havoc on Pandavas, in dead of night from the battlefield he fled.

Seeking revenge against Drishtadyumna for killing his beloved father

Strangulating him in his sleep, for this coward act he didn’t even bother

And then all the sons of Draupadi in their sleep were brutally massacred.

Despair and grief descended on Pandavas with the gruesome killings there.

Krsna and Pandavas found Ashwatthama in deep meditation

With unabated hatred, he did one last horrifying act in desperation.

With an evil intention, he called for ‘Brahmastra’, a deadly weapon

Aiming it at the unborn child in the womb of Uttara bereft of protection.

Realizing the danger, Krsna took a minute form and entered the womb

Taking the effect of the weapon, saved the child from the impending doom.

The child, the only surviving heir of Pandava, remembered the attractive face

That saved his life in his mother’s womb with love and amazing grace.

As a new-born, he kept searching for that divine being among all

Thus earning the name Parikshit – the one who examines all!

His eyes stopped searching the day Lord Krsna came to visit

Recognizing the Divine Supreme, so beautiful and exquisite.

Glossary

1. Mahabharata: The great war of Mahabharata was fought between Pandavas and Kauravas in the battlefield of Kurukshetra. The great sage Ved Vyas wrote about this war in his epic ‘Mahabharata.’
2. Ashwatthama: The son of Dronacharya, the teacher of Kauravas and Pandavas. He wanted to avenge his father’s death at the hand of Pandavas.
3. Draupadi: The wife of Pandavas
4. Uttara: The wife of Abhimanyu, the son of Arjuna.
5. Drishtadyumna: Brother of Draupadi who killed Dronacharya in the war.
6. Brahmastra: A deadly weapon which never failed to hit its aim.
7. Krsna: Incarnation of Lord Vishnu and The Supreme Personality of Godhead. He was on Pandava’s side in the war.

© 2017 Shaloo Walia All rights reserved