Mahabharata Quiz - 106

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Question – 106

Couldn’t there be a chance that Arundhati indeed appeared differently during the Mahabharata period under consideration?

Answer:

There is no chance for the change of position of Arundhati (Alcor) with reference to Vasishtha (Mizar) considering two observations found in the Mahabharata expressed by the contemporary characters.

1.     At the marriage of Draupadi with the Pandava-s Kunti blessed her to be like Draupadi. Here she means Draupadi following the Pandava-s like Arundhati following the footsteps of Vasishtha. If it was the other way round – of Vasishtha following Arundati, Kunti could not have said this, for, which mother – particularly of those times liked her sons to be behind their wife?

2.     Lying on the arrow bed after the war, Bheeshma narrates the life history of one Sāndli and says that since she followed her husband like Arundhati, she was elevated into a star like Arundhati.

If during the war period Arundhati had changed her position from being behind to Vasishtha into putting her husband behind her, this could not have been told by Bheeshma. So, what Vyasa observed was- as he said a nimitta - a temporary aberration in the way Arundhati appeared at a particular time. It is foolish to believe that it was a permanent appearance and  construct a theory on the assumption that Arundhati changed her position for a long period of time – say for 6000 years as Nilesh oak claims.