INTACH POSTER MAKING

TOPICS 2019

NAVAGUNJAR

One day, Arjuna saw a strange creature in the forest, nothing like he had
ever. It seemed to be a fusion of nine animals, with the head of a rooster,
the neck of a peacock, the back of a bull, a lion’s waist, a serpent’s tail and
limbs of a human, a deer, a tiger and an elephant. At first, Arjuna thought
it was a monster. He raised his bow to kill it. But then he realized that just
because its appearance was strange did not mean that it was a monster. A
creature that does not exist in human imagination can exist in the
imagination of God. He lowered his bow and the creature raised its human
limb, a hand in blessing. For the creature was God himself, testing how
much patience and love Arjuna had for creatures he did not recognize.

MANDODARI’S DAUGHTER

It was rumored that long ago, before she became mother of Indrajit,
Mandodari the wife of Ravana had a borne a daughter. She had accidently
consumed a pot of blood thinking it was a pot of water.
When the girl was born, the astrologers foretold that she would cause the
death of Ravana. So the child was abandoned and casted into the sea. ‘Did
the sea-god give my daughter to the earth-goddess and did the earth-
goddess give her to janaka and did janaka give her to Ram?’ wondered
Mandodari, each time she saw Sita. And that is why she did everything in
her power to make Ravana give up Sita.
Mandodari reminded him of the woman Vedavati, who had burned herself
to death rather than submit to the passionate embraces of Ravana. Had she
not sworn that she would kill Ravana in her next life?

PURUSHAMRIGA
Yudhishtra, the oldest Pandava, was conducting a yagna. For it to succeed
he needed a Purushamriga to be present there. A purushamriga is a
creature that is human above the waist but a deer below the waist.
His brother, the mighty Bhima, was sent to fetch such a creature, Bhima
found him in the middle of the forest.
‘I will come with you if you can outrun me.’ Said the creature . ‘You run
first but if I catch you before you reach the city of Hastinapur, then you will
be my slave. If I don’t then I will do whatever you tell me to do.’ Bhima
took up the challenge and began to run. The Purushamriga followed.
Bhima realized that the creature was very fast, so he had to use all his
might to run faster . At the border just when he put one leg out of the forest
and into the city, the Purushamriga caught the other leg and declared
victory.
‘You are my slave,’ he said. Bhima disagreed. As King, Yudhishtira was
asked to judge the matter.
Yudhishtira said,’ I will cut Bhima into two. You can have the side you
caught and the other side I will take as mine.’
The Purushamriga was shocked and amused at Yudhishtira’s justice. He
laughed and said, ‘ You have made me happy, so I will let your brother
free and attend your yagna.’
And thus the yagna was successful and the Purushamriga returned to the
forest with many gifts.
 PALACE OF ILLUSIONS

One day, Krishna and Arjuna were passing by the Khandava forest,
Lord Agni , the God of Fire, appeared in front of them in the form of a
Brahmin and spoke, “I am Agni Deva, the God of Fire. I need to consume
this forest wholly. But Takshaka, the King of serpents is a friend of Indra.
Whenever I set this forest on fire, Lord Indra comes to rescue Takshaka
with a heavy rainfall. And so I remain hungry. I request you both to help
me burn Khandhava forest.”
Sri Krishna replied, “Arjuna, Khandhava forest is dense. It has become
a hiding place for many demons and also to robbers and thieves. It is
necessary to eliminate this forest for the welfare of the people of
Indraprastha.” And he turned towards Agni Deva and spoke, “Agni Deva,
we will help you to burn the forest.”
Lord Indra came to know of the fire in Khandhava forest and came
rushing to the forest with Lord Varuna, the god for rain. He ordered for
rain clouds to rain heavily that will stop the fire.
At that time Krishna spoke to him, “Indra! Your friend Takshaka has
left the forest. He is safe. Let Agni Deva devour this forest for it is
supporting criminal activities.”
Listening to Krishna’s words, Lord Indra apologized and gave his
blessings to them and left. Agni Deva burnt the Khandhava forest for
fifteen days continuously, till it was burnt to ashes completely. While Agni
Deva was burning the forest a demon named Mayasura escaped from the
fire. Krishna noticed the demon and was about to kill him when the demon
fell at Arjuna’s feet and pleaded to save him. Arjuna and Krishna asked
Agni Deva to leave Mayasura.
 Maya spoke to Arjuna, “Thank you both of you for saving my life.
Give me an opportunity to return my favor. I possess an exceptional talent
and skill in architecture.”

Arjuna asked Maya to build a palace for the Pandavas. Maya

constructed a magnificent palace with extraordinary interior decorations.
The palace floors were crystal clear looking like mirror. The Pandavas and
Draupathi were amazed at the work of Maya and thanked him for his
efforts. Honored, Maya gave a golden mace with extraordinary weight to
Bhīma and the conch with extremely loud sound, Devadatta to Arjuna. On
an auspicious day, the Pandavas moved to the palace with Draupathi and
lived there happily.

EKALAVYA

Ekalavya was a forest dweller who wanted to be an archer and had

learnt that Drona was the best teacher in the land. But when he turned to
Drona, he turned him away on the grounds that he was too busy to take
more students.
‘How do I learn then?’ Ekalavya asked.
‘If you have faith in me, you can teach yourself,’ said Drona nonchalantly.
Ekalavya took the words seriously and in a clearing in the woods created
an effigy of Drona and taught himself archery under its watchful gaze.
A few weeks later, he was disturbed by the barking of a dog. He shot
many arrows in the direction of the dog. The arrows the mouth of the dog
without harming him, they kept his jaws pried open making it impossible
for him to bark.
The dog turned out to be the hunting hound of the Pandavas. Arjuna was
surprised to find his dog gagged thus. He presented it to Drona and said
enviously, ‘ You said you would make me the greatest archer in the world
but whoever did this unbelievable feat is surely greater.’
Drona decided to investigation and found himself face to face with his
own effigy in the woods. Ekalavya, who stood before it with a bow in hand
rushed towards him and fell at his feet, ‘Welcome’ he said.
‘Who taught you this?’ asked Drona grumpily.
‘ You did, not in person of course but by blessing and inspiring me to
teach myself’, replied Ekalavya full of earnest excitement.
Drona looked at Arjuna and remembered his promise to make him the
greatest archer in the land. ‘ You must pay me a fee for what you have
learnt because of me.’ Said Drona.
‘ Whatever you wish is yours,’ said Ekalavya bowing humbly.
‘ The thumb of your right hand, give it to me,’ said Drona, his voice cold
and unfeeling. Without a second thought, Ekalavya pulled out a knife and
sliced his right thumb and placed it at his guru’s feet.
Arjuna returned to Hastinapur shaken by the cruelty of his teacher as
without his right thumb Ekalavya would never be able to yield a bow.
‘ This was necessary for the sake of social stability. Now, there is no one
greater than you in archery’, said Drona to Arjuna.