Mb021. Arjuna's Pilgrimage Poem by Rajaram Ramachandran

MAHABHARATA

How can one woman
At a time marry five men?
Never was it a custom,
In any marriage system.

This was the question
Kauravas took up often.
Theirs was a hope and wish,
This marriage, one day, perish.

Karna ruled out this question,
As their solidarity was known.
Despite their mutual affection,
This affair needed a discipline.

"That Draupadi shall remain
With one husband on rotation,
For one year in completion,
In this cyclic repetition."

"This condition should any one break,
One year pilgrimage he shall undertake."
This way celestial Sage Narada spoke,
Pandavas to these words stuck.

Arjuna met one day,
Draupadi on his way
With brother Dharmaputra,
In the palace "Ayudhasala."

There he came for a weapon,
To help a poor Brahmin,
Whose cow was stolen,
Leaving its crying calf one.

He caught hold of the thief,
This gave the Brahmin relief.
But Arjuna had to go out
In Ayudhasala having met.

To Haridvar he went.
His time he well spent.
Uluchi the serpent maiden
There met him in love often.

To Nagaloka she took him,
Not as a devoted pilgrim
But as his loving partner,
In a very cordial manner.

In their loving union,
Iravan, a son was born.
With motherly affection,
She brought up her son.

To Kingdom Manipur he came,
Chitrangada, a princess by name
He fell in love and married her.
A son, Babhruvahana, was born to her