End of Agnyatwas of Pandava

In the age of Dwapar Yuga, Pandava - the five acknowledged sons of Pandu (Sanskrit: पांडु), by his two wives Kunti and Madri - lost to Kauravas in a game of dice, and both spent twelve years of Vanawas, or exile to the forest, followed by one year of Agnyatawas. The brothers hid their weapons in a hole in a Shami tree before entering the Kingdom of Virat to complete the final year of Agnyatwas. After that year, on Vijayadashmi, they recovered the weapons, declared their true identities and defeated Kauravas, who had attacked King Virat to steal his cattle. Since that day, Shami trees and weapons have been worshipped and the exchange of Shami leaves on Vijayadashmi has been a symbol of good will and victory.

Posted by preeti on 10/08/2010 07:03:00 PM. Filed under Vijayadashamii(Dussehra) . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0