Episode 59 The Pandava Pilgrims - and Agastya

Distressed at the absence of Arjuna, the Pandavas go on pilgrimage, where they hear many ancient stories--among them that of the famous rsi Agastya.

Notes

• Missing Arjuna, the Pandavas are “forlorn, like pearls whose string has broken.” (III.79.5)

• Bhisma is meditating on the bank of the Ganga, and Pulastya teaches him about the value of tirthayatra (pilgrimage) III.80.12ff.

• Their guide on pilgrimage is rishi Lomasha, sent by Indra to accompany and protect them while Arjuna’s occupied in the heavens

• Rishi Vyasa contemplates killing himself when his son Shuka leaves him to pursue moksha. The site is called Vyasasthali. (III.81.81)

• We’ll hear the story of Shuka in Book XII, the Shantiparva.

• The Pandavas pass through Rishikulya and Vasistha: by passing through Vasistha, all the classes become brahmins (III.82.44)

• At the Saptarsarasvata tirtha, the hermit Mankanaka cut his thumb with a blade of grass, and from the wound flowed vegetable juice. Struck with wonder, he starts to dance. The other ascetics try to get him to stop by appealing to Shiva, who shows him by cutting his own thumb-—and snow-white ash falls out. (III.81.98ff.)