An article recently published claimed that the episode in the Mahabharata which describes Arjuna’s marriage with Subhadra, sister of Krishna, is actually a case of forceful abduction of Subhadra by him. The article claims ignorance about whether or not Subhadra’s opinion was considered in the whole matter.

The said article is based on the Critical Edition of the Mahabharata, in which the narration about Subhadra and Arjuna’s marriage is very brief. The article further claims that the detailed narration of the same episode in the Srimadbhagavata, that depicts a love story between the two, is a later-day addition, introduced in order to dilute the effect of the supposedly unkind portrayal of Arjuna in the Mahabharata.

The Mahabharata has several recensions and editions. The Critical Edition was a brilliant effort by multiple scholars over several decades in the first part of the 20^th century. However the Critical Edition is not the only, or final, authority on the Mahabharata. Any claim to that effect would amount to disrespecting the long standing tradition of several other sampradayas and paramparas who have struggled for centuries to preserve their traditional, and unbroken, rendition of the Mahabharata.

Further, whenever the issue of a significant difference between versions arises, the Critical Edition seems to inevitably take the approach of selecting the less-detailed narration. Many times, the Northern recensions of the Mahabharata seems to have been preferred. It is out of scope of this article to comment on the criteria used by the editors of the Critical Edition in deciding which version of an episode to consider authentic. Suffices to say that the Critical Edition and the Southern recensions differ on many counts.

On the question of the Subhadra-Harana episode also, the narration in the Southern recensions is much more detailed and is close to the narration in the Srimadbhagavata. On the other hand, the Critical Edition describes the entire incident very succinctly. The Subhadra-Harana upa-parva in the Critical Edition is just two chapters and the subsequent Harana-Harika upa-parva is just one chapter. The Southern recensions describe these two upa-parvas in more than 10 chapters.

Before we try to explore which of the two narrations is more accurate, it is important to briefly look at the narration in both the versions.

The incident, as described in the Critical Edition, is as below:

After the Uloopi and Chitrangada incidents and other teerthayatras, Arjuna, during his Vanavasa, comes to Prabhasa Kshetra and meets Sri Krishna there. Both of them go to Raivata mountain where Arjuna happens to see Subhadra and falls in love with her. He asks Sri Krishna’s permission who suggests abducting her as a possible solution. Both of them return to Dwaraka. Shortly, all the Yadavas once again go to Raivata mountain and Arjuna also accompanies them. After a few days, Subhadra starts on her return journey to Dwaraka. Arjuna intercepts her mid-way and abducts her.

By this time, the Yadavas are (somehow already) back in Dwaraka and they hear the news of the abduction. Many of the Yadavas are furious with Arjuna and want to attack him. Sri Krishna however advises them not to take on Arjuna. They listen to him and approach Arjuna and bring him mid-way. Arjuna stays for one year at Dwaraka and then returns to Indraprastha and Subhadra gets to meet Draupadi and others. The Yadavas also reach Indraprastha and bring lots of precious gifts for the couple.

The same incident is narrated in the Southern recensions in much more detail, and is as follows:

During Arjuna’s vanavasa, after the Uloopi, Chitrangada and other episodes, he reaches Prabhasa Kshetra and meets Sri Krishna. Arjuna is in the disguise of a sanyasi and he arrives at Dwaraka. Balarama and others desire to allow the yati to stay there for the annual Chaturmasya vrata and want Subhadra to take care of the sanyasi’s needs. Sri Krishna acts as if he is against this arrangement but finally concedes.

Arjuna talks to Sri Krishna about his desire to marry Subhadra and Sri Krishna suggests that abducting her may be the right approach. Soon the Yadavas go to the ocean nearby and stay at the coast for several days, during which time Arjuna and Subhadra get intimate. Based on his Kshatriya lakshanas Subhadra easily identifies Arjuna and falls in love with him.

Sri Krishna talks to Devaki, Vasudeva and a few of the Yadavas and after 12 days, the marriage of Arjuna and Subhadra takes place even as Uddhava and Balarama are unaware. Arjuna asks Subhadra to bring her chariot from the palace, which she does. Both of them elope. Mid-way, they are stopped by one of the Yadava warriors but is talked out of fighting by Arjuna. The warrior returns to Dwaraka and informs them. Half the Yadavas are furious but they listen to Sri Krishna and finally give up on chasing Arjuna.

Arjuna reaches Indraprastha and asks Subhadra to put on the dress of a cowherd to meet Draupadi. Soon the Yadavas arrive at Indraprastha and the second part of the marriage ceremony takes place there. Sri Krishna and the other Yadavas shower the new couple with costly presents.

When we closely scrutinize the text of the Critical Edition and the Southern Recension, it is inevitable but to conclude that the Critical Edition contains text which has been edited out badly (in the case of this episode). There are huge inconsistencies and some glaring errors. Let us look at a couple of those.

Brahmacharya during the Vanavasa

While analyzing these we will rely on the shlokas present in the Critical Edition itself to show the inconsistencies. Wherever necessary, the details in the Southern recensions will be mentioned.

The Critical Edition states that Arjuna undertook the Vanavasa for having entered Yudhisthira’s palace at an inappropriate time. It states that he undertook the Vanavasa for twelve years (the Southern recensions mention that the Vanavasa was for 12 months only).

After some time, he reaches River Ganga and when he is taking a dip in the river, he is taken by Nagakanya Uloopi to Nagaloka. There she asks him to unite with her for procreation. When Arjuna is hesitant as his Dharma may be breached, Uloopi assures him that his Dharma will not be violated by uniting with her as he is in the Nagaloka and not on Earth where his “Brahmacharya” vrata is in force.

यो नोsनुप्रविशेन्मोहात् स नो द्वादशवार्षिकम् |

वने चरेद् ब्रह्मचर्यमिति वः समयः कृतः || Adi – 206 – 35 ||

“Dharmaraja had earlier made the rule that (anyone violates the rule of privacy) the person must under Vanavasa following Brahmacharya for twelve years”

तदिदं द्रौपदीहेतोरन्योन्यस्य प्रवासनम् |

कृतवान्स्तत्र धर्मार्थमत्र धर्मो न दुष्यति  || Adi – 206 – 35 ||

“This joint rule of (Brahmacharya and) Vanavasa was made for the sake of Draupadi and is applicable there (on earth); Your Dharma is not scarred by not following it here (nagaloka)”

Since Arjuna was following Brahmacharya vrata, he could not unite with a woman until the Vrata was over.

After Subhadra is taken by Arjuna and they return back to Dwaraka upon the insistence of the Yadavas, this is what the Critical Edition says.

उषित्वा तत्र कौन्तेयः संवत्सरपराः क्षपाः |

पुष्करेषु ततः शिष्टं कालं वर्तितवान्प्रभुः |

पूर्णे तु द्वादशे वर्षे खाण्डवप्रस्थमाविषत् || Adi – 213 – 13 ||

“Worshipped by the sons of Vrishni's race, Arjuna, sporting there as he pleased, passed a whole year in Dwaraka. The last year of his exile the exalted one passed at the sacred region of Pushkara. After the twelve years were complete he came back to Khandavaprastha”

So according to the narration in the Critical Edition, Arjuna broke his Brahmacharya vrata and went after Subhadra. At the least he would have had to re-perform the Vrata if this were the case. Nowhere after this incident is the issue of Arjuna breaking his Vrata mentioned.

In fact, at the end of the 18 day war, when Arjuna and Bhima chase Ashwathama, both Arjuna and Ashwathama release Brahmastra at each other. Sage Vyasa asks both of them to withdraw. Arjuna succeeds in doing so while Ashwathama fails. The reasoning given is that Arjuna’s Brahmacharya was absolutely intact throughout his life and hence the success.

This clearly proves that Arjuna had not broken his Brahmacharya Vrata. Hence the narration about him marrying Subhadra in the 11^th year is incorrect.

Note: In the Southern recensions, the Vrata is for 12 months and not 12 years. Arjuna reaches Prabhasa/Dwaraka 16 months after the start of his Vanavasa. Hence his Brahmacharya vrata was over and him falling in love with Subhadra was not against Dharma at all.

Draupadi’s Ashirwada

After the ‘abduction’ of Subhadra, the Yadavas give up their anger towards Arjuna based on Sri Krishna’s advice and bring back both of them to Dwaraka. As seen in the previous section, Arjuna then stays at Dwaraka for a full year in Dwaraka “sporting there as he pleased”.

Then Arjuna and Subhadra get back to Indraprastha and Arjuna sends Subhadra to meet Draupadi and take her blessings. Draupadi greets Subhadra and wishes her as follows:

निःसपत्नोsस्तु ते पतिः | Adi – 213 – 30 |

“…..May your husband be without any enemies…..”

As per the narration in the Critical Edition, Arjuna had already patched up with the Yadavas and had, in fact, had a great time with them for a year. This wish by Draupadi, therefore, is completely irrelevant.

However, as per the narration in the Southern recensions, Arjuna and Subhadra reach Indraprastha soon after both of them elope in the chariot. At that time, half the Yadavas were still very angry and resentful against Arjuna, even though they gave up their intentions of fighting him due to Sri Krishna. So, under such a hostile situation, when Subhadra reached for Draupadi’s blessings, she wishing that Arjuna be rid of all his enemies makes perfect sense.

Thus we see that, although the narration in the Critical Edition attempts to tone down the Subhadra-Harana episode, the associated narration in the same edition exposes the fault with the re-work of this section.

On the other hand, the entire narration in the Southern recensions (for e.g. the Kumbhakonam edition or the Udupi Ashta Matha edition) are much more elaborate and consistent with other incidents before and after.

Postscript: The contents of the Critical Edition are sourced from hundreds of manuscripts and recensions that were available to the editors of the project. The faulty sections and sequence of events are obviously from some of those versions. It is not the intention of this article to cast any negative aspersions on the editors of the Critical Edition, which certainly was a noble endeavor.

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