Mayabazaar is the story of the love and marriage between Abhimanyu, the son of Arjuna and Subhadra, and s’as’irEkha the daughter of Balarama and Revati Devi. But it is far more than that. Mixed with the fun and romance.. you have a brilliant philosophy and scholarship that reflects throughout the movie.. but only to trained eyes and ears. The very young see the fun, the youthful see the romance and adventure and the grey-haired catch the philosophical fun.
The very first person you see in the movie is Ghatotkacha, the son of Bhima and Rakshasi Hidimbaa, the best character in this story, second only to Sri Krishna himself. You see him in a battle with Abhimanyu his own cousin.. giving us a clue as to how mixed up our own genes are… and how many of our fights stem out of not knowing how closely we are related to each other.
This wonderful story starts with a view of the island Dwaraka. And there in have gathered many of the important characters of the story to celebrate the birthday of Sasirekha.
Saisrekha finds no mention in Veda Vyasa‘s Mahabharatam. She is a very important character in folklore. As a cross-cousin of Abhimanyu, she is promised to him since childhood.
The ladies sing, ” As the dEvatas, the s’rIkarAs, are saying s’rIrastu – may there be welfare, O little Sasirekha prosper!”
The first person who blesses her on her birthday is Revati, her mother, the daughter of Raivata Manu himself. Unable to find a worthy match for her Raivata Manu travels to meet Brahma, and loses 27 caturyugas in the process. Then on Brahma’s advice he gives her in marriage to Balarama, the elder brother of Sri Krishna.
When Krishna and Balarama leave Mathura, they go to Dwaraka, an area that Revati inherits from her father and which Balarama helps his father-in-law defend.
As Sasirekha receives blessings from her parents and then from her aunt Rukmini Devi, your heart jumps with joy to see Sri Krishna as he comes up to bless her. You feel Krishna’s presence throughout this movie, whether He is actually “in the shot” or not. That is another delightful thing about this movie.
You then see Abhimanyu as a child performing all the archery feats his father Arjuna performed, trying to impress a Sasirekha who refuses to admit how impressed she is. When Revati marches them off to the elders to complain about their dangerous sports, Balarama remarks that Revati looks like the Apara Tripura Sundari (Devi Durga), with the bow in her hands and we are at once reminded of the battle between Devi and Mahishasura.
We also see Balarama delighted with the valour of Abhimanyu and saying that he is equal in valour to all the Pandavas.
For those of us who carry an ache in our hearts about the final Padmavyuham episode,,, Vyasa tells us that Abhimanyu is really the son of Chandra, who initially refused to send Abhimanyu to earth to fight in the war against all the Rakshasas and other bad guys. When he was pressurised, Chandra agreed to send his son for a very short time. And in that time Abhimanyu would kill as many bad guys as the rest of them would kill in their longer sojourns on earth. I hope this makes you feel a little better about Abhimanyu.
Since the marriage between Abhimanyu and Sasirekha takes place while the Pandavas are still in exile in Dvaita Vana, we conclude that she is the senior wife to Uttaraa, the daughter of Viraata Raja, who Abhimanyu married at the end of the Agnyaata Vaasa of the Paandavaas. Still it is Uttaraa’s son Parikshit, the father of Janamejaya, who continues the Pandava race and we kind of never hear of Sasirekha, Sri Krishna’s sweet niece again, in any story…
Authorship and Copyright Notice : Satya Sarada Kandula : All Rights Reserved.
