Based on an Episode in Mahabharat (Mythology) Draupadi's swayamvar

The Swayamvar

The Swayamvar\* was set The condition but one By bow and arrow to be decided The target, a fish’s eye hit Set on a pole a cubit high

In between was a wheel Ever turning and spinning And through its spoke Was the arrow to be shot

By looking at the target’s reflection Into a bowl of oil beneath Many a warriors brave Put themselves to the test

Yet their arrows only kissed the wheel Some by their own arrows were beset Yet the wheel remained spinning And the fish astride therein

Was there not to be A groom for the beauteous Draupadi A son-in-law to serve Draupad's purpose? There was of course Karna

The brave, but he stood denied By the princess in her royal stead And none could shoot the fish

The reflection on oil’s surface, shimmered Never still, and who could cheat The fate of wind, the spin of wheel To hit the eye, which would lead To begetting the princess’ hand

Then came forth, some mendicant sons Set about by guise they seated Awaiting their turn, were the Pandavas Could they now win over

the Panchala’s\\\ well laid scheme? Arjuna, the archer stood looking His mind still, in concentration Setting himself to the moment The aim of winning the hand Of the princess, not so fair\\*

First welled in him pride, on holding Aloft his bow, for he was the greatest The most achieved archer of his times As also welled in him confidence For having released arrows thousands of times

This would be just another shot Another one of those days His guru’s teachings would surely Stand him now in good stead

To visualize he shut his eye, as he always did To see his target met, in consciousness perceive Yet this time all he perceived Was the whirl of the wheel The shimmer on the oil’s surface

But no eye of the fish Let alone shoot, could he view Was this to be demise of his reputation? Did he in Panchala’s\\\ plan met his match? Would he not hold the hand of beauteous Panchali?\\\

The trial set to find Drona’s challenger Would call for test of skills beyond the master’s teachings Beyond senses, mind and prowess known hitherto still

The concept of the ordeal Guided by the stratagem of Maya Based on the workings of illusory schema Was Vishwakarma’s kriti, hisconstruct

If one concentrated on the fish’s eye The flicker of wheel would Made the fish move, wave and shimmer The whirr of a near impassable disc betwixt, a barrier

Were one, in seeking a moment’s opportunity, concentrate to catch a gap betwixt the spoke of wheels would forever be drawn to the revolutions and in motion’s entice lose sight of the mark within

To see the target aligned As one would verily lean The reflection of the archer Would then render the target unseen

Were one to withdraw the perspective One would have to counter Not just the wind, however slight But the tricks of reflection, refraction and light

The bowl of oil set, to the mesmerize One and nearly all, aligned to the archer’s mind Would on minds’ agitation tremble and shimmer Offering no tratak to find therein

How was one to achieve target without concentration, visualization nor aim or considerations of the environs percept And find that ephemeral now, to shoot the arrow?

Set to task the warrior in guise remembered in between all extremity, there was to be found divinity and in his mind, the Parth summarily  invoked Narsimha, the god of creativity

As his mind awhirl wavered, the oil In the bowl did verily tremble When he heard within The voice, like a flute’s play

Smilingly tell him ‘Surrender to me’

Thence the mighty archer knew That his entire prowess was meant Only to lead him to this moment But across the threshold of belief He had to traverse himself

As Arjuna, he had come to know The perimeter of his limit Slowly Arjuna let go his desire to win, or his fear to taste defeat

His yearning to win over a maiden Or his trepidation to keep intact his name He let go of all he had learnt Of all he could control, and surrendered

His sinews knew now a new master His being was servile to a new light He was a puppet to a moment The arrow would keep its tryst If it was divinely willed Or he’d just let it be

The arrow shot was the child of the moment Released by the one who was meant to release Not as a warrior, great But an inseparable knot in the fabric of creation And the eye of the fish it did reach

The court rejoiced, the princess beamed The King gasped in wonder in having found The son-in-law who’d serve his turn The other suitors fumed in consternation

But an archer now stood illumined By the true art of archery and In having known who the real archer be in knowing when to let go and when to let be!

  • Abhi

\*Swayamvar

\\ Draupadi, Draupad’s daughter was reputed to be dusky

\\\*Panchala, another name for Draupad, Panchali, another name for Draupadi

Written a few years back, this is I think, the final exploration of 'Let Go' in my archive. It was an exchange with Partha in Archer's Tale I, which lead to further details on the construct of the trial to be added. This poem about his namesake thus decicated to him.