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.