This is something none of the serials or stories talk about. This is what differentiates a good warrior from a great warrior.
In
Mahabharata, there are 4 branches or shakhas of Dhanurveda. Apart from
the branches that forms the foundation, Dhanurveda has five Vidhis. Of
these, three were known to maharathi such as Bhishma and Drona. Only
Arjuna knew all the Vidhis. In this post I will focus on the Vidhis.
Vidhis– What are they?
Vidhi,
generally, means process or principle. In the context of Dhanurveda,
Vidhi means the principle to use weapons (mystical or otherwise) so that
they can be used to either protect the allies and/or to wreck havoc on
the enemies. The five Vidhis, as enumerated in the epic and puranas,
are:
1. Prayoga
2. Upasanhara
3. Avarti
4. Prayashachitya
5. Pratighata
Among
the above, no mortal could impart the knowledge of Prayashachitya and
Pratighata. The only person who could provide the knowledge about them
was the originator of Dhanurveda himself– Lord Shiva. And he had
imparted that knowledge only to one person – Arjuna. Everyone else had
knowledge of utmost three Vidhis. It was the skill in all the five
Vidhis that made him the most dreaded warrior to his enemies and the
peerless archer of the epic.
Vidhis– In detail:
Now
let us look what exactly each Vidhi entails and how they effect
different branches specifically Mukta, Mantramukta and Muktamukta.
- Prayoga:The basic Vidhi of using a weapon. It essentially means using a weapon. This is the only Vidhi that exists for all the branches including Amukta. In the context of other three branches, Prayoga means how to hurl or launch a weapon such as arrow, spear etc. This was known to all warriors.
- Upasanhara:This is advanced Vidhi in using a weapon. Upasanhara means recalling or withdrawing a weapon. This mainly deals with Muktamukta. Due to this, Upasanhara works mainly with mystical weapons. Once fired, such weapons can be recalled. Upasanhara details how to recall a fired weapon. Each weapon had its own Upasanhara. Ashwathama did not know this Vidhi for Brahmastra. That's why he could not recall it.
- Avarti:It means distress prevention. Avarti means using a weapon as a shield to prevent effect of an incoming weapon(s). The shield provided by this Vidhi could be small area (such as protecting self) or wide area (such as defending the whole army). Many warriors knew this Vidhi. However, it was best used by Bhishma among Kauravas and Arjuna as well as Bhima from Pandava side. Arjuna and Bhishma mainly used Avarti in archery whereas Bhima mainly used Avarti in mace and its other cousins in Amukta weapons.
- Prayashachitya:There are two Vidhis that none of the mortal/human guru could teach their students. Prayashachitya is one of them. Pratighata is the other one. Prayashachitya could be called the 'consequence reset' Vidhi among the Vidhis. The reason is that using this Vidhi, a warrior can bring allied soldiers or an innocents back to life who have lost their life due to one of the weapons used by the warrior. In other words, a warrior who knows this Vidhi can use a mystical weapon without the thought of collateral damage. Once the weapon has done its task, then he can give life back to those who were part of the collateral damage. Another aspect of this Vidhi was that the warrior can be selective in the effect doled out by the weapon. Hence, he can use a weapon and dictate who should be hurt and who should not be. Drona had to bear the curse of Saptarshis because he did not know this Vidhi and had cause death of countless soldiers from his camp. This Vidhi applied mainly to Muktamukta and Mantramukta branches.
- Pratighata:As stated earlier, Pratighata is one of the two Vidhis that none of the worldly Guru could teach. It enables a warrior to rebound a weapon (even if it is mystical) used against him. Here, rebound means utilizing the power of the weapon fired by the enemy against castor(s) themselves. This Vidhi could be used against any mystical weapon, including but not limited to Narayanastra. Similar to Prayashachitya, Pratighata applied to Muktamukta and Mantramukta branches.
What made Arjuna special?
In
the context of Vidhis, what made Arjuna special was his knowledge of
Prayashachitya and Pratighata which he gained through rigorous
austerities. None of the other archers, including Bhishma and Drona,
knew these two Vidhis. However, Arjuna never used Prayashachitya for the
reasons he enumerated in Udyoga Parava. Arjuna had received this
knowledge from Mahadeva himself when he propitiated Mahadeva in
Indrakila. Mahadeva had not imparted this knowledge to anyone else.
Hence, no one else knew the last two Vidhis.
Bhishma
had known that Arjuna was well-versed in all the five Vidhis, which was
why he said the following when he classified the warriors on both the
sides-
But all these warriors described so far on both sides pale in front of Dhananjaya. What car-warrior can be regarded as his equal, who, stationed on a single car' slew in battle a thousand Danavas, having their abode in Hiranyapura? Inflamed with wrath, possessed of great might and prowess, incapable of being baffled, that mighty-armed warrior, while protecting his own army, will certainly exterminate thy troops!Myself and preceptor (Drona) are only two among the two armies, and no third car-warrior, O great king, who can advance against Dhananjaya, that scatterer of arrowy showers!
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