The One handed Jacks

Corona Virus has pushed many things in life by several years. It has also brought in many past things once again to the forefront. The most popular serials of yesteryears "Ramayan" and "Mahabharat" have been brought back on the screen by Doordarshan. Seen unfailingly by millions when they were first telecast and viewed off and on Youtube, these serials are still in great demand. Even now there are vast sections of viewers who have made viewing them today a part of their daily routine.

Some characters make their appearance in both these epics. Lord Hanuman for example. There are many others as well. But there are many small characters who are mentioned in both the epics, but not form a part of these serials. Sunda and UpaSunda  are two such characters. Their reference comes in Ramayana in Baala Kanda and in Adi Parva of Mahabharata. The story of Sunda and Upa Sunda is indeed very interesting. It is not only interesting in itself but also provides characters who play vital roles in the epics themselves later on.

After Arjun wins the challenge in Draupadi Swayamvar and brings her to their hut, he playfully tells the mother, who is inside the hut, that they have come back with "Bhiksha" (alms) of the day. Unknowing the reality, Kunti immediately tells him that all the five brothers should equally share the day's bringing. As she comes out of the hut, she is confronted with reality. Then Lord Krishna arrives and explains the past of Draupadi, her penance and seeking a husband five times at a stretch. The boon has now become a reality and she has five husbands. One problem is solved and another is string at all the six of them.

It is at this stage that Sage Naarada appears before them and advises Yudhishtira to have a rule and not fight among themselves like Sunda and UpaSunda and destroy themselves. A satisfactory arrangement was reached and the issue was sorted out.

*****

Who are these Sunda and UpaSunda? They are the sons of NIkumbha, a member of Hiranyakashipu family. Sunda was the elder and UpaSunda was the younger. The word Upa means the "following or young". We are familiar with Indra and Upendra. Vamana was born much later as Indra's brother and as he is the younger brother of Indra, he is also called Upendra. Similarly Sunda and UpaSunda. The two brothers were very strong and powerful. Together they did a great penance addressing Lord Brahma with the intention of becoming immortals. But Brahma would not give such a boon. The two brothers were very fond of each other and more than best friends. So they thought of a boon which would be a trap for Brahma and make them immortals. They requested Brahma to give them a boon that no one could kill them except each other. Brahma smiled and gave the boon. The two brothers were very happy because they could not imagine a situation where they would be made to fight each other. With their strength increased even more due to the boon, they conquered the whole world and drove away Indra and others from heaven as well.

The boon was for their not being killed by others, but in one of the wars with the opponents, the left hand of Sunda was cut off. Though the brothers ultimately emerged victorious, Sunda was very sad for having lost the left hand. In order to comfort his elder brother, UpaSunda took the severed left hand of Sunda and made a Mace from it. With the Mace in his right hand, Sunda's original power was restored and he was back to normal. The one-handed Sunda with his mace was even more powerful than the original Sunda! The one handed Jack was now at his best. With new found energy, the two brothers wrought havoc on the three worlds. 

Unable to stand up to the combined powers of the two brothers, all the affected groups requested Lord Brahma to save them from the evil brothers. Brahma called Vishwakarma and ordered him to make a life size doll of the most beautiful girl ever created. Viswakarma took the best smallest particles of the size of Til from all living celestial girls and made a wonderful doll. Til is a small grain of the Sesame family, and Til Oil is famously used in cooking. Til is also widely used in death ceremonies.  The doll when finally created was given life by Brahma and named as "Tilottama" since she was the best by a Til's margin when compared with all other girls. 

Tilottama went near the two brothers and brought them under the spell of her beauty. The two brothers wanted to marry her. Neither was willing to yield ground to the other. Tilottama told them that she would marry the more powerful of the two. It then became necessary for them to show her who was stronger among the two. The two fought each other for the girl, forgetting their brotherly and friendly love and ultimately killed each other!

Maareecha and Subahu, the two Demons who were interrupting Sage Viswamitra's Yagnas  were the sons of this Sunda. Subahu was killed by Sri Rama. Maareecha was thrown far off. Ravana persuaded Maareecha much later to appear as the "Golden Deer" to wean away Sri Rama from Seetha and facilitate kidnapping of Sita by Ravana. Maareecha as the Golden Deer was also killed by Sri Rama. 

*****

Tilottama is, therefore, considered as more beautiful than the other celestial Nymphs like Rambha, Urvashi, Menaka, Ghrutachi etc. There was a 1951 Telugu film by name "Tilottama" made with Akkineni Nageswara Rao and Anjali Devi (dual role), but with a different storyline. Wadia Brothers were famous film makers of Bollywood of those days. The younger Wadia brother, Homi Wadia made a film by name "Tilottama" in 1954. Those were the days of popular mythological movies with special effects. Babhubhai Mistri, better known as "The Father of Indian Trick Photography" directed the movie. The scenes with trick photography were very special for the audience in those years. Music was provided by S N Tripathi. Songs like "Phoolonse Maarna" and "Jab Jab Nikalega Chand" sung by an upcoming artiste Asha Bhosle were hugely popular. It was well received in the box office as well. Later on many other movies were made in Malayalam, Bengali and other languages. Some of them have the name Tilottama, but are social movies as well. 

*****

Karoly Takacs was born in 1910 in Hungary and joined the Army as a young man. He was a wonderful shooter and by 1936 he was expected to win an Olympic Gold Medal in shooting for his country. He was not allowed to participate in 1936 Olympics as he was only a Sargent and not a Commissioned Officer then. Nevertheless, he practiced shooting relentlessly. Unfortunately, during one of the training days in the Army in 1938, a faulty grenade exploded seriously injuring his right hand making it useless. Takacs continued his practice with his left hand. People made fun of him, but he continued his practice secretly. To his bad luck, Olympics were cancelled in 1940 and 1944 due to Second World War. But he succeeded in winning the Gold Medal in 25 metres rapid fire pistol event with his left hand at 1948 London Olympics. He retired as a Lt. Colonel and became a successful coach later on. The story of Karloy Takacs untiring efforts is an inspiring motivational anecdote even today.

*****

Shawn Callahan is one of the famous and leading business story telling consultants. He is the author of the award winning book "Putting Stories to Work". His popular story titled "The One Arm Boy" deals with the story of a boy without the right hand who joined a Karate Club. He was keen to compete in a Karate Tournament. His coach agreed and taught him only one move. When the boy wanted the coach to teach other moves, coach refused and advised him to practice that one single move and achieve perfection in it. The boy grumblingly agreed and entered the tournament. He won the first round, then the second round and finally entered the finals as well. To the utter surprise of everybody he won the tournament final as well and became the champion! When the boy asked the coach after the tournament why he was taught only that one move, the coach replied: "The only defence for that one move for the opponent was to grab the right hand of the attacker!" The one handed Jack did hot have that right arm making the opponent was defenceless! The weakness itself turned out to became the greatest strength.

*****

A small slip on the uneven steps at the entrance of the Park on the way back from the usual morning walk caused a fracture on the wrist. The resultant plaster put the left hand out of commission for several weeks. I was myself a "One handed Jack" for some weeks. Managing the daily chores of life with one hand was indeed a challenge as well as an opportunity. It also provided time to contemplate on the "One Handed Jacks". Unable to use the left hand effectively, I was off from my blog posts during this time. This is the first post since about three months.

We do not understand the value of many things including our own god given organs. The value of a little finger is known only in such times. The Little Finger is not that Little, after all!