A Balinese Folktale: The Marriage of Abhimanyu
Sunday, August 12th, 2007 by Sidarta WijayaAbhimanyu, the son of Arjuna and Suprabha, was at page at the court of his uncle Krishna in the place of Dwarawati. Now Abhimanyu was betrothed before his birth to Krishna’s daughter, Ksiti Sundari, and was purposely brought together with her now by Krishna in order that he might fall in love with her. When Krishna went away to practice yoga in the mountains Sundari was left by him in charge of his brother Baladewa.
Now Baladewa had never for given Arjuna for the rape of his sister Subhadra, and was determined to prevent Abhimanyu’s marriage with Sundari; so he secretly arranged a marriage between her and Doryodhana’s son Lakshmanakumara, which was to take place while Krishna was away practicing yoga. Abhimanyu read over Baladewa’s shoulder a letter from Doryodhana, and went by night to Sundari’s room to tell her the bad news. The watchman heard them talking, and gave the alarm; the place was surrounded by Baladewa’s orders but Abhimanyu escaped with the help of Satyaki, Krishana’s nephew, and came exhausted to the graveyard, where he fell into a deep sleep. He was found by the servants of Bhatara Durga, and brought by them to their mistress in the Pura Dalem.
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