Mahabharata – Uloopi – {Ep.225} – Stories From India – Podcast

Today’s story is about Uloopi, a snake princess who marries the Pandava prince Arjun. Her superpowers include lighting fires underwater and bringing the dead back to life!

Welcome to “Stories From India”. This is a podcast that will take you on a journey through the rich mythology, folklore and history of the Indian subcontinent. I am Narada Muni, the celestial storyteller and the original “time lord”. With my ability to travel through space and time, I can bring you fascinating stories from the past, the present, and the future. From the epic tales of the Mahabharata and Ramayana to the folktales of the Panchatantra to stories of Akbar-Birbal and Tenali Raman, I have a story for every occasion.

The purpose of the stories is neither to pass judgment nor to indoctrinate. My goal is only to share these stories with people who may not have heard them before and to make them more entertaining for those who have.

Today’s Story

We’re back to the Mahabharata. And while the story features some of the main characters, today’s story is not strictly speaking on the main storyline. That is to say today’s story does not cause any of the main events in the Mahabharata, or make any difference to it. But the opposite is true – a couple of the main Mahabharata events caused the events in this story.

So I’m going to walk a tightrope here and try to cover enough essentials from the Mahabharata main storyline for today’s story to make sense, while also avoiding giving away some major spoilers.

We’ll start directly with Uloopi. She was a princess, who was a snake. And she lived in a snake colony in the river Ganga. But if you thought life under water was something to be an endless musical extravagance like in The Little Mermaid, or one fun escapade after another like Spongebob, you’d be quite wrong. The light wasn’t great, sound did not carry very far, and there was toxic industrial waste constantly being dumped into the river.

And what was probably worse was that the entire colony of snakes had PTSD to deal with. The chief reason for that was Garuda. You see, Garuda is half-man half bird and he’s the King of the Birds, and also Vishnu’s vehicle. We covered his story in Episode 177 and Episode 178, in which we saw that Garuda decimated his cousins, the Nagas, who were snake people. 

And this snake colony under the river Ganga was sadder than most. Because they had lost many of their family in that massacre. Husbands, wives, fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters had suddenly been lost overnight. Amongst the widows was the Princess – Uloopi.

She’d been lucky to have survived, but her husband hadn’t.
Her father, King Kauravya, often urged her to find another husband – they had plenty of handsome eligible snake bachelors in their colony who would all jump at the chance to marry Uloopi. Even though snakes couldn’t really jump. It was just an expression Kauravya explained.

Uloopi resisted. Talking to even one prospective snake husband was a slippery slope. Soon she’d be fighting off suitors by the dozen.

Meanwhile, let’s head back above the surface. And let’s specifically go to Indraprastha. It was a city, about where modern day New Delhi is located. And in here lived the pandavas – but things weren’t very chirpy here either.

It wasn’t the loss of near and dear ones that brought about the gloom in Indraprastha.

But before I explain why, let me start by explaining that the 5 Pandava brothers shared a wife. Draupadi. The story of how she ended up married to all 5 Pandavas, is a complicated one. And it deserves a separate episode by itself. Obviously it cast neither the brothers nor their mother Kunti in the best possible light.

I, myself,  did try to talk them out of such an arrangement, and I even told them the story of Tilottama, back from Episode 176.

They didn’t buy it, which I should have expected. They even went so far as to call me a snake oil salesman. But ultimately with a bit more salesmanship, each of the brothers agreed to spend a year with Draupadi at a time. And during that time, the other brothers were forbidden to even approach her rooms. Reluctant though I was, I reconciled with this idea in my mind because it was the equivalent of Draupadi divorcing one brother and remarrying another. Throughout, the brother who was with Draupadi at the time would stay loyal to her and she would stay loyal to them.

So, this strange arrangement went into effect. It was Yudhishthir’s turn first, because he was the eldest Pandava brother. Arjun was the middle Pandava brother and a general do-gooder. People would go to him for help, and he’d always drop everything and help. To the Indraprastha citizens, he was their agony aunt, and their local police and fire department combined. Because if there was a problem, Arjun could solve it. And almost invariably he could solve it with his bow and arrow.

Was a kitten stuck in a tree? Arjun could fire an arrow that would pierce a branch and make it lean at precisely the angle to make it possible for the kitten to softly hop off. Was there a rat in the grain silo? Arjun could give the little blighter a nudge to never again chomp away at their grain.

So one day, a farmer came to him to say that his roof was leaking. Could Arjun come and help him?

Of course, Arjun said he was more than happy to help. “All we need is a careful trigonometric calculation, a well-placed arrow and Bob’s your uncle” he explained.

The farmer retorted that no, his uncle wasn’t named Bob. His name was Sukharam. But more importantly wouldn’t it be better for Arjun to try using M-seal – or plumber’s putty instead of an arrow?

Arjun clarified that he had arrows for everything. One of them was sure to be stronger than M-seal in creating a waterproof seal in the farmer’s hut. There was no question about it. Now, could the farmer wait while Arjun fetched his bow and arrows?

It was only after searching through his arsenal that Arjun realized he’d left his bow and arrows in Draupadi’s chamber. He had been showing something off right before the one-Pandava-a-year arrangement kicked in.

The farmer said they might make do with a ladder and plumber’s putty, and that was true. But to Arjun, the thought of going a whole year without his bow and arrows was a very unpleasant one. Could Harry Potter have survived a year without a wand? Or could Darth Vader have managed without his lightsaber?

So he burst into Draupadi’s bedroom, unannounced. And came face to face….with Yudhishtir.

Yudhishthir demanded to know what was the meaning of this intrusion.

Arjun asked who was asking. His older brother? Or the King, Judge and Jury of Indraprastha?

Not to be outdone at passing the responsibility, Yudhishthir replied “Jab tak ek bhai bol raha hai, ek bhai sun raha hai. Jab ek mujrim bolega, ek judge sunega”

Meaning as long as Arjun, the brother, was speaking, his brother would be listening. But if Arjun, the criminal, was speaking, the King of the land would be listening.

Arjun explained his situation. But that sounded like a pretty flimsy excuse to Yudhishtir the King. Why hadn’t Arjun simply sent a messenger instead of just bursting in like this?

Arjun sheepishly admitted that he hadn’t thought of that.

Well, the price for not remembering was 12 years of exile.

“12 years?!” Arjun protested. “You’ll each have had 3 years with Draupadi, and I’ll have had none. How is that fair? Remember, I was the one who beat her swayamvar challenge”

But Yudhishthir was firm. Arjun told himself that Bhima or Nakul or Sahadeva would have let it slide. At best they’d have wagged a finger at their brother. But if there was one thing Yudhishtir was really good at, it was doing things by the book. He never violated a rule, never told a lie, and always upheld the rules.

Which brings us back to why it was so gloomy in Indraprastha. Arjun, the local hero was banished. Now who would rescue their kittens from the trees, who would protect their grain from rodents? Yudhisthir promised as their King to look into it. He setup an exploratory committee to make recommendations.

Exiled from the kingdom, Arjun roamed around the country. He had no specific agenda, not at this time. He was being a typical tourist – trying the street food, making friends with the locals, getting a bunch of instant portraits speed-painted so he could keep them as memories of the trip. One day he reached the banks of the Ganga. Seeing all the locals dipping themselves in the river, Arjun decided to do that too. When in Benaras, do as the Benarasis do, he figured.

But when he dipped, he realized he did not emerge quickly out of the water like all the Benarasis. And the reason for this was that something had got a hold of his leg and was pulling him under. Was this the loch ness monster? Or the Kraken?! He didn’t panic. Though he should have. He had left his bow and arrows in the safety lockers before entering the river.

It turned out to be a good thing, because the force that was pulling him under was Uloopi. And she had the best intentions in mind. She quickly took him to an underwater cave that somehow had a supply of air. Arjun didn’t bother trying to understand the mechanics. He was just grateful to be able to breathe.

And looking at Uloopi, he saw she was a beautiful human-looking Princess. And there was a King too. Kauravya. “Father, I’ve been looking for a long time and today I finally found him – this is the man I want to marry”

“No” screamed both Arjun and Kauravya. Although for different reasons. Arjun wanted to stay loyal to Draupadi. Kauravya’s principal objection was that Arjun wasn’t a snake.

But Uloopi was stubborn – she ended up convincing them both. Arjun wanted to stay loyal, sure. But he wouldn’t get to be with Draupadi for almost 12 years. Besides the terms of the arrangement were that each Pandava brother could do what they pleased in the time they were not with Draupadi. That convinced Arjun. A little too well, as we shall see later in the episode.

Kauravya, the Snake King, accused his daughter of pulling his non-existent legs. Arjun wasn’t a snake. He had to admit Snake-human marriages weren’t unheard of. But the humans involved were usually royalty. And Arjun seemed like an ordinary human. It wasn’t until Arjun handed over a business card that Kauravya realized he was talking to a Pandava prince. The tourist disguise had completely fooled him. Of course, he would be delighted for his darling daughter to marry the great and illustrious Arjun. He was almost hisssterical.

It was wonderful for Arjun to see how the snake people overcame what he imagined to be massive logistical difficulties.

The pie-thon bakery, run by a python naturally, baked a whole bunch of sweets for their wedding.

A boa constructor constructed a little stage for the wedding. All inside the cave.

The only difficulty was when Arjun asked for his Bow, which he had left by the banks of the River Ganga. He kept being presented with various Boas, until he clarified that he wanted a curved piece of wood held together by a taut string, rather than the variety of snake or the long thin decorative scarf.

The fire was more tricky. But Arjun insisted on praying to Agni, the god of fire. Uloopi who was ready to do anything to please her husband, agreed. Besides, they were surrounded by water. So it wasn’t a hazard that they couldn’t easily take care of, if the emergency arose.

She furrowed her brows as she recalled her magical learnings. This is going to require two spells. She put together a small pile of firewood that some snakes fetched for her. She gazed it with concentration, she took two sticks and started rubbing them together. All the while she was chanting the magic word Addercadabra. Which surprised Arjun a bit, given she wasn’t an Adder but a Cobra. But maybe Abradacobra wasn’t as potent as Addercadabra. Anyway, Uloopi finally got the fire working. That pleased Arjun. It was rather impressive that she could light a fire underwater.

The wedding happened the same day. There was a lot of dancing involved, naturally. Snake, rattle and roll. Many of the wedding guests got drunk as well. Arjun observed with mild curiosity that some of the drunk snakes were now moving in a straight line instead of their usual slithering wave-like motion. Sort of the opposite of what you might expect from a drunk human who normally walks in a straight line.

A few days later, Arjun said he should get a move along. He said he had places to see, skills to learn, and no offense – but firing arrows underwater wasn’t the same as doing it above the surface. So he’d rather get a move on.

Uloopi wasn’t surprised, and she didn’t try to hold him back. Besides, she knew she would soon have a baby to take care of. Within months, she gave birth to a bouncing baby boa, I mean boy. She named him Iravan.

As all babies in the snake colony did, Iravan played with rattlesnakes instead of rattles.

And growing up, mother and son would spend hours playing his favorite board game – Snakes and Ladders of course.

Years passed. And in this time Arjun had traveled far and wide. He also took Uloopi’s advice about loyalty to Draupadi. Which is why he got married a second time. This time it was to Chitrangadaa, a Princess from a kingdom in Manipur. This is the third Chitrangada that we’re encountering in the Mahabharata. But those two other Chitrangadas made only a brief single-episode appearance back in Episode 83.

Anyway, Chitrangadaa’s father had no objections to his daughter’s marriage with Arjun. The only condition he had was that as the King had no other children, Chitrangadaa’s child would have to rule the Kingdom of Manipur. Arjun wouldn’t be able to just take him and crown him king of Indraprastha or Hastinapur or something.

That was an acceptable condition. Soon, Arjun and Chitrangadaa were married. And they had a son – Babruvahana.

There are a lot of details of Arjun’s meeting with Chitrangadaa that I’m just glossing over. Those deserve a separate episode of their own.

Arjun returned to Indraprastha when his exile was up, leaving in each case a wife and child behind.

Years passed. And then the Mahabharata war happened – to resolve a succession dispute. Without giving away too many spoilers, I’ll just say that Arjun put one of the warriors in great pain and caused his eventual demise. Not really surprising when you’re in a war, but the relatives of that warrior saw things differently. They cursed Arjun – that he would be killed – and that too by his own son.

Luckily for Arjun though, Uloopi was keeping a watchful eye on all this. She was well aware of the curse. She had also built a friendly relationship with Chitrangada and Babruvahana in the meantime, and would visit them often.

The time came when Yudhisthir performed an Ashwameda yagna. It was a campaign of expansion. A horse would be allowed to roam for a year. And whichever kingdoms it wandered into, the Kings there had a choice. Either fight, or give up their kingdoms to Yudhishtir.

And just to clarify, the Kings would not have to fight the horse, but the army that followed it closely. Heading that army was Arjun. Fresh off of his accomplishments on the battlefield, there were not many Kings that chose to fight him. That is, until he got to Manipur. Even there, Babruvahana, the current King, did not want to fight his father.

He was ready to sign over the documents, when Uloopi stopped him. “Don’t be a coward! You’re supposed to be better than all those kings who meekly handed over the Kingdom. Now go and make your father proud by fighting him!”

Babruvahana was still reluctant, but eventually his fighting spirit won out. He decided to fight Arjun.

What followed was a fierce battle between the two archers. Surprisingly, Babruvahana matched Arjun arrow for arrow. And in fact, he did one better. He managed to sneak in an arrow that caught Arjun right in the chest and killed him.

Immediately, Chitrangada was mad with anger. She had mistaken this real battle for what she initially thought would just be a little father-son bonding time. She thought it would end with Arjun letting Babruvahana go, and giving him some footwork suggestions in the bargain.

She was also mad at Uloopi for instigating Babruvahana to fight. But Uloopi had no time to listen. She was carefully unwrapping something. It was a brilliant diamond, also called a Nagamani.

This was the fabled gem that had miraculous powers!

Uloopi placed it on Arjun’s chest and instantly Arjun was back to life!

He was in the pink of health too, other than a slight headache for while Uloopi also gave him some Asprin. Arjun chuckled at the dad joke there, and then moved on to a much more serious topic.

If Chitrangada had the Nagamani, why hadn’t she just brought it to the war? So many people could have been saved! The Nagamani would have done all the work for them.

Uloopi explained that it didn’t work like that. The Nagamani needed to be charged for a long period for it to be effective. It was basically worthless now that it had been used, but she was going to take it back to her colony to charge it up again. In fact she shouldn’t delay it, she had to leave now and take her diamond back. Get it? Diamondback as in the snake.

Arjun chuckled again, and nodded yes. He understood and appreciated his wife’s brand of humor perfectly.

That’s all for now

Some notes on the show

Previous Mahabharata episodes are linked here: https://sfipodcast.com/category/mahabharata/ 

Many of the events I referenced are covered in these episodes.

One note, not really about the show. Some of you listeners will experience a solar eclipse on October 14. I think this is a good time for me to point you to Episode 86 where I’ve provided one explanation for eclipses, according to Indian mythology. There are other explanations of course, including one about Rahu, which warrants a separate episode.

That’s all for now. 

Next Time

In the next episode, we’ll be doing a story from the Kathasaritasagar or the ocean of the stream of stories. We’ll see a Prince on a quest to solve a difficult problem for his Kingdom. A problem that involves shapeshifting birds and golden arrows. But ultimately it works out, thanks to instantly appearing mountains, and rivers and of course loads of magical help!

Feedback

Thank you all for the comments on Social Media and on Spotify’s Q&A! I can’t directly reply to the questions there, but I’ll address them here on this show.

Thank you Hiranmayee and Bala for the comments.

I saw the poll results and I see many of you are interested in hearing a story about myself. So I will oblige – very soon. 

Also to note – that this coming Saturday, Stories From India will have completed 4 years! And the next episode will also be the 250th one(that is, if you include all the bonus episodes). So there are two reasons to celebrate!

If you have any other comments or suggestions or if there are particular stories you’d like to hear, please do let me know by leaving a comment or a review on the site sfipodcast.com, or reply to the questions on Spotify Q&A. You can also find me on Instagram and Facebook, and on X.

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A big thank you to each of you for your continued support and your feedback.

The music is from Purple Planet.

Thanks for listening and I’ll see you next time!