This big post will have quotes from mahabharat and links to it but it will also talk about the fanfiction tv serials to analyze how they portrayed Jarasandh.
DISCLAIMER:
Jarasandh was never one of my favorite characters but a tv series (suryaputr karn 2015) made me gain some sort of respect for him, i liked episode 125 where Jarasandh has a rematch with Karna and redeemed himself by trashing Karna compeletely despite the kavach kundala being a part of him. I downloaded that into a mp4 file just to cut a video clip out of it. Their pro trayal of Jarasandh though bad was still better than the way he was pro-traid in other versions of the Mahabharat shown on screen.
It is true on quora and other social media sites i often said things like "jarasandh can be defeated by anyone who has the strength of ten thousand elephants in their muscles, since sahadev, nakul, yudhisthir had that strength they could also have done it" "jarasandh could not string or lift the bow at Droupadi's Swayamvar but Arjun could so he would beat Jarasandh" although i had read sabha parva already at that time period i cared less about Jarasandh's power i thought lowly of him but i decided that i should give him some respect because honestly he is at the very least more powerful than Sahadev, Nakul, Yudhisthir, Duryodhan and other warriors.
I think i also may have made a mistake of ranking Keechak above Jarasandh but that is something i will discuss later on, first i must finish this post.
First i will talk about how the man gets pro traid in tv series then i will post relevant quotes from KmG's Mahabharat edition to show what Jarasandh achieved in his life.
In TV series:
This character was a world-conqeror, unfortunately he was never given any justice in TV serials except for the 86th episode of the SPK tv series (2015) unfortunately right after the 86th episode this fakebharat tv series had retconned the strength they once gave jarasandh MAYBE they (the tv serial producers/directors) understood they made him too powerful if they wanted to make pajeets like "karna" and "bhishma" look good infront of the audience.Their two mistakes (spk's writers) were showing him lose to Krishna in a fight & making him lose in the Swayamvar of Droupadi where even duryodhan did better than him.
What happened between Jarasandh and Bhishma?
As for Ekta Kapoor's Mahabharat she also failed to do justice to jarasandh's character. She showed him losing to Bhishma. While BR Chopra didn't give Jarasandh anything, the actor was okay though he was unfit, but all he was written out to be in that show was a king that had a good reputation but loses on screen everytime, first they showed him getting blinded by the Sudarshan Chakra of Krishna, then they showed him being defeated in a mace fight by Balaram.
They also showed a very poor fight with Bheem though Jarasandh losing is accurate the way he fought against Bheem was very pathetic. It is more disgraceful when you know what Ramanandan Sagar's "Shree krishna" television serial did to Jarasandh. Even though i h@te starplus mahabharat the most still i would choose that jarasandh over the sagar version of jarasandh.
Characterization:
They (BR Chopra) also showed Jarasandh (when he was talking to Rukmi) calling Parashuram "ji" which is what people consider a respectful term. Now this makes no sense to me as the director of that tv serial never showed why Jarasandh is willing to respect Parashuram but not Krishna... i do not believe that the real Jarasandh would respect Parashuram.
As for sanjay khan's "Jai Mahabharat" "Mahakavy Mahabharat" show (two names for the same tv serial) their pro trayal of Jarasandh was entirely different. In the episode which depicts Draupadi's Swayamvar they showed that Jarasandh respects Shiva alot and he prayed to him before attempting to string the bow but then he saw Droupadi paying her respects to him (upon the advice of Krishna) thus he realized that Droupadi was like a daughter to him in terms of age and Jarasandh himself withdrew from the competition as it would be against his own morals to pursue a romantic relationship with Drupad's daughter.
After that he is not shown until the battle with Bheem occurs which was another poorly done fight. But it should be noted that it was the only time he fought on screen in that show.
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Post.
Here are the multiple quotes from Mahabharat's KMG translation.
THIS IS THE MAJOR PART OF THE POST.
1 - Jarasandh dominated the Yayati & Bhoja clan:
"The descendants of Yayati and the Bhojas are great, both in extent (number) and accomplishments. O king, these last are to-day scattered all over the earth. And all the Kshatriyas worship the prosperity of those monarchs. At present, however, O monarch, king Jarasandha, overcoming that prosperity enjoyed by their whole order, and overpowering them by his energy hath set himself over the heads of all these kings."
2 - Jarasandh reigned over Mathura after he defeated the previous rulers (ugrasen, vasudeva, krishna, balram etc):
"And Jarasandha, enjoying the sovereignty over the middle portion of the earth (Mathura), resolved to create a disunion amongst ourselves. O monarch, the king who is the lord paramount of all kings, and in whom alone the dominion of the universe is centered, properly deserves to be called an emperor.
3 - thirty three different clans living in aryavarth abandoned their kingdom (where the panchals and matsyas went to is unknown) cause of Jarasandh's power;
"O exalted one, the eighteen tribes of the Bhojas, from fear of Jarasandha, have all fled towards the west; so also have the Surasenas, the Bhadrakas, the Vodhas, the Salwas, the Patachchavas, the Susthalas, the Mukuttas, and the Kulindas, along with the Kuntis. And the king of the Salwayana tribe with their brethren and followers; and the southern Panchalas and the eastern Kosalas have all fled to the country of the Kuntis. So also the Matsyas and the Sannyastapadas, overcome with fear, leaving their dominions in the north, have fled into the southern country. And so all the Panchalas, alarmed at the power of Jarasandha, have left their own kingdom and fled in all directions."
4 - Jarasandh's victory;
"That lord of Magadha, the mighty Jarasandha, having fully brought under his subjection the goddess Earth, oppressed her by his energy."
[as per Dhritrashtra either Jarasandh subjugated a goddess or he subjugated 51 percent of the known earth anyone that has more than half can make a claim of owning the entire package/item]
5 - unknown kings were bound by him.
"By him have been immured in his hillfort numerous monarchs, like a lion that hath deposited the slain bodies of mighty elephants within a cave of the king of mountains. O slayer of all enemies, king Jarasandha, desirous of offering in sacrifice hundred monarchs, adored for his fierce ascetic penances the illustrious god of gods, the lord of Uma. It is by this means that the kings of the earth have been vanquished by Jarasandha. And, O best of monarchs, he hath by that means been able to fulfil the vow he had made relative to his sacrifice. By defeating the kings with their troops and bringing all of them as captives into this city, he had swelled its crowds enormously."
6 - The distance to which a object released from Jarasandh's hand can travel:
O Bharata, the mighty king of Magadha from his city of Girivraja, whirling a mace ninety-nine times, hurled it towards Mathura. At that time Krishna of wonderful deeds was residing at Mathura. The handsome mace hurled by Jarasandha fell near Mathura at a distance of ninety-nine yojanas from Gririvraja The citizens beholding the circumstance well, went unto Krishna and informed him of the fall of the mace. The place where the mace fell is adjacent to Mathura and is called Gadavasan.
7 - Jarasandh's first campaign;
"O king, after his father and mothers had retired into the woods, Jarasandha by his valour brought numerous kings under his sway."
8 - Over 86 kings were subjugated by Jarasandh;
"A hundred dynasties of kings have become unable to oppose Jarasandha. He, therefore, p. 37 may be regarded to be an emperor for his strength. Kings that are wearers of jewels worship Jarasandha (with presents of jewels). But, wicked from his childhood, he is scarcely satisfied with such worship. Having become the foremost among all, he attacketh yet with violence kings with crowns on their heads. Nor is there seen any king from whom he taketh not tribute. Thus hath he brought under his sway nearly a hundred kings. How can, O son of Pritha, any weak monarch approach him with hostile intentions? Confined in the temple of Shiva and offered as sacrifice unto him like so many animals, do not these monarchs dedicated unto that god feel the most poignant misery, O bull of the Bharata race? A Kshatriya that dieth in battle is ever regarded with respect. Why shall we not, therefore, meet together and oppose Jarsandha in battle? He hath already brought eighty-six kings; fourteen only are wanting to complete one hundred."
9 - Accolade given to him during birth;
"other monarchs of the earth will not be able to equal in energy this thy son, who will be endued with great valour. And all those that will stand in his way will certainly be destroyed. Like the force of the current that can never make the slightest impression upon the rocky breast of a mountain, weapons hurled at him even by the celestials will fail to produce the least pain in him."
"If the valiant Jarasandha had stood armed with his mace, the very gods with Indra at their head could not have slain him in battle." [this is stated by Krishna, though he says many untruths so it is doubtful whether this claim was accurate]
10 - Allies;
"And, O monarch, king Sisupala endued with great energy, hath placed himself under his protection and hath become the generalissimo of his forces. And, O great king, the mighty Vaka, the king of the Karushas, capable of fighting by putting forth his powers of illusion, waiteth, upon Jarasandha, as his disciple."
"There are others also viz., Dantavakra, Karusha, Karava, Meghavahana, that wait upon Jarasandha. He also that beareth on his head that gem which is known as the most wonderful on earth, that king of the Yavanas, who hath chastised Muru and Naraka, whose power is unlimited, and who ruleth the west like another Varuna, who is called Bhagadatta, and who is the old friend of thy father, hath bowed his head before Jarasandha, by speech and specially by act."
IMPORTANT - The same gandharv king chitrasen (that defeated karna) was a normal general of Jarasandh's army:
"Then, O bull of the Bharata race, the king, on the eve of battle, thought of his two generals Kausika and Chitrasena."
Dimvaka and Hansa:
"There are two others, Hansa and Dimvaka, of great energy and great soul, who have sought the shelter of the mighty Jarasandha."
"He hath two friends that are like unto the immortals, and in point of strength the foremost of all men endued with might. They are called Hansa and Dimvaka who are both incapable of being slain by weapons. The mighty Jarasandha, being united with them, becomes incapable, I think, of being vanquished by even the three worlds."
"Jarasandha had two supporters called Hansa and Dimvaka, both of whom were incapable of being slain by weapons. Well-conversant with the science of politics and morality, in counsel they were the foremost of all intelligent men. I have already told thee everything about that mighty pair. They two and Jarasandha, I believe, are more than a match for three worlds. O brave king, it was for this reason that the powerful Kukkura, Andhaka and Vrishni tribes, acting from motives of policy, did not deem it proper to fight with him."
Krishna's word; "Ourselves consisting of the eighteen younger branches of the Yadavas arrived at the conclusion that even if we struck our enemies continually with excellent weapons capable of taking the lives of the foes, we should p. 34 still be unable to do anything unto him even in three hundred years."
"Then, O great king, remembering the conclusion to which we had come of old we became exceedingly cheerless and fled from Mathura. Dividing our large wealth into small portions so as to make each portion easily portable, we fled from fear of Jarasandha, with our cousins and relatives. Reflecting upon everything, we fled towards the west. There is a delightful town towards the west called Kusasthali, adorned by the mountains of Raivata. In that city, O monarch, we took up our abode."
"We also, O king, from fear of Jarasandha, at one time had to leave Mathura and fly to the city of Dwaravati."
Conclusion; Krishna not once but many times accepted the fact he fled. This is not to say Krishna was weak, in my opinion Krishna was not in charge, it was his grandfather Ugrasen who may have decided to flee so as a loyal grandson Krishna followed his grandfathers lead.
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Misconceptions about him:
1 - "Bhishma defeated Jarasandha."
Quote;
"That the Kauravas in consequence of Bhishma's prowess, and the Andhakas and the Vrishnis in consequence of their policy, could not be subjugated by him was due only to their good fortune."
My conclusion: The battle with Bhishma was inconclusive it did not have a result, their was a treaty signed.
Why? Because dhritarashtra calls it good fortune which is very rare, it means that such a incident would not happen often if the same scenario was repeated continuosly. And he only mentioned how they (Kaurava's) could not be conquered indicating that Jarasandh is the agressor who attacked while the Kauravs just defended but also it shows that Jarasandh did not lose as if he did lose then either he would have died or an alliance would have been formed or Dhritarashtra would have mentioned it. Now clearly the andhaka's and vrishni's did not defeat Jarasandh, they were Yadav tribes that abandoned Mathura to be in Dwaravati (dwaraka).
Answer; My belief is that Jarasandh defeated the kaurava brothers or he demanded they accept his rule but then Bhishma intervened either as per someone's plea or as per his own sense of duty as he was indebted to Duryodhan. They had a fight and neither side could win so Jarasandh agreed to not subject the kauravas to his campaign. It was likely a battle of archery and not sword or mace as that was not Bhishma's fortitude.
Maybe; Bhishma might have cut a bow of Jarasandh and then Jarasandh challenged him to a mace fight and Bhishma refused thinking that Jarasandh would always win.
As per Bhagvatam (a fake text) Hastinapur agreed to assist Jarasandh in war against Mathura or Dwaraka, a incident occured where Pradyumna defeated Bhishma, Karna and Virat with Drupad too.
Misconception 2 - "Karna fought Jarasandh in the kingdom of Kaling"
What happened at Kaling?
Quoted text: "A great uproar then took place among the kings, all of whom were actuated by the desire for fight, 'Put on your coats of mail! Let the cars be made ready!' (These were the sounds that were heard). Filled with wrath, they pursued Karna and Duryodhana, showering their arrows upon them like masses of clouds pouring rain upon a couple of hills. As they thus pursued them, Karna felled their bows and arrows on the ground, each with a single arrow. Amongst them some became bowless, some rushed bow in hand, some were on the point of shooting their shafts, and some pursued them, armed with darts and maces. Possessed of great lightness of hands, Karna, that foremost of all smiters, afflicted them all. He deprived many kings of their drivers and thus vanquished all those lords of earth."
REASONS WHY JARASANDH DID NOT LOSE TO KARNA HERE; just all kings as a quote is not enough, you have to consider the fact that the term all lords of earth or all kings is always used alot and how duryodhan was not a king yet he gets called king many times even though he lived and died as a prince, and their were alot of prince's at the swayamvar not only kings, since Jarasandh's name was not mentioned in this quote this can never be considered his loss.
Next quote;
"Hearing of the fame of Karna's might, the ruler of the Magadhas, king Jarasandha, challenged him to a single combat. Both conversant with the celestial weapons, a fierce battle took place between them in which they struck each other with diverse kinds of arms. At last when their arrows were exhausted and bows and swords were broken and they both became carless, they began, possessed of might as they were, to fight with bare arms."
analyzing; it clearly says Jarasandh heard of karna's power, so he never fought Karna in the Kalinga Swayamvar, when the above quore clearly says that not only Jarasandh but even karna's arsenal of weapons was exhausted used up etc it shows that Jarasandh could hold his own against Karna so a conclusion is that it would be impossible for a powerful man like Jarasandh to be defeated by Karna at the Swayamvar when so many other people are at his side, if it happened then it would have been mentioned, but it was not so no Jarasandh didnt fight him here.
Basically; Santi Parva also does not mention anything about Jarasandh inviting karna at malini to avenge his defeat, nothing suggests that Jarasandh encountered Karna prior to the Malini incident. The reason Jarasandh invited Karna is because he heard of what karna did to other kings in the swayamvar. Jarasandh was not among the people that karna beat in that Swayamvar.
SO - Jarasandh did not fight Karna at Kaling.
Misconception 3 - "Karna defeated Jarasandha."
Truth - their are two conlusions i came when dealing with this misconception
either karna merely pleased Jarasandh in a short test fight and it was not a serious or significant or relevant battle because karna did not have the power required to kill or defeat Jarasandh, if he did then he wouldn't have been defeated by the Gandharva soldiers, Drupada, Satyaki, Bheem, Ghatotkatch, Dhrishtadyumn, Abhimanyu in fair fights. In Mahabharat Karna loses to all of these characters and is even frightened on two occasions by Nakul who is inferior to those warriors. If Jarasandh could be beaten by Karna then Krishna would not have feared him, (and yes Krishna did fear Jarasandh).
So basically (1st conclusion) "Jarasandh lost to Karna because Jarasandh only pretended to be defeated he wanted to test his friend's power before pursuing an alliance with him"
Or (2nd conclusion) - Jarasandh never even fought Karna he did not engage him in a battle. Which meant it is an interpolation (added later on aka not present in the original story/text).
The 2 conclusions are: Either the quotes that mention karna winning against jarasandh are interpolated or Jarasandh simply did not consider this a serious fight & just wanted to test the power of Karna to see if he is worthy of an alliance.
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Bonus; The quotes used by people to prove Karna won.
1) Sisupal:
"Praise thou, O Bhishma, this Karna, the ruler of the territories of Anga and Vanga, who is equal in strength unto him of a thousand eyes, who draweth a large bow, who endued with mighty arms owneth celestial ear-rings of heavenly make with which he was born and this coat of mail possessing the splendour of the rising sun, who vanquished in a wrestling encounter the invincible Jarasandha equal unto Vasava himself, and who tore and mangled that monarch."
Analyzing this quote; it says Karna was a ruler of Vanga as well, which is doubtful, how can this quote be trusted? We always here about Karna getting associated with the Anga's but never the Vanga's this is the first and last time karna was associated with this tribe.
Arjun donated to the vanga region in this chapter; https://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/m01/m01218.htm
Logic - why would Arjun donate to Karna of all people? Now as much as i respect Sishupal i dont think that this Karna beating Jarasandh quote is credible.
2) The only jarasandh vs karna fight that was described;
"While engaged with him in mortal combat with bare arms, Karna was about to sever the two portions of his antagonist's body that had been united together by Jara. The king (of Magadha), then after feeling himself p. 8 very much pained, cast off all desire of hostility and addressed Karna, saying, 'I am gratified.' From friendship he then gave unto Karna the town Malini."
Conclusion i came to: Jarasandh's desire was to test Karna's archery skills & sword combat skill not his wrestling skill, when they resorted to unarmed combat it was not wrestling but instead it was more of a fist vs fist fight or mixed martial arts, it was a unexpected turn of events for Jarasandh as his first action was to use a bow with arrows.
Reasoning; jarasandh upon feeling that pain chose not to resort to strength instead he said "i am gratified" and karna released him. Why do you think he chose to say it? It was not because karna was strong it is actually because Jarasandh knew that Karna would let him go after that so he refused to continue the battle. If Jarasandh wanted to then he could have continued the battle and attempt to turn the situation around in his favor but he refused. It also was not decided that the battle would be to death or that they would start with wrestling, both parties agreed to first use arrows. Some warriors wrestled for entertaining the spectators, others did it to test themselves or their peers. This incident is not credible for ranking Jarasandh's prowess. If it was a war then it would be more credible, but it was not.
3) Bhishma Parva;
"The mighty and invincible king Jarasandha also, ever boastful of his prowess in battle, could not become thy match in fight!"
while it is true that Bhishma mentions it at the tenth day of kurukshetra at the same time he contradicted himself and called Jarasandh invincible
my take on the quote is that Jarasandh was not taking the fight seriously enough and bhishma was referring to that as it was the only fight that happened between karna, jarasandh etc
Why this incident doesn't make sense. When Dhritarashtra is making attempts for peace their is a mention of Bheem getting immense praise and accolades, one of his acheivements mentioned is how he defeated Jarasandh and killed him. Nowhere do they bring Karna in the mix as even Dhritarashtra did not hold karna in high esteem, he didn't consider Karna a match for big names like Jarasandh, Bheem etc.
Quote;
"That the Kauravas in consequence of Bhishma's prowess, and the Andhakas and the Vrishnis in consequence of their policy, could not be subjugated by him was due only to their good fortune." [End quotE.]
POINT TO BE NOTED; as per Dhritrashtra the reason jarasandh didn't annex Hastinapur into his territory is Bhishma not Karna.
If karna really beat Jarasandh then these characters (shalya, ashwathama, kripa, drona, bhishma) would not be calling karna out for failing in his battles or bragging about himself. And as per Mahabharat they did call karna out for being a failed ally, friend & warrior.
Even earlier on in the Vaivahika & Viduragamana (2 sub-parvas of "Adi Parva") chapters these people warned Duryodhan and Dhritrashtra and Karna about the power that Pandava's possesed. Where was the mention of Karna fighting Jarasandh? Where did any of them say in those chapters that they have karna who beat Jarasandh so they dont need to worry about 1 Arjuna, 1 Krishna, 1 Bheem etc?
If he beat jarasandh then these people would have said "karna is right, he is justified to brag like this, the pandavs are a joke infront of karna, i want a mard like karna to be on our side not a impotent kutta like Hanuman!"
Also; The conquests of Jarasandh definitely surpassed whatever Karna did in his fakevijay yatra if Kripacharya or Bhishma were ever asked in their life who has achieved more they would pick Jarasandh not Karna as Karna never won against significant lords of the earth neither did he achieve anything spectaCular against Arjun before kurukshetra.
In this post i have provided many quotes and links to sabha parva where Jarasandh's exploits are mentioned. Compare that to pre-kurukshetra Karna and you will agree that Karna is not half as strong as Jarasandha. So bhishma mentioning it could be a clerical error or the fight he referred to was lost by Jarsandh due to the fact he didnt consider karna a enemy worthy of his full power.
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Additional conclusions;
As per Bhagavatam the two pajeets (karna, bhishma) were vassals, fiefs etc (dependent servants) of Jarasandh. Ins earch for allies a sher (Jarasandh) recruited two kuttis (bhishma & karna) to be his pawns in the battle against Dwaraka, Mathura etc.
As per Mahabharat their was only one battle between Jarasandh and Karna & it was not at a Swayamvar. And if we read Udyoga Parva, Vana Parva etc it seems like Karna was inferior to Jarasandha, Bheem etc because the poets, scribes and advisors of Dhritashtra praised Bheem not Karna.
As per most TV serials Jarasandh was a minor character who didn't have much of a impact in Mahabharat.
As per Madhvacharya's text Jarasandh lost once to Karna, but then he made Karna run away when Duryodhan tried abducting the daughter of Suvraja (another king), and Jarasandh was an incarnation of Kartaveerya Sahastrarjuna, while Sisupal was Ravan's avatar & jArasandha was also a ansh of the sudarshan chakra. The reason for his defeat to karna was because Karna fought without a spirit of comeptitive feeling but then in their 2nd fight karna lost because he made the mistake of being competitive.
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What i concluded for myself;
1. I would never rank Jarasandh among the elite mace fighters of Mahabharat but i would rank him as a top wrestler.
2. I believe most of Jarasandh's fights were with bow and arrows, in his campaigns across aryavarth (yes the aryan invasion was true and it was a land of racist aryans not honorable natives).
3. Jarasandh was probably feared by people due to three reasons one - his physical strength two - the political alliances he formed with a emperor like vishmaka (rukmini's father not that pajeet son of ganga), a warrior like Sisupal (he did burn Dwaraka down once sisupal is superior to hanuman), and alot of other people. 3 - because of Jarasandh's two generals (Hansa, Dimvika), they must have been hard to defeat.
4. I dont believe the story of Kal yavan though. And i dont think their was another asura named Naraka that lived in the same era of Krishna, Balaram, Duryodhan, Arjun, Jarasandh, Sisupal. If their was such a asura that existed in that era then he cannot be considered a winner of the 3 worlds because it makes no sense how so many world conquerors can co exist at the same exact time, how can the world be repeatedly conquered by multiple people in a timespan of less than 40 years? It just doesn't make sense.
5. My last conclusion is that Jarasandh's 2 main advantages were his alliances with several kings & his close combat skills (though he almost certainly used the arrow alot more he was still more proficient in close combat with swords, axes, fists, maces etc).
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My next post will be either about Satyaki or how many Aukshounis were truly slain in the Kurukshetra battle.
