Ulupi the Naga Queen
A compilation by Dean Dominic De Lucia
People,
Ulupi was a Naga Queen mentioned in the Mahabharata, from which The Bhagavad Gita is but a small extract. As follows, I have a tidbit or two from the Mahabharat about the Naga Queen Ulupi, from the Manipur region of the Himalayas.
The whole context is too much to include, but basically the son of her co-wife Queen Chitrangaya, the now-King Babhruvahana, was getting involved in a fight with Arjuna after the Bhagavad Gita War. Babhruvahana was Arjuna’s son, and Queen Chitrangaya was his mother. The young King Babhruvahana didn’t want to fight his father, and Arjuna became irritated by this, and then Babhruvahana’s co-mother Ulupi made her appearance.
In this section we will see that Nagas can pass through solid matter as a ghost can pass throught a wall, that Nagas live underground, that they have mystic abilities and that they sometimes exhibit compassion towards humans and that they sometimes help humans.
The section is from the tenth and final volume of the unabridged, Debroy edition of the Mahabharata, on Page 508.
“The daughter of the serpent came to know what her husbad had said [Arjuna to the young King Babhruvahana] and could not tolerate it. Ulupi emerged through The Earth and reached the spot. She saw her son there [by extension, son of her co-mother] , distressed and with a downcast face, because he had been reprimanded by his father [Arjuna] who wished to fight with him. The serpent’s daughter, beautiful in all her limbs, approached him. Ulupi was accomplished in the dharma of Kshatriyas [warriors] and spoke these words. ‘Know me to be Ulupi. I am your mother and the daughter of a serpent. Act in accordance with my words. You will then be established in supreme dharma. O scorcher of enemies! Fight with Dhananyaya, foremost among Kurus. [Kuru dynasty] There is no doubt that he will be pleased with this.’ O bull among the Bharata lineage! King Babhruvahana was thus instigated by his mother and made up his mind to fight.”
At one point in the combat Arjuna became delighted by his son’s valor, but he felt that he should not opress his son excessively. On the other hand, Babhruvahana thought that his father was no longer willing to fight shot an Arrow that impaled itself in Arjuna’s heart. And thus, Arjuna died.
Then, Babhruvahana’s mother and co-wife of Ulupi, Queen Chitrangaya, came upon the scene and saw that Arjuna, her husband, was dead on the ground, killed by her son. And she saw Ulupi. She said, on Page 510: ‘O Ulupi! Behold. Our victorious husband [Arjuna] is lying down in the battle, slain. This is because of how you instigated my child. Are you not noble? Do you not know dharma? Are you not devoted to our husband? Because of what you have done, our husband has been killed and is lying down in the battle. Even if he were to have committed all manner of crimes towards you, I am beseeching you now to forgive him. Give him his life back. O beautiful one! You are indeed noble. You know about dharma and are famous in the three worlds. Having caused our husband to be killed by our son, why are you not grieving?’ ... After further speech, Chitrangaya sat down, prepared to fast until death.
King Babhruvahana directed his speech to his co mother Queen Ulupi and Said, on Page 512: ‘O daughter of the best of serpents! Behold. Your husband has been slain by me. I have slain Arjuna in the battle and have now accomplished what is agreeable to you. I will now follow the path traversed by my father. O beautiful one! I am incapable of sustaining myself any longer. My mother and the wielder of the Gandiva bow will also be dead. O Queen! Be delighted. This is the truth you have realized today.’ Then he also decided to fast until deeath, just as his mother had decided to do.
Page 513 - 514: “At this, Ulupi thought of the samjivanam jewel. Devoted to serrpents, it presented itself. O Kouravya! The daughter of the King of Serpents grasped it and she spoke these words, which delighted the minds of soldiers. ‘O son! Arise. Jishnu has not been slain by you. He is incapable of being defeated by men and not even by the gods, with Vasava. For the sake of causing pleasure to your illustrious father, Indra among men, I invoked the maya known as Mohini today. O son! Kouravya desired to test your strength. Oh King! That slayer of enemy heroes came here today to fight against you in an encounter. Oh son! It is for his sake that I incited you to fight. O son! O Lord!You should not entertain the slightest bit of doubt about your having committed a sin. This man is an immensely energetic rishi. He is eternal and indestructable. O son! Even Shakra is incapable of defeating him in a battle. O Lord of the Earth! This divine jewel has been summoned by me. Like Amrita, it always revives the Indras among serpents when they die. O LOed! Place this on your father’s chest. O son! You will again see that Pandava has come back to life.’
Page 514: “He affectionately placed the jewel on his father’s, the infinitely energetic Partha’s, chest. When that jewel was placed, the brave Lord Arjuna was revived. Cleansed, the one with the red eyes arose, as if from sleep.” Arjuna asked about the situation, and in particular, asked why were the young King’s mothers on the battleground.
Page 515: Ulupi, the daughter of the King of Serpents laughed and replied: ‘Not you, nor King Babhruvahana have committed any crimes. His mother follows my commands like a maid servent. Listen to how I have brought everything about. You should not display anger towards me. I bow down my head and seek your favors. ... In the Mahabharata War, you slew the King who was Santanu’s son by resorting to adharma. O Partha! My act has freed you from that. O brave one! You did not bring down Bhishma while he was fighting with you. He was slain by you while he was engaged in a dual with Shikhandi. Had you given up your life without pacifying that sin, there is no doubt that, because of that wicked deed, you would have descended into hell. Through your son, you have now obtained pacification. O Lord of the Earth! O immensely intelligent one! Earlier, when the Vasus were with Ganga, I heard the Vasus talk about this, when they came to the Banks of the Ganga after the King who was Shantanu’s son had been slain. Having approached the great river, the gods, the Vasus, bathed there. With Bhagirathi’s permission, they then uttered these terrible words. ‘This Bhishma, Santanu’s son, has been slain by Arjuna, although Arjuna was not fighting in the battle with him. O beautiful one! He was engaged with somone else. O beautiful one! Because of this reason, we are pronouncing a curse on Arjuna.’ “Ganga agreed to this. My senses were greatly afflicted and I reported this to my father. Hearing this, he was also plunged into supreme grief. For your sake, on many occasions, my father went to the Vasus and repeatedly tried to seek their favors. They eventually told him that, because the King of Manipur was young, if he uses his arrows in the midst of a battle, that he will bring Arjuna to the ground, and that if this is done, then he will be freed from the curse. Having heard this from him, I have freed you from the curse. Even the King of the Gods is incapable of defeating you in battle. The son is said to be like one’s own self, such that you have been vanquished by your own self. O Lord Arjuna! Thus no sin attachés to me. What do you think?” And Arjuna replied: ‘Everything that you have doine is extremely agreeable to me.’
As we see from everything above, we can certainly conclude that the Nagas are capable of refined instincts and feelings. This is good to know because the fact that they are associated with serpents or serpent genes is something ahat always scares us away from them.