HOW PANDAVAS DIED?

After the war of Mahabharata, Yudhisthira became the king of Hastinapur. As he grew old , he along with his brothers and wife Draupadi decided to leave the kingdom and ascent a mountain to reach heaven or fall in the path to heaven, as only those who are vitueous, have a good heart and void of evils can reach heaven.They left the kingdom and the throne to Prakishit who is the grandson of Arjuna and son of Abhimanyu.

As they were heading towards the mountains to reach heaven,  they were accompanied by a dog. On their ascent , Draupadi fell down and death .When Bheema asked Yudhisthira why Draupadi died first. Was she not vitueous? Yudhisthira replied that she was more affectionate towards Arjuna than the rest of them. This bias was the cause of her falling.

Soon after Sahdev fell down. Bheema again questioned Yudhisthira about the cause of his brother death. Yudhisthira replied that Sahadeva was proud of his intellect and knowledge.

Next to fall in line was Nakula. Bheema was losing his patience by then and began yelling and questioned Yudhisthira about his falling.Yudhisthira as always replied that Nakula was very proud of his good looks and charm and boast himself about his look.That was the reason for his falling.

As Arjuna touched the ground, Bheema was unable to control his anger and grief and start thumping his chest and knelt down asking Yudhisthira for the answer for the death of the best archer.Yudhisthira, still calmed and composed, replied back that he was brilliant but conceited and over confident about his archery skills .He considered himself the best archer even without knowing the skills of the opponents.That was the reason for his demise.

Hearing those words from Yudhisthira, Bheema fell down.Your overconfidence in your strength and power is the reason for your falling, told Yudhisthira.

Now , Yudhisthira was the only surviving pandavas and was accompained by the dog on his ascent. As he reached the gates of heaven, Indra the God of heaven himself arrived at the gates to take Yudhisthira to heaven in his chariot .Indra told Yudhisthira that he possessed extra-ordinary abilities and qualities and was virtueous and better than all of the Pandavas in matter of Dharma. Yudhisthira asked Indra to allow the dog to accompany him to the heaven.Yudhisthira told him that the dog also possesses those qualities as it was also able to ascent the mountain and reach the gates of heaven.Thus dog must be allowed to accompany him. Indra rejected the plea. Yudhisthira turned and began his descent and that he would only go inside with the dog. Then the dog, who was actually the God Dharma in disguise appeared and blessed Yudhisthira and told him that it was the last test for him before he went into the heaven and he successfully cleared that.

And thus Yudhisthira went inside heaven with Indra on his chariot.

TWO PERSON MIGHTIER THAN RAVANA (OTHER THAN RAMA)

Contrary to what everyone believes that Ravana was the most powerful person alive at his time, obviously not comparable to one of the trinities(Ram) of the Hindu Mythology, there were two of his comtemporaries mightier than him. 

          Ravana's wishes, that were subsequently  fulfilled by the god Brahma, was not to be killed  by any God, Demons, Demi God, Mountains or Animals but he forgot to mention humans. After a series of events  he became the master of the three worlds; ruled over gods and planets. According to one folklore he even directed all the planets to be in correct position at the time of the birth of his son MeghNath or popularly known as Indrajit.

But to cut a long story short, who were  the two contemporaries who were more powerful than Ravana himself? Okay, you may have guessed the first one correctly.  Vali, King of KishKinda, son of Indra, elder brother of Sugriva and father of Angada. It is said that no person in the court of Ravana could even move Angada's feet by an inch. Vali had the boon to relay half of his opponent's energy into himself. According to the myths, one day Ravana, to prove his invincibility,  decided to challenge Vali when he was performing SandhyaVandana  (performed during sunset just as SuryaNamskara is performed during Sunrise).

At the first sight of Ravana, he was able to relay his energy within himself and grabbed Ravana by his  neck and performed his SuryaVandana by jumping over the Seven Oceans . Ravana tried to call for 'truce' but with no avail till his prayers were performed. Ravana might not be the mightiest among all humans but certainly he  got wits and befriended 'Vali' as the saying goes  "If you can't defeat them, join them".

There is also another story about Vali that he never put off fights or duals. When his wife, Tara, persuaded him to refuse the fight with Sugriva as 'Vishnu' himself is with 'Sugriva' in the form of 'Ram', he told her that he couldn't refuse duals; even if the challenger would be his son 'Anganda'. There is also a very good story about Tara(one of the Panchkanyas) but lets keep it for another day.

But who was the other one? Many may not have heard or have forgotten the name of "KartaVirya Arjuna". NO, he is not the same as the Arjuna of the Mahabhartha. Both of them bear similar names but were born in different era; one in Dwapar Yuga(Arjuna of MahaBhartha) and the other in Treta Yuga (KartiVirya Arjuna) . KartaVirya Arjuna was born as the result of  a boon received by his father from the God Dattatreya in which his father asked for a son who shall never be conquered by demigods, human beings, snakes, demons or hobgoblins but can be defeated only by the Almighty. Now we can conclude that (using some logic or boolean algebra as you please ) he was the strongest person alive on the Earth at the time of Ravana but we as humans only remember those who 'market themselves well'.Rules of Management were even applicable then.

Now back to the story of the dual of  Ravana and KartiviryaArjuna. Once Ravana was on his way to Lanka after his meeting with Lord Shiva. He sat on the banks of the river for offering prayers to the almighty. Some distance away, Kartivirya Arjuna was bathing along with his wives. One of the wives challenged Arjuna to stop the flow of river to showcase his strength. Arjuna, as he was blessed with thousand arms, stopped the flow of water thereby flooding in the areas nearby.This act broke the concentration of Ravana who was very furious. Ravana then asked his soldier to find the person responsible for the act. The soldier pointed to the direction of  KartiviryaArjuna. Ravana then marched towards Arjuna. When he reached, he couldn't believe what he was witnessing. Ravana challenged Arjuna for a dual but he was no match to Arjuna's prowess. Ravana thus had to face defeat in the hands of Arjuna and was taken into custody by Arjuna.

As Ravana belonged to the Pulastya clan (one among the mind sons of the creator Brahma), he was released by Arjuna on the behest of his grandfather Pulastya Rishi who was widely respected, renowned and admired by everyone. Until then  Kartivirya Arjuna was merciful, benevolent,  sympathetic, respected and was a beloved king. But what were the conditions/circumstances that led to the change of his heart and ultimately being put to silence by the almighty himself. We will ponder upon these on some other day.