Mahabharata Part 2

Hi Everyone,

In my previous article i had written story till return of Pandavas to Hastinapur with Draupadi. If you have not read the previous article then here is the link -> https://medium.com/@poojasingla/mahabharata-54ab0077d2cf

After their return all the elders started pushing Dhritrastra to appoint Yudhistira prince again. But in his absence Duryodhana was selected as prince and he refused to give this position to anyone. Dhritrastra was blind with filial love.He did not have courage to go against his son’s wishes. He decided that he will divide the Kuru kingdom in two parts. Khandavprastha was given to Pandavas and rest of the Kuru kingdom was given to Duryodhana. Khandavprastha was a barren land in forests situated at west of river Yamuna, present day Delhi. Pandavas were very sad with this decision as this land was of no use to them. But Shri Krishna convinced them that by hard work they can turn it into a beautiful kingdom. Hastinapur was their Janambhoomi but Khandavprastha will be their Karmabhoomi.

Pandavas accepted king’s decision wholeheartedly. Kunti decided to stay at Hastinapur as it was her Karmabhoomi. All the pandavas along with Draupadi and Shri Krishna left for Khandavprastha. This forest was protected by Indra.Krishna and Arjuna burnt the whole forest.They fought with Indra and won the battle. Impressed by Arjuna’s war skills Indra gave him Pashupath of lord Shiva. Agnidev gave bow Gandiva to Arjuna. The duo saved an asura named Mayasura in the battle. Mayasura was a brilliant architect. Krishna asked him to built a majestic palace for Pandavas. He built a divine palace for them which was named Maya Mahal. Khandavprastha was turned into a great kingdom by hard work of Pandavas and Shri Krishna. It was later named Indraprashta. Pandavas started living a very rich life there. This kingdom became the most prosperous place in the entire world. Yudihistra decided to perform Rajsuyu yajna.

Rajsuyu yajna is performed to declare Yudihistra king of kings. He has to win other kings either by friendship or by war. Pandavas were concerned only for Magadh king Jarasandha as he was the most powerful king of that time. Krishna advised Pandavas to trick him for a dual war. Krishna , Bhima and Arjuna went to his kingdom disguised as Brahmans. They provoked him to agree for a dual war and he can choose anyone. Not knowing their real identity he chose Bhima. After this selection they revealed their true identity. He said still he would have choosen him only. Jarasandha was born from joining of two body parts.So he could be killed only by tearing his body into two parts. Those parts should be thrown in such a way that they should not join with each other. Bhima tore him in two parts and throw both the parts so that they don’t attach. After killing him there was no king who opposed Yudhihistra to be declared as superior. A huge event was organised by pandavas for this yajna.

After performing the yajna all the kings were gathered at court of Indraprastha. Yudhihistra decided to pay first respect to Krishna. At this Shishupal started cursing Krishna. Krishna had taken a vow in past that when Shishupal makes hundred one mistakes that day he will be killed. This day he made his 101th mistake and he was killed by lord Krishna. Kauravas stayed at the palace for sometime. Duryodhana was mesmerised by the beauty of the palace. He wanted to built such palace for himself. The palace was made of illusions. Duryodhana firstly banged his head into a door as the door was transparent. Later he fell into a pond thinking it is just illusion of water. Draupadi was watching this from a balcony. She started laughing at him and said son of a blind is blind too. Duryodhana took high offence of her words and started seeking revenge.

When Krishna left Indraprastha Shakuni implemented another evil plan. He played Chausar (Similar to Ludo or game of dice ) with Pandavas at night. Shakuni was a master of this game. He purposefully lost in this game to make Yudihistira feel that he was a better player than Shakuni. The next day Kauravas left for Hastinapur.

Duryodhana was still raging with revenge for the comment passed by Draupadi. Shakuni made another evil plan with Duryodhana. Duryodhana asked Dhritrashtra to invite pandavas in Hastinapur to play chausar game. All the elderly tried to advice Dhritrashtra against it. Bhisma, Vidura were well aware of Duryodhana’s intention towards pandavas. They knew this game will bring the doom of the kingdom. Dhritrashtra himself could see it but he was so blind in filial love that he forgot the duty of a king. He played the role of a father during his whole ruling time. He could never say no to any of the request made by Duryodhana. Alas Dhritrashtra send invitation for the game to pandavas. Pandavas could never say no to their elder father’s request so they agreed for it.

Pandavas came to Hastinapur with Draupadi. The game of Chausar was arranged at the court of Hastinapur. Dhritrashtra, Bhisma , Drona , Vidura, Kripacharya , Duryodhana, Dushasana , Vikarna, Shakuni, Karna , Yudhistira , Arjuna, Bhima, Nakula, Shahdeva were all present for the game. Draupadi was taking rest in her room. For the game, on one side was five pandavas and the other side was Duryodhana, Dushasana , Shakuni, Karna. Shakuni was unbeatable in the game of chausar. Yudhisthira lost everything in the game. He lost his whole kingdom. Now he started betting his brother one by one. He lost all of them as well along with himself. They all became slaves of Duryodhana. He declared that now he has lost everything and do not have anything to bet. At this Duryodhana suggested that they have Draupadi and he can bet her. Yudhistira lost her as well in the game of dice.

Duryodhana ordered Vidura to bring Draupadi at the court. He refused and criticised him for this act. Duryodhana ordered a servant to bring her. The servant left the court to bring her. He narrated the whole story to Draupadi and told her that she has become a slave of Duryodhana. The servant asked her to come along with him in court. Draupadi was aghast listening to the whole incident.But she was a very educated woman. She asked the servant to go back and ask the question that if Yudhisthira was a slave when he bet her. If yes , does a slave has any rights to bet his wife. According to rules of that time a slave can not bet anything in the game of dice. She refused to appear in the court. This time Duryodhana sent Dusshasana to bring her in the court. Dusshasana went to Draupadi and ordered her to come along with him. She pleaded him not to do this. She reminded him again and again that she is a queen and a daughter in law of the kingdom. It was not a right thing to do. But he did not listen to any of her pleas. He grabbed her by hair and dragged her by her hair to the court. All the Pandavas were raging from inside by seeing this act. Draupadi stood up and went to all the the elders to seek answers of her questions but all of them were just crying and mute spectators. No one said a single word. Vikarna from Kauravas stood in support of Draupadi but he was told to sit quietly by Duryodhana. Draupadi was crying loudly in front of all elders for justice but no one had courage to say anything.

Karna made very lewd comments about Draupadi in front of everyone. He called her a prostitute. Duryodhana asked her to sit on his lap. Karna asked Dushasana to remove her clothes. She went numb. She started praying to Krishna for help. Krishna came to her rescue. When Dushasana was trying to remove her saree it was increasing again. The saree appeared to be non ending. Dushasana tried to remove it from her body for a long time but the saree was not ending and finally he gave up. Draupadi was crying loudly. She was filled with hate towards everyone for not doing anything to protect her from this shameful act. All the Pandavas were filled with guilt. They were raging for revenge. Bhima took vow to kill Dushasana and Duryodhana. He said he will drink blood of Dushasana’s chest and he will break thighs of Duryodhana. All the Elders were filled with deep guilt and everyone could see end of Hastinapur in front of their eyes. Draupadi was raging from inside. She said she give a curse but as soon as she was about to utter anything else Gandhari entered the hall. She requested her not to give the curse. Draupadi was crying loudly. She consoled her. She was angry with all the people present in the assembly. This was the most shameful act that could have happened during that era. Now Dhritarashtra got some courage and decided to give all the things back to Pandavas that they lost in the game. He gave everything back to them. But Duryodhana was so stubborn to win that he requested his father for just one more game. If he lost then he will return everything but if they lost then they will have to live in forests for 12 years and for one year they have to live secretly. If their whereabouts got discovered in this one year then whole process has to be repeated. Again bound with his son’s love he agreed for this request. Pandava lost and they left to live in the forests.

I will write rest of the story in an another article. Happy reading!!