Ratna Prabha
“No, no! I will not lie. The one good thing that has come from the agonising suffering of our 13-year exile is that I learnt and understood Dharma much better than before. I cannot unlearn that, Krishna.”
Krishna smiled at Yudhishthira’s unusual vehemence. “Yes, you have used the period of exile wisely. Your epithet of Dharmaraja, the King of Righteousness, is truly well-deserved. Still, this war has to be won if your lessons are to be useful for your beloved subjects and the future of this kingdom. So, you have to do what I ask you.”
“No! How can I beguile Dronacharya? He may be the commander of the rival Kaurava army. But he is my guru. I will not misuse his deep love for his son, Ashwattama, to be the cause of his death. You cannot make me lie.”
Krishna smiled again, this time a hint of anger clearly visible in his eyes. “You’re right. I cannot make you lie. Your own karma will make you do so.”
“But I haven’t lied before, at least not knowingly, At least not with the intention of selfishness.”
Krishna’s reply came in an instant, “Think again, Yudhishthira. Here’s a clue. Do you recall the day Arjuna won the Panchala Princess, Draupadi’s hand?”
The eldest Pandava’s face turned ashen as he realised immediately where Krishna was going with this.
“Weren’t you smitten by her even before Arjuna took part in the swayamvar? You knew Arjuna was the only one who could’ve won the hand of the beautiful Draupadi. You knew only he had the archery skills to shoot an arrow into the eye of a hanging fish by looking at its reflection in the water below. The thought of her being Arjuna’s wife filled your heart with jealousy, right?” Krishna continued, his ire now unmistakable.
Yudhisthra couldn’t look at Krishna, who continued, “You devised a plan. You knew your mother’s habit of asking her five sons to share everything, regardless of how it came to be possessed. So, you chose your words cleverly as you five Pandava brothers and Arjuna’s newly-wedded wife walked into your home that day.”
“But I haven’t discussed that with anyone. How do you know about my thoughts, Krishna?”
“Do you forget that I’m the all-knower? Or were you pretending to accept me as the One only to get me on your side?”
Yudhishthira had the grace to blush and replied, “Sorry, my dear Lord. I didn’t mean any disrespect. For a minute, I forgot you are Lord Vishnu Incarnate! Forgive me for my blight.”
Krishna’s loving smile returned. “You are forgiven. Now, speak your thoughts of that day openly, only to me. They will be your prayer that will help you find solace and the strength to deal with your karmic consequences.”
“Yes, Krishna. I twisted the truth that day because I fell in love with Draupadi the minute I saw her. I loved her so much that I was willing to share her with my brothers rather than not have her.”
“When we returned home with her, my mother’s back was towards us. So I said, ‘Look WHAT we have brought home, mother.’ Expectedly, without even turning around, she asked us to share it (or her) equally.”
“You could’ve simply said, ‘Arjuna has brought home his wife!’” completed Krishna. “Or look who we have brought home instead of what.”
“Yes. I’m not ashamed of what I did. My love for Draupadi trumps that lie. Yet, today, I accept she and Arjuna deserved to know the truth before being pushed into a difficult and unusual arrangement of having to be the wife of all the five Pandavas.”
“Yudhishthira, what you do tomorrow will ensure Arjuna’s sons take the Kuru legacy forward. That is the price of your twisted truth.”
Yudhishthira agreed to do Krishna’s bidding. On the 15th day of the Mahabharatha war, Ashwattama, an elephant in the Kaurava army, was killed. A rumour that Drona’s son, Aswattama, died spread through the Kaurava camp. The rumour reached Dronacharya’s ears, who refused to believe it until Yudhishthira, the Dharmaraja, confirmed the news.
Yudhishthra said, “Ashwathama Hatha Narova Kunjarova! Ashwathama is dead! (the elephant or the man, I don’t know)!”
Yudhishthira whispered the phrase Narova Kunjarova to himself. So, Drona heard only the first part of the phrase and immediately dropped his weapons, losing his will to fight. He was easily beheaded by Dhrishtadyumna, Draupadi’s brother, fighting on the side of the Pandavas.
Krishna comforted the inconsolable Yudhishthira. “The only absolute truth is that from which we emerge and into which we merge back after our purpose is served!”
This blog post is part of ‘Blogaberry Dazzle’
hosted by Cindy D’Silva and Noor Anand Chawla.
I had written this story (a shorter version of the story) for a prompt from Penmancy Liar, Liar. Here’s the original story written in 2022.
Ratna Mam, I was aware of the fact that why Pandava mother asked to share Draupadi among all brothers unknowingly but behind the saying of Yudhistara there was such a clever plan of him I was totally unaware about. In today’s era if Yudhistara exist then he must be a politician who knows how to manipulate people’s mind to bring things in his favour without even giving the slightest hint to anyone…. but the question is who is the Krishna in todays political world? Thank you mam for narrating every small aspect of mythology in so much detail that for me it turned as an eye opener.
Oh yes, Yudhishthira was a smart man. He learnt virtue over a period of time, especially during the difficult times of exile. I just wish to clarify one thing, Samata. It is believed that all the Pandavas coveted Draupadi. She was beyond beautiful, it seems. And so to keep the peace between the brothers and to keep out jealousies, it was decided that Kunti’s words to share equally be taken as law.
Yet, I believe if anyone could have prevented the “sharing” of her by the five of them, it should’ve been Yudhishthira. He being Dharmaraja would’ve been able to convince his mother that her words need not have been taken seriously in that one instance, considering it was done in ignorance. He did not do that because he coveted her too. And so I chose to connect the two stories of Draupadi’s sharing and the killing of Dronacharya and create this version in my imagination. I still need to do research to see if any version of Mahabharata has this same concept.
Krishna is an enigma in human form. Only he is conscious of him being an avatar of Vishnu, who has appeared in human form. Krishna shows in this world of Maya, nothing is absolute. Every thing is relative. Every human has dual play of virtuosity as well as sin-fulness. Krishna use this cleverly to force Yudhisthira to take down Dronacharya. Yet like a duck wading in water, no muck stuck on Krishna. This is what I love about Indian epic. There is no absoulte good or bad. As humans we do some good and some bad. Maya plays its role, till we cut the bond of Maya.
The fact that Yudhishthir was addicted to gambling and that he twisted his words without actually lying to have Draupadi as his wife just makes him more human.Krishna was a great influencer this tale just confirms that too. Ratna, I look forward to your retelling of these stories because of the way you add your own special touch to them.
I’ve never understood this concept at all. Why would a mother ask her sons to share whatever they got and then not make amends with something as serious as marriage. I could never associate with this and the lie that led to this.
Yudhisthira was indeed clever; the way he had got Draupadi as his wife, despite knowing her liking for only Arjuna, proves that we are humans and our emotions, like jealousy, can lead us to opt for certain routes that we may not be proud of later.