Fab Five plus one (6) - Auxiliary stories

SHAKUNTALA SPEAKS ( FROM A SANSKRIT PLAY)

I became an orphan soon after my birth. No, my parents did not die
or anything like that. They just left me in the woods. My father was a
king who hankered after learning. He wanted to know everything in
the world . But the gods decided to delay him in his quest. And they
sent a celestial nymph to distract him. Distract, she certainly did and
the result was me.. My mother had taken a year’s leave from the
court of gods. And they would never allow a court dancer to spend
time looking after a kid. She did not even look at me properly. She
was afraid that either my face or my tears would hold her back. And
so she went away. As for my father, he thought I would be a thorn in
his path to wisdom and knowledge. He had a lot to learn and it would
be a pain to look after me . So he also went away. And the birds took
care of me.
This is how my foster father found me in the woods. He took me to
his hermitage and named me the Bird Girl. I grew up with other
young boys and girls.. We all call each other brothers and sisters.
From my childhood I used to spend a lot of time in the garden. It was
not just a garden. It was actually a large part of the forest. There were
trees planted by the Maker. But we had also emulated the Maker and
planted small flowering trees. And some which yielded fruits. Apart
from the flowers and the fruits, there were birds, my childhood
companions. And many deer too !
On one summer day we heard the sound of drums. We were told that
the king of the land had come for his annual hunting expedition. The
kings of the land do not feel secure unless they go hunting once in a
while. It adds to what they perceive as their masculinity. They go
back taking carcasses of all animals- some wild, but some mild too.
My two friends and I were resting near the pond when a deer limped
in. It had an arrow in its hind side. I felt sad looking at it. There was
blood dripping from the animal. My friends and I removed the arrow
slowly and put some herbal paste on the wound.
Just then a tall man walked in with a bow. He asked us whether we
saw an antelope. I was very angry at his question. I told him that this
is a peaceful place and there should be no hunting in and around
these hermitages. He said he was sorry and begged our forgiveness.
I asked him to look at the poor wounded antelope. I told him to beg
its forgiveness! Anyway he was our guest and we had to look after
him. We gave him something to eat.
He looked different. Till then I had seen only the people in the
ashram. The men here all shaved most of their heads and the rest of
the hair was matted. Also they wore only saffron clothes. This man
was dressed splendidly. And he had long black hair combed
backwards. He wore ornaments and rings on his fingers. One felt like
looking at him , staring at him. May be this is what is meant by
handsome. He told us that he was the king of the land. And he was
the one who came to hunt. He looked at me hard. And I averted his
gaze.
One thing led to another and we fell in love. We looked longingly at
each other at every opportunity. We played around the trees. And my
friends started teasing me. They told me that the king seems to have
forgotten his subjects. They told me that he has eyes only for me. It
was a week after we had met. We were sitting in the shade of a
mango tree. And I was caressing the deer he had hurt. The wound
had almost healed. I told him playfully that he had hurt me also. The
arrows of love had pierced my heart. He asked me to marry him. How
could I? My father was not here .He said that we can take a vow in
the name of Kama and garland each other. He said that was what the
celestial people do. What do I know? An innocent forrest girl ! I said
Yes . My two friends watched us getting married. And then there was
bliss.
After few days and nights were over, the king said that he has to get
back to his city. I protested that it was too early but knew that he had
responsibilities. I told him that I will go with him. He told me that I
should get my father’s permission. He said that he will send for me
soon. And he went away leaving behind me and the antelope he had
hurt.
My father came back and my friends told him about the king and his
marriage with me. He was pleased that I had married a king. He told
me that I was after all a princess. I was lost in my reveries of all the
good times. In my mind the single week I had spent with him
stretched for eons. My friends would tease that I do not spend much
time any more with them. They told me that the trees in the garden
had also the same complaint. But I was worried that my husband had
not sent for me. Not even a messenger with some token of love ! I
had thought he was a romantic person. Actually I felt he was too
romantic comparing fruits with parts of my anatomy. Has he
forgotten about me ? Or was I just his plaything for a week?
I realized that I was pregnant. I was happy, but also scared. What
would the people in the hermitage say about it? They all knew that I
had gotten married, but this ! They all met and decided that I should
be taken immediately to my husband’s place. My two brothers and
the two friends accompanied me to the city.
It did take sometime for us even to get to meet the king. And when
we really did get to meet him it was a disaster. The man, my husband
and my king, told my brothers and the whole court that he does not
know me at all. My two friends were ridiculed when they protested
saying that the king had indeed married me . His ministers implied
that we were cheats . One of the ministers said that the king had to
put up with such nuisances very often. It seems there was another
lady just a month ago saying that she was pregnant with the king’s
child.iIretorted that may be she was!

Yes, I finally had to open my mouth. I told the king and his court that
I had been cheated. And they asked for proof. What proof can one
give for a clandestine love ? Should I tell them about all the intimacy
between the two of us ? The king protested saying that I belonged to
somebody else and he did not want to commit a sin by taking in a
woman married to somebody else. When I heard talk of such
righteousness coming out of his mouth, I told him that he is a
hypocrite . My brothers were angry with both the king and me. They
told the king that I belonged to him and told me that this is my place.
The brothers told me to stay here whatever may happen. I told them
that I will come back with them. I was sure that my father would not
mind. But the brothers preached me the laws of the society where a
married woman should stay with the husband whatever may be ! And
they went away taking my two friends with them. And I was there in
the middle of the court, a pregnant lady in the middle of these evil
people. Yes, I was hurt. The king had hurt me just like he had hurt the
antelope. Just then there was noise in the air above me. I saw a
divine lady come down. She wrapped her arms around me and flew
up. Yes, that was my mother.
She consoled me and asked me to stay with her. I refused saying
that I want to go back to the forest. That is where I am from ! And that
is where I will feel at home! She took me to the forest and stayed with
me till the child was born. It was a beautiful child. A son ! Mother
said the baby looks like the king. I got angry and told her not to
mention his name in my presence. My son grew up just like I had,
playing with the birds and the beasts of the forest. His favourite
animals were the lions and lion cubs.
My son was now fifteen years old . And one day when I was talking to
the birds he rushed in to say that we had a visitor. It was the king, my
husband. He came near me and said he was sorry for all the things
that happened. I told him that I do not know him and I had a husband
for only one week. And that was long time ago. He asked me not to
be cruel. Ha ! he is telling me not to be cruel. He said that he did
recognize me in the court that day but he was apprehensive whether
the subjects would accept me as the queen. I should have been
angry at him but somehow it was not to be. Instead I became very
sad. And I looked at him. I could not believe I had loved somebody of
such weak character.
It does not matter now. He wants us to go back to the city . He wants
my son to be the prince of the land. Yes, let it be. I will go with him
for the sake of my son. It is my son’s right to be the king. And as for
the two of us we will live out our days, he in remorse and I in sorrow.
My father left my mother after the baby was born. My husband left
me before the baby was born. I can only hope that my son will not
repeat the sins of his father and grandfather!
(This is a slighltly diferent version of the well known play - Abhijnana
shakuntla - by the great Kalidasa. The ring in the is the playwright’s
imagination and is not in the original story in the epic -
Mahabaharata. When I had put it first in Aug 2007 I had called it-The
Spirit of a Woman (The King and I) )
(When Vishwamitra is doing penance (tapas), gods distract him by
sending Rambha a celestial nymph(apsara). The result of the union is
Shakuntala. Rishi Kanva brings her up. King Dushyanta meets her in the
forrest and marries her. Later he does not recognize her..)

 THE DISPOSSESSED DEMONS

Today they took my grandson away. He was the nicest of us all.
He was the greatest of us all. They continue to be ruthless.
Nothing has changed in all these years. Long ago it started with
my uncle. He was done away with. Then it was my father’s turn
and They saw to it that he was also decimated. Now it is my
grandson's turn. Yes, Thanks for small mercies! They have not
killed him, at least not yet. They say that he is being banished
into the nether worlds.
This has been the story since we broke ourselves free from their
chains. They have never liked our independence. Even before I
was born into this family, they had given us a very unflattering
name: Demons! I don’t know what is demoniac about us! Some
of us were fairer than them; some of us were more handsome
than them. And the best of our damsels were as good or even
better than their best. Still they call us demons.
Our first offense was that we broke away from their chains. The
second was that we tried to be like them. My uncle tried to
control the whole planet. He tried to play with it as one would
with a ball. What was wrong with it? Have not they done it
earlier? No, they were angry! And more than that they were
scared! Yes, Scared! They went to their Great Benefactor and
asked him to do something about it. That he indeed did! He
killed my uncle. And with this act, the idea of killing a person
entered our heads. Killing was alien to us, but it did slowly
become a practice with us. But we were no more violent than our
erstwhile masters. And it was my father who reveled in such
killing and became a terror for the whole universe. And They
were again scared, just like they had been when my uncle's
power increased. But here was somebody bigger than the earlier
enemy! And they had no recourse but to go their Great
Benefactor.
I was about 10 years old at that time. And somehow I got a fancy
to one of their gods. Of all their numerous gods, I chose their
Great Benefactor as my God. I cannot explain away His appeal to
me. I could have chosen the Lord of the Snow Mountain. I could
have chosen the one with Four Faces. But it was not to be. My
admiration for Him was there and in a short time it got very deep
rooted. I adored him and worshiped him. This was too much for
my father who hated all of them and especially their Great
Benefactor. He would spew fire and venom whenever he heard
His name. My father would thunder and tell me that it was their
Benefactor that killed his brother, my uncle. And he would shout
at me: “ How dare you worship this person who is the enemy of
us all “. I would ask my father whether my uncle did not show
too much ambition in wanting to control the whole planet. My
father would say that there is nothing wrong with it and that
They have done it all the time. I used to mutter that no body
should try to control the lives of other people. My father would
laugh at what he called as my idealism. But he had earned their
wrath and he had to pay for it with his life.
After my father’s death, my mother looked after the affairs of the
empire till I reached the proper age and ascended the throne. My
rule was peaceful. May be they kept quite because their Great
Benefactor was kind to me. I also did not try to win new
territories. At times there were some pinpricks from them but I
ignored them. My son’s rule was short and uneventful. My
grandson who came to power next was one of the best emperors
I have ever seen.
My grandson was named Sacrifice. And true to his name he
made many sacrifices to various gods; some of them were even
our enemies. He was a strange mixture of my father and me. Like
my father he wanted to further the boundaries of his empire. He
conquered all lands. And as in the case of my uncle and father,
they got scared and approached their Great Benefactor to do
something about it. My grandson was also like me in the sense
that he never humiliated anybody. He did not treat the
vanquished like slaves. He was gentleness personified. And that
became the reason for his downfall. And his final sacrifice was
to start. And he announced that he would give whatever
anybody asks of him!
I was not there and I can only recant what others told me. It
seems a dwarf youth came to him at the end of sacrifice and
asked for three steps of land. My grandson immediately granted
it with a patronizing smile. When the dwarf put his left foot
forward, the foot grew and enveloped the whole sky. And when
he put his right foot forward, the foot emulated its left brother
and grew and enveloped the whole planet. When the dwarf
asked for space for this third step, my grandson Sacrifice asked
him to put it on his head. And when the foot stepped on the
head, my grandson was pushed to the netherworlds!
Yes, you guessed it correct. The dwarf was no body else than
the Great Benefactor in disguise. He decimated my uncle. Then
he destroyed my father. And now He ruins my grandson. And He
had to put on three different disguises to do the job! I don’t
know anymore about Him. How do I defend His actions? My
father was ambitious and it was considered a crime. And They
got him killed. I somehow got reconciled to it. But now what sins
did my grandson commit? Nothing that a proud and benevolent
ruler could be ashamed of!
I think I know the main reason for their actions. They want to be
rulers of the entire world for a long time. They cannot tolerate
anybody even dreaming of the type of power they have.
Whenever we flourish they step on us ruthlessly. They also have
more resources than we can dream of. The irony of it all is that
their Great Benefactor helps them in keeping us down! He helps
them exploit us. I had so much faith in him and now it has all
vanished into thin air.
We are a dispossessed people. We were born as slaves. And
they want us to continue to be slaves. We are the dispossessed
demons! But the struggle has to go on !

 POWER CORRUPTS ! - a heavenly story

J
Oh ! I see a baby lamb . Delectable ! I am waiting for it to stray from the
herd . I will just slither by and swallow the creature. Then I go and wind
myself on the tree branch. Pythons eat once in a month and I have
nothing else to do for the next month except to think about what a
wretched life I am living now . Power tends to corrupt and absolute power
corrupts absolutely ! Nobody has said it till now but somebody will say it
later and of course take the credit for it. I am a text book example for that
saying . I will tell you my story. But at first let me swallow the lamb !
I was a king at one time. Not just any king ! I was the emperor, the king
of kings. I belonged to the Dynasty ! You want to know which dynasty ?
Ha ! What other dynasty is there ? If you want me to be specific, I belong to
the one started by the person who shines like a jewel in the sky ! The Moon
himself ! He was sent by the gods to rejuvenate the earth. He married Ila
and begat Budha who begat Pururava. My father was Ayu, the son of
Pururava. Thus Chandra, the founder of the lunar dynasty, was my great
great grandfather.
My kingdom was big even when I was born. But I defeated many
kings and made it bigger. Land and wealth are similar. One can never
have enough of any of these. It is because both lead to power ! There is
always some king somewhere who does not want to bow down to anybody.
And that is a challenge to any emperor. And what should he do ? He will go
and crush that insolent king. That is what I did. After all this is over, one
has to announce one’s invincibility to the world at large. And that is done in
the form of sacrifices and especially the Horse sacrifice ( Ashwamedha
Yaaga/Yajna). One takes a good white stallion and lets it free. The
emperor’s people follow the stallion. If it wanders into a different kingdom ,
the chief there has to accept to become a vassal; if not, he should be
subjugated. This goes on for a year and at the end of it, the emperor’s
glory would be heralded . This is done by having a big ritual where the
wives of the emperor worship the horse in various ways. And finally the
horse is killed. I have conducted many of those sacrifices; to be exact, the
number was one hundred. If this is not going to convince you that I was
supreme, read on since there is much more to come.
I had reached the top and there was nowhere else to go. It was lonely
at the top and the life was getting to be a drag. Was there nothing else to
conquer ? It was then I realized that the universe was bigger than this
earth. At first there was the underworld beneath me and then the
heavens, the first one ruled by the serpents (Nagas)and the latter ruled by
the gods (Devas). Yes, unless I conquer all this, I cannot become
complacent. At first, I wanted to concentrate on the heavens. The emperor
of heavens is Indra. Do I go there and conquer them like the great Ravana
did ? Whoever does well on earth gets taken up and gets installed as
Indra, the king of heavens. I should aspire to be Indra ! But what about the
present one ?
No, there is no Indra at this time. He has run away and is hiding
somewhere because of a curse. He killed Vratra, a Brahmin , and killing a
Brahmin is one of the worst sins. It serves him right. This Indra was really a
pompous person. He thought he was really great. But he realized his folly
when he saw a procession of aunts in his palace. When he wondered about
it he was told that each ant was an Indra at one time or other. Who is
Indra ? It is not a single individual. There were Indras before and there will
be Indras later. Whatever it is, heaven has no Indra at this juncture. It
needs a ruler.
My dream turned into reality when a team of sages and gods came to
me and requested me to come to heaven and take over the reins of power.
At first I feigned humility but later agreed to shift to heavens and become
the ruler of heavens. I left the city of Pratishtana to my sons and I went to
Amaravati, the city of gods. They all welcomed me and I sat on the throne
of the heavens.
It took me some time for me to learn the ropes. I thought had to
manage the other gods, those responsible for fire, water, wind, light etc. I
thought I had to make sure that the sun always went and returned on time,
the wind had to be regulated etc. But I slowly learnt that these gods do
not like to be told what to do. I was told indirectly that it all went on like
clockwork. They thought that I was a busybody. I overheard one of them
saying that the heavens did not really need any ruler. It is as though they
just did not need any Indra around.. But I did not want my authority
ignored. I was the god of gods and they better know it. The other day Agni,
the god of fire, told me in the assembly that all of us are equal. I heard him
out but had to reprimand him for his belligerence. I sensed oppoisition to
me and I better be careful !
Another aspect of heavens is the bevy of apsaras. They are a
combination of paramours, court dancers and agony aunts, the last
because they have seen the world and one could go to them and get
sympathy for one’s problems. I also learnnt that there is no single Urvashi
or Rambha. Just like Indra, they also last for only so long. They are all
replaced quite often. Everybody in heaven seeks them out for various
reasons. They are extremely busy ladies. I decided it should all change. I
decreed that only higher ups in the establishment should have access to
them. This also created lots of opposition for me, both from the other
residents of heavens and the ladies themselves.
So there I was lording over all those gods and yes, those ladies too. I
was happy knowing I was the most powerful person in the world ( forget
those nether creatures ). There was opposition and unrest but that was
natural. Power begets animosity and hatred. I had absolute power and I
could do anything. And I did order my subjects around just to show my
power. I ordered Agni, the god of fire, to take care of water. And Varuna, the
god of water, was told to handle the wind portfolio. The wind god now took
care of fire. The sun god became the moon god and vice versa. There
were hiccups initially but I think it all smoothed out. At least that is what I
thought !
And then there was a day when apsara Urvashi came to me and told
me about the extraordinary beauty of Shachi, Indra’s wife. We Apsaras are
nothing compared to Shachi ! Yes, that is what she said. And then the next
day apsara Rambha came to me and told me about Shachi. We Apsaras are
nothing compared to Shachi ! And next day..yes, it was the apsara Menaka
telling me the same thing . It all made me curious to see her.When I told
Agni ( who was Varuna earlier who actually was..)about it , he implied that
one should certainly see her and probably more.
These people had lit a fire which had to be put off sooner or later.
My conscience tried to tell me that Shachi is somebody else’s wife and I
should not even think of seeing her let alone think of doing other
things.But I was not ready to listen to it. Shachi was Indrani! It meant
Indra’s wife! She should be wedded to whoever is the Indra at that time.
And, even otherwise, she is just another lady in the heavens. She is my
subject. I have power over her. And she should yield to my desires.
When I sent words through Urvashi, Shachi replied that I should not
think of her since she is already somebody’s wife. I had to remind her that
she was Indra’s wife and she should accede to my desires. She remained
adamant for some time but finally seemed to yield. She sent words that she
is willing to entertain me if I come to her in a palanquin borne by the seven
sages ( Saptarshis). The request seemed very strange.
I called all the seven sages to my palace and told them of Indrani’s
desire. They were perplexed and did not answer me for quite some time.
Finally the short one among them said they had never done this in their
lives. Hey You Shorty ! Don’t you know that there is always a first time for
every thing. You better learn it since you may have to do it every day !
When the sage looked back at me, there was anger in his eyes. But it soon
gave way to a smile. Just imagine, this is how I treated the great Agastya !
All the seven of them came next morning to take me to Shachi’s
palace. The palanquin needed only four but the sages were all old. So six of
them leant their shoulders . The seventh one, Sage Agastya, walked by
their side. After some time, one of them felt tired and Agastya took over. He
was short and also slow. The palanquin tilted. Further I was so anxious to
see Shaschi that I got angry over this delay. And I started saying “ Haste,
Haste (Sarpa))” . Meanwhile I stuck out my leg which touched Agastya. He
was very angry and dropped the palanquin. And cursed me : You will
become a serpent (Sarpo Bhava). Immediately I became a serpent and fell
to the ground.
All this while I keep telling my story to all passers by about the
corrupt emperor I was. I tell them how I aspired for more and more power.
And how I got absolute power and how it corrupted me absolutely. I ruled
without considering the well being of my subjects. Yes , they will take it for
some time but not for long. Power made me forget I was just a king,
another Indra in the long line of so many Indras. One among the many ants
in that procession !
And here I lie waiting to be redeemed by a prince who is going to be
born in the Lunar Dynasty. He will be a symbol of righteousness. He will
touch me and that will be my liberation.
(This is the story of Nahusha, told in Mahabharata and other
works. Yudhishtira is the one who touches him and releases him from
eternal existence)
following from Wiki: Nahusha (Sanskrit: नहु ष) was a well-known king of the Aila
dynasty. He was the son of Ayu, the eldest son of Pururavas and Prabha, the
daughter of Svarbhanu. Nahusha reigned from Pratishthana. He married Viraja,
the daughter of the Pitrs. They had six or seven sons, according to different
Puranas. His eldest son Yati became a muni (ascetic)

)

Fab Five Plus one (5) - After the war Palahalli Vishwanath

THE REVENGE OF THE SNAKE KING - 

 

I have to take revenge on him. My whole tribe was ensconced in that lovely
forest. Generations lived there : my father, my grandfather whom I barely
saw, my great grandfather whom I never saw. Women from different forests
came here to become wives, mothers and grandmothers. And now all of
them are burnt to ashes. I am alone now, managed to escape with a friend’s
help.
Why did they burn us all ? Not just the beasts and birds, but also the
stately trees. I never knew humans were bad till we met our fate at the
hands of these cruel princes. The humans we knew earlier were gentle
souls who entered the forest to sit and meditate. At times they would tell us
stories and we would sit around them and listen. They never harmed us
and we never got in their way.
It seems that the five princes wanted to build a new city. This was
the region they got as their share of the ancestral property. They could
have built their city outside the forest. They had all the land they wanted.
Why did they burn this lovely forest Those trees were as old as the
heavens. Don’t these people have any eye for beauty ? All this to build
dwellings for themselves and their wives !
Now I know that they don’t worry about our kind. There were so
many species of beasts and birds in that forest. They have all disappeared
from this earth now. Don’t these humans realize the devastation that they
are causing Mother Nature ?May be I should not blame all the humans. But
this prince known all over as the best archer is the real villain. He has four
other brothers but this archer is our enemy .
It is over now. I have escaped and I am told that my son also has
escaped. All we have to do now is to plot our revenge. We have to bide our
time. We were happy when we learnt that those princes lost their kingdom
in gambling. The city they built by burning the forest is now with their
cousins. Yes, they have paid their prince for annihilation of Mother Nature
and her children. Well, not quite. The archer still has to pay his price for
obliterating us all !
------------------
Time marches on and the five princes after their exile of 13 years
had a a major battle with their cousins and vanquished them. During the
battle, my son decided to take revenge on the archer. With magic he
transformed himself into an arrow and took his place in the quiver of
archer’s adversary but was found out and killed by our enemy . This has
increased my sorrow and my desire for revenge.
I wait and wait. The five princes are no more. Now the archer’s
grandson has become the king . I myself am much older. I cannot even
remember the number of times I have shed my skins. But I have to take my
revenge on the archer’s family before I die. This is my last chance .
Fate seems to be helping me now. It seems the king got a curse
that he would be bitten by a snake within a week and die. I don’t know
about the curse, but he sure got some phobia. May be it is guilt for what his
grandfather did ! This is how the sins of fathers and grandfathers visit their
youngsters! He has constructed a high tower for himself in the middle of
water. And all holes and crevices have been filled up so no snake enters !
I find all these precautions strange ! Don’t these humans know
that snakes take revenge whatever may be ? They may wait and wait but
finally they make it ! We snakes know magic very well. That was how I had
escaped from the burning forest. It was with magic that my son had
transformed into an arrow. I looked for ways to enter the high tower. I
decided to use magic and became a very small worm. I found that fruits
were being sent from the royal kitchen. I bore a minute hole in a mango. As
the king, my archenemy’s grandson, bit into the fruit, I transformed back
into myself and bit him. The youth died very fast since I had pumped
venom stored from years into him.
My revenge was complete! But I know full well that the humans
will get back at us. They will try to destroy us totally. And that is how it will
be as they destroy more and more forests for their selfish ends !

(This could be Takshaka’s story in Mahabaharata: To build their new
kingdom, Arjuna sets fire to Khandava forest in which many animals,
snakes etc die. The snake (naga) king Takshaka takes revenge on him by
biting and killing his grand son Parikshit.As implied at the end of this story,
Parikshit's son Janamejaya decides to kill all snakes.. khandava forest was
cleared to build their capital Indraprastha - the purana Qila area of Delhi)
(repeat of a story which appeared 18 months ago

)

THE RACE STRUGGLE - The Astika Story

I get up this morning and see my mother crying. My father is not home.
When I ask my mother she does not say anything. But keeps on weeping. I
entreat her. Finally she opens up MY PEOPLE ARE GETTING
PERSECUTED. She stops her crying and goes away. But not before she
gives me a big stare. Mother is usually very cheerful. But today her stare had
anger written all over it
My father is much older than my mother. It seems he was very much
immersed in his Vedic studies and had no time for anything else. And he
was getting older . It was at that time he had a strange dream. In it he saw
several people hanging upside down from a thin branch which was about to
fall. And when he asked them the reason , they told him that they are
ancestors of a scholar who has not married and has no children. They cannot
go to heaven unless he gets married and he has offspring. As he was about to
ask them the name of the scholar, it became daybreak. As he started
thinking about it , he realized that he indeed was the scholar in the dream.
My mother tells it better. All of a sudden your father had a shock. He
realized that he had spent all his youth in the study of this and that. All that
he got was some smugness that he knew about things. Big Deal. And he
realized that he does not know anything about anything else. And then this
business of his ancestors in the dream. He started seeing them more and
more often in his dreams . And in one of the dreams he saw himself hanging
from that slender branch. And that was it. He decided to get married. He
looked at himself in the mirror. He had lost some of this hair. And here and
there he had white hairs too. He went looking for a bride. He probably
would have gotten one soon if not for his strange requirement. No, he still
wanted a girl. But what he wanted was one who had the same name as his !
He could not find any suitable bride in his community.
And then he came to our village. My father who was the head of the
village was thrilled to see a great Brahmin scholar come to his village.
Your father's scholarship impressed my father enormously. He was asked to
stay in the village for some more time. My parents decided that he would be
the right bridegroom for me. I demurred slightly and said somethng about
the age difference. My mother rebuked me and said she was after all 20
years younger than my father and that it really did not matter. And then
there was this strange condition of your father about the name of the bride.
My parents said it is a very small matter and chaned my name to match
your father's . Though our community was different and looked down upon
in the society, the marriage took place. yes, I did not want to live with a
man's name and got it changed back to my original one. And it was
confusing too !
MY PEOPLE ARE GETTING PERSECUTED. What did she mean
by that ?. I ask her the next day about what she said about her people. She
looks at me and smiles weakly. You are too involved with yourself . Go back
to your studies What was I supposed to do ? Mine was the age for studies
and that was that ! No, she is angry for some reason and taking it out on me
!
From that day onwards , life became very different at home. My
mother would always be morose. Or she would scream sometime. And the
same words. MY PEOPLE ARE GETTING PERSECUTED. My father was
rarely at home and even then he did not seem to care. But I was bent on
getting some answers from him. When I finally got him, he said
something like it is all one's karma. I was not satisfied with the answer and
badgered my mother about it.

I learnt from her about the the relation between the two
communities , the Nagas and the Kurus. It went far back in time. It would
be peaceful sometime and then again some skirmishes . It had gone on for
ages like that,. But recently the provocation seemed to have come from the
Kurus . The Nagas were known to be one with nature and were living in a
forest. In some dispute in the Kuru royal family , this forest and land of
Nagas was given away to one of the cousins. In fact, the Kurus had no
jurisdiction over the land. The Kuru cousins burnt the forest and occupied
the land of the Nagas and evicted them. During that forceful occupation ,
many Nagas were killed . The leader of the Nagas swore revenge . He
eventually killed the scion of the Kurus. And now the present Kuru king
was determined to exterminate all Nagas. Nagas from everywehre were
being rounded up and burnt at the stake.
My mother's health was deteriorating. And her lament about her
people went on increasing. I slowly realized that her people are after all my
people too. I had to do something about it. I could not sit quiet anymore. On
one morning I went to her and told her that I want to do something for my
people. She smiled but asked me to think more deeply about it. Your
education is still not complete , You know .
Yes, it was true. There was still much I had to learn. But how long
do I sit doing nothing about it . I decided that my studies had to take a back
seat. The paramount thing was the welfare of my people who were inc
chains and being burnt.
I again went to my mother and she welcomed my decision this time. She
went ahead and said that was my destiny. Son, you are ready now. May be
you are the one born to put a stop to this great injustice. I did not
understand her words. I was sceptical about being a hero but i also wanted
to do something for my people . And yes, I also wanted to make my
presence felt in this world ! As I was about to leave she told me something
which I had not known. Your grandfather was indeed the king of the nagas
and his son, my brother, was the one who killed the Kuru king . His name ?
Takshaka
As I started from my home, I was not sure how I would go about
doing this. After all, I had learnt archery too. Yes, i was not a bad archer.
But what can I do when the whole Kuru army faces me. How can I fight
them ? No, that wont work. I had to think of other ways. This battle was not
going to be won with arms. I had no choice except to persuade the Kuru king
that what he was doing was wrong.
As I proceed towatds the Kuru capital, I see several places with
piled up ash. When I went near those piles, i saw half burnt limbs. When i
asked people around, I was told that they were Nagas set on fire by the Kuru
army. Now I understood my agony of my mother. MY PEOPLE ARE
BEING PERSECUTED . Yes, it was true. It was not just persectuion; this
was a pogrom to finish a race !
As I enter the Kuru capital, I see lot of excitement evrfywhere.
It seems a big number of Nagas had been rounded up and the king himself
was to set fire to them. Why was it so special ? It seems a Naga leader had
been caught and he was the prime catch . Who was it ? Takshaka, the one
who had killed the present Kuru king;s father. While a powerful chieftain
called Indra had provided shelter for Takshaka,, he had to obey the Kuru
King'sorders since the Kuru soldiers had told him that he, Indra , would
also be captured and burnt if he continued giving succour to Takshaka. Now
Takshaka was alone and he was to be burnt today !
Yes, this is the time for me. I had to stop it, not just for my
uncle but for the whole Naga race. I asked to be taken near the king. The
soldiers obliged. After all I was a Brahmin and we were respected
throughout the land. The king was seated on his throne at one end of a abig
field. There was his entourage nearby. And at the other end of the field, there
were many people . Most of them looked very tired . Some of them did not
have any clothers on. And there were women and children too. I realized that
these were the Nagas about to be burnt
Since thre was still time for the burning to start , the king
started chatting with me. He asked me about wht I had learnt. I told him
about the Vedas and all the knowledge I had. He was very impressed. And
he gave me a boon. I could ask for anything and he would give me that !
And there was my opportunity !
I said ' O king ! This killing has to stop ! You are an
intelligent peson. You have to see that no single individual is responsible for
whatever has happened. Your great grandfather drrove Nagas from their
abode. And many Nagas were killed at that time. . And because of it the
Naga chief, takshaka, kills your father. May be you could have taken
revenge only on Takshaka. . But you have invovled all Nagas in the fight
between two people. How long can this go on ? '
The king was annoyed. Young man, it does not concern
you. You should ask for land and wealth. Sir, I do not want any land or
wealthI told him that I do not need any land or wealth. Learned Youth, i
am ready to give my s daughter in marraiag e. I told him that I dont want it,
at least not for the present.
I tried convincing him again . Oh, King ! How long do you
want this to continue ? You kill a Naga today. And you get satisified . But
there is some naga somehwere else . He will take revenge on you. Then
your son will take revenge on Nagas. It will just go on. There is no end for
revenge. This has to stop'
It took great persuasion on my part to stop the Kuru king
from his cruel act. And finally i did. The emperor gave me his daughter in
marriage. When we get children, I hope they get the best qualaities of both
communiteis.. It will be a new race. It will be the beginning of good times
for Bharatavarsha !

 Sahadeva Speaks Out !

(A LETTER TO SAGE VYASA)
Sir Author, 

at some time or other every human being wonders about
the purpose of his existence. The Creator owes them some explanations.
Similarly you created us and we are questioning you about why you put us
in the great story. What was your purpose in introducing us? You glorified
the exploits of our three elder brothers –Dharma (The Wise One) , Bheema (
The Big One) and Arjuna (The Egotist) You made them out to be so great
and in singing their praises you totally ignored us !Don’t tell us that you do
not know who we are ! Sir, our mother is Madri , the second wife of King
Pandu. And we, Sir, are her sons. Just to refresh your memory our names
are Nakula and Sahadeva. Though I, Sahadeva, am writing this letter to you
I am speaking on behalf of my brother also.
One does not know why you bumped our mother off very early in her
life. Even our step mother was not partial to our elder brothers. She was
such a great lady we always called her Mother. We never missed our real
mother. But, Sir, you as the author have been extremely partial to the three
elder ones. You even forgot that we are also your grandchildren. We did
not have a father and when we came to you for affection you never picked
us up. Our evil cousins used to ridicule the two of us a lot. They would
intentionally call me by my brother’s name and my brother by my name.
Even their friends would torment us. Sir Author, we had to bear all this due
to your callousness towards us.
One of our many complaints is that you gave the Egotist all the
women in the story. He visits the Dark One on the west coast, woos her and
marries his sister. Do you think we could not have done it ? He goes to
heaven and Urvashi falls for him. Sir, you know very well that Nakula is the
most handsome of us all. Then you send the Egotist to the eastern region
where he marries several women including the serpent princess. You did
good job of acting out all your fantasies through him. Well, we could have
also been the conduit for your fantasies .
Infamy after infamy ! Sir, why did you tear up the first draft in which
you had described our marriage in great detail? It is true that for a long
time that our young queen was never sure of who was who amongst the
brothers. Yes, she quite often did mistake me for my brother and my
brother for me. Later there was some misunderstanding and I went in
instead of the Egotist. She mistook me for him and told me/him that it was
the best night she had in her entire married life. It would have shown your
great hero in poor light, Is it not? Sir, you may not know it but what will go
down as one of the greatest secret of all times is the intimacy between her
and us. You probably sensed it but never dared to tell the whole world that
our queen did indeed prefer the two of us to our illustrious elder brothers.
Sir, we three had such wonderful times. Yes, in the bedroom and elsewhere
! Our greatest happiness was that our beautiful queen liked and loved us
more than the other three. She told us once about the miserable nights she
used to have with our elder brothers . The Wise One did not know anything
about sex, the Big One treated her as though she was an opponent in a
wrestling match and the Egotist acted as though he was God’s gift to all
womankind. May be we should not criticize you much. After all you had sex
only three times in your life. Sir, it was pathetic. The first one closed her
eyes when you entered her boudoir which resulted in the birth of our blind
uncle (Even if he had had eyes, he could be described as blind!) . The
second one became pale and after nine months gave birth to our father.
And the third one was just doing her duty! Sir, while your procreating
powers with a single shot does merit some applause, we believe that you
do not know anything about women. Our queen was the most wonderful
woman in the whole universe. And it was our greatest pride that it was the
two of us who were closest to her through thick and thin. Do you know to
whom she came for solace when our great eldest brother sold her off to our
evil cousins? Yes, Sir! it was to the two of us and you conveniently forgot
that incident. There was the other time when one of Egotist’s wives
ridiculed our queen that if she had been taken out of the fire earlier she
would not have been dark like cinder ( You do remember she was born out
of Fire and came out of the sacrificial altar). Our queen cried so much that
night in front of us that we two had to talk very roughly to the Egotist. We
would have beaten him up that day if our queen had not come in between
us.
You remember the chapter where all of us had to be incognito so that
our evil cousins wont find us. We do agree that the whole episode was one
of your best tries. But you denied us juicy roles and again gave the Egotist
a great role. Even here you let him spend all the time with ladies. May be it
was one more of your fantasies . And, pray, what roles did we get ? My
handsome brother had to look after cows and I had to look after horses. I
also could have killed that villain who lusted after our wife. No, you had the
Big One do it. Don’t you think I could have done it. I had even defeated the
Big One several times in the wrestling arena. No, Sir you had your
favorites. And you made the Egotist defeat single handedly the army of the
evil cousins. If he was so great , please tell us why did the great war go on
for 18 days. Do you know that we joked with our brothers that we do not
have to be really incognito since we were never recognized even otherwise.
You again gave wonderful lines to the Egotist on the very first day of
the great war. You knew who gave the Egotist such thoughts but you chose
not to mention it. The Wise One had compromised and the Big One never
had any doubts. Our queen was in favour of the war and this is where we
disagreed with her. The Egotist was in two minds. Sir, it was we two- my
brother and I - who abhorred the idea of any war, let alone against our evil
cousins. As everybody knows, it is always the young who have doubts. We
conveyed it to the Egotist in no uncertain terms. We made a good job of
sowing the seeds of doubt. The great dialogue between the Egotist and the
Dark One eventually came to be known as the Song Celestial. The Egotist
could have mentioned it in the beginning that these were not entirely his
thoughts. But he never gave credit to others in his entire life.
At the very end when you decided to bump us all off, you killed off
our queen first. She was the force behind us all and it was really she who
would have survived the whole arduous journey. Even among the brothers,
you killed the two of us, the younger ones , first. Sir, what type of logic is
it ? You killed us as off though we were the old and the sick when, in fact, it
was the eldest who should have fallen first. This was your last act of
partiality in the whole story.
You gave us such an inferiority complex that it should have been
named after one of us. Even here we got cheated out. People talk of this
complex, that complex. Why not call it Sahadeva complex ? We want to
know whether you had the whole story in mind when you asked the
Elephant God to be your scribe. Or did you start making it up as you went
along ? It is true that big dramas need some small time players who come
and go in certain scenes. But, Sir, you made us small time players through
out the story.
We are told that another great story of our land went through several
transformations when it traveled to other lands. It is true that there is grave
injustice to the two younger brothers in that story also (Did you get your
inspiration from that story ?) . We hope that in some far off land
somewhere your great story will be transformed to make us the real heroes
and not zeroes as you have portrayed us.
Sir, we can go on and on but we cannot afford to do it. You just went
on dictating and one does not know how often Mother Parvati had to
bandage her son’s writing finger. But we do not have that luxury. Our editor
has allowed us a maximum of only certain number of words. We cannot
exceed the limit since we want this letter to be selected . This is the only
way that the whole world will hear our complaint. Sir, thanks for reading the
letter. If you do feel guilty, the letter has served its purpose.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
P

Fab Five Plus one (4) - mostly yudha parvas - War Stories

 Appointment with a mother

Mar 28 2008

It is evening here on the banks of the river. . The Sun is about to set.
Just know I finished my pranams to him. No day passes by without me
seeing the rising Sun. May be the Sun god is also anxious to see me before
he starts on his daily journey. And some days I see the setting Sun too.
Like today ! I feel he tarried a little before setting. As though he wanted to
avert some mishap.
A messenger had come this morning from the royal quarters to tell
me that the dowager queen wants to see me . I wondered about it and
asked him again since there are two dowager queens. We have the Prince’s
great grandmother, a very old lady. The other one is the Prince’s aunt. He
clarified that it is the latter one. Oh! It is Their Mother who wants to see me
in the evening on the banks of the river. Of all people why me ? I do not
know her at all. Whenever I see her I bow my head and do my pranams as
to any elderly lady.
------------------------------------------------------------------
I remember the old incident as though it is happening now. I am
twenty years old. Father says it is high time that I got a job. He sa ys he
knows people in the palace and he can get me the job of a charioteer for
one of the princes. But I tell him that I do not want that job. I am good,
actually very good, with bow and arrow. I want to be a soldier
There is a rumor of a Tournament in the royal stadium. I want to go.
But my father says I should not go near the stadium. He said it is not for
charioteers like us but for young men with royal blood. Such statements
anger me. I tell him that I am as good as anybody else and may be even
better.
And I go to the stadium and watch the happenings from the stands.
There are two rows of princes. In the one on the left, there are many. The
right row has only five princes. I must have missed some of the displays.
There is a mace fight between two youths- one lean and muscular and
another just huge. The fight went on for long time. Both were good. It had
to be stopped because nobody was going to lose. I could see that it was
not a friendly fight. It looked like they were really true adversaries. These
royal families always have intrigues and who knows what is happening
between those two. I ask a person standing next to me. He told me that
they are cousins: the lean one the son of the blind king and the huge one
the second son of the blind king’s brother.
Then it is the time for bow and arrows. The contest is to see who
would pierce the eye of the clay pigeon. There was mirth all around when a
scholarly looking prince came in and his arrow went in another direction
and hit an elephant standing by. I am told that he is the eldest son of the
king’s brother. Many princes tried and while some of them came close
nobody pierced the eye. I want to get on to the arena with my bow and
arrows. But before I could do it, there was wide clapping all over and a
handsome youth comes to the field with his bow. He looks around and the
spectators cheer him again. He bows to them and also to an elderly person
who was conducting the Tournament. I remember now that I did not like
him from the very beginning. He looks like a person with enormous ego. He
stood in the assigned place and sent his arrow. There was silence all
around. The arrow went straight to the right eye of the pigeon and then
there was clapping everywhere.
I jump into the arena with the bow in my hand. I walk to the center of
the stadium and tell the elderly gentleman that I also want to participate.
There are shrill whistles and boos from people in the stadium. And also
laughter! I look at the two rows of princes, the one with many youths and
the other with only five. They are all smiling whereas the egotist is laughing
his head off. The elderly gentleman , whom they called the Teacher , tells
me that this competition is only for royalty and not for commoners like me.
I get angry and tell him that merit is what is important. The Teacher does
not budge.
I can never forget what happened next. One of the princes comes out
of his row and walks towards me. He embraces me as though I am his long
lost friend. I recognize him as the lean and muscular youth of the mace
fight. He is obviously the Prince ! He tells the Teacher that he wants to give
me a kingdom which would automatically make me also royalty. He asks
some servants to come fast with a priest and a formal donation of the
kingdom was made. And I have become a king! A charioteer’s son became
a king just like that! I thank the Prince and tell him that I will be indebted to
him through out my life. Whatever happens, to me he is the Prince, the
most large hearted person I have seen in my whole life. People say I am
large hearted but I am nothing compared to the Prince.
Well, my entry into royalty was not well received and thee were still
some boos when I stood facing the clay pigeon. I stare at it for some time
till I can see only the eyes. And then there are only the two eyes, not even
me. The arrow goes straight to the left eye. There is applause all over and
the Prince comes and hugs me again. The egotist is arguing with the
teacher that it has to be the right eye but his elder brother (the scholarly
looking youth) asks him to be quiet.
It is at that time there was commotion in the royal pavilion. All the
princes run towards the pavilion . When I ask the Teacher I am told that one
of the queens has fainted. And it is the mother of the five princes, the blind
king’s brother’s wife! I also go near the pavilion. Nobody stops me since I
have also become a king. The queen has recovered and when I go near her,
she keeps staring at me, my bright armour plate and my diamond ear rings.
I did pranams to her just as I would to any elder person. She keeps her
palm on my bowed head and does not remove it for quite some time.
And it is she who wants to meet me now !
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Well, I see the old queen coming towards me. I go to her and as
usual do my pranams. She looks quite old. May be, this is the first time I am
really seeing her. Poor lady, she lost her husband while still young and had
to be a single parent to those five princes. I do not think anybody will envy
her. Look at her children: The first talks about scriptures all the time, but
has costly (God ! how costly) vices like gambling. The second is a glutton
and I am sure she must have had lot of problems just feeding him. And
third is ego personified !
She sits on the steps leading to the river and keeps her feet in the
flowing water. She asks me to sit by her side. She tells me to relax like her.
I also keep my feet in the water. I look at her feet and then at my feet. They
are so similar. May be all feet are similar. After all, how much variety can
the Maker have in designing feet ? She is saying something but I am still
looking at the two sets of feet. Not many people know it but I have a sixth
finger on my left foot. And so does the old queen!
She comes near me, places her arm around me and starts to talk : I
will tell you a story of a very young girl and how curiosity complicated her
life. The young girl was a princess and a famous sage came to her father’s
place . He was well known for his anger and her father was afraid that the
sage would curse them for any lapse in hospitality. Therefore the young
princess was assigned to look after him. She did a very good job and the
sage was very pleased. He was so satisfied with her services that he gave
her five boons. She was told that with each boon she could get a god to
come and give company. The sage went away leaving her with these 5
boons. The girl was curious..
I interrupted the old queen and asked her why she is telling me this
story. She patted my head affectionately and said ‘ Listen ‘: She wanted to
test the sage’s boon. Princesses lead lonely lives and she thought she
would do better with some company. She wondered about which god to
call. She looked outside and saw the morning sun. She recited the boon
hymn and called upon the Sun god ! She kept her eyes closed for some
time and when she opened the room was very bright with a godlike figure
standing in front of her. Before she could say anything, the godlike figure
said that he is actually the Sun god and has come to keep her company.
The girls was very afraid and asked the god to go back to wherever he
came from. He said that he cannot do it and according to the boon he had
to give her company. When he explained what he meant by company the
young girl was horrified but had to submit to the wishes of the god. And so
it was that the young girl became pregnant and eventually gave birth to a
son, the Sun’s son ! Since she was afraid that people would come to know
about it, she kept the baby in a crib and let it float down the river Ganga.
I was actually getting impatient with the whole story when something
checked me. When she talked about the crib down the river, I remembered
how my foster parents found me. They had said I was found in a crib
floating down the river. I had wondered several times about who my actual
parents were but such moments had become fewer and fewer with age. Is
this old lady talking about my birth ? I asked her about what happened to
the young girl who gave birth to the baby. The queen said that she
eventually got married and had several children. I asked her about the
baby. Did the baby have anything special, anything different ? The queen
said ‘ Yes, the baby had diamond earrings and an armor plate on the chest ‘
I could not hide my excitement. I asked her whether I was the baby.
She had tears in her eyes when she replied in the affirmative. I could see
that the old queen knew more than what she was telling. Now I understood
the attraction I felt for the Sun god. After all, he is my father. I asked her
whether she knows the girl , my mother. She said yes and said yes again
when I asked her whether my mother was living. She held my hands in her
hands and showed the two sets of feet in the river. I scream. Mother ? Yes
and she envelops me in a frail embrace.
I can see she is crying. I ought to be happy that I found my mother.
But I always had a mother, my mother Radha. She is everything that a son
could ask for her in a mother. She is my foster mother, So what ! I tell the
queen : Madam, please do not cry. Let the secret die with us. She says “ Do
not call me Madam. Call me mother”. I tell her that I cannot do it . She will
always be the queen at a distance. I tell her that she can continue like she
did in the past and I will also do the same.
And then it dawns! Those five whom I have loathed all my life are
really my brothers! How do I handle that? Very soon I will be fighting
against the. The queen guesses my thoughts and asks me to join their side.
She says that I could be the king. She adds then that the war may not take
place at all since the Prince is after all my dear friend. I tell her that I will not
leave the Prince who has been my good friend and generous to me
throughout my life. She says he is evil. I laugh saying that evil has many
faces, including that of a mother deserting her newly born child. She says
that I am cruel to her. I shot back saying not more than what she was to me.
No, I do not want the meeting to end this way. I should let bygones
by bygones. I wipe her tears and kiss her sunken cheeks. She says that she
feels for all of her children in the same way. I tell her that I will not harm
four of her children. She says you mean your brothers. I try to smile and
say yes. But I tell her that cannot promise about the egotistical one. Either I
will kill him or he will kill me. That is the way it will be. I tell her that
whatever happens she will have five children. I point to the sixth toe in her
left foot and indicate with a flurry that it will be chopped off !
It is getting late. I tell her that I will come with her to the palace. She
refuses and says that she can go alone. She comes near me and kisses me
on the forehead. Tells me that I am the most generous person. I nod and
say ‘ Yes, Mother’. She smiles.

UTTARAYAN: THE GRAND OLD MAN PASSES AWAY (by Bhishma)

The sun has come back up north. I can die now. I have waited for
this for a long time now. I had so much time to think over my acts of
commission and omission. There were things which seemed right then but
I am not sure any more. And then there were things which had never
seemed right.
My grandchildren were unhappy with each other from day one. They
never liked each other as kids. When they grew up, the Kuru clan (my
blind nephew ‘s children) did not want to share their kingdom with their
cousins. In a game of dice, the Kuru Clan defeated the Pandu clan and
sent them away to the forest. The Pandu clan came back from the forest
after 13 years but were still denied the kingdom. And it is no wonder that
they finally went to war over their rights. The story of generations in three
lines ! Yes, we may live for many many years but our lives deserve barely a
line in the history of mankind. How would I be perceived by the future
generations ? Again a line: Bhishma was a great warrior who knowingly
fought against the way of righteousness ! It does not matter that I never
bore ill will against my grandchildren, the children of Pandu. What matters
is that I never raised my voice against the atrocities meted out to them.
However, the Kuru clan always assumed that I favour their cousins !
And , yes, I even led the Kuru army against them I was anointed
as the commander in chief of the Kaurava army on the very first day. I did
not want it but the the prince was keen on it. He also must have had some
perverse pleasure seeing me lead the battle against my own
grandchildren. Imagine my consternation when Yudhishtira walked
towards me before the start of the battle . What does he want ? I was afraid
that he would ask for something which I cannot give. It was then I uttered
that I was in no position to help him because I was tied to the Kauravas.
I think I fought well though the Kuru prince taunted me on and off
about how partial I was to the Pandu Clan. I told him that I would give my
best once I had decided to fight for the Kurus. Nevertheless, he and his
brothers kept on taunting me. But they also saw that I fought so well that I
even instigated Patha’s Charioteer to pick up a chariot wheel and walk up
to me. He had decided not to fight at all but I had made him drop his vow .
But it was only for an instant and when he went back to the chariot, Partha
started showing the best of his skills.
It was the 10th day of the battle. Already both the armies were tired.
But the battle had to go on. Pandavas decided to give the leadership to
Shikhandi. I understood the ploy. They knew that I would not fight against
women. Shikhandi, after all, was a woman to start with. Born as daughter to
King Drupad she was brought up like a boy. Later on I heard that she got
her sex changed. It does not change her status for me. I will not fight her.
Actually it was I who had told the Pandavas that I would not fight against a
woman. They must have understood it. At least Partha’s charioteer must
have understood it and instructed them accordingly. A simple charioteer !
Ha, Strange way to call somebody who seems to be directing all their
moves. Without him they are just a bunch of brave and capable warriors,
not necessarily invincible . When Partha and Shikhandi came together to
face me, I laid down by bow and arrows. It was then Partha’s arrows
brought me down. Later Partha made me a bed of arrows. He also clenched
my thirst by striking an arrow into the earth and got fresh water from its
bowels. As everybody knew, I was not dead. I had this boon that I could
choose the hour of my death. The sun was still south. I just lay there
waiting for the sun to come back up north. Though I had been shifted to the
periphery of the battle field, I knew what was happening. Some body or
other would come in the evening and tell me the happenings of the day. It it
was the prince with the news one would know that the Kauravas did well
that day. Otherwise it would be one of the Pandavas with the news.
The teacher of Kurus took over the commandeship after I fell . Five
days later I heard that he was beheaded by the Drupad prince . Onthis
15th day of the war, the teacher believed a lie which was told by the eldest
pandava. Lie and Yudhishtir ! That is what this war has done. It has taken
away the façade of humanness from us all and has shown us for what we
are , just beasts of prey. The teacher had gotten old and so was I. Anyway
we had to leave this world soon. But , in between, a young man was killed
in a brutal manner. It is true war does not distinguish between young and
old. I am lamenting more the way the youth was killed. He fought alone
surrounded by the great Kaurava warriors. All the rules of warfare were
broken when they surrounded him and slaughtered him. It was Partha’s
young son who had left behind a pregnant wife. Kauravas had to pay
heavily for it since Partha was both sad and angry.
After the teacher the prince’s dear loyal friend took over as the
commander in chief. He and I never got along well. I did not like the way
he went on supporting the prince even when he knew that the prince was at
fault. He could have counseled the Kuru prince properly since he was so
close to him. My anger was that he ignored Dharma (righteousness )
because of his loyalty. But the truth was s that I was also like him . I chose
to look the other way when the Pandavas were ill treated by my blind
nephew and his children I ignored Dharma because of my loyalty to the
throne of Hastinapur . I detested him because I think I detested myself.
But I also admired him this eldest Kaunteya ( yes, that is what he
was, the first of Kunti’s four children, born when she was still a young girl)
because he was the most generous person alive. There were many
accounts of how he gave away whatever was asked of him. It is said that
Lord Indra (Partha’s celestial father) came and asked for Karna’s armour
which he was born with. Karna knew that the request was not all that
genuine but he still gave it away which made him more vulnerable in the
battlefield. He was also the best archer of us all. It is only that his vanity
made him a lesser mortal. He had taunted me several times. He had also
taken avow that he would not enter the battle under my commandership.
On the 10th evening when I was resting on the bed of arrows he came and
asked for my forgiveness. I told him that the war could end if he decides to
reveal his identity. Both the clans would accept him as the emperor. But he
said it would not be correct to desert the Kuru prince at this time. He said
he would fight till the end. I guess he also knew that we were doomed to
lose and die.
The Kauravas fought for two days under the command of this brave
man but he finally became a victim to Partha’s arrows. Yes, Partha had
killed his own elder brother. With time Partha and the whole Pandu clan
would know. There would be great repentance, a proper sequel to a great
war ! The end came a day later when the gallant Duryodhana died at the
hands of Bheema after a well fought battle with maces.
The kuru clan had lost . Yudhishtir became the king. He was very
anxious that I teach him about statesmanship and ho a king should rule. I
told him all that I knew and it did take some time. The moment of death
approaches. I should think about the future of my country. My
Hastinapur ! The Pandavas will certainly rule well. Their children will rule
and later their grandchildren. Yes, it will go on. But every generation will
have people like me who will keep quiet even when they know right from
wrong.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
This is what Bhishma told Yudhishtir when he approached him before the
battle was to begin
“Man is a slave to money which, however, is nobody's slave. This being the
Truth, O King, I am tied to the Kauravas for money”. ( One does not have to
take the word money literally)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

THE LISTENER IN THE WOMB -(Abhimanyu)

It all started when I was about several months old in my mother’s
womb. I guess that was the time when she started getting bored. She
began to badger my father to tell her stories. I too was all ears to listen to
them . May be that was all I was. Just ears !
The very first day he started telling her of the great churning of the
ocean by the devas and the asuras. It took him quite some time. My mother
would listen to him for an hour every night . At times she would fall asleep.
And at that juncture my ears also would close. I would always wait for that
story telling hour every night. My father had a soft baritone voice. I loved
those sixty and odd minutes.
It seems My father knew many stories. That is what I thought.
Once mother complimented him upon his knowledge but father said that
he himself does not know all that many stories and he had to ask his elder
brother whenever he ran out of them. It does not matter how it came . I
loved them.
And there was a time when my father had to really struggle to find
stories. I guess I was about six months old in the womb. I think my feet
had just then been formed and I loved exercising it. So I kicked here and
there. My mother would call father at that time and they would laugh. I
guess they were happy.
Yes, my father was running out of his stories. I guess his elder
brother was away somewhere and so nothing new was forthcoming . So
my father started repeating old stories. And he would also make mistakes.
May be initially mother did not know or care but I would kick my mother
several times with my tiny feet. This would make mother alert and
demand new material.
One night father told mother that he cannot tell her any more
stories. Mother started crying . I also wondered how we would spend time
from now on. Father asked her not to cry. He said he wont tell stories but
tell her about other things, equally important. He told her that after all she
is a queen and she ought to know about warfare. He started out with
elementary aspects like how to ride a horse, how to ride an elephant etc
I had thought it would be boring but it was really thrilling. Also
the way he told this stuff was great. Father was in his elements, I guess.
He went on from topic to topic. One day it was swordplay. Another day it
was mace. He said he himself was not good with mace and only knew the
very basics. He said that his elder brother was very good at it. So I
surmised he had two elder brothers, one who told stories and another who
was good at mace. Of course, it was possible that there was only one
brother and he was good at both. But I thought it was unlikely.
And then he came to archery. By the way he handled this subject, I
knew he must be a great archer. Yes, mother also made gentle fun of him
at times calling him the greatest archer in the world. Yes, my world was
getting filled : three brothers and the third one a great archer !
He treated mother ( and of course me) to the concept of different
astras. The word scared me at first but I guess it was nothing to be afraid of
. The fire astra would mean an arrow sent keeping god of fire in mind and
it would spew fire everywhere. And he said the way one can counter it
would be to send a water astra ( He gave names to them – agneyaastra,
varunastra etc) . It was really wonderful . Yes, these descriptions were as
good as the stories. Further, as I said, father was in his elements talking
about these weapons. Mother would get bored at times but I would prod
her to listen. Sorry, mother, I have to kick you again !
Once the weapons were all done with , he started the topic of how
one should counter the enemy. It was all simple if the fight was between
just two people. But it became complex when it involved armies because
they would be arranged in different formations. The names of these
formations were strange. They were called Vyuhas. One had the name of
crocodile ( Makara Vyuha), tortoise ( Murma Vyuha) , bird (Garuda vyuha)
etc. He said the enemy’s formation had to countered with another
formation. It seems there are different formations for defence and for
offence.
I feel that I am becoming very big. I can feel that mother is
finding it difficult to move around. Both mother and father are anxious but
others keep sang that there should not be any problem. Meanwhile I am
anxious to know more about horses, weapons, army formations etc. I have
a strange feeling that all these accounts will end once I get out of mother’s
womb. I can hear people saying that it may be just one more day. My father
is yet to complete his accounts. Well, it is night again and father starts
telling more about enemy formations and how to break them open ,enter
and later retreat. . He started talking about what he called one of the best
army formations. He said it is in the form of a wheel or a lotus ( Chakra
Vyuha ). He told how to enter the formation. Oh ! mother is drowsy. Father,
yes, you have told us how to get into the Chakra Vyuha. Tell me know how
to get out. Mother has dozed off. I kick her several times. But she does not
wake up. Father sees her, pats her and goes away. And I may never learn
how to get out of the Chakra Vyuha
I came out of mother’s womb the very next day.

 

 AN ELEPHANTINE LIE- Yudhishtira

T

We are all getting old. We have decided to get away and live in the

forest. We will crown Partha’s grandson Parikshit and he will rule from

now on . Acharya Kripa will be his teacher. He will guide the young prince

just like he did for us. It is time to leave all our earthly possessions behind.

It is time to forget the past and move on. How easy is it to say that one

should forget the past, both good and bad. ! Have I managed to do it ? No,

there is this ghoul on my back . I cannot shake it off. It will be with me till

the end of my life. May be it will seep through to my next life too !

This ghoul ! It is mine, alright . It appeared from nowhere on that

fateful day in the battle of Kurukshetra. It was the day when we had

already managed to bring down the great Bhishma. Our granddad on

whose lap we had spent our childhood was vanquished. It was a trick of

our cousin from Dwaraka . He knew that the old man would not fight

against eunuchs and women . Therefore he saw to it that an eunuch face

the old warrior and behind the eunuch stood our brother, the greatest

archer of them all. And it was those arrows which pierced the grandfather’s

armour and brought him down. May be they did not tell me about it since

they thought I would oppose it . Or may be I chose not to enquire them

about it and decided to look the other way. I feel the ghoul on my back was

born at that time. It was small and did not weigh much at that time. But it

made its presence felt.

Our revered teacher took over the opposition reins from the

granddad. He was the one who taught us how to wield our arms. He was

next only to our granddad in the affection we had for elders. But now he

was the commander of the opposition forces. His mandate was to destroy

us . And destroy he did ! We lost some of our heirs in the process. Both

Bhimasena’s son and Partha’s son were killed. The teacher had to be

stopped !

( Thanks to the internet for the picture)

Our cousin from Dwaraka came to our help again. All of us knew that

the teacher was extreme fond of his son Ashwatthama, The story goes that

our teacher was so poor that he had no milk for his son. He remembered

that he and Raja Drupad were fellow students. Buit when he went to the

king , he was ridiculed. The teacher took a vow that he would defeat him

and take away his kingdom. After he came over to Hastinapur and taught

us all, he demanded gurudakshina which was to go with him and fight Raja

Drupada. Yes, we all went with him and saw to it that the teacher was

avenged. That is the type of fondness he had for his son Ashwatthama. I

think the fondness of these fathers for their children is what is destroying

us all. This is the reason our teacher could not object when our blind uncle

ill treated us.

Let me remember the way it happened. Our cousin from Dwaraka

says that Drona has to be stopped somehow. One has to make him stop

fighting . But how ? Our cousin says that the teacher will lay down his arms

if he comes to know that son Ashwatthama is dead . All the five of us

shout in unison that he is not dead and it is also not easy to kill him. Our

cousin says of course, he is not dead. But somebody has to convey this

new to the teacher. Partha says that the teacher wont believe it. The cousin

says : Believe he will if it is conveyed by the right person! All of them look

at me ! It slowly dawns on me that they want me to tell a lie ! I tell them that

I cannot do it . The cousin says Alright, let us kill Ashwatthama . He tells

Bhimasena :I have seen a nice elephant with you people and it is called

Ashwatthama, Is’nt it ? Before anybody could say anything brothers Nakula

and Sahadeva say it is their elephant . Our cousin tells them that he will

give them a new elephant after the war but now Ashwatthama has to go.

He tells Bhimasena to kill the elephant and announce it . Yes, the poor

elephant was killed and Bhimasena shouted : Ashweatthama is dead . The

teacher heard it but he did not want to believe it .He then asked me Is

Ashwatthama really dead ? I wanted to tell him the truth but the way he

had championed the evil Kauravas all his life angered me. Was our

affection for him nothing at all ? I then uttered Yes, Death has come to

Ashwatthama the elephant. After the word Ashwatthama , the part about

the elephant was just a whisper. Our cousin blowing his conch at that time

made sure that the word elephant was not heard at all. Well, our teacher

became extremely sad and laid down his arms. It was at that time our

brother in law jumped on him and cut off his head. As I saw his death I

started feeling more and more weight on my back. Yes, that is the ghoul

with whom I have been forced to lead my life since then ! How am I different

from amybody at all now ?

Yes, I had uttered a LIE ! And it is consuming me day after day. The

war was over long back. But the ghoul on my back is still there. I am bent

now, not just because of age, but also because of that weight on my back.

Dharmaraj ? No, I gave up that name long time ago. I told people not to call

me by that name anymore !

THE LAST HOURS OF KRISHNA

Tonight the sky above Dwaraka is very well lit. The kith and kin of all

those great Yadava warriors have set fire to the funeral pyres of their

fathers. And the light from those countless pyres have illuminated the sky.

It is brighter than any night in the past. It is brighter than the night I

brought back Rukmini as my bride. It is brighter than the night when

Bhama and I came back after defeating the Hell Demon. But instead of

laughter and joy, Dwaraka is filled tonight with cries of women .

Yesterday they were wives wearing colourful clothes and their ornaments.

Today they are widows in white. The only men who are left are the small

boys. Some of them my grandsons and great grandsons And I a mute

witness to all this tragedy.

What type of death is this for my Yadavas! These were brave

people. They should have died on the battlefields. Or of old age with

grandchildren playing around their legs. But they died on their home

fronts. Yes, they were spared old age. They died in their prime of life . And

pray how ? I They killed each other in a drunken brawl!

What started it all was something very silly. Some big rishis had

come to see me. My people wanted to play pranks on them. And Samba, as

usual, was always ready. He was my son and his mother was the Bear

Princess. They say bears tickle people to laughter. Samba was like that.

Others dressed up Samba as a pregnant lady and took him to the Rishis.

And asked them whether he would give birth to a boy or a girl . These

sages after all know everything. They felt insulted and cursed the youth .

They told him that he will give birth to an iron club which would bring total

destruction to the Yadava race ! The next day he went into labour and did

give birth to an iron club . Don’t ask me how this can happen. If the great

rishis wish, anything can happen. ! Now I don’t know why the sages got

so angry. You would expect such learned men to handle these things

humorously. It would have been fun if he had given birth to a real child.

And what would Samba’s wife say ?

The iron club was powdered and put in the sea. Few days afterwards

many strong weeds had grown near the sea. People were very perturbed .

They thought that the weeds came out of the iron powder. There were

rumours of many ill omens. When people want to get afraid

things. I tried to make them quiet but it did not help. Then I suggested

that we all go to sea near Prabhasa. We had liked the place and had gone

there many times. They agreed and the entire Yadava warriors went to the

sea shore. Had bath, fun and games. And as Yadavas usually do they all

got drunk. And that was the beginning of their end. Satyaki insulted

Kritavarma . Pradyumna joined Satyaki. Kritavarma got very angry . This

was all about events in the Big War. They saw the weeds which had grown

near the sea and pulled them out. Lo and Behold, the weeds became iron

clubs! And everybody got these clubs and they started fighting, Before we

knew what was happening , both Satyaki and Kritavarma were dead. Seeing

the leaders die the followers in each tribe now got into the act. So the they

fought with each other and all of them perished in front of my eyes. May be

I told them to stop . May be I did not. It was all getting too much for me !

These were all kind people at one time. We had come here from

Mathura. Jarasandha, the emperor of Magadha had started harassing us.

He was a great warrior, but certainly was not invincible. . It would have

taken us more time. It would have been a war of attrition. Brother Balarama

and I decided that there was no need to involve the Yadavas in these nerve

racking battles. Yes, we all came away to Dwaraka . It was in fact Satyaki

and Kritavarma who lead the whole lot of people. They were such good

friends. They would say with glee that they became adults the same night

and with the same lady ! And yesterday they killed each other.

My Yadavas did not die just because of the events of one single week .

And I do not think it had much to do with the curse of the Rishis either. In the

very beginning when we had come from Mathura, there was lot of enthusiasm

and all of them . All of them said that we should build a new nation. We were

almost a republic. Raja Ugrasena was a benign ruler . He would check with all of

us before taking decisions. But with time differences are bound to come up . And

they started cropping up on various matters. These happen anywhere but there

were more differences here. My worry was that the fragile Yadava nation would

split. We had tried so hard to build it. I tried ways to keep them together. But the

hatred which came out at Prabhasa was something I had not imagined. It was as

though they were two entirely different races of people.

Yadava clan has been the most important thing in my life. At each

and every moment I have acted with their well being in mind. I had to see

that the Yadavas were connected well with the powerful. I got the great

Partha to marry my sister. Further . during the big war I did not want my

small Yadava country to get caught between these two big powers. My

idea was that whoever wins should be well disposed towards my small

kingdom. I took the side of Pandavas but I gave the whole Yadava army to

Duryodhana. I remember Balrama smiling and saying Very Clever !

But the tragedy in my life is that I could not unite the Yadavas. I gave

them a kind of homeland. I tried to keep them away from problems. They

showed me respect when I was around. They fawned on me and my wives.

But they did whatever they wanted when I was not there. Towards the end

all the tribes started blaming me for their problems. I did not win their trust.

Another tragedy in my life was that I could not avert the Big War.

Was it inevitable ? It is true that Injustice had been done to the Pandavas.

After all it was a property dispute. Duryodhana was not a bad king for his

people. It was not as though Pandavas did not have their faults. Could not

they have settled their problems with just a mace fight between the two big

guys. Did we really need that full blown war ? People say I instigated them.

It is wrong. Yes, once we were on the battlefield I did tell Partha not to get

cold feet at that stage. And it did take me a lot of time on my part to

convince him!
(some mix up here - check) 

e

Brother Balarama never bothered much about our people. It was not

that he was callous but did not take any initiatives also. He did not lift a

finger to avert the Big War. May be Duryodhana would have listened to

him ! And yesterday at Prabhasa he saw the carnage and went away. He

sat below a tree and gave up his life . What is the difference between him

and me ? I went around and thought I would save humanity. And he sat

home. The end result was the same .

Now all my relatives are dead. Brother Balarama has also gone.

Pandavas are also getting old. The writing is there on the wall. May be it is

time for me to go. We all believe that we will be reborn. I do not know

whether it is true but It is a nice belief . It is nice to be reassured that there

is a chance for us to achieve things which was not possible for us in this

life. If and when I am born again I would like to be born here. Near my dear

Dwaraka... . I hope the world will be a better place at that time. I hope I will

be spared the enmity and hatred that seems to have been a mark of my

times !

But if hatred has not disappeared, I may have to lead the same type

of life that I have led now. I will again try to work to lessen the hatred

between people . I will try to unite them . I will try to bring peace. . And if I

die in that attempt , so be it.

( During the last 2 years of his life, Gandhiji reminded people often of how

yadavas destroyed themselves)

 

THE 19TH DAY

Maharaj ! Shall I start today’s report? For the last 18days I have given you
second by second, minute by minute, the account of this battle between
yours sons and your nephews. I have described to you arrow by arrow
what happened between the stalwarts on both sides, As you liked to say , it
was between us and them. The battle went on for 18days. We are
vanquished and they have won. Yes, I have been your eyes. You are saying
I was a good reporter! Thank You very much , sir! And now the 19 th day is
about to start !
What Sir ? You say you don’t want to know what is happening ! No , sir !
You have to listen to me. You are saying that the battle is over and there is
nothing to see or hear ! No, you should not miss what is happening there
now . Battles are not just about fights. They are also about what happens
after the fights.
It is daytime but still I cannot see much. There is smoke all over the
battlefield. Yes, it is all from the funeral pyres. The bigger leaders have
their own pyres. Some pyres have 2 bodies ! You ask why ? Well, may be
they were lesser leaders. But some have many ! 4, 5.. no I cannot count.
These must be of ordinary soldiers who have to fight without really
knowing what they fought for. There is nothing much in stake for them, but
still they have to give up their lives for wicked deeds of some people. No,
Maharaj, I am not saying you are wicked. Why do you have to feel so
defensive? Yes, I agree, they are also not any holy and this was not a just
war. Sir, no war is really just!
Let me take you back to the battle field. There are women all over the field.
They are all weeping and wearing white. Some women slip in the wet mud
and fall on the ground. Their sarees are turning red . Like the ones they
wore on their wedding day. They seek the man whom they married. Is he
alive ? Is he dead and rotting somewhere ? Or has he turned into ashes.?
Some of the women have their children with them. It is the first time we are
seeing children here. Some don’t know why they are there ; some are old
enough to console their mothers. And some have eyes of steel. I fear,
because, I see the birth of new wars in their eyes !
Years from now, centuries from now, bards will write and sing about the
great battle. They will describe the deeds of the brave. Eighteen days of
valour, they will say. They will wax eloquent about the great sermon of the
first day. But they will all be silent about the 19 th day !!
(Total words 496)