In the previous episode, we had witnessed how Baanaasura’s daughter, Usha fell in love with Bhagawan Krishna’s grandson, Aniruddha. We had witnessed how Usha saw Aniruddha in her dreams and with that itself she decided that if she’s going to get married in her life, it is only going to be with this person and nobody else. She somehow wanted to know the whereabouts of this person, and also wanted to find out whether such a person exists in the first place. She thus calls out to her best friend, Chitralekha, who was an excellent artist and can exactly replicate on paper even people who were seen in dreams. As per Usha’s recollection of the dream, Chitralekha managed to successfully draw the portrait of Aniruddha, which exactly coincided with that person whom she had seen in her dreams. Now with this portrait, Usha’s attraction towards Aniruddha increased manifold. She now requests Chitralekha to help her in finding out the whereabouts of where this Aniruddha lived and what was his background.
Accordingly, Chitralekha sends out her friends to search for this person. She gives this portrait of Aniruddha to them and asks them to find out where this person is. They thus set out immediately, search their way through many places and finally reach Dwaaraka. As they near the Dwaaraka palace, they spot Aniruddha fast asleep on a luxurious cot on the terrace. By the time these people reach Dwaaraka, it is already midnight and the entire city is fast asleep as well. They saw this opportunity and quickly made a decision. Rather than waking up and inquiring with Aniruddha, they decide to carry him along with them as he is sleeping. Thus, the men lifted Aniruddha along with his cot and carried him away! They quickly made their way to where Usha was living, and placed the cot along with Aniruddha at her house.
Next morning when Aniruddha woke up, he was surprised to see that he was no more at Dwaaraka! On the other hand, Usha too was surprised to see her dream boy in front of her. She was so happy to see Aniruddha in front of her. Aniruddha too was taken aback by Usha’s beauty and immediately fell in love with her! Thus, both of them started loving each other from their first sight, and even started living together with each other. This continues for a few months without anyone noticing. However, one fine day, Baanaasura, Usha’s father enters into her “Antahpura” for some reason and finds out that she’s living with a boy. Upon seeing this, Baanaasura starts fuming with anger and immediately orders both Usha and Aniruddha to be imprisoned together!
At this point, our Aachaaryas raise a very important point and a comparison here – They say that this is the trick that Ravana failed to employ! Now we might wonder what is this “trick” that our Aachaaryas are talking about. In our previous Ramayana project we had seen that Ravana had imprisoned Mother Sita in the “Ashoka Vana” at Lanka, isn’t it? Had he imprisoned both Mother Sita and Bhagawan Rama together, there wouldn’t have been any fight of any sorts. Ravana could have happily continued to rule Lanka and Bhagawan Rama would have been happily living with Mother Sita at Lanka itself! He wouldn’t have even thought of going back to Ayodhya after the fourteen-year tenure came to an end. If He has to go back, He knows that Bharata would come crying to Him and hand over the kingdom, along with Mother Kaikeyi. After that, He has to rule the Ayodhya kingdom, which isn’t an easy task at all. Thus, had Ravana given Bhagawan Rama and Mother Sita an opportunity to live together at Lanka, the “Yuddha Kaanda” in the Ramayana wouldn’t have even taken place! Thus, Ravana had missed this trick very badly, according to our Aachaaryas!
Moving on thus, as Aniruddha goes missing at Dwaaraka, Bhagawan Krishna comes to know of this, and sends His troops on a massive search operation. Finally, Bhagawan Krishna understands that Aniruddha is at Baanaasura’s place, imprisoned along with Usha. So Bhagawan Krishna now has to take Baanaasura on in a war, so as to free Aniruddha from imprisonment. What is Bhagawan Krishna’s strategy going to be next? Is He going to wage a battle with Baanaasura immediately? Let’s wait till the next episode to find out! Stay tuned! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 