In the previous episode, we had witnessed how the rivalry between Duryodhana and Bheemasena started growing. Beyond a point when Duryodhana was feeling humiliated more and more by Bheemasena’s raw muscle power and dominance, Duryodhana decided to give it back to him in the way that he would understand. He planned various plots to kill Bheemasena, like the one to push him into the River Ganges while Bheemasena was asleep! However, Bheemasena got out of the river unscathed! Next was to make a poisonous snake bite Bheemasena, which also failed miserably as the poison did not penetrate into Bheemasena’s ultra-strong body! Subsequently, Duryodhana decided that such simple plots aren’t going to work! He decided to mix poison amidst Bheemasena’s food, make him consume it and subsequently push him into the river water, wherein some immensely poisonous snakes were residing! Thus, the poison should work from all four sides – From the food and from the various snakes beneath the river! With this idea, a grand festive was arranged by Duryodhana amidst the river banks and he executed his plan against Bheemasena!
As per his expectation, Bheemasena consumed the immensely poisonous food and as time passed by, the poison started to take effect in Bheemasena’s body. He started feeling giddy and slowly fell unconscious! Using this opportunity, Duryodhana and Co. pushed Bheemasena into the river where the snakes were residing! The snakes too started biting Bheemasena from all four sides! As this was happening on one end, on the river banks, people started to search for Bheemasena everywhere, only not to be found anywhere! Kunthi Devi and Yudishtra were deeply concerned, however, Duryodhana smartly deflected them by saying that Bheemasena was feeling tired and hence he went back to the palace! Believing Duryodhana’s words, the Paandava brothers and Kunthi Devi started walking back towards the palace.
It is at this crucial juncture, Vidura comes into the picture! As Kunthi Devi and the Paandava brothers were thoughtfully walking back, they see Vidura. Vidura too sees Kunthi Devi who was with a worried face. Upon understanding what had happened, Vidura consoles Kunthi Devi and explains thus, “Oh Kunthi Devi! Please wait and do not talk about this to anybody! I shall take responsibility to enquire what had really happened to Bheemasena and get back to you with details. Hence, please wait!” Readers should remind themselves here – We’ve seen in our earlier episodes that whenever the Paandavas had a problem, it was Vidura who came in time to protect them and to guide them as per the path of “Dharma”. This is the first instance that we’re seeing how Vidura comes at the right time to protect the Paandavas when they are in danger. As Vidura says thus to Kunthi Devi and the Paandava brothers, he starts his enquiry process on one side.
Meanwhile, as Bheemasena was under the water now, the poisonous snakes started to bite him left, right and center! Normally, the biggest enemy of poison is poison itself! Bheemasena had consumed the food with poison, didn’t he? This poison was neutralized when the poison from the snakes went into Bheemasena’s body! Thus, Bheemasena became free of poison and subsequently regained his consciousness. As the snakes saw this, they were surprised! Normally the protocol in this world is that when snakes bite humans, they should die of the poison. However, the case of this boy was very different isn’t it? When the snakes bit him, he woke up and sat upright! Unable to believe this, the snakes took Bheemasena further underground to meet their leader, Naagaraja! We’ve already seen that the leader of the snakes was “Vaasuki”. Snake Vaasuki meets Bheemasena and he knew who this boy was. Snake Vaasuki knows that Bheemasena was none other than Vaayu Bhagawan’s divine son and he was happy to meet Bheemasena! Snake Vaasuki blessed Bheemasena with enormous power and strength to overcome any danger that might potentially be caused to him in future!
As Snake Vaasuki was conversing with Bheemasena, there was another person in the same “Naaga Lokha” who was Kunthi Devi’s good friend. Sage Vyaasa is going to give a short accord about this person here. So for today, let us understand until this point and in the next episode, we shall witness who this person was and what was his role in Kunthi Devi’s life. We shall also witness what happened to Vidura’s investigation and how Bheemasena came back to Hastinapura in the next episode! Stay tuned for an interesting accord! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 