In the previous episode, we had witnessed the continuation of the introductory note on the “Sabhaa Parvaa”, wherein, we were at the juncture of Draupati being dragged and stripped in front of the entire courtroom of Hastinapura. We had witnessed that Yudishtra had no option but to stake Draupati and play the gamble, only to lose the game to Sahuni’s vicious dice. Once Draupati was lost, Duryodhana declared that from that moment onwards, she would be his “Daasi” or a servant, who would do whatever he wanted, including various kinds of “favors”. Hearing this, the Paandavas were fuming with anger, but couldn’t speak a word against Duryodhana at that moment. Thus, Duryodhana continued his offensive by instructing Duchhasana to drag her to the center of the courtroom and to unstrip her saree in front of everyone. Upon seeing this, the entire courtroom was shell-shocked! Duryodhana had breached all limits to show his anger, frustration and jealousy on the Paandava brothers. Nobody could speak a word against Duryodhana, including Bhishmaachaarya, Guru Dhronaachaarya and King Dhridiraashtra himself! However, as Draupati ardently prayed to Bhagawan Krishna, He came to her rescue and protected her chastity and image by extending her saree length to infinite limits.
As this happened, Duchaasana was tired of pulling Draupati’s saree and at one stage, he couldn’t continue further. Once Duchaasana halts his offense, the entire courtroom was fuming with anger! Bheemasena lost his cool. He was brimming with anger and stood up violently amidst everyone and took a firm oath in front of the entire courtroom. As Bheemasena spoke, the entire courtroom shook with fear! Bheemasena took an oath thus, “Given that Duchaasana and Duryodhana have breached their limits of insulting my brothers and our wife Draupati, there would definitely be a day wherein I shall give it back to them! There would be a day wherein I would personally chop off the very same hands of Duchaasana which pulled Draupati’s saree in public. There would be a day wherein I would chop off Duryodhana’s thighs, upon which he wanted Draupati to come and sit! This would definitely happen and on that day, the world would witness what is Bheemasena’s raw muscle power really is!”
As Bheemasena roared with anger thus, Arjuna stood up! He took a pledge in a similar way as his brother thus, “Oh King Dhridiraashtra! Please make a note – Till today all of us were patiently absorbing all the insults that were thrown upon us by Duryodhana! There would be a day wherein all your hundred Kaurava sons would be the target of my “Gaandeepa” (Bow) and with that, your entire clan would be wiped out of this world! There would be a day when I would shower my arrows upon your sons and just like we suffer today with immense pain, your sons would also face the same suffering on the battlefield! All your hundred sons would encounter a painful death!” Hearing thus, Nakula and Sahadeva stood up and took a similar pledge in front of everyone! They roared thus, “Oh King! Just like how this vicious Sahuni rolled the dice to doom us, there would be a day when either of us would chop off Sahuni’s hands permanently! The very fingers that rolled the dice would be cut off mercilessly by both of us! This day is not very far off!”
As King Dhridiraashtra was hearing all this one by one, he was shell-shocked! He was speechless! He did not know what was going on! He did not expect the gambling game to take such a “U-turn” to the worst! As Vidura repeatedly recommended King Dhridiraashtra to break his silence and put an end to all this nonsense that was going on, King Dhridiraashtra says thus, “Oh Paandava brothers! I seek an unconditional apology on behalf of my son Duryodhana! Whatever has happened today in the Hastinapura courtroom is completely unprecedented! I request you to forgive all of us for the insult that has been caused to you and to Draupati! Now I give the orders as a king – All the Paandavas would go back to Indraprastha and Yudishtra would continue serving as the king with all the wealth and resources. This game has been nullified with immediate effect! Since Draupati has borne extreme insult and since she is our dearest daughter-in-law, I request Draupati to ask for three boons to me and I shall grant it to her immediately!”
As King Dhirdiraashtra requests thus, Draupati asked for two boons and kept the third one unasked. With the first boon, she relieved all her husbands from Duryodhana’s slavery. Secondly, she relieved herself from being a “Daasi” of Duryodhana. As Draupati asked these two boons, King Dhirdiraashtra immediately granted both of them to Draupati and with this, the entire Paandava camp started their journey back to Indraprastha. So for today, let us understand until this point wherein the events turned back to the Paandavas’ favor. However, the insults and the pledges made, remained as bad memories forever! We shall continue this discussion further in the next episode, to witness what was Duryodhana’s reaction to what his father had done! Stay tuned! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 