Episode # 339 – Yudishtra gets back his Indraprastha kingdom – Duryodhana fumes in anger!!!

In the previous episode, we had witnessed King Dhridiraashtra finally breaking the ice amidst enormous pressure from Vidura and the others. As Bhishmachaarya and Guru Dhronachaarya preferred to remain silent, the onus was completely on King Dhridiraashtra to doze down the quickly developing disastrous events. Drauapti was physically assaulted by Duchaasana – An act that was celebrated widely by the Duryodhana camp, which was a blatant “Adharma” that was happening right in front of everybody’s eyes! However, Draupati was saved, thanks to Bhagawan Krishna’s divine intervention and “Anugraha”. Now, it was time for the Paandavas to take pledges one after the other. Bheemasena took a fierce pledge that he would plunder Duryodhana’s thighs, which wanted Draupati to come and sit upon! Similarly, he took a vow to amputate Duchaasana’s hands, which were instrumental in physically assaulting Draupati in public. Similarly, Arjuna took a vow that he would put an end to Karna in the battlefield with his sharp arrows. Thus, as the situation was getting out of hand, King Dhridiraashtra intervenes and grants Draupati a set of three boons. In return, Draupati asks for two of them – Firstly to release herself from the clutches of Duryodhana’s slavery, and secondly to release her husbands from the same. Even though she refrained from requesting the third boon, King Dhridiraashtra himself grants it – He gives back the Indraprastha kingdom to Yudishtra, along with the wealth, army, etc. that he had lost in the gambling game. However, Draupati vowed to avenge Duryodhana and Duchaasana for their heinous act of insulting her. She declared openly that she would leave her hair untied till the day that Duchaasana’s blood would bathe her hair! 

As Draupati thunders loudly thus, Duchaasana is stunned beyond words! He knows that he has fallen into the trap of “Adharma”, and there is no way that he could escape from this! At the same time, Bheemasena once again gets up and thunders thus, “Oh Duchaasana! Draupati is right! I shall ensure that I chop off your hands, take the blood from it and would personally rinse her hair with your blood! This is surely going to happen some day in the near future! Until I fulfil my vow, I would never sleep peacefully! No matter what King Dhridiraashtra does to doze down the feud, my pledge is a pledge until I execute it! I’m repeating it again – Duryodhana would meet a ghastly end only in my hands! I shall plunder his thighs upon which he wanted my wife to go and sit upon! This would certainly happen!” As Bheemasena thunders thus for the second time, the entire courtroom is stunned beyond words! Duryodhana himself is stunned, but he doesn’t show it outside! He knows within himself that a disaster is on the way for him! 

However, at the right time, Vidura again intervenes and sends the Paandava brothers back to Indraprastha. Yudishtra gets on to his chariot along with his brothers and Draupati and start their way back to Indraprastha. With this, the “Dyuta-Parva” comes to an end. Now, as we commence the next “Parva”, everything turns upside down once again! Now what happens at Hastinapura after Yudishtra leaves? Duryodhana is furious and biting his teeth with extreme anger! He had planned all the events sequentially and things also went on according to his plans. He had successfully abducted all of Yudishtra’s wealth, kingdom, army, etc. however, his father played spoilsport at the last moment! As King Dhridiraashtra took a firm decision of nullifying all the results of the gambling game, Duryodhana could not digest it. Hence, he quickly makes his way to Sahuni uncle to discuss the next step forward! 

As Duryodhana storms into Sahuni uncle’s chamber, Sahuni clearly understood Duroydhana’s state of mind. All his plans went for a toss. Even Sahuni was not very happy that such a “U-turn” of events had happened after a lot of strenuous efforts. Duryodhana wants to plan the next sequence of events and talks to Sahuni uncle thus: “Oh Uncle! What a waste of effort! I’m totally ashamed to call this King Dhridiraashtra as my father! He doesn’t have a spine of his own to stick to his decisions! The moment Vidura says something, his mind would automatically change. It was Vidura who created the stumbling block yet again in front of the courtroom, when things were going on favourably for us! With the anger that I currently have in me, I’m going to throttle Vidura and put him to death immediately! How dare he influence the king and make him dance to his tunes every time? Vidura never understands my difficulty even for a single day! Oh Sahuni uncle! Now what do we do? I somehow want the entire situation to be reversed immediately without any further delay! Suggest me the way forward!” 

Saying thus,  Duryodhana is waiting for Sahuni uncle to reply. Sahuni too thinks about what to do and how to plan the way forward! So for today, let us also wait along with Duryodhana to witness what is Sahuni’s next plan of action! Stay tuned for an absorbing accord tomorrow! 🙂