In the previous episode, we had witnessed Duryodhana conspiring to kill the Paandava brothers in the forest itself, so that he could shut Vidura’s mouth once and forever! Duryodhana is now fed up with Vidura taking sides of Yudishtra every now and then. Now that Vidura is back in business, Duryodhana is wary that he would again influence and “misguide” his father in such a way that everything would turn against him. Thus, in order to put an end to this never-ending saga, Duryodhana decides that he has had enough! He now thinks of putting Yudishtra and Co. to death through some ways or means. He opens up this topic with the others in his camp, wherein Sahuni and Karna did not straightaway accept his stance. There is a brainstorming session that follows, and Sahuni and Karna have their say in this matter.
Sahuni explains his stance thus, “Oh Duryodhana! Your idea seems fine, but I don’t think it is necessary at this stage. I’m saying this because Yudishtra is a person who never goes back on his words. He has given us the assurance that he would not return back to the kingdom for the next twelve years. Hence, I don’t think there’s any possibility for him to go back on his words. Moreover, if at all he comes back, we would once again call him for yet another game of gambling and I shall make him lose yet again. If we call him for the game, Yudishtra wouldn’t deny the invitation. He would still come to us, and as we’ve witnessed earlier also, I’m ready to make him lose “n” number of times! So please do not worry! Things are perfectly under control at the moment!” As Sahuni says thus, Duryodhana thinks for a while and replies back, “Oh uncle! Whatever you’re saying is perfectly correct! But my problem here is twofold – Firstly, even if Yudishtra comes back and if we plan the gambling game, what if my father objects? The problem here is that Vidura is a stumbling block for all of us. On the pretext of “Dharma”, Vidura would brainwash my father and make him take a stance that such gambling games would not be encouraged. My father literally took that stance last time, but somehow I managed to reverse it. But I do not know if it would be possible to do that every time! Moreover, why should we wait for twelve years for Yudishtra to come back? Or, to be more precise, why at all should we encourage Yudishtra to come back even today or tomorrow? Let us put an end to this saga completely once and for all! That would solve all our problems completely, isn’t it?”
As Duryodhana opines thus, Karna too has his say. Karna says thus, “Oh Duryodhana! The idea of killing Yudishtra and Co. now itself seems fine. But how would you work out the modus-operandi for that? Do you think it’s easy? If we’ve to go there and kill them, they would also fight back and a war would erupt, wouldn’t it? Then what is the point in conducting the gambling game, winning over it without even a single drop of blood being shed? That was the assurance you had given to your father at the start of the game, isn’t it? However, I’m not saying that you should not go on the offensive. But what I’m saying here is that, we’ve to be calculative in our approach at this moment!”
Whatever Karna says is correct, which is also acknowledged by Duryodhana. However, Duryodhana is sad. He wanted his people to be ready for the challenge, instead of giving reasons for not going for it. He replies to both of them thus, “Oh Sahuni uncle and Karna! Whatever both of you are saying to me are all correct. I totally agree! But I’m somehow having that feeling that we should go and finish them off right away. I’m not very comfortable with the idea of leaving the situation to the last moment after the end of twelve years. If something happens at that point, and if we’re not able to control the situation then, we would ultimately be losers, isn’t it? I do not want Yudishtra to win even after the twelve year period. He should never ever rule the kingdom even for a single day in his life henceforth. We should ensure that it happens and Yudishtra is finished off completely!”
As Duryodhana replies with this intent, sadness and frustration is written all over his face! Upon seeing Duryodhana’s sad face, Karna and Sahuni decided that they should live up to his expectation. Immediately, both of them stood up and got themselves dressed up with all the armour and weapons in their hands. They were ready to go for an all-out pursuit to kill Yudishtra and Co. Duchaasana and the others follow suit as well! Hence, a lot of commotion happens at Hastinapura as the young warriors make their way out of the palace one by one.
So for today, let us understand up to this point, and in the next episode we shall witness what happened next. Did Duryodhana and Co. manage to reach the forest and pick up a fight with Yudishtra? Let us wait till the next episode to find out! Stay tuned! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 