In the previous episode, we had commenced witnessing what happened during the “Goshayatra Parva”. After Sage Markandeya finished his accord, and after Satyabhama and Draupati finished their conversation, we’re now entering into the Hastinapura scene and here, Duryodhana desires to mock at Yudishtra’s suffering. He wants to go and make fun of Yudishtra and Co. and thereby, induce anger and tension in them. With this, he plans to finish them off on the spot itself, because the Paandavas are in the forest without their arms and weapons. As Duryodhana plans thus, Sahuni cautions him of King Dhirdaraashtra’s potential bottleneck. Sahuni gives an idea of taking stock of all the cows that have returned from their routine grazing, and thereby with this excuse, go to the forest and see where Yudishtra and Co. are. Accordingly, Duryodhana takes this plan to his father and seeks approval.
Duryodhana explains to his father thus, “Oh father! Since all our cows are coming back from their grazing stint, we’ve to take stock of all of them, whether all the cows have returned or not. For this, I’m planning to number each cow and ensure that all of them are back. For this, I’m planning to do a “Goshayatra”. Please grant me the permission to do so!” As King Dhirdaraashtra hears this, he immediately approves of it, as he thinks that Duryodhana is trying to do something constructive and he should favour it. Little did King Dhirdaraashtra know Duryodhana’s wicked intentions behind this plan. He was completely aloof to what Duryodhana was doing, and he had no clue of what is going to conspire. With this ignorance, King Dhirdaraashtra gives his approval and Duryodhana is jumping with joy! The plan given by Sahuni is working perfectly! All of them are rejoicing and simultaneously getting ready for the assault.
As this happens, the army also gets ready for the journey and Duryodhana, along with Karna, Ducchaasana, Sahuni, etc. commence their journey. They trace the whereabouts of Yudishtra and Co. and are nearing that forest area. After a long journey, Duryodhana’s caravan reaches the vicinity of the forest where Yudishtra and Co. are residing. Duryodhana doesn’t want to go straightaway to see Yudishtra and orders for tents to be made in that place itself. As all the preparations are made, Duryodhana and Co. are relaxing themselves after a long journey with a lot of glamour and drinks. At this place where Duryodhana is staying, Chitrasena, who is a “Gandharva” by nature, is playing along with his female friends. Readers might remember who Chitrasena is – We’ve witnessed in our earlier episodes, wherein when Arjuna had gone to the “Svarga Lokha for five years, he learnt various art forms from Chitrasena, who was appointed by Indra. It is the same Chitrasena, who acted as a messenger for Urvashi to go and convince Arjuna. We’ve seen that upon seeing Arjuna, Urvashi fell in love with him and wanted Chitrasena to go and convey her love to him. However, Arjuna rejected her, and with this, Urvashi cursed Arjuna. We’ve seen all this earlier, and readers might recollect this “Charitra” from our earlier episodes.
Thus, Chitrasena was enjoying his time with his female friends, and this somehow caught the eye of Duryodhana. Upon seeing the beautiful women around Chitrasena, Duryodhana has an inner desire to go near them. Hence, he orders his caravan to be shifted from this current place to the place where the beautiful women are. As this is happening, Chitrasena notices something wrong! He immediately senses Duryodhana’s arrival with a wicked intention and hence, orders him to go back. Chitrasena explains that this place is of the Gandharvas and normal people aren’t allowed to come here. However, Duryodhana is adamant as usual and braces for a fight against Chitrasena and Co.!
So for today, let us understand upto this point and in the next episode, we shall witness what happened to this fight! Is Duryodhana going to win over Chitrasena, or vice versa? Stay tuned! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 