In the previous episode, we had witnessed Duryodhana going ahead with his plan to invade the Viraata Desha, after zeroing down on the Paandavas’ whereabouts to that kingdom. Even though Bhishmachaarya is wanting Duryodhana to stop all these pursuits and accept Yudishtra as his own brother, Duryodhana is fuming with anger on Bhishmachaarya. Duryodhana asks him as to why he is talking all these like a coward who doesn’t want to win wars and with this, he insults Bhishmacharya in public. Karna too joins Duryodhana and supports his view, thinking of his insult in the Ranga-Bhoomi episode. Karna is waiting for a chance to avenge the insult and with this intention, he supports Duryodhana.King Susharma of the Trivarga Desha decides that he would attack from the southern end of the kingdom and the rest of them through the northern end.
Thus, the attack begins. King Susharma enters Viraata Desha from the southern end as planned, and he invades the kingdom with a storm! Duryodhana and Co. invade from the northern end of the kingdom and with this, news spreads to the king that the kingdom is under attack! The king of Viraata Desha, as we know earlier itself, is not very capable of fighting big wars. In fact, he doesn’t have that experience to fight intense battles because till that time, Keechaka used to take care of fighting wars. The king was not involving much in fighting wars. Now, this is the first time that the king is fighting a war without Keechaka and the king is a bit jittery on this. As Yudishtra understands that the king is feeling jittery, he assures the king that he along with his three brothers will come along with him to fight the enemies. Yudishtra categorically leaves Arjuna out of this, because he knows that Arjuna is in the form of an “Ali” (Transgender), and there should not be transgenders in the warfield.
Thus, all of them proceed towards the southern end of the kingdom where King Susharma is invading aggressively. The king of Viraata Desha initially puts up a fight, but he is unable to withstand the prowess of King Susharma. At the end, King Susharma catches the Viraata Desha king as a captive and tries to escape from there. It is at this time, Yudishtra sends an eye-to-eye signal to Bheemasena to go and protect the king of Viraata Desha, as he had given them refuge for the past one year. Yudishtra signals to Bheemasena that they need to be thankful to the Viraata Desha king for the great help that he had done to them, and with this, Yudishtra wants Bheemasena to go and protect him.
Thus, taking the signal from Yudishtra, Bheemasena starts up like a storm and rages towards King Susharma. King Susharma never expected Bheemasena to be in front of him in this aggressive manner, and he starts to run for his life! Bheemasena chases him all the way and with a tree trunk in hand, Bheemasena thrashes King Susharma left, right and centre! Unable to bear the strength and raw muscle power of Bheemasena, King Susharma surrenders to Bheemasena, who in turn ties Susharma and drags him to Yudishtra. Bheemasena tells Yudishtra thus, “Oh Yudishtra! As per your instruction, I’ve brought Susharma as a captive in front of you. Now it is up to you to decide as to what needs to be done to him!” Meanwhile, Bheemasena tells Susharma thus, “Oh Susharma! Now fall on the feet of Kanka and cry profusely to him requesting him to leave you. Else, you will be history in no time!”
Thus, Susharma cries profusely to Kanka to leave him and with this, Kanka too sets Susharma free of the captive. With this, Yudishtra (Kanka) tells the king thus – “Oh King! Now that you’ve won over Susharma, you should propagate to the entire kingdom that you’ve won the battle and you’ve established supremacy over Susharma! Hence, send a few messengers and ministers of yours and make a big announcement!” As Yudishtra says thus, the Viraata King also feels that this is a valid suggestion. Hence, he obeys Yudishtra’s words and sends all his messengers to all four corners of the kingdom to make the announcement! Meanwhile, Susharma is perplexed as to who are these people who won over him just now! He could not believe that he was defeated so easily by just two unidentified men! So for today, let us understand till this point, and in the next episode, we shall witness the continuation of this! Stay tuned! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 