In the previous episode, we had witnessed Sanjaya returning back to Hastinapura and King Dhritarashtra receiving him anxiously. As King Dhritarashtra is worried whether his son Duryodhana would get the benefit of advantage out of the situation or not, he asks Sanjaya for details of what conspired during his visit to Yudishtra. We’ve witnessed earlier that King Dhritarashtra had indirectly told Sanjaya to convince Yudishtra to sacrifice the Hastinapura unified kingdom to Duryodhana. Hence, King Dhritarashtra is concerned whether Yudishtra has accepted his proposal or not. When confronted, Sanjaya however gives an encrypted reply by saying that Yudishtra is still sticking on to his “Dharma” no matter whatever happens around him! He also starts advising King Dhritarashtra that it is he who is walking away from the path of “Dharma” and it is high time that he mends his ways! Sanjaya explains to King Dhritarashtra that situations might not be favourable at all times and he has to be prepared to strike a balance especially when the going gets tougher.
As Sanjaya says all this, King Dhritarashtra doesn’t understand anything of what he’s saying! He once again asks Sanjaya to come to the point as to what was Yudishtra’s message. For this, Sanjaya says that he is tired because of the long journey that he had to undertake from the Viraata Desha to Hastinapura and hence, he is going to sleep. Sanjaya says that he would disclose all the details of the conversation the next morning in the courtroom in front of everyone including Duryodhana! Saying this, Sanjaya goes to his chamber to rest. Once again, this encrypted answer from Sanjaya leaves King Dhritarashtra in utter confusion! Lot of thoughts are running in King Dhritarashtra’s mind – Is Yudishtra willing to compromise the unified Hastinapura for Duryodhana to rule? Will my son Duryodhana succeed me as the next king of Hastinaupra as per his wish and my wish as well? Or, is Yudishtra contemplating a war with Duryodhana and Co.? If a war takes place, won’t it become a disaster? Will my son be able to survive after a war? Is he powerful enough to face Yudishtra, Arjuna and Bhagawan Krishna in a war? Oh! Duryodhana is seemingly going on the path of “Adharma” and many people including Sanjaya, Vidura, etc. are highlighting the same! Even the other day, Bhishmachaarya was mentioning that Duryodhana should go for a compromise and give Indraprastha to Yudishtra and for this, Duryodhana fumed with anger upon him. Duryodhana’s anger and jealousy knows no bounds that whoever comes in his path would be under fire from him! If Duryodhana has to brand Bhishmachaarya as a coward, what kind of a person he is becoming?”
Moreover, King Dhritarashtra now recalls that infamous gambling game episode as well – “Of course whatever happened on that fateful day is gross “Adharma” and Bheemasena had taken a strong pledge to destroy Duryodhana! Will that pledge come true? Will my son face a ghastly end in the hands of Bheemasena? Arjuna had taken a pledge that he would destroy the entire Kaurava clan single-handedly! Will that pledge come true? Bhagawan Krishna is also by the side of the Paandava brothers. If that is the case, how on earth is Duryodhana going to win over all of them? Why is Duryodhana not realizing his mistakes? If I go and talk to him about all these, he will fume at me and he will discard my words straightaway! He is totally now under the influence of Sahuni and the others who are instilling bad thoughts into him constantly! Of course, I too want my son to rule Hastinapura after me and my mind is not willing to compromise on this! I want my son to be happy and as a father, I’ve to fulfil his wishes too!”
Thus in this way, King Dhritarashtra is filled with thoughts and because of this, he is unable to get any sort of sleep during the night! He is completely anxious as to what would have been Yudishtra’s response and how his son Duryodhana can benefit out of this situation. So what does King Dhritarashtra do now? Is he going to spend the entire night sleepless like this? Or, is he going to seek some clarity on these above-mentioned points with someone? Who is that someone? What is going to happen next? Let us wait till the next episode to find out! Stay tuned! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 