In the previous episode, we had witnessed King Dhritarashtra getting more and more anxious by the minute as Sanjaya goes off to sleep after giving an “encrypted” reply to him about Yudishtra’s stance on the current situation. Unable to control his wavering mind, King Dhritarashtra is in a huge dilemma and obviously being a learned scholar himself, King Dhritarashtra knows that whatever he and his son are doing is gross “Adharma” towards Yudishtra and Co. However, his “Putra Vaatsalya” towards Duryodhana is blinding King Dhritarashtra to just being a mute spectator to whatever “Adharma” Duryodhana is doing. This is where King Dhritarashtra is in a fix and with this, he has a long sleepless night ahead of him before Sanjaya opens up next morning!
As King Dhritarashtra struggles to keep himself intact thus, he thinks that he needs someone by his side apart from Sanjaya with whom he can express himself freely. King Dhritarashtra also thinks that this person to whom he wants to open himself up should know the exact “Dharma” and should also be able to advise him on the right path. Now who is one person at Hastinapura who would satisfy all these criteria that King Dhritarashtra is setting up here? That person is none other than Vidura himself, who is the epitome of “Dharma”! As we’ve witnessed earlier itself, Vidura is the direct incarnation of Yama-Dharma-Raja, who has taken birth in this world because of a curse from Saga Maandavya. Vidura is an embodiment of “Dharma” and he also has the capability to communicate the various aspects of “Dharma” in a very convincing manner. King Dhritarashtra knows this very well and because of this, he decides to call upon Vidura to seek some important advice.
As King Dhritarashtra calls for Vidura thus, Vidura makes his way to King Dhritarashtra’s chamber and sees the king awake at an odd hour in the night. As Vidura arrives, King Dhritarashtra begins the conversation thus, “Oh Vidura! I wanted you to come here to meet me because I’m in need of some important words of advice. Sanjaya had gone to meet Yudishtra and Co. at Viraata Desha and has come back with some important information which he is refusing to share with me at this moment. He says that I’ve to wait till tomorrow morning wherein he would share everything amidst the entire courtroom. Yudishtra has said something which might be detrimental to my son Duryodhana. I’m sure of it, and this is why Sanjaya is refusing to share it right away with me. Or, there might be something else that is detrimental for the entire Hastinapura kingdom as a whole. In any case, I do not know what is in Sanjaya’s mind. My mind is in a lot of confusion because of this and I’m not able to sleep properly. This is why I wanted to seek some advice from you because I know that you are an epitome of “Dharma”! Hence, Oh Vidura! I’m unable to get any sort of sleep even for a single minute! Please alleviate my anxiety with your golden words of “Dharma”!”
As King Dhritarashtra explains the situation to Vidura clearly, Vidura is now going to render some important words of wisdom to King Dhritarashtra. With this, we commence an important segment in the entire Mahabharata text called “Vidura Neeti”. We’ve already done a full project on Vidura Neeti earlier as well, but given the context, I shall just summarize what Vidura has got to tell King Dhritarashtra before we move on further. I shall keep it short here, because of the fact that we’ve already discussed this in detail earlier. Readers may feel free to refer to my earlier episodes on the “Vidura-Neeti” for a detailed discussion. So for today, let us understand up to this point, and in the next episode, we shall witness what Vidura replies to King Dhritarashtra! Stay tuned for an important accord tomorrow! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 