In the previous episode, we witnessed the proceedings of a gripping Day Sixteen at Kurukshetra wherein there are marquee battles happening on all parts of the battlefield. Ashwatthama gets into direct confrontation with Bheemasena and Arjuna, only to end in a draw. Further, Nakula was defeated by Karna, but left alone. Sahadeva almost wins over Ducchaasana, but he leaves Ducchaasana to escape without killing him. However, after all these battles, the one between Yudishtra and Duryodhana gains a lot of prominence. A fierce battle endures between both of them and towards the end Yudishtra gains a huge upper hand over Duryodhana! With several fatal blows, Duryodhana falls on the ground unconscious and Yudisthra almost has him killed. However, a divine voice is heard from above, saying that it is Bheemasena’s task to kill Duryodhana, owing to the pledge that he had taken at Hastinapura courtroom during the gambling game event. Hence, Yudishtra should let Duryodhana go away for now and the time will come very soon for Bheemasena to have a direct confrontation with Duryodhana yet again. Hence, Yudishtra leaves Duryodhana and moves away from there.
Thus, with all these events, the sixteenth day comes to a close. All the warriors are tired after a long day, even though there wasn’t much loss to both the camps. Nobody was killed at the end of the sixteenth day and it ended up in a draw on both sides. Thus, during the night of the sixteenth day, all of them sit for deliberations. Amidst the Kaurava camp, Karna is not very happy with his performance for the day. He anticipated Arjuna to come in direct confrontation with him, but somehow this did not happen. Arjuna was busy fighting with Ashwatthama, and even this did not fructify. With a lot of frustration and tension, Karna declares in front of Duryodhana and Co. thus, “Oh Duryodhana! Somehow I missed the target of fighting with Arjuna and killing him today! However, I’ll not relent tomorrow. At the end of Day Seventeen, only one amongst the two of us (Arjuna and Karna) will be alive! I shall definitely kill Arjuna in tomorrow’s battle. I will not let him escape!”
Meanwhile, as Karna gives this motivating talk to Duryodhana, we shall now shift the scene from the battlefield to the Hastinapura palace where King Dhritarashtra and Sanjaya are sitting together. Upon hearing the entire proceedings of the sixteenth day, King Dhritarashtra laments to Sanjaya thus, “Oh Sanjaya! Karna is a great warrior, but somehow he is the most underrated person amidst our Kaurava camp. He hasn’t got the due recognition that he should have got till now. Even during childhood days I’ve seen the great talent in Karna in terms of warfare, but somehow he was sidelined in every pursuit. Anyway, now that Karna has a huge opportunity to prove his mettle on the battlefield, what happened on the seventeenth day? Did he manage to win the war for Duryodhana? Did he manage to kill Arjuna as he mentioned in his motivation talk on the sixteenth night?”
Saying thus, King Dhritarashtra laments further about Karna thus, “Oh Sanjaya! Look how noble-hearted Karna is! No matter what happens, he stands like a wall with Duryodhana. Isn’t Karna an epitome of friendship? Duryodhana too knows that Karna is his most trusted aide amidst all the others who are around him. Also, Karna is known for several excellent qualities that a king should possess. Given that Karna is such a noble person, I seriously wonder why Bhagawan Krishna is not siding with Karna. Instead, He is everytime roaming around with Arjuna, who doesn’t even have even an iota of such qualities that Karna possesses! Hence I feel that Bhaagwan Krishna is making a great mistake by going along with Arjuna, rather than being with a noble person like Karna!”
Now this is a very important and a tricky point that King Dhritarashtra is making here! King Dhritarashtra is all praise for Karna only because Karna is his son Duryodhana’s life saviour. If someone acts in favour of his son, King Dhritarashtra would declare that this person is the most noble in the world! How opportunistic can someone be! Upon hearing King Dhritarashtra’s comments, Sanjaya suddenly rages with anger! Till this point he was calm in explaining the proceedings of all the sixteen days to King Dhritarashtra, but the moment the latter makes such comments on Bhagawan Krishna, Sanjaya’s anger knows no bounds! Sanjaya replies back immediately thus, “Oh King Dhritarashtra! Are you an “Aastika” or a “Naastika” by nature? Do you even realize what you’re talking about? If Bhagawan Krishna acts as per your favour, you will say that He’s great, and if He doesn’t do so, you will go to any extent to talk ill about Him! What kind of an attitude is this? When Bhagawan Krishna came to you before the war to broker peace, what did you conspire with me? You asked me if we can give a few villages to Bhagawan Krishna and somehow pull Him to our side, didn’t you? Now, when Bhagawan Krishna is favouring the side of “Dharma”, you’re not having the guts to question your son Duryodhana for all that he has been doing for so many years. Instead, you’ve started blaming Bhagawan Krishna for what is happening!”
Sanjaya continues further thus, “Oh King Dhritarashtra! There were so many opportunities given to you to mend Duryodhana’s ways. Vidura tried his best to make you understand. I tried it on several occasions as well. Bhagawan Krishna Himself came to talk with you! Even Sage Vyaasa made several trips to Hastinapura to talk with you and explain the situation. But you never paid heed to any of their words. If you’re performing an action and if you see positive signals from nature, it means that you can proceed with it. However, if you’re seeing negative signals (in this case, several peoples’ advice to mend Duryodhana’s ways), you should have been alert and changed course. Rather, you never wanted anybody to tell anything against your son and you literally turned deaf ears to all of them! Now why are you blaming Bhagawan Krishna for the mess that you’ve created for yourself and your son?”
Saying thus, Sanjaya slams King Dhritarashtra left, right and center for his comments on Bhagawan Krishna! So for today, let us understand up to this point and in the next episode, we shall continue this further! Stay tuned!
The Indian Dharma 