In the previous episode, we had witnessed the continuation of the proceedings on Day Eighteen at Kurukshetra wherein Sahuni and Sahadeva came face to face for the first time in the entire war. Till this moment, Sahuni was escaping everybody’s sight, even though he was present in the battlefield. He was dodging the Paandava camp, somehow not being visible to any of the Paandava brothers, including Arjuna. However on the last day, Sahadeva catches sight of Sahuni, who is once again trying to escape. Sahadeva gives a huge warcry to Sahuni, after which he’s unable to run away any further. To add to Sahuni’s woes, Sahadeva kills Sahuni’s son Ulooka in front of his eyes! This infuriates Sahuni, who lets out a cry of frustration. At this time, Sahadeva taunts Sahuni with all the past. He recollects how Sahuni joined hands with Duryodhana, Karna, Guru Dhronachaarya, etc. to kill Abhimanyu in the same fashion. He recollects the past wherein Sahuni was the kingpin behind the entire gambling game episode that took place in the courtroom and taunts him saying that he should have been in the Gaandhaara Desha only!
Readers might also remember this important point – When Gaandhaari was married to King Dhritarashtra, Sahuni came along with her so as to “be of help” to her because King Dhritarashtra is blind. Gaandhaari had also tied off her eyes once and for all because her husband was blind. Thus, since both of them lacked vision, Sahuni saw this as an opportunity to creep into Hastinapura and wreak havoc. He was very angry that his sister Gaandhaari had to be married off to a blind person, without prior information. The entire onus was on Bhishmachaarya, who never informed the king of Gaandhaara Desha before marriage that King Dhritarashtra was blind. However, after the marriage was fixed, all of them came to know that King Dhritarashtra was a blind person and this irked Sahuni to a great extent! From that moment onwards, Sahuni was under a savage resolution – To wreak havoc at Hastinapura by unleashing his gambling skills and to take revenge on Bhishmachaarya for the blunder that he had done in cheating his sister! So from that time onwards, Sahuni was looking for an opportunity to fuel hatred within the family. Thus, till this moment, Sahuni was like a shadow to Duryodhana in the context of “doing something good” for him, however, what Sahuni had actually done is the opposite – He has ensured that Duryodhana’s life is completely doomed by fuelling hatred against Yudishtra continuously time and again! Sadly, Duryodhana also fell trap to Sahuni’s venomous approach!
Recollecting all this past, Sahadeva taunts Sahuni that it is only because he came to Hastinapura, the entire family is standing today in the battlefield, trying to kill each other! Sahadeva also says here that it was all King Dhritarashtra’s fault in letting such a traitor live in Hastinapura for this long! A king should know who is whom, when he allows someone to reside in his territory, isn’t it? King Dhritarashtra never judged Sahuni’s intentions! He never thought in his wildest dreams that Sahuni is the kingpin behind the downfall of the entire family! Sahadeva thus continues further – “Oh Sahuni! For all that King Dhritarashtra missed doing in his tenure, I shall complete everything today! You will be history from today, and will pay a heavy price for bringing the entire family to this sad state of affairs! I shall ensure that you’re experiencing the most ghastly death ever! If you have the guts, come and fight with me to save your life!”
As Sahadeva says thus, Sahuni fumes in anger. He immediately goes back to his chariot and gets ready to fight Sahadeva down. A huge battle ensues between the two of them, for the second time within just a few minutes. Initially there was a sword-fight, but that was inconclusive. This is where Sahadeva killed Ulooka and provoked Sahuni more. Now with all these taunts from Sahuni, the anger increases between the two, and a huge war breaks out. Both of them attack each other with arrows initially. However, nothing works out productively! Next-up, both of them attack each other with swords from either side. All the swords get neutralized! Next-up, both of them meet for a round of “Gadhaa-Yuddham” and this also ends in a draw! Finally, a huge one-on-one physical fight ensues between the two of them, and at the end, Sahadeva pushes Sahuni on the ground and stamps his authority over him! Placing his feet on Sahuni’s chest, Sahadeva lets out a huge warcry thus, “Oh Sahuni! Today is your last day in this world! For all that you’ve done to the Kuru Vamsa, you are going to experience a ghastly death under my feet! This should serve as a great insult not only for you, but for your kingdom as well! If you mess up with us, we will mess up with you like this only!”
Saying thus, Sahadeva tightens his grip upon Sahuni, who still tries to resist – But in vain! Sahuni breathed his last, unable to bear Sahadeva’s strength, and with this, the entire Kaurava army got into a chaos! So for today, we shall understand upto this point and we shall continue this discussion of the aftermath of Sahuni’s demise in the next episode! Stay tuned!
The Indian Dharma 