The purpose of Bhagavata was to instill devotion in God and assure helpless people that God would always come to their rescue. But Mahabharata had a different focus. It was a complex plot where intricate ideas of right and wrong are dissected and contrasted to bring out the subtle nuances of righteousness. Many a times it is difficult to give a verdict on what is right in a given complex situation.
Let us continue from where we left in the previous episode. As we saw, the wicked and overambitious Duryodhana was planning to somehow snatch the Kingdom from his cousins namely the Pandavas. He knew very well that the Pandavas can be dangerous as enemies. So, he wanted to completely make them helpless. He had his own counselors like Sakuni, the wily prince of Gandhara who was also his maternal uncle. Little did he know that Sakuni’s hidden agenda was complete destruction of the Kuru dynasty. Duryodhana along with Dhushasana, Karna and Sakuni came up with a plan to neutralize the Pandavas without waging any open war with them.
They invited Yudhishthira for a ‘friendly’ game of dice. It was customary in royal families not to refuse an invitation for a game of dice. That would be considered to be an act of cowardice. So, Yudhishthira, the epitome of righteousness, unwillingly accepted their invitation. He was no expert in the game of dice. And Sakuni was a master of deception! So, the game started.
Sakuni managed the game so well that at each stage Yudhishthira kept losing. Though it was meant to be a friendly game, what is a game if there were no wagers? So, Sakuni somehow convinced Yudhishthira to wager his wealth, his army, his kingdom, one after the other. At each stage, Sakuni manipulated the game in such a way that Yudhishthira kept losing whatever was at stake. Yudhishthira finally lost all that he had.
Gambling is such a wicked trap that even a completely upright person falls prey to the hope that he would win somehow. But not with the deceitful and unfair game setup by Sakuni. But Yudhishthira had nothing to wager. What could he have done?
Sakuni coaxed Yudhishthira to wager his own younger brothers so that he could win back all that he had lost. Yudhishthira unwillingly wagered his brothers one by one and lost all of them. Now he was left alone. As a last resort, he wagered him self. But unfortunately, he lost. What it meant was that not only he lost his Kingdom, he and his younger brothers had become slaves of Duryodhana. Yudhishthira had nothing else to wager so as to rescue himself and get back whatever he had lost.
At that point Sakuni came up with a wicked idea. He suggested to Yudhishthira to stake their wife Draupadi. He promised Yudhishthira that he was prepared to give back everything that Yudhishthira lost, if he won this time. Poor Yudhishthira had no choice. In a way, he was in the hopeless state of a sinking gambler who would hold on to even a blade of straw to save himself.
Sakuni played his game very well and cunningly. So, Yudhishthira lost even his wife Draupadi.
That was the moment that Duryodhana was waiting for. He always had his eyes on Draupadi, considered to be the most beautiful woman in the world. She was not just beautiful, but was haughty and had humiliated Duryodhana on several occasions. And now was the time to take a revenge. Afterall, by winning her in the game, Draupadi had automatically become his slave. Even her five brave husbands could do nothing to protect her since they too had become his slaves.
So, Duryodhana sent his trusted soldier to inner quarters where Draupadi was resting. Duryodhana ordered the soldier to bring Draupadi to the court assembly. Draupadi was totally unaware of whatever was going on. When the soldier conveyed everything to her and also the order of Duryodhana to come to the assembly hall immediately, Draupadi just refused to abide by the order. She was a queen of Pandavas after all. Besides, women were not normally summoned to a fully assembled royal court. They were not expected to appear before men other than their own family members. But this was an open court where all kinds of people had assembled. It was an insult to her to enter such a place and exhibit herself.
The soldier expressed his helplessness. He had to covey the message and carry out the order. Draupadi asked the soldier to find out whether Yudhishthira wagered himself first and then her or was it the other way. She refused to follow the orders of Duryodhana till that matter was cleared first.
The soldier returned to the court and conveyed to Duryodhana whatever Draupadi had asked. Duryodhana was furious. He sent back the soldier asking Draupadi to put that question directly to her husbands who had lost her now. After couple of unsuccessful attempts, wicked Duryodhana sent his younger brother Dhushasana to forcefully bring Draupadi to the court against her wish.
Dhushasana was equally wicked, and he immediately rushed to the inner chambers and started forcefully dragging Draupadi totally unmindful of her condition. Draupadi was not attired properly to appear before an assembled court. Her lower garments were in a shabby state. She tried to resist Dhushasana’s attempts. She tried to ask help from elder women in the royal family. But none had to courage to confront Dhushasana who would listen to none.
Dhushasana gripped Draupadi’s lose hair and started forcefully dragging her. He did not care for the sorry state in which Draupadi was, nor her dropping garments. Draupadi kept resisting but that was in vain.
Finally, Dhushasana brought Draupadi to the assembled court unmindful of her pleas. Most of the courtiers were ashamed of the way Dhushasana conducted himself. But they had no courage to open their mouths. Even the blind King Dhritarastra sat silent though he was shocked. It was only Vidhura who had the courage to express himself. He openly condemned the action of Dhushasana and warned Duryodhana and his coterie about the possible consequences of their horrendous actions.
Draupadi was pleading for help. Her husbands who had lost themselves to Duryodhana had no courage even to lift their heads and look at her. There were many elders in the court who could have prevented such an ugly situation. There was the great Bhishma who was not only the eldest but also a strong votary of morality. If he wanted, he could have stopped whatever was going on. Draupadi looked at him with great expectation.
What was Bhishma’s reaction? Did he ask Dhushasana to stop whatever nonsense he was doing? We will discuss that in the next episode.
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