The next day the Lord travelled to Aanarta along with Uddhava Maharaja in a ship with the Garudadhwaja chariot, crossing the creek of Dwaraka. I was with him obviously, and so were armed troops of chosen Yadavas. We approached the borders of Indraprastha after camping in kingdoms such as Dasharna and Matsya. As the news of our arrival had been sent in advance, the four brothers along with Yudhishthira, Rajmata Kuntidevi, Maharani Draupadidevi, and all sons of the Pandavas were present at the borders to welcome us along with the minister and the commander. We entered Indraprastha in the Garudadhwaja chariot itself amidst the welcoming sound of musical instruments, and showers of flowers and vermillion. We came to the royal palace of the Pandavas. Dhaumya rishi came to visit the Lord. The Lord whispered in his ears, “Dhaumya rishi, please train Bhimsena and Arjuna in the daily routine of a Brahmin with all its subtleties in a day or two with immediate effect. Leave no error in their training.” I or anybody else who was present there had no clue as to what he was planning.
We stayed in the royal palace of the Pandavas in Indraprastha for an entire week. Whatever I came to know from the Chief Minister of the Pandavas was indeed inconceivable. Only four of us were involved in the first phase of the scheme that the Lord had planned for the destruction of the Magadha emperor Jarasandha – wrestler Bhimsena, archer Arjuna, the Lord of Dwaraka himself and I, Daruka, as the charioteer.
I was perplexed when I heard the plan. Only four people entering Magadha emperor Jarasandha’s war-hungry royal capital Girivraja, was like entering the jaws of death willingly. Jarasandha had forcibly captured and imprisoned eighty-six kings of nearby kingdoms like Vanga, Videha, Uttkala, Kamarupa, and Manipura, as the preparations for the Shatashirsha Yajna of kings. Expert informers from Hastinapura, Indraprastha, and Dwaraka used to enter the kingdom of Magadha to retrieve news from the kingdom, but never used to return. The royal capital Girivraja was located in a valley of seven mountain ranges. No one could reach there. That was the place where the kings captured by Jarasandha were imprisoned.
This Jarasandha campaign was planned secretly in Indraprastha. All Pandavas, Rajmata Kuntidevi, Maharani, Pandava commander and minister and I, the only ordinary man, attended that meeting. The Lord himself had planned the scheme, of taking only two of the Pandava warriors with him to Girivraja. We were to plant informers in each sojourn of the journey. All three warriors were going to drop their royal vestures and disguise themselves as Brahmins before entering Magadha. They were going to enter Girivraja as the formally appointed priests of Kashi, invited by the Magadha emperor Jarasandha himself for the Shatarajashirsha yajna. I was to be disguised as a Magadha charioteer and had to take them as close to the royal palace as possible. The three gallant warriors were tactfully going to collect the information which no informer had been able to gather till date. I was going to stay in the Magadha stable itself. Once the task was completed I was going to be informed. Then one day I was supposed to present myself in front of the Magadha royal priest and deliver a message, ‘Please send the three priests of Kashi back as they are needed to perform an important ritual at the main aashrama of Kashi’. The three warriors were then going to leave Girivraja just as they came. Then the Indraprastha kingdom of the Pandavas, Dwaraka and their allies were going to unite. They were going to appeal to the citizens of the kingdoms of all those kings Jarasandha had captured and seek support from them. Then they were going to strike the final conclusive blow. This was the second phase of the campaign. The main goal was to release the eighty-six kings who were imprisoned. For that purpose, it was essential to destroy Jarasandha.
The citizens of Indraprastha bade farewell to me and the three warriors. Crossing river Yamuna, we descended into the Panchala kingdom. For one week, we enjoyed the hospitality of the Panchalas. Then crossing rivers like Ganga, Gomati and Sharayu we reached Mithila. This was our last sojourn before entering Magadha. We spent a fortnight here. This was the city of Janaka, the father-in-law of Srirama who was born a few generations ago. Our Balaramadada had also stayed here for some time. But Jarasandha had captured the Videha king, a descendant of Janaka. The subjects of Videha were tired of waiting for him. The Videha commander and Chief Minister were looking after the kingdom by placing the young prince on the throne.
Finally, we reached the borders of Magadha. As planned before, I had disguised myself as a Magadha charioteer. I wore the brick-red large twisted turban of a Magadha charioteer on my head. In Mithila,we had already mastered colloquial Magadha dialect. My Lord, Pandu’s son Partha and mighty Bhimsena got dressed as Brahmin priests of Kashi, with the sacred threads clearly visible on their chests. The three warriors looked completely different now with their heads shaved except for small tufts of hair at the back of their heads, moustaches shaved completely and their foreheads smeared with stripes of sandalwood paste. Any citizen in Indraprastha would not have recognized Arjuna and Bhimsena in this disguise. Even none of the men or women from Dwaraka could have recognized my Lord. I was also getting confused when the two of them were in front of me. Sometimes I just couldn’t figure out who was my Lord and who was Arjuna. I found a way to figure out who was who. The citizens of Mithila had gifted us a small chariot with five horses. We made sure to keep Bhimsena’s huge mace, Arjuna’s Gandiva bow and arrows, the Lords’ Ajitanjaya and Sharanga bow and Nandaka sword in the back of the chariot, hidden under covers. Notably, my Lord had not forgotten to wear the Vaijayanti garland around his neck even when he was dressed as a Brahmin. He made Arjuna wear exactly the same kind of garland around his neck to avoid any kind of suspicion, but that was not the Vaijayanti garland. How could I differentiate between them now? To figure that out, while steering the chariot I would casually call out the horses as ‘Meghapushpa, Balahaka’ and throw a glance at the back of the chariot. The one who smiled with the mention of those names was my Lord for sure!
We passed by many Magadha surveillance posts that we came across on the way to Girivraja, playing our roles quite artfully. In Indraprastha itself, the Lord himself had outlined the protocol of conduct for this journey. The three of us were supposed to obey his each and every word; not violating it even if our lives were in danger. We were not supposed to counter-question him like why, how and for what, in any case. This was indeed a very adventurous campaign that we all had planned, putting our lives at stake.
Girivraja was the invincible royal capital of the Magadhas located inside the natural ramparts of seven mountain ranges– Vaibhavagiri, Vipulagiri, Ratnagiri, Chhatagiri, Shailagiri, Udayagiri and Sonagiri. The Vipulagiri range was also known as Chittagiri. All seven mountain ranges had surveillance posts of armed Magadha warriors from place to place. The gate on the eastern range was called Chittagiri. One could see wild cheetahs roaming around roaring loudly even during broad daylight. The Shailagiri gate was located at the north and the Udayagiri gate was located at the south. The gate on the western side was called Sonagiri. Girivraja was surrounded by a river named Panakan. We went across the western mountain range known as Gorathagiri and arrived at the huge Sonagiri gate of Girivraja. This gate was even taller than the Shuddhaksha gate of Dwaraka. It was covered with sharp and strong iron nails till half its height. That is why it wouldn’t have been possible for even a couple hundred mighty warriors to break it open by bashing it with huge Kikar wood pillars. Mammoth elephants could not have attacked the iron nails. The upper half was inscribed with images of a lion, boar, and wild buffaloes ready to attack, that the Magadhas considered inspirational.
The moment we crossed this gate we immediately began putting our plan into action. The three warriors descended from the chariot and climbing the tall staircase near the gate they reached the great drum room that displayed huge kettle drums. The entire Girivraja reverberated with sudden sounds of the kettle drums that they beat. One of those drums sounded much louder, as if it was roaring and telling not just Girivraja but also to the Magadha skies overhead – ‘I have come! I am here!’ Bhimsena, the son of Vayu was beating that kettledrum!
The citizens of Girivraja had never heard such unusual cacophony of kettle drums before. It was like the all destroying boom of up-surging seven oceans at the time of catastrophe. Many scared Magadha citizens and curious soldiers gathered at the base of the drum room. They created a racket among themselves, for they couldn’t understand how to climb the staircase leading to the drum room. As planned, mighty Bhimsena had climbed last and had blocked its entrance by putting a huge boulder in front of it. Some soldier reported this to the four commanders of Jarasandha who were supposed to guard the four directions. They came at the base of the drum room carrying their wide-bladed naked swords on their shoulders. Magadha emperor Jarasandha was under the influence of Magadha liquor and with his blood-red eyes he was engrossed in watching the dance of female dancers, in the inner chambers of his royal palace. As he heard the unnerving sound of the kettle drums which he had never heard before, the chalice in his hand slipped and fell down. With wide eyes, he commanded, “Who’s beating the drum in such a weird way? Bring him here.” The emperor’s order reached the commanders. By this time the four commanders had laboriously removed the boulder blocking the staircase leading to the drum room with the help of about a hundred soldiers.
All the four commanders of Jarasandha were utterly confused, wondering why would the Brahmin priests who are saying ‘We have come from Kashi for the Shatashirsha yajna’ enter the drum room and beat the drums so loudly? Within a short time, they presented the three Brahmins in front of their emperor, by shoving them. By this time the emperor’s inebriation had waned considerably. He fixed his gaze on the mighty son of Vayu and asked him menacingly, “Who are you, and why have you come here?”
The answer came from my Lord instead of Bhimsena, in a scared, faltering voice, “Oh Maharaja, we have come from the holy place of Kashi, hearing about the Shatashirsha Yajna that you are going to perform. All three of us are well versed in the four Vedas. We know all the subtleties of the Yajna rituals. If granted permission, we will smoothly perform the Maharaja’s Yajna with precise rituals. We will accept whatever Dakshina Maharaja will offer and give our blessings to the Maharaja and his family and return to Kashi.”
“Then why did you beat the drums so loudly instead of meeting our royal priest?” “Maharaja, we have heard the acclaim of your invincible glory in Kashi.” Arjuna said in between.
“Besides we have been fortunate enough to attend many religious ceremonies of Maharaja Kansa in Mathura. This brother of mine beat the drums loudly so that the news of our arrival would reach you directly without wasting time in the formalities. It was a mistake indeed. Please forgive us as the big-hearted, invincible emperor. Though we are the masters of Dharma, this is the first time we are asking for anyone’s forgiveness. It would unleash Rudra’s wrath if the emperor himself doesn’t forgive the Brahmins.” The Lord threw a web of his charming words around the emperor in his enchanting sweet tongue, joining his palms together.
Whatever intoxication was left in Jarasandha’s system vanished completely as he heard the words family deity Rudra, and yajna. Looking at his commanders disdainfully, Jarasandha roared “Do you think you have set a record by capturing these innocent Brahmins? Instead, if you had brought three kings from any countries to me to help complete the required number for the yajna, which is falling short by fourteen kings, I would have felicitated you. Take them with you. They have come here from distant Kashi. Arrange for their lodging in the guest chambers. Go.”
Now the Lord of Dwaraka, Vayu’s son Bhimsena and archer Arjuna were formally accommodated in the guest chamber, as the priests. The implementation of our campaign began smoothly. Bhimsena and Arjuna began meeting various troop leaders of the fourfold Magadha army under the pretext of the Yajna and started gathering precise information. My Lord began charming people with his sweet talk and hence could roam around the imperial palace without any restrictions. His observant eyes detected the strengths of the Magadhas silently. The information that the three of them gathered began reaching my ears in the guest chamber exclusively for the charioteers. I began delivering that information to Satyaki and Anadhrishti through our informers planted in kingdoms like Mithila, Kampilyanagar, and Kuntibhojpura. An entire week passed by. Meanwhile the Lord had befriended Jarasandha’s son Sahadeva. He had also got well acquainted with all major ministers in the Magadha ministry. The Lord who readily gave references from all four Vedas and Upanishadas in Sanskrit during casual conversations was revered by all. I would meet Arjuna in the morning, Bhimsena after lunch in the afternoon, and the Lord at the time of evening prayers. Then we would whisper in our Saurashtriyan language, and exchange information with each other.
One fine morning the Lord of Dwaraka conveyed the final decision to the three of us. Our job here is done. We will leave Girivraja very soon now. We will begin the second phase of the campaign. First Bhimsena and Partha will leave from here. The next day itself, Daruka and I will leave. I will soon tell you exactly when to leave. We will meet in Mithila again. The Lord gave his usual sweet smile after so many days. It only meant that this campaign was about to conclude successfully.
We scattered from the Magadha stable after this scheduled meeting. At least I felt relieved of the burden that had weighed for the last so many days on my mind, just by looking at that smile of the Lord. With new enthusiasm, I temporarily bade farewell to the now well-acquainted Magadha citizens, and told them, “Our Guru is going to perform a similar Yajna in the original aashrama of Kashi. We will attend it and return in a fortnight.”
But…but… I will never forget in my life the evening that descended on the mountain ranges of Girivraja that day. As Jarasandha came to know that the three self-proclaimed priests from Kashi are secretly meeting the troop leaders of the army, and roaming freely in the fourfold army, he got suspicious of the four of us. So, along with his minister and the four commanders, he arrived in person, stomping his feet, at the Magadha guest chamber.
As soon as he entered the guest chamber he roared, “Where is that runaway cowherd of Mathura, the one that duped me on Mount Gomanta? What kind of Yajna is he going to perform here? I am going to commence my Shatashirsha Yajna by chopping his head off. Till date I chased him up to Mathura and Mount Gomanta. Now he has come into my clasp on his own. Commander, present him in front of me, along with his companions.” One of the commanders went to the inner chamber and pulled the three priests of Kashi outside.
The emperor of Magadha stood in front of Arjuna first, and shouted, “Tell the truth. Who are you? Are you a citizen of Kashi or Indraprastha?”
Archer Arjuna courageously answered, “I am a priest of Kashi, here for the emperor’s Yajna as instructed by my guru.”
At that point the emperor moved forward, caught Arjuna’s right hand and pointing to his right thumb and index finger he roared, “What are those calluses on your hand? Did you get those by offering grass bundles in the yajna? Liar, you are the self-proclaimed archer – the insignificant younger brother of Yudhishthira of Indraprastha.” The emperor tossed Arjuna’s hand away with contempt, and holding the sacred thread on his chest tightly he shook him violently and burst out, “You, childish archer of Indraprastha, are you ready to fight a deadly duel with this emperor?”
“Certainly! If my guru permits me to do so.” Courageous Arjuna answered calmly while straightening the sacred thread that had been crumpled.
Then the emperor stood in front of Bhimsena, and pointing to a blotch on his naked right shoulder that was caused by carrying the mace, he shouted, “What is this black patch on your shoulder? Is that caused by carrying the baskets of sacrificial sticks for the yajna? Who are you fooling, you voracious Bhima of Indraprastha?” Are you ready for the duel? He pulled the shawl that Bhimsena had wrapped around his neck and questioned him.
Bhimsena grabbed the throat of the emperor standing in front of him violently. He could not control his anger just as he could not control his hunger. The Lord of Dwaraka pulled Bhimsena’s hand back and smiling as usual he sai
d to the emperor, “Oh valiant warrior, the one who captured eighty-six innocent kings for a Yajna sacrifice in spite of being a king himself! You self-proclaimed invincible warrior beating your own drums throughout Aaryavarta, I am the one who is your actual culprit – son of Vasudeva, Srikrishna of the Yadavas. Are you going to challenge me also for a duel?”
My Lord had cast a question in front of him anticipating his answer fully well. He had quickly whispered in Bhimsena’s ears while Jarasandha was challenging Arjuna for the duel and told him, ‘When I stroke the Vaijayanti garland, take the clue and challenge him to a duel!’
That insolent emperor who attacked Mathura seventeen times to destroy the Lord said haughtily, “I will not spare your life today, you, lowlife cowherd who killed my son-in-law! Not just you, in fact all three of you won’t be able to get out of Girivraja now. You, wicked, black leader of the cowherds – yes, I challenge you to the ultimate duel. My ancestors will not get salvation unless you are killed.” He thumped his shoulders in front of my Lord. This was a critical moment since we arrived in the kingdom of the Magadhas. Even at this moment the Lord smiled and said, “Is the king going to fight the duel with all three of us at once or what? Or should I say that the king doesn’t even know the basic rule of a duel?”
Jarasandha was a bit confused. Yet in a loud voice he asked, “What rule are you talking about, cowherd?”
“The rule is that a deadly duel can be fought between only two people at a time. I am ready to fight a duel with you!” The Lord stroked the Vaijayanti garland around his neck with a smile. Now Bhimsena who was fuming and waiting precisely for this moment, came forward and thundered, “What kind of an invincible wrestler and emperor is this? He calls you a runaway, but he himself is a big runaway – what else did he do on Mount Gomanta? I, Bhimsena, the son of Kunti, challenge him to the ultimate duel. He will accept it if at all he is the emperor that he claims to be and if he has the power that he boasts of. Or else, he should just surrender and accept defeat.”
Srikrishna- the Lord of the Universe Page 43