Arjuna’s face that had looked so confused and clueless till now, lit up. He spoke exactly in Krishna’s style, “Krishney, don’t worry. I will do as you say.”
I had experienced one truth of life so far – I planned something for the future, and in reality, something else totally unexpected happened, testing me and my husbands.
Arjuna returned from Dwaraka with a very bizarre fact.
Arjuna and Duryodhana visited Krishna in his resting chamber on the same morning. Krishna was in a blissful slumber on a rosewood bed. Duryodhana who had arrived first in the chamber sat on a seat near his head so as to not disturb his sleep. Arjuna who arrived later in the chamber was startled to see Duryodhana there. He was about to turn back when he remembered my words, ‘Don’t come back without Krishna’s blessings’. Then he decided something and entered the chamber. He gently sat on the bed near Krishna’s feet. Looking at his friend Krishna in deep sleep he even forgot the purpose of his visit to Dwaraka. He kept looking at the sleeping face of Krishna, forgetting himself. Taking enough caution not to disturb his sleep he took the opportunity of gently pressing his legs. The moment he touched his leg Gudakesha Arjuna immediately realized that Krishna was not asleep. He was just lying down with his eyes closed. As Arjuna’s doubt about Krishna being asleep for such a long time was cleared from his mind, a subtle smile flickered on his face.
After some time, Krishna ‘woke up’! His big fish-shaped eyes opened. He smiled gently to see Arjuna sitting at his feet and said, “Partha, when did you come?” Immediately Duryodhana smiled and attracted his attention by saying, “Pranama, Lord of Dwaraka, I have also come to visit you. Is everything fine?”
Krishna stretched and twisted his body as if he was just waking up from his sleep and sat on his bed. Duryodhana did not give Arjuna a chance to speak and said, “Oh Lord of Dwaraka, I arrived in your chamber first. I came to ask for your forgiveness for having ignorantly called you a lowlife cowherd in the Kuru council. Please kindly forgive me and listen to what I have to say first.”
Each word of Duryodhana was full of deceitful diplomatic strategy. Krishna recognized it and winking to Arjuna he smilingly said to Duryodhana, “Oh Prince of Kurus, I had forgiven you even as I was leaving the assembly hall of Hastinapura. But still, today morning I saw this Dhananjaya of Pandavas first. Besides, he is younger to you. Therefore, I should listen to him first. Tell me Arjuna, why have you come?” Krishna did not give Duryodhana a chance to complain about it.
By this time Arjuna had got up from the bed and standing in front of Krishna he kneeled down politely with his palms brought together in prayer and said, “Your Sakhi Draupadi has conveyed her affectionate Pranama to you. Pranama from all of us Pandavas is always at your feet. Your Kunti aatya has conveyed her blessings to you. Oh Hrishikesha, as per your wish the war between Kauravas and Pandavas is now inevitable. It is with your blessings that we raised our kingdom of Indraprastha. In this war the Pandavas want your blessings along with the blessings of Balaramadada, Uddhavadeva, Maharaja Vasudeva and Rajmata. I have come here to obtain those blessings.”
Krishna smiled. In his special style, he said, “Oh Arjuna, I can offer only my blessings to you and the Pandavas. Yesterday itself in our Sudharma royal assembly dada and I had a serious difference of opinion over the problem of the Pandavas and Kauravas. He said that all senior Yadava warriors including him and myself should support Kaurava Maharaja Dhritarashtra along with the entire four-fold army. Or else stay aloof from the war! Prince Duryodhana had already visited him promptly and convinced him so. I told the Sudharma assembly, “Let the senior warriors decide for themselves whose side they want to choose in this war of the Kauravas and Pandavas. The Yadava army will go to the side that Prince Balaramadada decides to join. But I am not at all going to participate in this war as an armed warrior! If need be all I will be able to do in this war is to supply the weapons to the warriors, look after the injured or may be steer someone’s chariot.
“Dear friend Arjuna, you have come as a representative of the Pandavas and as you are the first in line, first you tell me undoubtedly and clearly, what do you want? Do you want me, who will be unarmed and will share his experience and wisdom with you or the fourfold Yadava army which is huge in number and equipped with weapons? Whom do you want – me or the Yadava army? If you want the Yadava army, then you will have to go right away and visit Balaramadada. Dada is of the clear opinion that we should not take any sides in this war at all!”
Arjuna did not think about anything else and without an iota of doubt in his mind he bent down. He put his head on Krishna’s feet and politely said, “In any case it is your and only your blessing that I want Achyuta!”
Krishna put his hand on the crown Arjuna was wearing and said smilingly, “As you wish.” He immediately looked at Duryodhana and spoke in Yudhishthira’s style, “Oh Suyodhana, you have no other alternative but to accept the Yadava army! What is your decision?”
Duryodhana bent a little, brought his palms together and hiding his joy he said with sly courtesy, “As the Yadava Lord wishes. The Kauravas are ready to accept the Yadava army. I have already obtained such permission from Balaramadada yesterday. I know it fully well that a word from the Lord of Dwaraka has the power to change it. That is why I came here to seek permission from you too. I am contented that you granted it to me. I have only one polite request.”
Hearing praise for his words from Duryodhana Krishna smiled suggestively. He surmised what Duryodhana was going to request and said, “Kauravaa, don’t be afraid. I am not going to hold any weapon in my hands. I have taken such a vow. The only thing I will hold in my hands is the whip for the horses. Taking that into account it does not make any difference whether I am there or not in this war between the Kauravas and Pandavas!”
He was Duryodhana after all. He knew Krishna of Dwaraka very well. He said, “It is not about the weapons, it is about your silence!”
At that point Krishna got up and patting Duryodhana on his shoulders he said, “Your expectation for even a charioteer to keep silent is really strange Suyodhana. You will shout as you please to encourage your soldiers. Then isn’t it unfair that a charioteer should keep silent and not utter anything at all to encourage his horses? I never asked you for justice. I ask it today. Let me speak freely to encourage innocent beings! Don’t insist on the silence, Suyodhana.”
“Alright. As you wish.” Remembering the fact that he was older than Krishna Duryodhana raised his right hand as if in blessing.
Krishna smiled! Arjuna had never before seen him smile like that. As Duryodhana had turned his back he never got to see it.
But a strange thing happened in this period due to the events that took place. When Balaramadada who had insisted that the Yadavas should side with the Kauravas in the war heard Krishna’s final decision, he disagreed with it and leaving everybody behind he actually went to the Himalayas! After that Uddhavadeva who was completely against war, also left and went to some place in the same region. Uddhavadeva visited his dear brother Krishna before leaving. But Balaramadada did not meet him! This was of course in accordance with his nature.
Krishna had sent Gargamuni, Maya, Vishwakarma, Twashtta, Kamalaksha and Vidyunmali for our assistance. With their support Bhimsena raised an encampment of the Pandava army on Kurukshetra near the banks of river Drishadwati. It included separate pavilions for the royal ladies of Pandavas. Separate pavilions were also raised for the wives of leading warriors. There were separate enclosed storage rooms for weapons like tridents, iron clubs, bow-arrows, chakras and so on. Maharaja Virata sent special messengers to places like Chedi, Madra, Manipura, and Girivraja and invited all Pandav ladies scattered in various cities to Upaplavya. All Pandava ladies except for the forest-dwelling Hidimba who was Bhimsena’s wife, gathered in Upaplavya. The small town of Upaplavya was now transformed into a royal city. Maharaja Virata made sure that the men-women guests of Pandavas coming to the city were comfortable. He possessed a big body as his name denoted. Now
he had also become large-hearted for us Pandavas.
News came that the Yadava army of Dwaraka was on its way to Kurukshetra. The fourfold army of Hastinapura had already reached Kurukshetra. The Kaurava army was inflating like the inundated river Ganga, that bloated by the moment in a great flood. And we received the final instruction from Dwaraka, “All warriors and ladies should now leave Upaplavya and go to Kurukshetra towards the encampment of the Pandava army on the banks of river Drishadwati.”
As per Krishna’s instruction I arrived at the Pandava base on the banks of river Drishadwati along with Subhadra and pregnant Uttaraa. The wives of major Pandava warriors also accompanied us. Automatically, the responsibility of the care of these ladies came on my shoulders.
Dhrishtadada arrived from Kampilyanagar along with Shikhandi, other brothers and the armed Panchala army. Kurukshetra bustled with action with his arrival. Then every day the number of warriors in our encampment kept growing. Kekeya king Brihatkshatra came along with his army. Subahu, the king of Kashi, arrived with Shaibya. His army consisted of thirty thousand chariots. From Shuktimati, the city of the Chedis, Shishupala’s son Dhrishtaketu arrived with his son Veetahotra along with one akshauhini army. My friend Krishna himself had appointed him as the ruler of the Chedis after Shishupala. The Vatsas came along with their army. Notably, commander Satyaki joined the Pandava base along with his troops. He had declined the appeal and orders of Balaramadada, Anadhrishti, and Krutavarman to join the Kauravas’ camp. He said, ‘I will go wherever Krishna goes’ and came to our camp. But Krutavarman, the other valiant Yadava warrior, was going to join the Kauravas. Of course, the entire Yadava army was not with these two. Some troop leaders of the Yadava army had decided not to participate in the war as per Balaramadada’s wish. They had stayed back in Dwaraka. Now our Pandava army was estimated to be seven akshauhinis. Every day Dhrishtadada came to the royal ladies’ pavilion and gave the report of the day’s happenings and the progress of the army, to me and rajmata.
Now me, my four husbands, Dhrishtadada, Maharaja Virata, Satyaki, and Dhrishtaketu – all of us were waiting for only Krishna! After all he was the charioteer of all of us. Arjuna had gone to Dwaraka to meet him.
The bright fortnight of the month of Margashirsha was coming to an end. The thick autumnal fog surrounding the holy place of Kurukshetra began to thin out. Meanwhile, at the Kaurava base located opposite our base, a colossal eleven akshauhini army had united. It was one and a half times larger than the Pandava army. It included Yavanas, Shakas, Gabalas, Barbaras, Kiratas, Kekeyas, Vatadhanas and such. From the Gandhara kingdom of Shakuni their proficient army had arrived. There was a big group of the Yavana and Shaka clans from the western region comprising the Kapisha, Kamboja, Vahika and Gandhara kingdoms. All of them had gathered at Kurukshetra in support of the Kauravas. This was all Shakuni’s skill. Shalya, the mama of Pandavas, had left from Shakalnagar along with son Hritayana to join our camp. But Duryodhana visited him on the way and convinced him to join the Kaurava camp by giving him grand gifts. Ashmakeshwara of the Ashmaka kingdom had arrived in the Kaurava camp. Krishna’s Garudadhwaja chariot steered by Daruka was the last to arrive on the holy land of Kurukshetra where about forty million soldiers had gathered to showcase their gallantry! He had made sure to visit the Shiva temple of Nageshwar while coming from Dwaraka. He had performed Abhishek on the Shivapindi with Arjuna and Daruka, offered Bela leaves and white flowers, and closing his fish-shaped eyes he had sung the hymn of Shiva from the bottom of his heart.
He had become one with Shiva – the lord of destruction – before commencing the catastrophic war of a great human sacrifice, powered by his sheer intellect.
It was the first day of the dark fortnight of the month of Margashirsha. On that day, many dark-complexioned, meagrely dressed woodcutters from both sides carried wide-bladed sharp hatchets and began cutting various towering trees, standing on the thirty-two-mile radius of the field that was going to be the setting for the battle tomorrow – the first day of the Great War; and began piling them up on the side of the battlefield. Ashoka, Anjana, Aamra, Almali, Audumbara, Ashwattha, Taala, Tamala, Kinjala, Kadamba, Kinshuka, Saaga, Punnaga, Khaira and many more such trees started collapsing with a loud crashing sound. Many armed, gallant warriors were going to fall in the same manner in the Great War that was going to begin tomorrow.
Krishna’s Garudadhwaja chariot entered Kurukshetra from the side of the Kaurava base. As soon as it entered many people recognized it immediately. By now everybody knew that he was backing the Pandavas. Still to get a glimpse of him at least from a distance the soldiers eagerly gathered at the entrance of their pavilions.
The news of his arrival in Kurukshetra spread rapidly like wildfire and reached my camp. When I heard it, I got so restless that I didn’t know what to do. I was very angry with him. First of all, he had let Balaramadada and Uddhavadeva leave Dwaraka. We expected that he would support us with the entire Yadava army. But he had proved that nobody could take anything about him for granted. The Yadava army was divided. Therefore, though everybody went to visit him I did not go. After meeting everyone, he himself came to my pavilion. He had already reckoned the reason of my anger. He saw me with my back turned to him, and tried to convince me, “Krishney, I know why you are angry. But have some patience. Just keep watching what happens next. Success in war never depends on the number of soldiers. All my vows and your wishes will be fulfilled. Arjuna told me in Dwaraka what you had instructed him to do. I am very much contented that the Pandavas accepted me in spite of my being unarmed. I will never let your faith get shattered. Trust me. Victory will be only yours. May I take your leave now?”
His last words were a direct blow to my heart. Though I was younger than him in every sense, he was asking for my permission! Oh, how foolish was I to get angry with him! I quickly turned my face towards him, and briskly moving forward I touched his feet. I got up and looked at him. He was smiling. His face looked resplendent to me like never before. Before commencing the Great War that would be remembered for years to come, he said to me, “Krishney, I know very well how to defuse your anger. I take your bow as your permission granted to me and take your leave!” He turned and left. I kept wondering, ‘Indeed who is my best friend Krishna after all?’
Finally, the second day of the dark fortnight of Margashirsha dawned. Since before dawn, on the Brahma Muhurta itself commanders on both sides had already arranged their armies in particular formations. The commander of the Pandava army was my brother Dhrishtadyumna who was formally appointed so with rituals at the hands of Krishna. The seven akshauhini Pandava army ready to fight, stood behind him. Grandsire Bhishma was the Kaurava commander. The eleven akshauhini Kuru army stood behind him. I was in my pavilion far away. Arjuna’s wives Uloopi, Chitrangada, Nakula’s wife Karenumati, Sahadeva’s wife Vijaya and many maids were with me. Bhanumati and Subhadra were in a separate pavilion. Abhimanyu’s pregnant wife Uttaraa was in their pavilion. We couldn’t see any proceedings on the battlefield at all. The only sound audible was the clamour of the elephant cries at a distance, the neighing of the horses and the faint hubbub of the warriors blending with it.
The resplendent disc of the Sun – the Lord of the Sky – gradually ascended in the sky on the eastern horizon of the holy land of Kurukshetra. In our pavilion, we eagerly pricked our ears in anticipation of hearing a loud commotion. There were so many of us ladies but none of us uttered a word. Everyone’s mind had already reached the battlefield. I first heard the familiar sound of the Panchjanya conch of Krishna. It was followed by the sound of Dhrishtadada’s conch. Probably, grandsire Bhishma responded to it by blowing his own conch. Then there were the familiar sounds of the conches of my five husbands. After that a loud, thrilling cacophony of conch sounds was heard, which gave goose bumps. The trumpeting of elephants and the neighing of horses was heard from both sides. Then suddenly nobody knew what happened, but all the sounds gradually reduced and stopped completely. Utter silence prevailed, leaving all of
us bewildered. I just couldn’t control myself and getting up from the circle of the ladies I went to the entrance of the pavilion. I kept staring madly in the direction of the battlefield that was not in sight. What happened? I didn’t understand anything. Did the war stop or what? In that case, what about my vows? What about my long hair that I had left open? I became restless and without talking to any of the ladies from the royal circle I started pacing around restlessly in the pavilion, muttering to myself. The Pandava Maharani within me was in agony as if pricked by hundreds of arrows. I wasn’t in so much pain even when I was being humiliated in the gambling hall, but just thinking about it left me feeling ashamed and upset. For whatever reason if the war doesn’t take place, if the scoundrels who dared to touch the saree on my body and the shameless people who watched it helplessly do not get punished, then the Pandava Maharani Draupadi’s honour would be reduced to nothing! It will be stained! There were so many close friends with me, but none of them was going to understand my agony. I didn’t feel like saying anything to anybody.
About half an hour passed by in that miserable and tormenting silence. And nobody understood what happened suddenly, but again the entire holy land of Kurukshetra reverberated with the commotion of various sounds of hundreds of conches, elephants, horses, and camels, clinking sounds of various weapons and the encouraging loud shouts of ‘Get set… rise… attack!’.
Srikrishna- the Lord of the Universe Page 67