The Story so Far! Kandhava Prastha was an affluent Kingdom on the banks of river Ganges and was ruled by a bold Kshatriya king Yayati. Yayati was cursed in his youth to suddenly become old, by his father-in-law, Asura guru Shukracharya, because his wife Devyani caught him red handed with the palace maid Sharmishtha. When Yayati prostrated on Shukracharya’s feet and apologized profusely, the Asuraguru relented and told him that he could regain his youth, if a young man was willing to exchange his youth for Yayati’s old age. The king had five sons and the elder four refused to help him despite being tempted by the offer of the kingdom. However the youngest son Puru embraced his father’s old age and gave away his youth. He ruled for many years as a wise and virtuous king. In ripeness of age, Yayati gave back Puru’s youth and got back his old self. Puru’s great grand son was Shantanu, who fell in love with a pretty stranger at the banks of river Ganges. This maiden of heavenly beauties was Goddess Ganga herself, who had to take birth as a mortal, because of Brahma’s curse. She remained with him as a wife for eight years and their last son was Bhishma a principal character of this epic. Many years later Shantanu fell in love with a fisher maiden Satyavathi and desired to marry her. The fisherwoman’s father was a crafty fellow who would not allow the union, unless Bhishma relinquished the throne and vowed not to marry and beget descendants. It was a Bhishma (awesome) vow which earned him his name. He remained unmarried and acted as an uncle and godfather for Shantanu’s sons by the fisher maiden SatyavathiBOOKS who was also a maiden, whose body emitted divine smells. Satyavathi bore two sons to Shantanu, Chitrangadha and Vichitravirya. Chitrangadha was killed in a duel with a Gandharva and Vichitravirya ascended the Throne. Bhishma, by now the grand uncle, hijacked the Swayamvara of the daughters of Kashi Naresha and brought his daughters to Hastinapura to marry his nephew Vichitravirya. The two daughters of the Kashi king who married Vichitravirya were Ambika and Ambalika.DC The son born to Ambika was blind at birth and called Dritharashtra. Ambalika’s son was Pandu. Dharma was born as a human incarnate due to the curse of sage Mandavya as Vidura, the son of a palace maid in the Vichitravirya household. Drithrashtra married Gandhari, who was such a devout wife that she elected to tie a bandage around her eyes, so that she too perceived the world as her husband did. With the blessings of sage Durvasa, Gandhari gave birth to a hundred sons collectively called the Kauravas. Duryodhana was the eldest of the brothers. Pandu married two queens Kunti and Madri. Kunti bore him three sons, Yudhishtra, Bhima and 10 60 Ekachakra After bidding their farewell to Hidimbi, the Pandavas made for their onward journey beyond the forests. The moment they reached a clearing they wrapped Arjuna’s Gandeeva and Bhima’s Gada in jute and cloth sacks. Vyasa had told them that it would be a full day’s walk to Ekachakra. The route beyond the forest was clear and even for some distance, after which the first signs of human inhabitation appeared. Paddy fields and huts told them that they were nearing the villages on the outskirts of Ekachakra. Their travel through the jungle had made their clothes dirty. The soles of their bare feet had become rough. But their faces were buoyant and energetic. They did not want to draw unnecessary attention to themselves and thus skirted their path out side the fields staying well away from the village proper. By mid day they broke for a camp near a well on the outskirts of the village. A little beyondBOOKS the village they saw a huge neem tree with extensive foliage and thick bifurcating branches. Yudhishtra addressed his brothers thus, “We do look like a tired and a well traveled Brahmin family of a widow with her sons. But the large and unruly bundle of Arjuna’s bow and Bhima’s mace look out of palace. Likewise the silver plate that we have, is notDC fit to be in the possession of the poor Brahmanas whom we represent. I think that we should look into our possessions to separate all the suspicious items. It is best if we hide all these objects, before we get to our destination”. There was a general agreement amongst the Pandavas. Arjuna looked up to the tree and pointed out to a part where the two trunks were bifurcating. Beyond that was a natural ledge, densely covered with leaves. They made a proper bundle with the silver plate, a few costly items that had inadvertently slipped into their baggage; Arjuna’s bow Gandeeva, and Bhima’s mace. This was now camouflaged with leaves and twigs. Sahadeva quickly climbed up the tree and Bhima handed over the package. But the package containing both the mace and bow was too heavy for Sahadeva to lift alone. Nakula gave a hand and between them they managed to hide it in a safe place. 13 61 Bakasura One morning, the five Pandavas left their house early in the morning. Yudhishtra lead his three brothers Arjuna, Nakula and Sahadeva on their alms collection. Bhima made his way to the potter to help him. Kunti dipped into the big pot to get some rice for her sons but her hand hit the bottom. She was embarrassed to borrow from Shankara and his family at frequent intervals, but on that day she decided to ask for some rice to be returned, once the sons came back with the alms. She was about to knock when she heard some weeping and wailing inside. Her ears heard a conversation in hushed tones. Kunti was intrigued and walked close. It was the Brahmana who was weeping and cursing his wife. “Oh unfortunate woman! What sort BOOKSof a wicked and bad predicament have you brought us in? So many times I told you. I even begged of you, that Ekachakra is not the town for us to live. But did you listen to me? No! You always said that you have been born here and have a lot of relatives here. You wanted our children to grow here. You wanted to live here till your old age! But see now where your desire and attitude has got us?” The wife replied, “Oh husband of mine! I have absolutely no disagreement with what you say. Indeed it is only I who hasDC been responsible for all our troubles and calamity. Thus it is right that it is I alone who suffer the consequence by sacrificing myself and embracing death. I don’t want a gem of a husband like you and two of our innocent children to suffer. For a folly, that has been mine and mine alone, death is my only salvation and I shall accept it quite gladly”. Shankara replied “Oh stupid woman! Don’t you realize what you are saying? Don’t you know how much I love you and care for you? How do you think that I will manage with the children without you? In whichever direction I look I find despondency and doom. I do not see any future for our family. Oh God! Why does this terrible tragedy strike us, when I have not knowingly committed a single sin and have lived the life of a devout Brahmana?” Kunti stood silent for a few moments listening to the Brahmin couple who had been such 17 62 Kunti’s Promise Kunti’s statement took Shankara and his family by surprise. They did not believe their ears. To think that their problems could be solved by this Brahmin widow sounded ridiculous and impossible. Shankara recovered his composure first and said, “Just as a physician administers a strong dose of opium to a dying patient, to temporarily alleviate his miseries before Yama comes to take him away, your words indeed soothe us. But heart of hearts, we know that you are in such a predicament that you can do nothing but reassure us. It is indeed correctly said that people who live in a kingdom ruled by a coward should not get a progeny and push their children into a life fraught with danger. It is unfortunate, that being poor Brahmins we do not have the money to buy a substituteBOOKS to take our place. It is equally fair, that having lived in Ekachakra for so long, and having survived because of the sacrifices of our neighbors, when our turn comes, we should not lag behind in contributing our share. Oh pious lady! Please leave us to our fates and leave us alone. We have decided to go all together to the Rakshasa. Let the wicked Rakshasa gorge himself on all of us. We will be rid of our troubles once and for all”. Kunti gave an enigmatic smile and said, “Oh Shankara! I DCam quite sincere in my statement. I have five healthy and strapping sons. I shall send my second son Bhima with the bullock cart in lieu of you”. Shankar’s family had tears in their eyes. However the Brahmana was not convinced. “Oh noble lady! You are giving us a gift that is too precious for us to accept. Why would you want to sacrifice your healthy and young son for our sake? Are you his real mother or a step mother? If you are indeed his step mother, then I don’t want you to use me and my family as an excuse to get rid of him.