The layout of Indraprasth was quite similar to that of Dwaraka. The Pandavas had unanimously named the royal assembly here as ‘Sriprasada’ in honour of Krishna. The Sudharma royal assembly of Dwaraka and the Sriprasada royal assembly of Indraprastha were like two royal sisters, connected with the bonds of love. The internal layout of our royal assembly was just like that of the royal assembly of Dwaraka. Krishna’s favourite river Yamuna encircled Indraprastha. Expert architects had built the royal assembly of the Pandavas parallel to the semi-circular line of Yamuna, because of which the cool gusts of wind flowing from the Yamuna would directly reach the Sriprasada royal assembly.
As the Maharani of Indraprastha I had many responsibilities, such as looking after the needs of my five husbands with varied temperaments, to nurture their five sons, to attend the royal assembly, to bid farewell to my husbands at war time and welcome them on their return after winning the wars, and so on. I would get totally engrossed in those activities. Many a times my dear friend Krishna urged me to visit Dwaraka. I would say ‘yes’ to him. Though I wanted to go to Dwaraka very much it wasn’t happening. I wanted to meet Rukminivahini and her seven sisters at least once. But no matter what I couldn’t achieve it.
The only times we met were when Krishna came to visit during the construction of the royal city of Indraprastha in Khandavavana. It was at our coronation ceremony that I met Rukminivahini for the first time. I was smitten by her in the first meeting. She was indeed an exceptionally beautiful lady. She didn’t have a dark complexion like me. She had a ruddy fair complexion. Even in our very first meeting she spoke volumes about her Uddhavabhauji. She zealously shared many stories of the brotherly love of Krishna and Uddhavabhauji with me. She also told me many amusing stories of Balaramadada. She didn’t understand why I kept laughing while listening to the stories of Balaramadada. Finally, she couldn’t suppress her curiosity and asked me about it, “Draupadi, do I sound like I’m mocking Balaramadada?” I promptly responded, “Not at all, vahinee. In our family, we too have one sample like your Balaramadada! He is Balaramadada’s disciple!” Then both of us laughed heartily.
In the very first meeting, while chatting for hours together with Rukminivahini I strongly felt that I must visit Dwaraka at least once. At least once I should see Vasudevababa, Devakimata, Rohinimata, Revatitai, Krishna’s other wives, Aacharya Sandipani, his wife and son Dutta, both commanders of Yadavas, and Gargamuni. In our very first meeting Rukminivahini talked about one more woman – Krishna’s best friend in Gokul – Radha – Radhika. While hearing from her how Krishna considers Radha his best friend, I realized that I had never seen Radhika of Gokul – another best friend of my Krishna. What kind of a person would she be? What kind of a place would her Gokul be?
After the first meeting with Rukminivahini it became my hobby to probe Krishna about Radhika in many ways whenever we met. He was so clever! He would say to me smilingly, “Instead of listening from me what kind of a friend Radhika is, why don’t you yourself go to Gokul once and meet her in person? Draw all the information from her with your brilliant questions.” He would leave me nonplussed. He knew it very well that I would never go to Gokul. After he left I would myself try to create an imaginary figure of Radhika in my mind, but I was never able to complete it!
Three turning points in my life were very significant. First – my Swayamwar ceremony. Because of that I got five husbands, and also an experienced rajmata. But later I came to know from Arjuna that because of that same Swayamwar he was going to have to face his biggest enemy. It was Karna – the king of Anga, whom I had rejected in the Swayamwar. In the war that broke out after the Swayamwar his son Sudamana was killed in the pandal itself, that too by Arjuna’s arrow. Therefore, furious Karna had taken a vow to kill Arjuna. Arjuna knew the gravity of that vow, but he never seemed to be afraid of it. During the construction of Indraprastha in Khandavavana Krishna came often from Dwaraka to Indraprastha. During every visit, of all my five husbands, he chatted more with Arjuna alone. Both of them would go to the faraway banks of river Yamuna in Krishna’s Garudadhwaja chariot. After each of these visits my husband Arjuna looked more determined and radiant than before.
The second significant turning point in my life was the coronation of Yudhishthira and me. Many kings and queens had come from distant kingdoms to attend the ceremony. Krishna had come with main Yadavas, Rukminivahini, Subhadra and both his brothers. Our coronation was celebrated with much grandeur. Innumerable kings and their queens, soldiers, male and female attendants dined in Indraprasth at that time. A month before and after the coronation, Indraprastha, located on the banks of Yamuna, was bustling. There were stacks of gifts given to the newly built kingdom of Pandavas. Those included various animals such as horses and camels from the Gandhara kingdom, elephants from Kamarupa, and healthy cows from the valley of Brahmavarta, well-nourished bulls, and agile dogs from Arbudagiri. There were also many herbal medicines from Himavana region, jars of old liquor from Panchanada region, honey from Magadha, fine vestures from Ashmaka, gold and silver jewellery of various designs from various kingdoms, various kinds of weapons like swords, maces, bow-arrows, pestles, chakras, Agnikankana, Shataghni, and Bhrushundi. The Pandavas’ auspicious abode was erected in the form of Indraprastha in the forest of Khandavavana. The entire credit for that goes to my dear friend Krishna with his lakhs of hardworking Yadavas, and my dear brother Dhrishtadyumna with his thousands of Panchalas. Both of them stood behind Pandavas’ Indraprastha kingdom like rocks.
Now there were three mighty kingdoms in Aaryavarta – first Dwaraka, second Hastinapura and third Indraprastha.
The third turning point in my life was the Rajasuya yajna. Many things had happened during the time since the coronation ceremony till the Rajasuya yajna. At the time of the coronation ceremony Maharishi Vyasa had prudently advised me, ‘Never forget that you are also the daughter-in-law of Hastinapura.’ But I forgot his advice! There is no convincing explanation as to why someone forgets something. To forget something is simply not remembering it. An error is an error even if it takes place unknowingly. I made such an unforgivable mistake during the Rajasuya Yajna in the Mayasabhaa chamber raised by Mayasura. First of all, it was the thought that came to my mind which I myself disapproved later and secondly, the words that I uttered.
Prince Duryodhan who had come from Hastinapura, entered the chamber of Mayasabhaa. It was for the first time after the Swayamwar that I saw Karna – the king of Anga. The moment I saw him a wild thought erupted in my mind and I whispered in the ears of my maid Hiranmayi, “Oh Hiranmayi, had it been in my destiny to be the wife of this possessor of Kavacha-kundala, so many fountains would have blossomed in the garden of my life!” In the meantime, Duryodhana stepped onto the optical illusion of a carpet which was actually a Rangoli design drawn on the surface of the water and fell into the pond making a loud splash. I was standing in the balcony along with my maids. I couldn’t resist laughing, seeing the Kuru prince bobbing up and down in the water. While laughing, I said to my maids, “Are the sons of a blind father also blind?” My maids also laughed at the scene and at my words. Hearing the sound of their loud laughs the fully drenched Kuru prince became red with fury. Leaving his crown and mace in the water pond itself he stared at me with his fiery red eyes and muttering something to himself, stomped out of the Mayasabha chamber.
I kept staring at his back. I immediately realized that I had made a mistake. But it was of no use now. If it had been somebody else, it would have been possible to apologize and console the person. But never with Prince Duryodhana. Such an unforgivable mistake committed in a fleeting moment keeps continuously pricking at a cultured heart afterwards. That is what happened to me. Duryodhana never forgave me, but even I did not forgive myself for that thoughtless, idiotic moment and words.
In the Rajasuya Yajna I actually saw Krishna using the Sudarshan chakra on Shishupala. I could never forget that radiant form of his, which was blinding. The world always told me, ‘You are the daughter of fire,
born out of a Yajna pit.’ The fire that I had seen throughout my life in the Yajna pit and the fire of thoughts that I experienced as the daughter of fire, were nothing compared to that radiant form of Krishna. At that moment, I realized that he is not merely a brother or a friend as I consider him. He is so much more that could not be expressed in words; he is inconceivable and one who cannot be weighed on any scale. It is only possible to experience him rather than trying to understand him.
Due to the mourning for Shishupala the Rajasuya Yajna was cancelled. Another Muhurta was drawn soon after that and the Yajna took place in the same pandal. Krishna on that day, offering the sacrificial sticks in the Yajna pit looked so different. He was paying obeisance to the invited sages and hermits with an innocent smile. Another thing happened while I was engrossed in his thoughts. Guru Drona of the Kurus came along with his son Ashwatthama to meet Maharaja Yudhishthira sitting beside me and bid farewell to him. Maharaja Yudhishthira touched Guru Drona’s feet to offer respect. He offered his heartiest blessings to the Maharaja of Pandavas. I also bent down to touch his feet. But while getting up my triangular diadem got stuck in his dress and fell at his feet. I was utterly shaken. Guru Drona immediately picked it up, wiped it gently with his shawl and handed it over to me.
The Rajasuya Yajna that was of great significance for us Pandavas was accomplished without any problems. Indeed, it was, because Shishupala had a secret purpose in humiliating Krishna in the yajna. He wanted to start a war in the Yajna pandal just like the war that had erupted after my Swayamwar. One way or the other he didn’t want the Rajasuya Yajna of the Pandavas to be accomplished. If the Rajasuya Yajna would have been disrupted it would have brought tremendous shame to the name of the Pandavas. It would have been a big setback to the friendship of the Dwaraka kingdom of Krishna with the Indraprastha kingdom of the Pandavas. Shishupala would have gotten the satisfaction of avenging his best friend Jarasandha who had made him the commander. The biggest satisfaction he would have gotten was that of punishing the Black one who had abducted his soon to be wife Rukminidevi from right under his nose. Indeed, what would have happened, had Shishupala succeeded? If our Rajasuya Yajna would have been disrupted? I can’t even imagine what kind of turn the life of the Pandavas and therefore my life too would have taken?
That is why I was quite gratified that the Rajasuya Yajna had got conducted smoothly. In fact, the pennant of Krishna and Pandavas’ acclaim was magnified due to the execution of Shishupala. Its inspirational fluttering had spread throughout the Aaryavarta.
It was quite a ritual to make my thick, long hair in front of the mirror in my chamber in the royal palace of Indraprastha. I had selected four-five skilled maids for that purpose who would be engaged in that activity for a good half an hour. While looking at my reflection in the mirror and chatting with the maids alongside I would get engrossed in my own thoughts. In that reverie, I would compare the memories of my five husbands with each other.
Sometimes this reverie would catch an interesting rhythm. I would wonder which of the men and women of Dwaraka, Indraprastha and Hastinapura had different kinds of divine qualities. Among those the prominent ones were Krishna and Arjuna. Both of them had blue complexion. They looked like a figure and its shadow. If they both stood chatting together people could figure out who was who only because of the peacock-feathered crown and the fresh Vaijayanti garland resting on Krishna’s chest. People who knew Arjuna could recognize him due to the Gandiva bow that he carried on his shoulder.
Only commander Satyaki in Dwaraka had the divine gift of knee-length arms just like Krishna. He was extremely brave and intelligent. Notably, his love for Krishna was also unparalleled. His temperament was more like Balaramadada.
In Hastinapura there were two other prominent men who were blessed with divine gifts. One was the devotee of Sun, Karna – the king of Anga who was born with impenetrable Kavacha-kundala, and the other was the Guru’s son Ashwatthama who was born with a fleshy bead on the crown of his head.
I had never seen Bhimsena’s first wife Hidimba – a daughter of the wilderness. But I had heard that her son Ghatotkacha was born with some extraordinary powers. Among the women in all three places I was the only one who was yajna-born, fragrant and long-haired.
I had heard it from many people that my mother-in-law Rajmata Kuntidevi had obtained a divine mantra called Devahuti from sage Durvasa many years before. These five brothers carried the effect of that mantra’s power in their personality. Yudhishthira carried the effect of the earth or Prithvi principle, Bhimsena carried the effect of the wind or Vayu principle, for Arjuna it was the water or Jala principle and for Nakula-Sahadeva it was the light or Prakash principle. These two brothers were like Usha – the dawn and Nisha – the night, connected to each other with a thin line of light. I never tried to probe into the deeper meaning of this Devahuti mantra. I did not find it necessary. Nobody ever tried to probe deeper in Dhrishtadyumnadada and my birth from the yajna. Nobody ever found it necessary.
Among the three centres of power – Hastinapura, Indraprastha and Dwaraka, my friend Krishna was the only one who possessed the authority over the radiant chakra Sudarshan. His brilliant intelligence was unmatched in not only the three kingdoms but in the entire Aaryavarta.
One question about Krishna would often arise in the minds of many others and that was, ‘why he does he not employ the Sudarshan chakra frequently?’. In the pandal of the Rajasuya Yajna I had actually seen him using the Sudarshan chakra to kill Shishupala. Since then the same question often arose in my mind also. I could not sit quiet without finding the answer to it. So, once I asked him directly, “KrishNa, when you have such a powerful Sudarshan chakra with you, why don’t you use it everywhere? Do you have any restrictions about its use?”
He smiled then and said, “I knew you were going to ask me this question some time or the other. The Sudarshan Chakra has been bestowed upon me by Bhagvan Parashurama. As per his instruction I am not free to use it arbitrarily!”
After hearing his reply, I got even more curious. I asked him, “Doesn’t this mean that when you project the chakra you get that intuition directly from your inner self?”
“You are indeed extremely brilliant, Draupadi. You have accurately guessed the secret of the chakra. Uddhava also knows it. If I try to use the Sudarshan chakra adamantly, I get a very strange experience. The mantras of the Sudarshan chakra which otherwise I feel close to me, desirable and like the pure white swans in Manasa sarovar, disappear from my memory within moments! They fly away like the royal swans scattering due to the thunderous sound of the lightning during the Mriga constellation. Then my body experiences extreme fatigue that is so exhausting that it feels like the Kisan of the gopas in Gokul, the Krishna of the Yadavas and yours, the Srikrishna of Gargamuni, Dhaumya rishi and Maharishi Vyasa would drain away with it. Then I just let go of the thought of projecting the Sudarshan chakra like the gopis of Gokul let the lamps of Kojagiri afloat on the waters of the Yamuna.”
If Krishna himself couldn’t use the divine power of Sudarshan chakra at his will, what about the others? From the centres of power like Indraprastha, Dwaraka or Hastinapura, none of the men or women having divine powers was free to use them to their own advantage. Even I wasn’t free. I was well aware that I had developed an ego due to my matchless beauty. Krishna had tactfully and clearly made me aware of it from time to time without hurting my feelings. While doing so he always used to smile and say, ‘Krishney, humility befits beauty. If an extremely beautiful lady is also humble, it is as good as gold with the fragrance of a Prajakta flower!’
As a mama, he got along very well with all the Pandava sons in Indraprastha. His most favourite among them was Subhadra’s son Abhimanyu. Among my sons, he chatted more with Shrutakirti. That silly boy also badgered Krishna with such questions that no one would otherwise ask. He would say, “Krishnamama, everybody says you have eighty sons. Tell me, how do you recognize each one of them?”
Krishna was Krishna after all. While givin
g a satisfactory answer to his bhacha he would purposefully increase his curiosity. He would say, “You are talking about my eighty sons Kirti? Go to Hastinapura once. The Kuru family there has hundred Kauravas. You should go and see once how their mother and father unmistakably recognize their sons in spite of being blind. You will be amazed. They don’t just recognize their sons but they also know them very well inside out!”
Thus, my days were passing delightfully as the Maharani of Indraprastha. I was engrossed in nurturing my six sons and cultivating their characters. Yes, I considered Subhadra’s Abhimanyu as my own. All my husbands were extremely valiant. They had made conquests in all four directions of Aaryavarta, which had brought innumerable wealth of food grains, garments, animals, maids and servants to Indraprastha. It had increased beyond imagination due to our coronation. I was the venerable Maharani of the puissant Indraprastha, and the honourable citizens here; the beloved wife of five valiant Pandavas. I was the wealthy mother of six obedient sons; the most favourite daughter-in-law of Rajmata Kuntidevi. More than all this I was the beloved friend of Krishna – the Lord of Dwaraka! Indeed, I couldn’t ask for more in my life. Wasn’t this the treasure of life that anybody would desire for?
But a human being, a mere puppet in the hands of destiny should never consider or say things such as – I am satisfied, I possess everything that I desired for or I have achieved everything. My mentor and best friend Krishna had always advised me as such. But the innate Kshatriya lady within me, full of self-pride, would sometimes take over and unknowingly I would forget Krishna’s advice.
Srikrishna- the Lord of the Universe Page 58
