by Unknown
Aswathama burst into Suyodhana's room and grabbed him by the shoulders. "Prince, what is your opinion about true love? Love that is written in your heart blah blah blah..."
Suyodhana saw Karna's embarrassed face behind the impish Brahmin and was amused. "What has happened? Has Draupadi agreed to take Karna as her sixth husband?" Suyodhana saw Karna's face turn grim and immediately regretted his insensitive comment. Poor man! He had not forgotten the fiasco at Kampilya the previous year.
Aswathama laughed and said, "Oh no! That disaster has not yet happened, though I am sure our friend here would be more than willing to be Draupadi's sixth husband. This is a different love story. The hero in this tale becomes a saint following his love's betrayal. Remember the day we stormed out of Dhrupada's palace in search of Karna, after Draupadi refused to marry him? And where did we find him?"
"She insulted me in front of everyone. Living with five men is better than marrying me? I feel nothing but disgust for her now. But where you found me that night has nothing to do with it. I was genuinely moved by the plight of those people. I am no different from them after all," said Karna, looking away.
"Yes, yes, it was a spontaneous reaction. Of course we believe you," agreed Aswathama grinning and infuriating Karna further. But before Karna could respond, the Brahmin turned towards Suyodhana. "Prince, remember the scene that day? We found him among some beggars. He was spending money like a crazy drunk, buying every delicacy available and feeding them. When we wanted to go back to Dhrupada's palace and snatch Draupadi by force, he refused to come! You remember that night.
That beggar with the dog kept singing the praises of Krishna. Except for his armour and earrings, Karna gave away everything he had brought from Anga. After a while it was not only the beggars but the Brahmins too, who queued up to partake of Karna's generosity. Hell, he forced us to do the same as him. I was as poor as those lepers by the time this idiot got over his madness. We thought then that it was just an odd reaction to the day's happenings. But this madman has now made a habit of it."
"You fools! How many times do I have to tell you that my actions have nothing to do with what I felt for Draupadi? In fact, she opened my eyes that day. I am a Suta. I was pretending to be a Kshatriya. If not for the generosity of Prince Suyodhana, I would have remained a charioteer. Her rejection reminded me of who I am. When I came out of that assembly and saw the group of beggars, I felt I had been ungrateful for the blessings I have received. If the Prince could risk his entire kingdom and make powerful enemies for my sake, the least I could do was share my fortune with the less fortunate. I cannot explain what I feel when I give to those unfortunate people." Karna looked away from his friends, afraid of his own emotions.
"Aswathama, he is trying to divert us. Tell Suyodhana what you came to tell him in the first place." Sushasana walked in and sat down near his brother.
"Well, Saint Karna has found a new love and is waiting for your wedding to be over before announcing his own," Aswathama said with a wide grin.
Suyodhana rushed to Karna and embraced him. "Tell me my friend, which Princess is the lucky girl?"
Karna looked into his friend's eyes. "She is not a Princess but a Suta called Vrishali. I met her during one of the routine trips I undertake in disguise on most nights I am in Anga. Fate willed we meet. She lives with her mother. Her father died in service. She was running from pillar to post to get the compensation due to her. But you know what our bureaucracy is. I got her the money and punished a few corrupt officials in the process.
We fell in love. Even now, she does not know I am the King of Anga. She thinks I am a horse trader with some influence in the bureaucracy because of my business. I would have brought her to meet you, but she would be bashful about coming into the presence of the Crown Prince of Hastinapura. Even though I have told her many times that you are my best friend, she refuses to believe it and thinks I am just bragging to impress her."
Everyone burst into laughter. Aswathama pranced around the room crying hoarsely, "I am waiting to meet her, Karna. Then I will tell her some stories... like Draupadi's Well near Kampilya... and the feast for beggars, hosted by the King of Anga on the day she ditched him... as well as other revelries when he proved himself to be as big an ass as he looks... ouch!"
Karna had shoved the Guru's son to the floor. Soon the others pounced on the poor Brahmin and began pummelling him. There was a knock on the door and they hurriedly got up, adjusting their clothing and hair to look as respectable as possible. Vidhura entered. They all bowed in deference. The Prime Minister looked at the mess the room was in and ignored the sheepish smiles of the young men. He turned to Suyodhana and said gravely that the Grand Regent wished to see him at once.
Suyodhana was immediately alert to the tone in Vidhura's voice. Unless it was important, his uncle would not have come himself. Suyodhana grew tense, fearing something had happened to someone he held dear. Vidhura did not utter another word till they reached the sabha. Then he gave Suyodhana's shoulder a squeeze and went to take up his usual position near Bhishma. As Suyodhana's eyes adjusted to the brightly lit room, he saw his father and mother were seated next to the Grand Regent. A familiar figure stood in the shadows, but he could not quite identify him until the man moved towards him. Balarama! The Yadava leader was looking so distraught that it took Suyodhana a moment to recognize him. Balarama had aged since Suyodhana had last seen him. The Yadava leader fell to his knees and would have touched Suyodhana's feet had the shocked Prince not caught him by his shoulders. "Sir, what are you doing?" Suyodhana pulled up the older man and then bent to touch his Guru's feet.
"Forgive me, Prince. I have failed you. I have brought shame upon you and your kingdom. Punish me in whichever way you wish," the Yadava leader said.
Suyodhana looked around in confusion. The silence was disturbed only by Balarama's attempts to catch his breath. A worm of doubt began gnawing at Suyodhana's heart.
"Suyodhana." Bhishma's heavy voice pierced the uneasy silence and Suyodhana almost knew what was coming. "Balarama has come here to announce the marriage of his sister Subhadra with your cousin, Arjuna, and to ask for our blessings. A few months ago, he came here to finalise an alliance between his sister and you. Knowing your wishes in the matter, we agreed. Now it seems there is a change of plan on the Yadava side. His sister has eloped with Arjuna, from the palace in Dwaraka, with the assistance of Krishna."
"I am sorry, Suyodhana... I did not know..." Balarama said, the lines deepening on his forehead.
The world came crashing down upon the Crown Prince. Anger rose in every cell of his body. He felt feverish. How could Arjuna, the bastard son of Kunti, dare touch his girl?
"Suyodhana, there is no doubt this is a great insult to Hastinapura. We hold the leadership of India, north of the Vindhyas, and a vassal kingdom has dared to humiliate us. Not even our sworn enemies, the Southern Confederate, have stooped to this level. I certainly never expected this from a man I considered my own brother. Suyodhana, you have a choice now - to either ransack their puny kingdom and teach the Yadavas a lesson or fight Arjuna to win back your woman. I wish to discuss this with you." Bhishma's voice trailed away when Suyodhana slowly shook his head.
The Crown Prince did not speak for some time but kept looking at his mentor. The Yadava leader finally averted his eyes, unable to hold the Prince's gaze. Finally Suyodhana said, "Guru, please tell me who drove the chariot they eloped in. Was it my cousin Arjuna or..."
It was painful for Balarama to say it. He loved his sister like a father and she had repaid his love by insulting him. Swallowing hard, he looked into the eyes of his disciple. "Son, it was not your cousin; it was Subhadra who drove the chariot."
Suyodhana bowed to the assembly and began walking away.
Bhishma stood up. "Suyodhana! Give me a reply. If you wish to fight and win back your woman, the entire army of Hastinapura is at your disposal. Do not run away from your duty as a Kshatriya. Fight for your woman, your kingdom, your honour."
Suyodhana stopped and turned. "Pitamaha, It is evident Princess Subhadra has chosen my cousin, Arjuna. I do not wish to fight her or use my kingdom's resources to settle a purely personal matter."
"You will be the butt of ridicule and will be accused of cowardice," Bhishma told him sternly, not mincing his words.
"I wish my cousin and Princess Subhadra happiness. Do not let my personal issues affect the policies of our kingdom. I respect my Guru Balarama all the more for having had the courage to come here and tell us the news personally. Let not the relations with Dwaraka suffer because of this small incident." Suyodhana walked towards the door, which just then looked like a million leagues away.
"Suyodhana!" Something in Bhishma's voice made the Prince stop and turn. He saw the glitter of tears in Bhishma's deep eyes and waited for the Grand Regent to speak. "Son, I am proud of you."
Suyodhana bowed again and left the hall as hurriedly as he could. He did not forget to return the bows of the guards at the door but as soon as he had moved sufficiently away from the sabha and found a quiet and shadowed corner, he pressed his face to the cold marble of the wall. The emotions he had kept dammed, burst, and he wept shamelessly. He tried to curb the hatred he felt towards his cousin but Subhadra's lovely face jeered at him, mocking his naivety and foolishness. He could almost hear Arjuna's laughter at his plight. He knew the Priests would enjoy his loss of face. He felt worthless and used. 'Son of blind parents, I too, did not have the vision to see Subhadra was making a mockery of my love. I have been blind,' he thought, pressing his burning face to the cold stone.
An hour later, Aswathama found him in the same posture. Initially, the Prince refused to tell his friend the cause of his distress. Later, when he finally related what had happened, and that Subhadra was already married to his cousin, his friends were outraged. It took Jayadratha and Karna's combined strength to stop Aswathama rushing out in search of Arjuna. The son of Drona vowed revenge on Arjuna for stealing the brides of two of his friends, first Draupadi, and now Subhadra. Meanwhile, a drunken Sushasana slipped out to shower abuse on Balarama. The Yadava leader bore his insults without lifting his head, until someone informed the Grand Regent. Bhishma promptly placed Sushasana under house arrest until the morning of Princess Sushala's wedding. It was left to Vidhura to apologize profusely to Balarama on behalf of Hastinapura.
***
Princess Sushala's wedding day witnessed curious events. Learned men said that such things did not augur well for the ancient kingdom or Indian civilization as a whole. 'The Gods have shown Duryodhana his place by making him the fool who lost his bride to his cousin,' the Priests whispered to each other. Yet the arrogant man refused to learn. What angered Dhaumya most was the audacity of the Crown Prince in conducting the marriage of two Sutas at the very venue he himself was supposed to have been married. The Priests under Dhaumya refused to solemnize Karna and Vrishali's marriage, but Aswathama and Kripa stepped forward to do so. They were thus married beside the King of Sindh and Princess Sushala. The renowned generosity of the Suta further angered Dhaumya, when he discovered that many of his followers had secretly blessed the couple and accepted gifts from Karna. He could not understand why the Gods allowed such evil men to flourish in this holy land. Perhaps it was the advent of Kali, the age of adharma. Dhaumya assembled the Priests in his house and prayed sincerely for deliverance from sinful men like Suyodhana and his friends. Has not the Lord delivered them from demons like Ravana and Mahabali before? What was important was keeping faith in His divine wisdom, Dhaumya told his dejected followers. As they did not have anything other than the words of the Chief Priest to cling to, the holy men waited for the Gods to take care of Suyodhana and his friends.
***
Ekalavya sat with his friend Aswasena, discussing the impending attack by Takshaka on Hastinapura. Around them, the tall trees of the Khandivaprastha forest stood like sentries. It was almost a year since Ekalavya had returned. He had been welcomed like a hero by Takshaka and given command of a platoon of guerrilla fighters. However, the old King Vasuki kept telling Ekalavya that he had made a mistake in returning and that he should escape from the insane world Takshaka was creating.
Except for the singing of the birds and the occasional rustling of dry leaves in a reluctant breeze, it was frighteningly silent. The sky was pregnant with rain and the forest waited in anticipation of deliverance from the grip of the scorching summer. Mayasura, a young Asura architect in his early twenties, sat with them, quietly drawing pictures of fantastic palaces and temples in the sand. Mayasura had learned his trade at the great Asura School of architecture. The school, which had flourished on the southeastern coast of India, had lost its charm after the collapse of the last Asura Emperor, Ravana. But its traditions secretly continued. Many of the students only built clay models since there was no longer a demand for the palaces and temples the Mayan school of architecture and science had been famous for. Theirs was a dying art. The practitioners became destitute, pushed into the ranks of the Untouchables or Pariahs, as the Vishwakarma School gained prominence. Mayasura was a victim of this social change and was one of the many new recruits into Takshaka's rebel army.
The secret Naga camp in the Khandiva forest was teeming with desperate men and women, who lived in a forgotten India. The forests covered the ancient city from where the first King of the Indras had ruled India, thousands of years before. Later, when power moved into the hands of the Brahmins, ancient ruling clans like the Indras went into decline. The incumbent Indra was a broken old man, living in the ruins of his crumbling palace deep in the jungle. It was rumoured that he had fathered Arjuna, and had come back with a few copper coins for the service rendered to Kunti. Bitter and mean, he had allied himself with the Nagas in the hope that he would regain some of the lost prestige of his illustrious ancestors. Takshaka had tactfully taken advantage of this and moved his army into the dark forests ruled by Indra. From Khandiva, it was only a couple of day's journey to Hastinapura. The jungle was ideal for Takshaka's kind of warfare.
Now, Takshaka and Kaliya walked across to where Ekalavya sat. The young man stood up respectfully before the Supreme Leader of the Revolutionary Army. Takshaka was displaying an increasing penchant for referring to himself by pretentious names. This mouthful was the latest. He hugged Ekalavya. "I knew you would bring us luck. We were desperate for a powerful ally and we now have none other than General Hiranyadhanus's son with us."
"Why are you looking so confused, Ekalavya?" Kaliya asked, hiding a smile. "The great General of Magadha has sent the Supreme Leader this letter. Read it."
Ekalavya took the palm leaf from Kaliya with trembling hands. The revelation that his father was alive shocked him. He eagerly scanned the letter with the Royal seal of Magadha. It was addressed simply to Shri Takshaka. General Hiranyadhanus explicitly stated that Ekalavya was his long-lost son and wished Takshaka to return him safely to Magadha.
Takshaka handed over another message to Ekalavya as well. It was a personal letter to Ekalavya, in which the General sought his son's forgiveness for having abandoned him as a child. The General had gone in search of his fortune, leaving his infant son with his brother, following his wife's demise. He had become an exceptional warrior. Due to his good fortune, he had met a King who thought merit was more important than caste, and placed trust in him. In time, he had risen to become Commander-in-Chief of the Magadha army. He had tried to contact Ekalavya many times but he had always been unsuccessful. The General had heard about the horrible fate of his sister-in-law and his five nephews, and rumours that Ekalavya was alive and had joined Takshaka's forces. He wanted to meet his son and requested him to come to Pataliputra, the capital of Magadha.
Ekalavya threw away the letter in disgust and anger. Where had this man been when he had been struggling to keep body and soul together? Memories of his poverty, the struggle to learn something worthwhile, the insults, the way his people were treated, and the death of his aunt and cousins, all came rushing back. He turned away,
retching into the bushes.
"I have no father. To hell with this great man..." He turned and ran towards the river. The Yamuna seemed to beckon the Nishada into its dark depths. The sudden shock of knowing his father was alive was too much for his bruised mind to bear.
Takshaka followed and touched his shoulder, but Ekalavya did not respond. He stood perilously close to the raging river, his hands covering his dark face. The Naga leader saw it was best to leave him alone to find his own tortured peace. Later, Takshaka and Vasuki both tried to persuade him to go and meet his father, who was a powerful man. The revolution needed such friends. The attack on Hastinapura was imminent. The General was a downtrodden Untouchable who had risen to great heights through his own efforts. Even if Ekalavya did not need a father, the revolution needed the General. Takshaka used his persuasive powers and even threatened Ekalavya with dire consequences if he acted against the interests of the revolutionary army. But Ekalavya refused to budge. Takshaka turned away angrily, hinting at action against those who betrayed the revolutionary cause.
