Kichaka and Draupadi

Kichaka and Draupadi

During the last year of their exile as per the terms of their wager with Duryodhana, when the Pandavas were living incognito in the kingdom of Matsya which was ruled by King Virata. Draupadi, under the assumed name of Malini was disguised as a sairandhari (female servant) in the king’s palace. The queen’s brother Kichaka was enamored with her beauty ever since he first set his eyes on her. In fact he went to the extent of approaching his sister the queen, Sudeshana and seeks her help in obtaining Malini.

The queen warns Kichaka of the rumors that Malini was protected by her gandharva husbands, who would go to any lengths to ensure that nobody would be able to own her against her free will. Drunk and intoxicated with lust, Kichaka dismisses the queen’s words and asked her to send Malini to him. Despite having her doubts about Kichaka’s intentions, Malini is overruled by the queen’s insistence that she take some wine and serve the same to her brother in his chambers.

Draupadi humiliated by Kichaka in the court

When she reaches the chambers and proceeds to serve the wine, Kichaka misbehaves with her and tries to embrace her. Pushing him away when Malini starts running away, he runs behind her trying to grab her. She runs towards the King’s palace where King Virata was playing dice with Kanka (Yudhisthira in disguise). Even after she reaches the palace Kichaka once again humiliates her in front of the entire court using extremely sharp and vulgar language to the effect that although she supposedly had multiple gandharva husbands, none of them were around to protect her. Although the court was full of King Virata’s courtiers, none of them dared to question his actions or words for fear of his instant and severe retribution.

Enraged and depressed with this insult meted out to her, Draupadi approaches Bhima who was in disguise as a cook in the palace kitchens and narrates these incidents to him. Bhima asks Draupadi to invite Kichaka to the dance hall later that night.

Bhima killing Kichaka with his bare hands

Drunk on wine and happiness at this invitation, when Kichaka arrived at the dance hall, he was already fuzzy due to the effects of drinking too much. In the darkness, he saw the figure of Bhima, assumed it to be Malini and approached the same. Bhima then revealed himself and overcome with rage at Kichaka’s actions proceeded to kill him with his bare hands.

In the meantime, to muffle the sounds of the scuffle inside the dance hall, Arjuna disguised as Brihannala loudly played his drum. Thus between the brothers, they managed to successfully rid the kingdom of Matsya from the tyrant Kichaka.

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This post has been written for the Three Word Wednesday prompt where the prompt had to include the words depressed, fuzzy, sharp which is the reason that these words have been highlighted separately in the post.

The story of Jayadratha

http://www.amarchitrakatha.com

While it is a well known fact that Dhritarashtra had 100 sons, it is little known that he also had 1 daughter, Dushala and it is even lesser known that she was married to Jayadratha, the king of Sindhu. Jayadratha is probably more remembered for being instrumental in being the cause of brave Abhimanyu’s death in the Kurukshetra war, more of which have been discussed in these earlier posts of mine [A little knowledge and A little more knowledge].  But this post is the story of Jayadratha himself.

As mentioned earlier Jayadratha was the son of Vridhakshtra, king of Sindhu and was the brother in law of the Kaurava prince, Duryodhana. One day when the Pandavas were in exile in the forest, the brothers left Draupadi in the care of Sage Trunabindu and went into the forest to collect materials for a holy puja they were planning. Seeing Draupadi alone and enamored by her beauty, Jayadratha approached her and proposed to marry her even after coming to know that she was the wife of the Pandavas. When she refuses to comply, he took the hasty decision of abducting her and starts moving towards Sindhu. The Pandavas in the meantime learn of this ghastly act, defeat Jayadratha and take him captor. Draupadi prevents Arjuna and Bhima from killing Jayadratha as she doesn’t want Dushala to become a widow. Instead she requests that his head be shaved and he be set free so that he doesn’t dare ever commit an act of transgression against another woman.

http://www.amarchitrakatha.com

To avenge his humiliation, Jayadratha conducts severe penance in order to please Lord Shiva, who granted him a boon in the form of a garland which will hold all the Pandavas at bay for one day. While this was not the boon that Jayadratha wanted, he accepted it nevertheless. Not satisfied, he went and prayed to his father Vridhakshtra who blesses him that whoever causes the head of Jayadratha to fall on the ground will be immediately killed by having his own head burst into a hundred pieces.

By virtue of these boons, Jayadratha was an able ally to the Kauravas when the Kurukshetra war began. Using the powers of his first boon, he managed to keep all the Pandavas at bay, except for Arjuna and his charioteer Krishna who were battling elsewhere on the battlefield. On this day, Jayadratha waited for Arjuna’s son Abhimanyu to enter the Chakravyuha and then blocked the exit knowing fully well that the young warrior did not know how to exit the formation. After being brutally and treacherously killed by the Kauravas, Jayadratha then goes on to kick the dead body of Abhimanyu and rejoices by dancing around it. The dreadful manner in which Jayadratha conducted himself on that occasion was shocking even to the most battle hardened kshatriya warriors who were part of the great war.

When Arjuna hears of his son’s death and the circumstances surrounding it, he blames Jayadratha for the same and vows to kill him the very next day before sunset, failing which he would kill himself. Hearing of this vow of Arjuna, Dronacharya arranges a complicated battle formation the next day to achieve two objectives, one was to protect Jayadratha who had till then proven to be an extremely good warrior to have in the Kaurava army and two was to enable Arjuna’s death which so far none of the Kaurava warriors had even gotten close to achieving in normal battle.

The next day, despite a full day of fierce fighting when Arjuna is unable to get to Jaydratha, Krishna realizes that he would need to resort to unconventional tactics to achieve this objective. Using his divine powers, he masks the sun thus creating a solar eclipse in order to create the illusion of sunset. Given the kshatriya dharma of not fighting after sunset, the entire Kaurava army rejoiced at the fact that they had managed to keep Jayadratha safe from Arjuna and also at the fact that Arjuna now would be forced to kill himself to follow his vow.

Elated and beside himself with joy, Jayadratha also appears in front of Arjuna and laughs at his defeat. At this moment, the sun appears in the sky and Krishna points Jayadratha to Arjuna and reminds him of his vow. In order to prevent his head from falling to the ground, Krishna asks the Pandava prince to use his arrows in a sustained manner so that Jayadratha’s head is carried over the battlefield and falls on the lap of his father Vridhakshtra who was meditating nearby.

wikipedia

Disturbed by the head falling on his lap, when the father gets up, the head drops to the ground and immediately Vridhakshtra’s head bursts into a hundred pieces thus fulfilling the boon that he had given his son years ago.

Thus ends the story of Jayadratha, the one and only brother in law of Duryodhana.

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This post has been written for Three Word Wednesday : 3WW CCCXLV prompt where the post had to compulsorily include the words dreadful, hasty and sustain which is the reason these words have been specifically underlined in the post.

Hasya Rasa – Draupadi and her laughter

Read this post about an introduction to the Rasas.

Read this post for the shringara rasa referred to in the Mahabharata – Ganga and her love

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While it is a well known and accepted fact that Duryodhana was envious and jealous of his Pandava cousins, their exploits, their popularity and their general good fortune in life, there were a couple of reasons that he harbored a special deep rooted hatred and anger towards Draupadi, the wife of the Pandava brothers.

Once when Yudhishtira performed the Rajasooya yagna to proclaim himself the lord of all kings, he invited his Kaurava cousins to witness the yagna. Although Duryodhana had no real interest in the yagna itself, he wanted to see Indraprastha, the swanking new capital city of the Pandavas which had been built by the legendary architect of the Asuras, Maya himself. He had heard so much about the wonderous city and its various attractions that he wanted to experience it for himself.

Once he was there he was completely spell bound by the various illusions that Maya had created in the city. In fact Maya had built in so many illusions in the palace that he ended up being completely befuddled by them. When he was walking in the palace, he came across a room with an extremely shiny floor. Mistaking it for a pool of water, he drew up his clothes to ensure that they didn’t get wet, but it turned out to be solid marble and he felt extremely foolish at his actions.

Another time, he mistook an actual pool of water for solid marble, based on his earlier experience and ended up falling into the pool with all his clothes on. These incidents drew peals of laughter from his arch-nemesis Bheema and his wife Draupadi, who laughed the loudest.

As if this were not enough, Duryodhana walked into a wall which looked like a real door and hurt his head. More than his head, his ego was well and truly hurt when Draupadi supposedly commented “Trust the son of a blind man to be blind himself!”

Draupadi’s laughter, her hasya, angered Duryodhana so much that he resolved to destroy the Pandavas and take away everything they ever owned. And thus the seeds of conflict were sown in his mind.

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Image courtesy ; kidsgen.com

If only you were here

“Oh Krishna, if only you were here!” thought Draupadi. “Draupadi, the daughter of King Drupada of Panchala, the sister of the brave Drishtadyumna, your favorite Sakhi, your friend, the wife of the five Pandavas, would not have been humiliated so.”

“You would never have allowed Yudhishtira to place me, his wife, as a wager in the game of dice.”

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Image courtesy: Google images search for ‘Draupadi’

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This post is an imagining of what would have passed Draupadi’s mind when the Kauravas summoned her to the court after the game of dice and informed her that since Yudhishtira had lost her as a wager, she was now the slave of the Kauravas and they could do with her as they pleased. And if one goes by popular legend, Krishna heard her thoughts, and he miraculously helped her when Duhshasana tried to disrobe her in the court, in full view of everyone present.

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Now, I will answer a question that many of us might have regarding this incident, why was Krishna not with the Pandavas during the game of dice.

Sometime earlier Krishna had killed Sishupala, his own cousin and foe, as part of his purpose as an avatar of Vishnu. Enraged by this, Salwa attacked Dwaraka to extract revenge for Sishupala’s death. Krishna therefore was busy fighting the armies of Salwa when Yudhishtira was invited for the game of dice by the Kauravas.

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This post has been written as a part of Write Tribe’s 100 words on a Saturday – 5 prompt which is put up every alternate Saturday.

Make a wish…

This post has been published by me as a part of the Blog-a-Ton 40; the fortieth edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton. The theme for the month is “MAKE A WISH”

Setting: Ancient Greece

Person: King Midas

King Midas was a just king albeit not too wise. He had a reputation for being somebody who spoke before he clearly understood the full import of his words. That being said, he was a nice person overall.

One day Dionysius, a Greek god found his foster father, the old satyr Silenius missing. The old satyr, had been drinking away merrily and found his way to Midas’ garden where he passed out due to effects of his wine. Midas recognized him, treated him favorably and sent him on his way when he had recovered enough.

Pleased by the hospitable treatment of Silenius, Dionysius asked Midas to ‘make a wish’ which would instantly be granted. Midas, due to his force of habit of speaking without thinking wished for the first thing that popped to his mind – “whatever I touch should turn to gold”.

When the wish was granted, Midas tested it on an oak twig and a stone, both of which turned to gold. Overjoyed with his new gift, Midas ordered for a grand feast, only to realize that he couldn’t eat or drink at the same, due to the fact that whatever he touched turned to gold. Overcome with grief, Midas grew thin and weak, realizing the bane of his foolish wish that had made his life a hell

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Setting: Ancient India

Person: Bhasmasura

Bhasmasura was a powerful and strong demon, however, intelligence was not one of his strong fortes. After performing severe penance with a view of obtaining Lord Shiva’s blessings, he was granted with a darshan of Lord Shiva. Pleased with his devotion, Shiva asked Bhasmasura to ‘make a wish’. Bhasmasura replied “Lord, please grant me the wish that whichever person, place or thing that I touch with my right hand should turn to ashes.”

Upon being granted the wish, the demon drunk with his newfound power wanted to test this wish on Shiva himself. When Shiva started running away from him, he chased him high and low. Wherever Shiva went, Bhasmasura followed him threatening to touch him with his right hand.

On hearing Shiva’s predicament, Vishnu took the form of Mohini with whom Bhasmasura immediately fell in love with. Mohini agreed to marry him under the one condition that she match his dance moves step by step. As he matched her every move step for step, he let down his guard and suddenly Mohini stuck a pose with her right hand on her head. And as the visibly besotted Bhasmasura matched this move  of hers, he was immediately reduced to ashes.

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Setting: Ancient India, in the epic Mahabharatha

Person: Draupadi

Draupadi prays with devotion to Lord Shiva, who pleased with her faith and devotion asks her to ‘make a wish’. She wishes for a husband who was noble, strong, skilled with the bow, handsome and wise.

Years later, Arjuna wins her hand by displaying his prowess with the bow at her Swayamvara. Arjuna then takes her home to his mother Kunti, who was busy with her housework. He says “Look mother, what I have brought home today”. Kunti without looking at him replies “Whatever it is, please share it equally with all your brothers”.

The Pandava brothers couldn’t refute their mother’s wish and thus Draupadi ended up with five husbands, each one of them epitomizing one of the ideal qualities that she had wished for in her husband. Her wish had come true.

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Moral of each of the incidents above:

Be extremely careful what you wish for when somebody asks you to ‘make a wish’. Your wish just might come true.

Image courtesy: stuffpoint.com

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The fellow Blog-a-Tonics who took part in this Blog-a-Ton and links to their respective posts can be checked here. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton. Participation Count: XX