Mahabharata Characters 26 – Yudhisthira 04 – The Pandavas dishonoured and dispossessed

This talk is a part of the “Fascinating Mahabharata Characters” series. To know more about this course, please visit: bhakticourses.com

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Welcome back to the Mahabharata character series. We are in the midst of a most traumatic, heart-wrenching incident where Draupadi is being dishonoured after the Pandavas have been dispossessed of all their wealth, their kingdom, their weapons, their everything, even their own very selves.
So, when Draupadi was dragged into the assembly and she was being insulted, at that time Bhima could tolerate it no more, jumped up and he said to Yudhishthira, O king, there are many kings who have maidservants in their assembly, in their houses. Even those maidservants, they treat with respect and yet this girl who was entrusted by her father to our care, she is being dishonoured because of your addiction to gambling. It is these hands of yours which have caused her this great humiliation.
I cannot tolerate this. He turned towards Sahadev and said, Sahadev, bring fire. I will burn the hands of Yudhishthira.
Duryodhana and Dushasana and Karna seeing this fury of Bhima and the dissension between the Pandavas became delighted. Arjuna grabbed the head, shook the shoulder of Bhima and he said, O Bhima, how have such words come out of your mouth? You know for sure that Yudhishthira played this gambling match only out of obedience to his elders. Even amidst great provocation, he did not give up the path of virtue.
What he has done will lead to great virtue. Do not increase the joy of our enemies by speaking words against him. Arjuna was intelligent.
First he spoke words of wisdom but when they did not have effect, he spoke that which would surely bring Bhima back to his restrained state. He mentioned how Duryodhana was delighting. Duryodhana’s envy and hatred towards Bhima had also kindled hostility towards him in Bhima’s and Bhima would never want to give any joy to Duryodhana.
Bhima immediately calmed himself down, taking a deep breath. He said, O brother, you are right. If I had not known that Yudhishthira had been virtuous even while gambling, I would never have let this gambling match take place.
In fact, this Kuru assembly would have been destroyed by my arms for having caused such great humiliation to Draupadi. So after speaking this, everybody can say, then Vikarna spoke and then Karna responded and then finally Dushasan at the suggestion of Karna approached Draupadi to disrobe her and as he approached, Draupadi tried to flee away and Dushasan ran after her and grabbed her garment. If she had a single garment and disrobing her would mean she would be publicly dishonored and she held on to her garment desperately with all her strength but her strength was no match to Dushasan and Dushasan pulled and pulled and she started moving around like a spinning top and her saree started coming away and as she realized she was helpless, she raised her hands and begged, O Keshava, O Govinda, O beloved of the Gopis, O master of Vrindavan, O soul of the universe, O creator of the world, O master, I am sinking in this Kuru ocean.
I am overwhelmed with distress and losing myself in this misery. Please O Lord, save me. As Draupadi called out to her Lord desperately, a great miracle happened.
Nobody could understand what was happening but Krishna in Dwarka heard the fervent appeal of Draupadi and He appeared there in invisible form and He gave an inexhaustible saree. So although it is a single cloth and it should have got exhausted immediately, Dushasan kept pulling and pulling and pulling and the cloth never got out. Some acharyas say that the Lord Himself incarnated as a saree and just as the Lord is unlimited, the saree became unlimited and it covered the body of Draupadi and protected her honor and Dushasan kept pulling and pulling.
He was a formidable warrior who had huge amounts of strength but all his strength got exhausted but the saree did not get exhausted. Just by pulling and pulling, he lost his energy and collapsed on the ground and seeing this great miracle, all those virtuous people who were there in the assembly who had been mortified by this horrendous turn of events, they praised the virtue of Draupadi and they chastised Dushasana. The assembly fell silent and yet Duryodhana’s insolence was so great that even after seeing this great display of this extraordinary miracle, his heart was not affected in the least.
The malice remained still and the arrogance, the envy, the desire to hurt the Pandavas remained. Vidura got up and he said, Oh King, this is enough. I told you at the birth of Dhritarashtra of Duryodhana, abandon him.
Otherwise, he will cause the destruction of the whole dynasty. Can you not see that happening now? Abandon him now. So Karna got up and he said, whatever has happened has happened fairly and Draupadi is won over.
Take her to the maid chambers and let her serve the family members like other maid servants. And Dushasana again walked towards Draupadi to drag her again. Draupadi pulled herself free from him and she folded her hands and she, wait O wretch, I have not yet offered my respects to the assembly.
Oh elders, please forgive me because I was brought forcibly over here so I could not offer you my respects. He said, all of you are the knowers of dharma. Has it ever happened that a married woman, a woman who is chaste, who is high born, who has five husbands has ever been humiliated like this? Virtue has been slaughtered in this assembly and yet I stand in front of you.
If you decide that I have been lost fairly in the gambling match, then I will carry out your order obediently. Please order me. Dhritarashtra’s head sunk low.
Draupadi’s words shattered his calm. His joy, unconcealed joy which had been there earlier, it disappeared completely and he sunk his head low. Bhishma spoke once again and he said, O Draupadi, as I have said earlier, the principles of dharma are very difficult to decide and I am unable to decide in this matter.
Let Yudhishthir decide. And Dhritarashtra grabbed this opportunity. He said, yes, let Yudhishthir say that he succumbed to vice and he unfairly gambled you, that he was not your master when he gambled you.
What to speak of you, I will release all the Pandavas. If Yudhishthir just says this, we are all compassionate souls. Dhritarashtra was enjoying his own hypocrisy.
He said, we are all compassionate souls and we are distressed at seeing your misery. Let Yudhishthir say that he was not your master and not the master of the Pandavas and I will release all of them. And everybody turned to Yudhishthir and they understood how cruelly Duryodhana was taunting Yudhishthir.
But they turned towards Yudhishthir. Yudhishthir remained silent, not knowing what to speak, as if lost. Bhima got up and he said, Yudhishthir is Dharmaraj, the greatest among the kings who are virtuous.
Had he not been my master, none of the Kauravas would have been alive right now. And he became silent. And again Karna said, take Draupadi to the chambers to serve as a maid.
Vidura got up and objected furiously. This will cause disaster. Stop hooking.
He says, to answer this question. And he told an ancient story about how one who refuses to answer questions that are brought in front of an assembly, that person suffers terribly. Long ago, there was the king Prahalad and he had a son Sudhanva.
He had a son Virochan and there was a rishi Angiras and he had a son Sudhanva and both of them quarreled over a woman. And when Sudhanva came to the assembly of Prahalad and demanded justice, Prahalad remained silent. And Sudhanva got angry and he said that one who remains silent when somebody is asking for justice, such a person will suffer grievously in hell.
Because when a crime is happening, to be silent and watching a crime is also a crime. And when Prahalad heard this, he said, oh, he told his son, Sudhanva is superior to you as his father Angiras is superior to me. Do not quarrel with him.
Sudhanva was pleased and he blessed him. Because you did not act partially due to attachment towards your son, I bless you that your son will live for a hundred years. Oh, assembly, you cannot remain silent.
You must answer Draupadi’s question. And at that time, Duryodhana, just to taunt Draupadi, he said, Dhritarashtra shall remain silent and Duryodhana taunted Draupadi. He uncovered his thigh and pointing towards his bare thigh, he said, oh Draupadi, you are our servant.
Come and sit here now. Bhima became enraged and he said, I will break your thigh in battle. And Dushasan, who had dragged Draupadi, he said, I will break the arm, which has touched the hair of Draupadi and I will drink his blood.
Indeed, I will destroy all the Kauravas, the Kuru elders, Bhishma, Drona, Vidura became alarmed. Oh Bhima, everything is possible for you. Be calm, be calm.
At that time, as things became boiling, Vidura again got up and he said, oh king, do you not see the imminent destruction that is coming now? Stop at once. Things have gone too far. At that time, a jackal roared.
Jackal itself is an auspicious animal. Not from the forest, but from the sacrificial chambers of Dhritarashtra, where there is supposed to be auspiciousness, there was an auspiciousness. And then at the same time, there was a response of asses braying, similar to what had happened when Duryodhana had been born.
And then there were vultures shrieking and Dhritarashtra realized that things have gone too far. And he said to Draupadi, oh Draupadi, you are very virtuous and chaste and what has happened, please excuse it. You are our daughter.
Please ask for some blessing. Draupadi said, even amidst such, after such mortification, she knew Yudhishthira was virtuous and she said, please free Yudhishthira. He said, yes.
And then she asked for something more. And please free Bhima, Arjuna and the twins and give the Pandavas their weapons back. Yes, immediately.
I am not satisfied. Ask for something more. Said, no, a Kshatriya woman should not ask for more than two benedictions.
And now that my husband is free and has their weapons, they will regain wealth again. I have no anxiety about that. Although she had been just left protectionless amidst the presence of her husbands, but she still had faith and she knew that they had acted with virtue.
It was others who had refused to act according to virtue. And Dhritarashtra, he said, Okan, I will give you everything back. Whatever was lost, I return it to you.
He turned towards the Pandavas and he said, those who are virtuous, they do not remember the faults of the vicious. Please forgive any harsh words that may have happened. Oh, in Yudhishthira, there resides virtue.
Arjuna, there resides patience. In Bhima, resides power. In Nakula and Sahadev, resides pure reverence for the elders.
If I have and Gandhari and I have done any kindness to you, please remember that and forget whatever harsh things have happened today. Dhritarashtra realized that he was in great danger and he spoke conciliatory words to try to decrease the harshness of what had happened. Yudhishthira folded his hands, bowed down before the Akuru elders and departed.
And it was a disaster that had happened. But the disaster had not ended. Dushasan went to Duryodhana and said, oh hero, what we had earned after so much effort, the old king gave it away and now the Pandavas are also angry.
What is going to happen now? Please plan something so that things can be recovered. So Duryodhana had also been exasperated. He could not openly go against Dhritarashtra because Dhritarashtra was the king after all.
And Shakuni came there. Shakuni had also been upset by the plan. But Shakuni was ever scheming.
He said, call them again for a gambling match and we will have such stakes that whoever loses will go 12 years into the forest and after that one year in incognito exile. The idea was that even if somebody survives the 12 years of the forest, after that it would be impossible for those who had been kings to stay incognito. It would be too humiliating for them.
And on top of that, they would be so famous that they would be detected. And again, if they are detected during that one year, they have to go 12 years again, followed by one year incognito. So like that, Shakuni said we can send them to the forest forever.
So Duryodhana immediately went to Dhritarashtra and told the plan. Dhritarashtra said, stop it now. Don’t do such a thing.
Things were about to become disaster. We already had a beginning of disaster, not anymore. Duryodhana said, do you think that the Pandavas are going to stay silent after this? They are already angry and they are going to take revenge.
If they have their kingdom and their forces and their wealth, then it will be impossible to check. If they are in the forest, at that time we can form alliances and we can increase our wealth and our forces and then we will be able to counter them. So Dhritarashtra found his mind wavering and Duryodhana insisted.
And Dhritarashtra’s weakness was such that he could not say no. And he had Pratikama’s incent to call the Pandavas back. When again the Kuru elders heard about this plan for another gambling match, they opposed.
But still, it was to no avail. When Gandhari heard about the plan for another gambling match, she could take it no more. And she came straight to Dhritarashtra and she said to her husband, she had been aghast to hear about how Draupadi had been disrobed.
He said, did Duryodhana have no scruples? What horrible things had he done? He says, oh king, who would want to put fuel in a fire that has already been extinguished? When Duryodhana had been born, Vidura had told you to abandon him. But you did not follow. Now just see what this disgrace of our dynasty has done.
He will cause the destruction of everyone. Abandon him now. It’s so difficult for a mother to say this.
Abandon your son. But she knew what Duryodhana was doing and how it would cause disaster. And she wanted to bring her husband back to the right path.
She knew that Dhritarashtra would not abandon Duryodhana. But at least if you cannot do that, then don’t allow this gambling match to happen. Who will want to further broke enmity with the formidably powerful sons of Pandu? Dhritarashtra knew that Gandhari had always been his chaste wife, always caring for his well-being.
And yet now he could not hear her words. Vidura had told him earlier while giving good instructions that humility is a bitter, pungent, un-intoxicating and revolting medicine. But one who still takes it regains sobriety and acts virtuously for one’s own good.
However, at that time, Dhritarashtra had been unable to drink that medicine of humility. And now also things were not going to change. And he said, if it is the will of destiny that our dynasty will be destroyed, who am I to stop? Let God’s will take place.
The gambling match will go on. And he went away. Gandhari knew it was hopeless.
Disaster was inevitable. And the Pandavas had gone a considerable distance towards their kingdom. And suddenly they saw horses rushing towards them.
And Pratikamin came and told, the king has called you for another gambling match. They should have understood immediately what must be the plan of the Kauravas. And he turned towards his brothers and he said, now all of us have to get the results of our past good and bad deeds.
We cannot… irrespective of whether I gamble or don’t gamble, those results will come. A golden deer had never been seen. Yet when Ram saw that deer, despite knowing that this was a result of illusion, still he chased after it.
And then Sita was lost. Knowing that gambling will lead to disaster still, I cannot abandon the path of virtue. I cannot disregard this command of my elders.
So was Yudhishthira being fatalistic? Dhritarashtra had been also saying, let destiny… what else just try and let it happen. Yudhishthira is saying, what else just try and let it happen. Are both the same? No.
Yudhishthira is doing his duty. The Vedic culture is not destiny centred. It is duty centred.
So Yudhishthira is saying that I have my duty to follow my elders. I will follow that duty. Dhritarashtra, on the other hand, also has a duty.
His duty is to protect his subordinates. But he is neglecting his duty. So his recourse to destiny is unjustified.
It is malicious. Yudhishthira’s recourse to destiny is that whatever be the destiny that will happen, I will stick to my duty. And again he came back into the same assembly hall.
And when the stakes were announced, the kings cried out, fie, fie. Yudhishthira knew he had no chance to win. But yet he had agreed because despite his best effort, despite his desire to avoid conflict, despite his willingness to always obey his elders, conflict seemed inevitable.
He did not want to bring the conflict into the open immediately. That’s why he agreed to the gambling match. And when the stakes were announced and the dice was cast against Shakuni won.
And the Pandavas had to go to the forest. The Kuru elders were shedding tears. And Duryodhana and Dushyasana were celebrating.
And he said, Dushyasana said, cow, cow, he said to Bhima, cow, cow. And Duryodhana said, go to the forest, oh beggars, taunting. Draupadi has not, Draupada has not chosen wisely by entrusting Draupadi to people who have become utterly penniless.
They kept insulting him. Bhima could tolerate this no more. He said, I, he turned towards Dhritarashtra and towards the whole assembly.
He said, I will kill all the Kauravas, hundred Kauravas. Arjuna will kill Karna and Sahadeva will kill Shakuni. Know that these words will come true.
Otherwise, let me not attain the reason attained by my ancestors. Arjuna spoke in anger. He said, the promises of those who are virtuous are never false.
So that Karna who is malicious, arrogant, harsh-speeched, I will slay him. And I will slay all those warriors who dare to oppose me in the war that will take place if our kingdom is not returned to us after 13 years. Arjuna knew that Duryodhana would never return their kingdom.
And that war was inevitable. Sahadeva said, oh Shakuni, the dice that you have cast at us is not dice. It is arrows, sharp-pointed arrows that are directed at your own eyes.
And those arrows will destroy you. Whatever you have to do in this world, do it now, because soon you will meet death at my arrows. Nakula also took a vow to destroy the followers of Duryodhana.
And then Yudhishthira went to Dhritarashtra and to the elders. And he said, I offer my respects and now depart to the forest, seeking your good wishes and blessings. The Kuru elders were too ashamed to reply.
They remained silent. Vidura alone spoke. He had commendably, repeatedly opposed the grave injustices and atrocities that had happened in the ashram.
He said to Yudhishthira, oh Yudhishthira, oh Pandavas, do not grieve too much for what has happened. You are learned in scripture and you can increase your learning further in the scriptures by associating with sages. This withdrawal from worldly affairs will be good for you.
Increase your virtue by living in the forest and delight in each other’s company and in the company of the chaste Draupadi. I pray for your well-being. May Surya bless you with energy.
May Kuvera bless you with whatever you need. May the earth bless you. He prayed to the various Devatas, please bless me.
May you be blessed. Yudhishthira bowed down his head and started to depart. At that time, Vidura spoke, Kunti is advanced in age.
Let her not have to suffer the travels of forest life. Let her stay with me. Yudhishthira said, so be it.
As the Pandavas were about to depart, Draupadi went in the chamber, in a woman’s chambers. And as she entered, all the women’s chairs started crying. She embraced, folded her hands or blessed the different ladies according to their relationship with them.
She went to Kunti and bowed down to her. Kunti picked her up and embraced her and she said, oh chaste one, do not grieve at what has happened. By your chastity and by your service to your virtuous husbands, you will eventually regain fortune.
Stay committed to their service. Nakula is especially dear to my heart. Please let him, please take special care of him, Draupadi said.
She would do so. And Kunti started crying. She had never been separated from her sons throughout her life and now how could she live for 13 long years not knowing where they were, how they were.
She said, they are all virtuous. How are they suffering so much? Now it is only, I think the only reason is they have been born from my sinful womb because of which they are suffering like this. Her sons also came behind to seek her blessings and he said, how will I be able to live without you? I had no sons and after so much difficulty I begot you, how can I live without you? She embraced Sahadev and he said, oh Sahadev, you stay with me here and earn the merit of serving your mother.
Let the others go to the forest and serve the sentence of exile. She started crying bitterly and she said, oh God, please help us. She censured the elders who had allowed your great travesty to happen.
Oh Krishna, it is said that you always protect those who remember you. Are these words going to be false? Why are my sons suffering like this? Why has this great calamity come upon us? The Pandavas could not tolerate the grief of their mother. They tried to console her as best as could.
Vidura came and took her by the hand and slowly let her inside and the Pandavas wearing ascetic robes started going towards the forest and the citizens had come to know about the horrendous event that had happened and how their beloved Pandavas were now being exiled. They are assembled on the roads to see the Pandavas depart to the forest. Thus, that deadly gambling match which happened in two installations ultimately led to the great disaster of a permanent irreparable rift between the two branches of the Kuru dynasty.
Despite the Pandavas adherence to virtue, the stubbornness and the maliciousness of the Kauravas ran them apart and sowed the seeds of what would be a devastating war 30 years later. We will continue in our next session. Thank you.