18. The Death of Pandu

Dhritarashtra was acting as the representative of the king in the palace of Hastinapur with his hundred sons and blind-folded wife beside him while Pandu was residing in forest with his two wives and five sons.

The childhood of the hundred princes in the palace was, however, very different from that of the five princes in the forest.

Duryodhan was growing up under the care of Shakuni, who constantly nurtured hatred in his mind against the Pandavas stating that they were the sons of the man because of whom Duryodhan’s father couldn’t become the king. Yudhishthir was growing up under the care of his father, Pandu, who taught him only about righteousness, serving the nation and how to be the ideal king. The eldest sons of both fathers definitely received more attention than the rest of the sons as in the eyes of the elders they would be the king.

When the princes would ask: Who’s a great king?

Shakuni to Duryodhan: A great king is the one who has his set of loyalists, who is aware of his enemies and wipes them whenever there’s an opportunity. A great king does anything in his capacity to safeguard his right to the throne.

Pandu to Yudhishthir: A great king is the one who lives for his subjects, who works for their improvement and uplift, who helps them in droughts and natural catastrophes and safeguards them in the boundary of his nation.

When the princes would ask: What is the duty of a kshatriya?

Shakuni to Duryodhan: To become a powerful warrior, the one whom everybody should be afraid of. No one should dare to raise an eyebrow against him and the one who does should not be left with an eye!

Pandu to Yudhishthir: To become a powerful warrior, so that he can save his people and their fundamental rights. A true Kshatriya acquires martial skills not to dominate but prevent domination of the weak.

Both the princes were growing to become kings but of opposite kinds. But only the wiser Bheeshm and Vidur could sense the problem ahead. A kingdom could not have two kings.

One thing that was common to both the princes, however, was the ultimate loyalty of their younger brothers towards them. While the ninety-nine sons of Dhritarashtra would do whatever Duryodhan would demand, the younger Pandavas would also never refute an order of Yudhishthir.

One day, in the forest, Kunti had gone to pluck flowers for her morning prayers. Yudhishthir was busy in one of the Yoga forms, Bheem had found a tree laden with fruits and was determined to unladen it, Arjun was trying to tie the two ends of a curved wooden shaft with a rope, Nakul was busy with a facial and Sahadev was busy meditating.  Pandu found a moment alone with his wife Madri and years of his separation from either of his wives culminated into one strong desire in him to with the beautiful Madri.

He approached her with a will he had never thought he will approach her with and took her in his arms. Madri was excited at the thought but the curse of Rishi Kindam was still on top of her mind. She tried to push Pandu away but he found her too irresistible for the moment to let her go. The next instant, the curse took effect and Pandu suffered a severe heart-attack. Madri was in the arms of her husband a while before and in the arms of a corpse a while later.

When Kunti returned she saw a wailing Madri in the cottage with an exposed shoulder and in an instant she realized what had happened. rush of mixed emotions filled her heart and she wasn’t sure if she should cry over her husband’s death or get furious on Madri for letting Pandu approach her.

(Kunti’s life was ironical in many ways. When she had not intended any relation, she was given a son by Sun. When she was willing for a relation, her husband married another woman. When the husband wasn’t able to produce sons, she gave him heirs and even two sons to Madri. But at the end, her husband died of getting attracted to not her but Madri.)

The news spread to Hastinapur that their former king died in the forest.  Bheeshm and Vidhur reached the spot and saw a young Yudhishthir completing the funeral rites of his father. He did not need anybody’s guidance and he appeared to know everything more than the pandits around.

Kunti decided to die on her husband’s pyre being a Sati but Madri insisted that she will not be able to live in the world alone with the guilt that her husband died because of her. She chose to become Sati instead and leaped on Pandu’s pyre leaving her two sons with Kunti. Kunti was now a mother of five sons with no husband and no palace.  Life was harsh to this princess of Kuntibhoj.

16. Dhritarashtra Becomes the King

When Pandu came back to Hastinapur and revealed that he committed the serious crime of killing a Brahmin, there was at least one happy soul in the Kuru household. This was none other than Shakuni. He was convinced that for the likes of Bheeshm and Pandu, moral standards always overpowered the lust for the throne. He was convinced that the community of Hastinapur will not celebrate a Brahmin-killer on its throne. His sister, who was first married to a blind prince and then deprived the right to become the queen, now finally had a chance to become the queen with Dhritarashtra replacing Pandu.

Pandu expressed that he wasn’t worthy of the throne anymore and that he be allowed to leave for the forest and live a life without luxuries. He felt that penance was the only way of peace for him. Bheeshm and Vidur suggested that for the good of Hastinapur, and since it was more of an accident, Pandu could compensate the burden of guilt by giving charity to brahmins and through other noble deeds, something that was prescribed by the shastras. However, Pandu was too righteous to mould shastras to his convenience. If his heart didn’t allow, he wouldn’t sit on the throne. He decided that he would leave for the forest with his wives.

The throne of Hastinapur, that had seen a capable king after so many years was suddenly deprived of a worthy king again. The question then was: who will be the king? The eldest son, Dhritarashtra was not allowed to be the king in the first place because of his blindness. But even Vidur could not be selected as the king as he was the son of a maid. When nothing made sense, Satyavati finally decided to set Dhritarashtra as the king as royal blood mattered more to her than capabilities. This time Bheeshm was quiet as he had now realized that his oath was to follow the orders of the throne, not to decide who sat on it.

Pandu left for the forest with his wives, Kunti and Madri, never to come back to the palace. He insisted that his wives stayed in the palace as the crime was committed by him and not them. But the wives were too impressed by Sita’s loyalty to her husband and wanted to show to the kingdom that they were no less and followed their husband to the forest.

Dhritarashtra was finally crowned the king. Years of yearning for royal power, recognition and status finally paid off. It was now time for him to make for his blindness through the power of throne. Now the people would listen to him, would be servile towards him, and would consider him to be the representative of God. Now he could enforce his ideas on others and others had no option but to agree. Now his inner fears, that were hidden for years, would take shape in the kingdom of Hastinapur. Now. Now that Hastinapur had a blind king on the throne.

That dark night, in the solitude of his room, Bheeshm, the son of Ganga and Shantanu, the student of Parashuram, the last of Kuru blood, the caretaker of Hastinapur and the pillar of the Mahabharata, cried.

13. Darkness in Hastinpur

For years, there was darkness in Hastinapur. Not literally, of course. Actually literally too. Because the prospective future king of the kingdom was blind. Not blind by an accident but blind by birth. He was just a level better than Michelle Mcnally in that context, for he could definitely hear and speak. If this was not enough, this prince was also consumed by the fact that one day he, and only he, will inherit the throne. He was determined to make for his incompetence with the succession to the throne. The blind king was thus further blinded by desire. Certainly, God had switched off all lamps on Hastinapur.

This blind brother was none other than Dhritarashtra. He had the company of his step-brothers, Pandu (born out of Ambalika) and Vidur (born out of Ambika’s maid) at every moment since his childhood. Like Chitrangadha and Vichitraveerya, Bheeshm took the responsibility of educating and training the three brothers too. He trained them well in all the arts that he learnt in his growing years – horse-riding, archery, wrestling, scriptures, theatre, spirituality and ‘Bheeshm-knows-what’. As one would expect, the three brothers grew up to be quite capable. Bheeshm tried his best to make out something worthy of the blind-by-birth, weak-by-birth and deprived-of-throne-being-a-maid’s-son.

Dhritarashtra grew up to be extremely powerful and knowledgeable with a hidden lust for succession. Pandu grew up to be skilled in archery and equally knowledgeable as his elder brother but with respect for elders and compassion for the young. Vidur, though skilled in many arts, became profound in scriptures, politics, economics and social-sciences. He came to be known as the most unequivocal voice in the kingdom of Hastinapur, someone who regarded Truth and Dharma over relations and desires.

Time came when the three princes were old enough and it was time to give Hastinapur its new king. Going by the general law, everyone expected that Dhritarashtra would inherit the throne being eldest and the most powerful of Vichitraveerya’s sons. (There were people in the kingdom who realized it was not the best decision but they chose to keep shut till a formal declaration was made) But before that, he had to get married as a king was considered incomplete without a queen.

To bring the most deserving queen for the new king of Hastinapur, Bheeshm went to the mountainous kingdom of Gandhar and asked for the hand of Princess Gandhari for Dhritarashtra. Gandhari was the most beautiful and exquisite princess in the entire mainland at that moment, also a profound devotee of Shiva, and her marriage to Dhritarashtra would have concluded in a relation between Hastinapur and Gandhar that also had many political implications. However, Gandhari’s brother Shakuni, did not approve of the marriage as he could not bear his beloved sister being betrothed to a blind man. But before he could say anything, Gandhari came up with her decision stating that she could reject anything to anyone but nothing to a selfless man like Bheeshm. If he asked for Gandhari’s hand for the blind Dhritarashtra, even that was a matter of respect for her. She gave her consent to the marriage.

However, on that day, Gandhari pledged to tie a cloth on her eyes and never to see the world again. She felt that since her husband was not capable of seeing, it was not right for her to have that advantage as she saw marriage to be a relation among two equals. Many commented that it was her step to avoid herself to get manipulated as there were rumors that Dhritarashtra wanted a pair of loyal eyes in the form of a queen and not genuinely a wife. Since she could not back out after giving a commitment (she was not only a Shiva devotee but also a Salman Khan fan), she covered her eyes with a cloth.

Whatever was the reason, the blind-by-birth prince ended up marrying a blind-by-choice princess. Gandhari chose not to complement her husband, but to replicate his inadequacy. She let the apparent weakness of Dhritarashtra stay a weakness by not becoming his eyes who could view his world for him. Hastinapur thus remained in the darkness. Darkness was there in the eyes of Dhritarashtra, in the actions of Gandhari, in the hopes of Bheeshm and in the heart of an indignant Shakuni.