THE MAHABHARATAM: (in 18 Episodes) - PRELUDE to the Bhagavad Geeta : Episode 14 :

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Thursday, April 20, 2023. 07:30.

How the Writing Began :

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Episode 14:
The Twelve Years in Exile

As much as Dhritarashtra had relented and admitted his fault, given back the 

Pandavas their freedom and kingdom, Duryodhana was unrelenting. Before the Pandavas 

had got back to Indraprastha, he approached the King and said words that bear out a painful 

truth: “Even as snow does not leave the top of Mt. Everest, Wickedness does not leave a 

wicked person.”

Duryodhana said to the King: “With so much difficulty we got all this organized. Now 

you have undone everything. If you hit a cobra once, he will always come back with 

renewed revenge. Father, let us call him back for a decent game of dice. [Has there ever 

been such a thing!] This time there will only be one stake – the loser gets banished for 

twelve years and has to live incognito in the thirteenth.”

Dhritarashtra, who was completely ruled by the wickedness of his son, was merely a 

rubber-stamp in his hands. The Pandavas had barely reached Indraprastha after such a 

traumatic experience, when they received the fresh invitation.

Fate was working a double shift! 

Yudhishthira went again, but not because of weakness for dice. This time it was out 

of a sense of ‘resignation to Fate’. Shakuni won – his ‘dice’ obeyed him once again! The 

Pandavas were destined to go into exile.

Shakuni’s Dice: There is a bit of history behind the hatred Shakuni had for the Kuru 

race as a whole. A long, long time ago, when Bhishma was still a young prince, he had gone 

to conquer the Gandharva kingdom, from where Gandhari (the present Queen) and her 

brother Shakuni hailed. He arrested the king and all his sons and put them into a dungeon 

and annexed the country. He took away Gandhari for Dhritarashtra. The arrangement for 

the food of the prisoners was deplorable. Rice was thrown at them, and the quantity was 

insufficient. The King said to his sons, “Look, if we all eat it, no one will survive. Let one eat –

Shakuni – and the rest of us will accept death bravely. Shakuni as survivor will revenge this

deed.” Shakuni’s whole family died. From their bones Shakuni made his ‘dice’, saying, “I will 

put an end to the Kuru dynasty with this dice. It will obey me always.”

Vidhura: Dhritarashtra called his brother, Vidhura, and asked him to narrate how the 

Pandavas left. Vidhura reported, “Yudhishthira had his head and face covered with a cloth.

Bhima looked at his hands with impatience. Arjuna went scattering sand grains behind him. 

Nakula and Sahadev were vexed with anger. Brother, people are all saying that the 

Pandavas have been cheated. I say again to you that Duryodhana should be banished from

this kingdom. He is at the heart of this conflict.”

Alas! no one was prepared to listen to Vidhura’s advice. He remained the lone voice 

on Dhritarashtra’s conscience. Dhritarashtra asked him to go permanently and join the 

Pandavas; his first choice would have been to destroy Vidhura, but some brotherly feeling 

stopped him from doing that

The Pandavas’ Travels: Twelve long years stared the Pandavas in the face. They 

were years of preparation – preparation for the inevitable war that was to come. During this 

time the Pandavas travelled the country, not always together, and gained much valuable 

experience. They also met great Rishis, received their blessings, received divine weapons 

from them, received boons that would prepare them mentally for the war.

They began by going to Dwaraka, the kingdom of Sri Krishna, which was being 

attacked by King Shalva. The Yadavas had all escaped to the forest with Krishna. In the forest 

Krishna spent a few days consoling the Pandavas, especially Draupadi, who opened her 

heart to Him for consolation from her bitter experience.

Bhima was itching to fight with Duryodhana, but was controlled by the others to 

remain quiet. He said, “When I see Draupadi, I recall what Duhsasana has done and it makes 

my blood boil.”

Veda Vyasa came to them and gave them much strength. He had predicted an 

inevitable war. So his advice was that they should prepare for it. He told them where to go 

to get weapons and support. He told them the important ‘Astras’ to get and from whom. 

Arjuna went to the Himalayas and spent a long time there. He meditated on Lord 

Shiva. In an incident involving the shooting of a wild boar simultaneously by Arjuna and Lord 

Shiva, Arjuna was blessed with the Pasupati Astra from Lord Shiva. Other weapons were also 

given to Arjuna by Lord Shiva.

Bhima’s Encounter with Hanuman: Meanwhile, Bhima had an interesting encounter 

in meeting Hanuman, his brother. He was looking for a certain flower which Draupadi 

wanted. In the search he came across a huge tail which he had to cross. The tail belonged to 

Hanuman. Hanuman said, “Just jump over it.” Bhima could not do that as it was prohibited 

to cross over a living being. Besides, who did this monkey think he was! Bhima threatened 

him, “I have to get the Avantika flower. You had better let me cross.” He tried to pick up the 

monkey’s tail but failed. He could lift a mountain, he could uproot trees but he could not lift 

this monkey’s tail! He felt humiliated. Hanuman mocked at him teasingly, “What kind of a 

son of Vayu are you? Come on, just lift my tail and you can go.” Then Bhima knew that this 

was no ordinary monkey. Hanuman revealed who he was, “I am Hanuman, your elder 

brother. I wanted to meet you.”

Bhima listened to all the glories of Lord Rama and forgot about the flowers for 

Draupadi. He asked Hanuman to show him the form in which he jumped across the ocean.

Hanuman expanded himself into a huge mountain. He then suddenly took his normal form

and gave a tight hug to Bhima. Bhima found that, when he was released from Hanumanji’s 

embrace, his strength had increased a hundredfold!

Hanuman then blessed Bhima and told him that he will sit in front of Bhima’s chariot 

on the flag in a small form. He said that when Bhima blows his conch, he will also blow his 

and that will send terror through the hearts of the enemies. He predicted that victory was 

certain for the Pandavas. Hanuman then disappeared.

Bhima remembered his flowers, picked them and ran to Draupadi, narrating to her

all that had happened.

The lesson from Bhima’s experience is that difficulties will always be there in life, but 

one has to bend and overcome them wisely. We must allow difficulties to polish us, so that 

we can face bigger challenges.

The Kauravas Routed by Gandharvas: While the Pandavas were making the best use 

of their exile, the wicked Shakuni was itching to see how they would be suffering. Strange –

the wicked cannot enjoy even their leisure for too long! Shakuni was saying to Duryodhana, 

“I want to go and see how they are suffering.” Such is the heart of the wicked.

Dhritarashtra would not allow them to go anywhere near the Pandavas. Karna then 

gave the pretext that their cows were in Dvaita Vana (where the Pandavas were), and that 

they would go to tend them. They had work to do. For this Dhritarashtra agreed. Their real 

purpose was just to see the Pandavas suffer.

The Kauravas went to set up their camp at Dvaita Vana. They found that Chitrasena, 

King of the Gandharvas, had already settled there. The Kaurava troupe attacked them. 

Chitrasena defeated them. The Gandharvas gave a good beating to Duryodhana and his 

party. Bhima was happy to get this news. He asked Yudhishthira if he could go to help 

Chitrasena to finish the Kauravas off now itself. 

Yudhisthira, who was Dharmaraj himself, had to pacify him. He said, “When an

outside party attacks us, remember we are not 5 but 105!” He meant that against an 

external enemy they should still see the Kauravas as their own brothers. Such was 

Yudhishthira’s heart. He sent Bhima and Arjuna to go and get Duryodhana and the others 

released from Chitrasena’s army. Duryodhana, totally humiliated by this act from the 

Pandavas, was released. His pride was injured. He wished he had died, but Bhima saved him.

Duryodhana’s Request to Durvasa: At this time, one day Durvasa visited 

Duryodhana, who took very good care of the Rishi. He did a great job of looking after the 

Rishi and his entourage – but he had an ulterior motive.

Durvasa, being pleased with the service, gave Duryodhana a boon.

Now we see how cunning Duryodhana was. He wanted to get this boon from 

Durvasa so that he could destroy the Pandavas. This is what was on his mind. He asked 

Durvasa to pay a visit to the Pandavas; to go there at an odd time, when they have just had 

lunch; to go there with a large group of his followers. His objective was that the Pandavas 

would then be unprepared for Durvasa’s visit, and would incur his wrath, and the Rishi 

would then curse them.

“Crookedness personified” was Duryodhana!

Draupadi welcomed the Rishi and his group warmly, washing the Rishi’s feet. The 

Rishi said, they would just go to the river for their bath and come back for meals. Draupadi 

knew her husbands were not in a position to provide anything. She called upon Krishna, who 

came immediately His devotee called Him.

Imagine Draupadi’s frame of mind when Krishna said, “I am hungry, give me some 

food”! Draupadi did not have anything. Krishna asked her to look inside the pot carefully. 

Under the rim of the pot there was one grain of rice. Krishna put this in His mouth, and 

chewed it for a long time, as if He was having a large meal. After the meal He even belched, 

much to Draupadi’s consternation.

Then He asked to call Durvasa’s party. Draupadi had surrendered to Him, so she was 

no longer concerned what would happen. When the guest party came, they were not 

hungry anymore. The Rishi said, “We are feeling so full, we will just move on. We bless you 

with joy and happiness.”

This is when Draupadi realized how Krishna rescued her. If He eats anything, it is for 

all. He is the Life in all lives. If we feed Him, everyone gets fed. In this way we learn from 

Draupadi’s surrender that the Lord takes care of us in ways we cannot imagine.

*****

Next
Episode 15:
The Thirteenth Year Incognito 
To be continued

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