The Mahabharata drama, if it happened, happened
between people – and the dynamics of relationships were similar then as it is
now. This is the reason why this centuries old epic has relevance even in today’s
scenario – and the lessons learnt from the Mahabharata apply even to his date !
The Mahabharata centres around small things that we all know and acknowledge –
but seldom practice in real life.
At a certain stage in the Mahabharata, the Pandavas
and the Kauravas had achieved peace. Pandavas moved to Indrapastha and Kauravas
got Hastinapur. Both sides accepted this – and the Pandavas built a great
palace for themselves. It was as if finally, the cousins could live in peace.
Then why did this escalate into a war again?? What made Duryodhana decide that
he would not part with even an inch of land for the Pandavas? How did peace
transform into war and what was the underlying reason for that?
We are told by conventional writers that Duryodhana
was a greedy one and his greed fuelled the situation back to a warlike
situation. But then why did he accept and yield Indraprastha to the Pandavas in
the first place? Something here does not seem to add up. Everyone is a mix of
good and bad … surely something must have ignited Duryodhana’s dark side to an
extent that he went back on all earlier treaties and pacts that were made. What
was this?
Let us go back to the time when the Pandavas had
built Indraprastha and invited Duryodhana to visit their palace. Now, here was
a king who felt he had willingly “given” a part of his kingdom to his cousins –
now visiting them from a position of strength and expecting to be received
royally. But what happened? It was strange that the people receiving him did
not have the foresight to see what was to come…
Duryodhana entered the palace and saw a pool of
water in the path. He carefully avoided that pool – only to learn that this was
actually not a pool, but an illusion. At this stage, he appreciated the way
this palace was constructed. The people with him were also in jest. All was
well.
Next – Duryodhana saw another similar pool and
started to walk over it, thinking that this was a similar illusion. None of the
people accompanying him stopped or warned him at this stage – and he walked
right into a real pool and got wet. This is against the way guests were
supposed to be treated at that time. And more importantly, if the Pandavas had
made such a palace – the least expected was to warn Duryodhana in advance. It turned
out as if the whole set-up was pre-planned to make Duryodhana fall in the pool
of water.
Even at this stage – all would have been well, had
not another event accompanied Duryodhana’s fall into the pool of water …
Draupadi laughed. And she laughed her heart out, making Duryodhana look like an
absolute fool in front of all present. The Male Ego can take a lot … but when
they are mocked by the Female in public – it is the final insult they can take.
Males take it as a challenge to their manhood – and this was Duryodhana … the
King who felt he had given a part of his kingdom away to ensure peace. Surely,
this would be the last insult that Duryodhana would take !!
In the TV show, they tweaked this and showed that
Duryodhana was warned by a maid before he fell into the water. However –
Darupadi’s laugh is more insulting as it comes with a dialog “The son of a
blind man is also blind”. Now which king will digest that meekly??
As Duryodhana left – he must have already made a
decision to take back what he gave and avenge the insult. Thereby started the
issue of calling Draupadi names and pointing out at the fact that she had five
husbands. The issue of Vastra-Haran (disrobing) her in public stemmed from this
need for revenge that Duryodhana had. And once the vastra-haran took place, the
only recourse left was the war and we all know what happened.
Most issues in this world tend to arise from two
manufacturing defects that we are made with. The male is infested with an ego
that is much larger than his abilities … inviting situations where this ego
will be dented and the male will lose his reasoning. The female is made
flippant by nature – tending to take things more lightly and laughter is a
natural end result of this flippance. This is naturally given to the two
genders so that they attract each other. The same, if misused, can lead to
Kurukshetra.
Kurukshetra started the moment Draupadi laughed and
made Duryodhana look like a buffoon in front of people he considered inferior.
A foolish thing that could have been avoided in many ways. The elders on the
Pandava side should have advised Duryodhana and prevented him from falling into
the water. At the very least – an unconditional apology should have been
tendered to Duryodhana for what happened. Or did the Pandavas pre-plan all this
to insult Duryodhana. History seldom records the dark side of winners or the
brighter side of losers. I hold my views that there was good and bad in all
involved.
Following up from my Mahabharata Blog-I, Duryodhana
was sure he had a legitimate reason to seek revenge. Perhaps Karna had worked
hard to broker the peace that was achieved by yielding Indraprastha. However,
when he learnt of this insult to his friend by Draupadi, be needed to support
his friend and remain neutral during the vastra haran. Result: Kurukshetra!!
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