My trials, tribulations, triumphs and more... - Arjuna.

Chapter 20: Exhibition (Part 1)

Gradually, all the important persons of the kingdom had arrived at the stadium to witness the exhibition and were welcomed with flower shower and the booming sound of the conches. Of course, the largest cheer was reserved for our family, who entered into the arena through a covered passage that led straight from the palace to the royal enclosure. Bade Pitashree was accompanied by Vidur kaka, and Badi Mata was accompanied by Kunti mata. Along with them, our Pitamah Bhishm, and other family members and relatives of took their seats reserved in the royal enclosure.

Finally, it was time for Acharya Dron to enter the arena, and crowd were cheering his name loudly, as he was the one who made this exhibition possible and was the master to the Kuru princes. As usual, Acharya wore a crisp white robe, and was accompanied by Guru bhai Ashwathama. Acharya walked towards the centre of the arena and gave his welcome speech, and thanked the royal family for their support and the large crowd that graced the occasion. After taking the permission of the king, Acharya signalled for the commencement of the show in his booming voice with the announcement, 'Let the exhibition begin!'.

From another passage, the weapons of all the Kuru princes were brought in by the soldiers in various chariots. The crowd was excited to see the bows and quivers, maces, swords, spears, lances and so on. The weapons were placed in the centre of the arena on a long table. Acharya first called out the name of Yudhi bhai, and Yudhi bhai after saluting Acharya and elders with reverence, acknowledged the large crowd by waving to them and proceeded to showcase his skills. It was a supreme display of skills showcased by Yudhi bhai with the spear, crowd were enthralled to see various feats done by Yudhi bhai with the spear. First, he pierced with his spear, a long range target stationed at the far end of the ground. People were stunned to see such accuracy over such a long distance. And, one of the other highlights of his display was the rapid circular motions with the spear which the crowd cheered the most. Also, he showed the technique on how to defend oneself with the spear when multiple combatants are encountered. Thus the start to the exhibition commenced on a high note and Acharya was highly pleased to witness the skills displayed by Yudhi bhai. After displaying his skills, Yudhi bhai reverentially saluted Acharya and went back to the enclosure meant for the Kuru princes.

Now, it was the time for one of the most anticipated moments of the exhibition, for which much of the crowd was waiting with bated breath and Acharya without much ado announced, "Duryodhan and Bhimsen will now give us an exhibition of mace-fighting". It was common knowledge to the people of Hastinapur that these two princes never saw eye to eye and were hostile to each other, the relationship reached its lowest point after the vicious plan of Duryodhan to kill Bhim bhai by poisoning and throwing him into the river. It was no love lost between Bhim bhai and Duryodhan and both were looking to settle their scores. As the two stepped into the middle of the arena, we could hear loud cheers from the people and support of the people was divided, some of the people yelled in support of Duryodhan and others rooted for Bhim bhai. Acharya Dron, was well aware of the tense relationship between the two and announced, "This is not a duel between two enemies but only an exhibition to showcase skills". He looked meaningfully at both of them, so they remembered this as well.

After Acharya stepped away, the two fierce warriors bowed briefly to each other as was customary before the start of any such display but soon after were seen to glare each other menacingly. Not only Acharya, but we brothers and cousins too could sense something dangerous and untoward might happen during this encounter. The two mace-fighters began to circle one another, the maces shining in their hands. These maces were very heavy weapons which only few men could lift. But Bhim bhai and Duryodhan carried them nonchalantly, as if they weighed nothing and for a while they circled each other, and were glaring at each other rather sharply. Soon, crowd got into the act and started to cheer loudly with the chants of Bhim bhai and Duryodhan. Duryodhan was the first to initiate the duel and lunged forward like a cheetah and swung his mace dangerously at Bhim bhai. The crowd gasped at that but Bhim bhai who had great reflexes rose in a flash and blocked that strike. The sound was deafening when the two maces met one other, sparks flew from them and the sky echoed with a thunderclap. It was just a beginning to the deadly duel that was to take place. In the next shot, Bhim bhai gave tremendous display of skill by bending low and striking Duryodhan but Duryodhan was equal to it and evaded that blow by jumping up in the air. Crowd was warming up to this clash of the titans. Slowly, the duel started to take dangerous colour, with both of them landing terrible blows with tremendous speed and power, some were blocked and others took a toll on their bodies. This was no longer a show to display skills but turned into a full blown battle aimed to annihilate the opponent. Whenever the strikes of the maces were blocked, thunderous sound erupted jarring the ears. Bade Pitashree got anxious to hear the thunderous sounds and asked Vidur kaka about who was winning the duel, to which Vidur kaka replied if this goes on for some more time, it would result in the deaths of both the prices. Bade Pitashree was shocked to hear that, Vidur kaka always spoke frankly and truthfully and without any fears. Pitamah Bhishm, Kunti maa, Dushshala, and other family brothers were looking grimly at this encounter. Acharya immediately signalled to Guru bhai Ashwathama to stop the duel, and Guru bhai pitched in to stop the duel but was shoved away by the two and continued to duel. Seeing this, Acharya became furious and he himself went in and stopped the duel and chided both of them. Bhim bhai and Duryodhan lowered their maces at Acharya's command, saluted him, waved to the crowd and stormed out of the arena to the enclosure where the other princes sat. All of us were relieved to see the duel stop, had it continued for some more time, there was no doubt it would have caused serious injuries.

After the tense duel between Bhim bhai and Duryodhan, Acharya Dron announced Nakul's name. Young women in the stadium thronged to see him and screamed in excitement to watch the handsome prince display his skills. Sword was Nakul's weapon of choice and he showed incredible skills in wielding the sword. He was able to combat gracefully and effortlessly with a combined group of eight swordsmen single-handedly. Nakul received great applause for his feats from the crowd, specially from the women and Dushshala's friends were not able to control their excitement and were screaming his name continuously.

After Nakul's magnificent display, it was Sahadev's turn to showcase his skills. Sahadev was renowned throughout the kingdom for his great wisdom, immense knowledge of scriptures but not many knew about his incredible skills in riding the chariots or riding on a horseback. Crowd was stunned to see the display put forth by Sahadev in riding the horse, he rode on the horse effortlessly at lightening speed and made sharp turns accompanied by intermittent jumps that made the crowd go wild. He did many acrobatic feats while riding the horse which thrilled the crowds. After Sahadev, it was time for our cousins Dushshasan, Vikarna, Yuyutsu and rest. All of our cousins did very well and made our Acharya proud with their display and earned the applause of the crowds. Crowds were chanting Acharya's name loudly and were showering praises on him, as he was instrumental in making the Kuru princes so skillful. The show exceeded all expectations and crowd was jubilant and our family members were immensely proud with the way all the princes showcased their skills.

Finally, it was my turn to showcase the skills and Acharya Drona raised his arms to call for quiet and announced, "This is my favourite disciple Arjuna, dearer to me than my own son Ashwathama. He is the third Pandava with curly hair and face glowing like a thunder cloud will now display before you the skills with the bow."