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

Chapter 23: Guru Dakshina (Part 2)

After capturing Maharaj Drupad, we started our journey back to Gurukul. We made sure Maharaj Drupad was comfortable and did not feel in anyway humiliated nor embarrassed. As the journey was very long, so we took breaks at regular intervals to relax and refresh ourselves and also allow some rest for our horses. During the breaks, we ate food items such as fruits, salads, snacks and had some juices. Even though, Maharaj Drupad initially insisted to not having any food, but upon persistent requests from us, he finally relented and had food. We all brothers were highly influenced by our late father Maharaj Pandu, even though he was a legendary warrior and a great king, he never once boasted of his prowess and power and always lived life as a humble man. He even treated his enemies with kindness and thus was universally respected throughout Aryavarth for his noble character. And, under his guidance, we all brothers learnt the first step paramount to living life was to be a 'good human being' and rest were secondary details and our father always led by example on this front.

After a while into the journey, Maharaj Drupad started to feel comfortable in our company and asked various questions like when we started our training at Acharya's Gurukul, how were our Mata, Pitamah, Vidur Kaka and so on were doing, what were my future plans, will I soon venture into conquering various kingdoms on behalf of Hastinapur, will I be pursuing in acquiring various other powerful divya astras as well, when I plan to get married and so on. I was a bit uncomfortable and embarrassed by his barrage of questions and in my usual reserved tone just nodded to his questions and most of the time gave monosyllabic answers. He understood my situation and had a broad smile at that and asked me, if anything other than weaponry interests me. I answered saying I love music and singing.

Of course, at that time I did not know, if my would be father-in-law was really serious and asking all these questions so as to plan and beget a beautiful daughter who would marry me and complement my interests. Maharaj Drupad must be a very rare man indeed who chose his victor as his future son-in-law and beget a beautiful daughter to fulfill his ardent wish.

Since, this is my life story, so I would like to recount few things openly which due to various compulsions and responsibilities laid buried in the deepest recesses of my heart and suffocated me no end. On various occasions in my life, I felt dejected and thought may be I was not worthy of that noble woman and winning her in Swayamvar was the start of her life journey of struggle. Yes, I was bound by various ties and responsibilities, but I still take all the blame on myself for whatever has happened after Swayamvar, may be one would like to call it as 'drama of destiny'. Yes, I know all this was part of the Vidhata's big plan to mark the end of the Dwapar Yug, and we were merely pawns in that grand game of chess. But, I pray earnestly to Vidhata not to test any person in future who has to endure such pain and humiliation as faced by my beloved. I salute her strength and courage, and my battle prowess and valour was absolutely zilch in front of the courage exhibited by my beloved. In spite of all my failings, still that noble and dignified woman loved me to bits, may be that is what true love teaches, 'true love is undefinable, unconditional and once you fall in it, it's hard to get out of it'. May be in next life, I pray to that higher power to give me a chance to redeem myself and love her without any inhibitions and make her truly happy and have her lead a life as a normal woman who cherishes to have a happy and loving family. As they say, earnest prayers are always heard, may be Mahadev will hear my prayers and make it true and one day I will get a chance to redeem myself.

Coming to the present, Maharaj Drupad was a lovely man to talk to and even though we defeated him in the battle, he never even once showed any ill feelings towards us. He was gracious in his defeat and acknowledged our battle skills. He appreciated me immensely and said that, if at such a young age I could crack such complex vyuh and fight against a veteran warrior and huge army with such ease, then in future I would do many more grander things. I thanked him for his appreciation and humbly saluted him.

We reached Gurukul late in the evening and found Acharya, Yudhi bhai, Guru bhai Ashwathama and others waiting for us enthusiastically at the gates of the Gururkul. They were already informed by the spies of our victory over Maharaj Drupad. I could distinctly see few tears in Acharya's eyes and the glow in his face and when we reached the ashram he immediately jumped into the chariot and hugged me saying 'My dear Arjuna, you have made me proud once again and my child there is nothing in this world which cannot be accomplished by you'. Acharya also congratulated Bhim bhai, Nakul and Sahadev for their brilliant battle prowess.

Acharya, then shifted his sight to Maharaj Drupad, who hung his head in shame, but Acharya was composed and gently said these words to Maharaj Drupad 'Dear friend Drupad, do you remember me? You might have forgotten me, but I have not forgotten the happy times we spent together when we were students at my father's ashram. In the past, when I offered my hand for your friendship, you rejected that hand of friendship and rebuked me saying friendship is made only between two equals, I being a pauper was unworthy of calling a king as his friend. My friend, now life has come a full circle, isn't it? Now, you have absolutely nothing, even your life is at my mercy. Your kingdom is won by my shishyas and your life is hanging in balance now. And, one word of mine and my shishyas would sever your throat. But, we Brahmanas however poor we may be, don't believe in revenge and are of forgiving nature and thus I offer my hand of friendship to you once again, O king will you accept this offer of friendship?'

And, Acharya continued and said to Maharaj Drupad, 'Since you believe in friendship between equals, so I give you half the kingdom and I will retain the other half of the kingdom. You will rule over all the territories lying on the southern side of the Bhagirathi river, while I will rule the territory on the north of Bhagirathi. And, O Panchala, will you be my friend now?.'

On hearing these gentle and kind words from Acharya, Maharaj Drupada answered, 'Hey Dron, you are a noble soul and therefore I am not surprised at your magnanimity. I'm very pleased with your conduct, and I desire your eternal friendship'. Thereafter, they embraced each other and shortly had dinner together. I was really happy to see both of them reconcile and talk in friendly terms. But, scarcely did I know at that time that Maharaj Drupad felt insulted by all this and he was burning with anger. And in that anger, he vowed to perform a 'Yagna' to beget a son who one day would kill Acharya Dron and a daughter who would marry me. So thus, Maharaj Drupad in future, would play a pivotal role in changing the destiny of Aryavarth.

When we returned back successfully, Duryodhan felt utterly humiliated and did not give us even token of appreciation. We could clearly see the simmering jealousy and anger of his. Of course, Bhim bhai was not the one to take things lightly nor forget and he promptly went near Duryodhan and said in thundering voice 'Hey you, we are not cowards nor weak, unlike you lot'. Yudhi bhai soon calmed the tense atmosphere and tried to reconcile Bhim bhai and Duryodhan and both of them reluctantly shook their hands. It was time to have our dinner and then retire to our dormitory. We were hell tired after the battle and the long journey and I desperately wanted to have some sound sleep.