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

Chapter 32: Aftermath of the contest:

My trance was broken by the thunderous applause, drum beats, sounds of the musical instruments and the loud cheers from the people. There I saw, the beautiful princess of Panchal accompanied by her brother Prince Dhristadhyumn, walking gracefully, and the enchanting smile she gave when our eyes met was something I can never forget in my life. Even now, I can recollect all those memorable moments very vividly. The dazzling smile made her gorgeous face shine even more brightly. I don't know how to describe that magical moment but can only say I felt some kind of bliss or untold happiness and my whole body was sort of electrified. May be, experiencing all these myriad of emotions for the first time and the pure bliss I encountered, is what I guess would be called as love at first sight.

As princess of Panchal was nearing me, my heartbeats were racing fast, even though I tried very hard to look away but was captivated by the bewitching smile of the princess, I simply could not turn my eyes away from her. She was so beautiful, I don't think I can do justice in describing her beauty. Usually, I possessed decent self-control in matters of mind and body but this moment was something else, and then I realized this memorable moment is not to shy away from and be inhibited but welcome it with open heart and enjoy the bliss. I thought I should learn a lesson or two in such matters from the princess, she was unabashed and looking straight into my eyes and at all times her face was adorned with the gorgeous smile which only she seemed capable of. And, it seemed like she didn't give a damn to what people in the assembly might think of her uninhibited display of affection.

At last, I was able to come out of the magnetic appeal of the princess which bound me no end, and I looked around the assembly and there I saw my dear cousin Krishna, the most charismatic person I ever saw in my life, he was looking so delighted at my success. He gave me such a warm smile and reassurance, which directly connected to my heart, and it indicated that he will be there for me always whatever the situation may be. At that moment, I fully trusted that my cousin Krishna will always be there for me not only as a dear friend but also as a philosopher and guide, those thoughts gave me such tremendous confidence and contentment. As I looked around the assembly, found the dejected faces of Duryodhan, Karna, uncle Shalya and other kings and princes. They were seething with anger for failing to win the contest and were giving furious glares at me. Surprisingly, I found my three brothers Yudhi bhai, Nakul and Sahadev missing from the assembly, I did not understand why they left the assembly and that remains a sort of mystery to me till date. I did not ask them the reason for the exit from the assembly nor they ever told it to me. Anyway, no such mystery on part of Bhim bhai though, he was genuinely delighted at my success and as always took great pride in my achievements and abilities. He always held me in great regard and had supreme confidence in me and used to say that with Arjuna on our side, we will be invincible even for the Gods.

Now, it was the time for the most anticipated moment of the ceremony, the princess now stood just a feet or so apart from me and wore bright jewellery and her saree was of dark red colour with heavy embroidery and adorned with rare gems and looked splendid, and I thought how can such a slender beauty able to hold herself in such a heavy attire. She held the garland and the golden prize in her hand and took another step forward with the gorgeous smile etched on her face. I stood still, but she was very smart and with her sharp lotus eyes indicated to me to bend down so she can garland, and that embarrassed me a bit, as I was still not fully back into my senses and still so captivated by the princess. While garlanding me, her fingers gently touched my heart, and that made my heart race, and I thought that was a deliberate and mischievous attempt on part of the princess to make my situation even more difficult to control. Then I decided, princess you have only seen a restrained Arjuna, but let me show you another shade of mine, so when it was my turn to garland, while doing so I promptly pressed her neck in a gentle manner, and that made her shiver in ecstasy and blush hard and it was my turn to enjoy her situation and savour the pay back.

And, to my surprise while the garlanding ceremony was going on, I heard loud sounds emanating from the section where the kings and princes were seated. The assembled kings and princes headed by Duryodhan were marching towards Maharaj Drupad with loud war cries and uttering that they cannot accept a Brahmana winning the contest. And, demanding Maharaj Drupad choose one among the assembled kings and princes as the husband of the princess, else they will throw the princess into the sacred fire. This alarmed Maharaj Drupad, but prince Dhristadyumn immediately intervened and responded back saying instead of wanting the princess hand, they should be ashamed of their valour, that a young Brahmana was able to successfully hit the target whereas they were hardly able to lift the divine bow. That rebuke from the prince calmed them a bit but now instead of marching towards Maharaj Drupad, they took a sharp turn and marched towards us, the princess was alarmed by that, and I gently put my hands on her shoulder and asked her to go behind the assembly hall, but what surprised me was her reluctance to leave me and instead pressed my hand and clasped my shoulder tightly. This action of hers showed the care and concern of the princess and I felt so happy and proud of her.

Karna in his usual loud tone called me to challenge him and show my prowess, whereas other kings and princes were dangerously encircling us, Maharaj Drupad and prince Dhristadyumn frantically called for guards and army to help us and form a protective shield for us. I already had gained good experience in waging deadly battles and also one important lesson Acharya Guru Dron imparted to us was to remain composed and focused in such situations, so I calmly asked Maharaj Drupad and prince Dhritadyumn to step back, but the princess was not ready to leave my hand, so I gently tapped her shoulder and gave a reassuring smile and indicated to step back. While all this was going on, we heard loud thunderous battle cries from Bhim bhai who already uprooted a large tree and marched ferociously towards the assembled kings and princes who were trying to encircle us and with one swift action, which the only mighty Bhim bhai was capable of, smashed the bodies of those princes and they fell to the ground with loud thud.

Meanwhile, I accepted the challenge of Karna and took my stance which Acharya Guru Dron used to comment as unique and graceful, and initially Karna seemed to underestimate my fighting abilities and was fighting casually, but was stunned soon when I started countering his arrows at great speed and in fact broke his bow very soon and pierced him hard with two arrows in such quick succession which caused him to faint and I waited for him to recover and fight back. Now after recovering, he was more circumspect, and started to fight with his full might, I respected and admired his ability to fight but I guess I was too quick for him and was not giving him any chance to penetrate my vital organs by releasing arrows precisely and at lightening speed. As I was equally adept in releasing arrows with my left hand as well, so when I started to release the arrows with my left hand, it had a devastating effect on Karna and the assembled princes too were stunned, as they knew such feat of archery was possible to accomplish to only one archer in Aryavart and they thought that archer was already long dead. Now Karna was deeply distressed with the fight and exclaimed, saying only Lord Vishnu, Lord Parushuram, husband of Sachi i.e., Lord Indra, and Phalguna were capable of forcing him to be in such a helpless and miserable state and asked me who I was, whether I was the supreme Brahman energy disguised or Lord Indra or Lord Achutya himself, I smilingly said I was none of those but an ordinary man ready to fight him. Hearing my confident words, Karna no longer had the will nor the energy to fight and retreated back. And, simultaneously in other area of the arena, a deadly fight was underway between Bhim bhai and uncle Shalya, both were exchanging thunderous blows and after a while, Bhim bhai wanted to end the fight quickly, so he lifted uncle Shalya and hurled him down only mildly, so as to not hurt him much. Looking at the miserable plight of the mighty warrior uncle Shalya and the ferocious form of Bhim bhai, all the assembled princes were quaking in their boots and retreated back.

Amidst all this chaos, came in the divine voice of our dear cousin Krishna, who in his sweet but stern voice reminded the assembly that the rules of the Swayamvar were well known to all before the contest itself and in order to win the hand of the princess they had to pierce the target which was already communicated to be an extraordinarily difficult contest. Since they failed to do it, they no longer had any moral right to protest and instead all of them should be ashamed of their wile behaviour and also of their supposed valour which came to nothing today. This strong rebuke silenced everyone and the princes hung their heads in shame. Duryodhan, along with his brothers, Karna, and uncle Shakuni left the hall in shame and proceeded to Hastinapur, so were the remaining kings and princes to their respective kingdoms. Maharaj Drupad and Prince Dhritadyumn were so overjoyed with the outcome that they embraced me warmly and congratulated me profusely. Princess of Panchal gave a delightful smile and her face shone brightly and that made my day.