The gamble that didn't come off

A HUGE museum is reported to have come up at Kurukshetra; the site of the Mahabharat war. But, clinging as tightly as we do to our illusions, we are likely to find only stories there, not history. Stepping out from the museum into the blinding light of day Prime Minister Vajpayee wondered aloud about : How Sanjay, sitting at far away Hastinapur (Meerut), was able to give Dhrtarashtr a running commentary of the war being fought at Kurukshetra. Yeh sochne waali baat hai, said the PM. Even drama is not enough; we must have melodrama as well.

Be that as it may, the epics and the Puranas do contain some hard evidence about the lost history of India (though it takes a trained and patient eye to find it); the history relating to the 1,500 year period between the demise of the Harappan 'empire' and the advent of Gautam Buddha. Every now and then, one finds some fragments of history peeping out from behind the folklore.

Take for example the famous gambling scene, in which Yudhishthir loses game after game to Duryodhan. Caught up in a frenzy, he is simply unable to stop. Having lost his wealth, he goes on to stake his kingdom, his brothers, and, eventually, himself. Still, the game goes on. Yudhishthir's fevered imagination leads him to believe that, by staking Draupadi, he might just be able to slowly win back again all that had been lost.

It doesn't work out quite out like that. Draupadi too is lost. She has all along treated Duryodhan with contempt; he has all along been waiting for precisely such an opportunity to humiliate her. Draupadi at first refuses to come; Yudhishthir, she says, has clearly lost his senses. Later, dragged by her hair into court, she argues forcefully but fruitlessly that, having already lost himself, Yudhishthir had forfeited whatever right he might otherwise have had to stake her.

If however, one carefully sifts text from context, an entirely different story comes into view; in the text of the Mahabharat itself. According to this version, the chapter relating to the disputed succession ended with a compromise that installed Yudhishthir at Indraprasth (Delhi); while Duryodhan inherited the traditional Kuru throne at Hastinapur.

But Yudhishthir now began dreaming greater dreams. In section 6 of the Sabha Parv of the Mahabharat, we find him asking Narada : Tell me, I ask thee, if thou hast ever beheld before, anywhere, an assembly superior to mine. As it happens, he has : Mounted upon a victorious car, Raja Harishchandr had once brought the whole earth under his sway. Then this great emperor, gave unto each brahmin five times the wealth he had solicited. Thus gratified, the brahmins began to say : Raja Harishchandr is superior to all kings in energy and renown. It was for this reason, Narada concludes, that Harishchandr shone more brightly than thousands of other kings.

Yudhisthir now began to sigh heavily. His courtiers were willing to play up to his vanity; they had no doubt that he could pull it off. Yudhisthir, however, possessed of great wisdom, and with mind under complete control, continued to ponder over the matter : among counselors, some from friendship do not notice the difficulties; others, from motives of self interest, say only what is agreeable. Some again regard that which is beneficial to themselves as worthy of adoption.

Musing thus, he decides to seek Krishna's advice. Krishna explains that the overpowering Jarasandha, with his capital at Magadh, had brought pretty much all of madhyadesh under his sway; had set himself over the heads of all kings. With the Kauravs, he had an alliance. Shishupal, endued with great energy, had placed himself under his protection, and become his generalissimo. The foolish Yadav king Kamsa, having married two of the daughters of Jarasandha, had quite lost his head. The fool, persecuting his relatives, had gained an ascendancy over them all.

After the immediate cause of fear was removed by the death of Kamsa at Krishna's hands, his father-in-law Jarasandha, took up arms. Beholding his might, the eighteen younger branches of the Yadavs became exceedingly cheerless and fled from Mathura; dividing their large wealth into small portions so as to make each portion easily portable.

Jarasandha, then, was the one who would have to be tackled if Yudhisthir was to realise his ambitions. Yudhisthir needed to make a realistic assessment of whatever resources he had or would be able to muster; understand the magnitude of the force that he proposed to pit himself against; and then work out a realisable plan of action - allowing for the possibility that things would not always turn out the way he imagined or wanted.

In the end, the Pandavs decided to go ahead. Bhim, with Arjun and Krishna, killed Jarasandha and installed his son, Sahadev, at Magadh. Jarasandha's confederacy then fell to pieces. The reputation of the Pandavs was thus enhanced, and their ambitions further spurred. This being the case, it is possible that the story about Yudhishthir having then lost everything in a 'game of dice', may mean only that the gamble did not come off. Perhaps the Pandavs over-reached themselves, were outmaneuvered, and then forced into exile. This may not be the way it actually happened; but it is certainly easier to believe.

SUDHANSHU RANADE

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