When
Dhirdarashtra came to know of the marriage of the Pandavas to
Draupadi, he probably realized that the Pandavas were no longer poor
sons of his brother - Pandu. Dhirdarastra immediately divided the
kingdom of Hastinapur and assigned the Khandavaprastha to the
Pandavas. It is interesting to note that the exact reason given by
Dhiradarashtra for dividing the kingdom was that he wanted to make
sure that there was no difference of opinion between his sons and the
Pandavas and that he wanted to make sure that the Pandavas faced no
further injury.
Khandavaprastha
was originally a desert. Arjuna and Krishna helped Lord Agni in
burning the dangerous forest of Khandava which was home to many
asuras and nagas.
In
doing so, Arjuna and Krishna won the friendship of one of the most
brilliant architects of an era long gone – Maya, the architect of
the asuras.
When
Arjuna spared the life of Maya, who resided in the Khandaprastha,
Maya insisted on doing something in return to the Pandavas. Wanting
nothing for himself, Arjuna asked Maya to obey the wishes of Krishna.
Krishna asked Maya to build a ‘sabha’ (Meeting Hall) in
Khandavaprastha, of such grandeur that no one would be able to
imitate the sabha even a after examining the same again and again.
Krishna asked Maya to build the sabha combining the architecture of
the Devas, Asuras and the humans.
And
thus in the place of the barren Khandavaprastha came the exquisite
Indraprastha. It is said that Indraprastha rivaled the beauty of the
Bhogvathi, the prosperous city in the netherworld and Amaravathi, the
city of Indra, in the heavens.
Such
a beautiful place was one of the root causes for the ultimate war
between the Pandavas and the Kauravas….
Subsequently
with the help of Krishna, the Pandavas killed Jarasandha, a powerful
king of Magadha. After the death of Jarasandha, Yudhishtara performed
the Rajasuya yagna which was for proclaiming himself as the emperor
of the country.
Yudhishtara
invited Dhiradarashtra and the other elders of Hastinapur for the
Rajasuya. It was during the Rajasuya yagna, Duryodhana was given the
job of handling the wealth which came in from the various kings of
the country. The collected wealth was enormous and given generously.
The ‘Sabha’ was probably built using optic illusions because in
some places it looked like a stream was running through the palace
and some places looked like the place was closed, though the door was
open wide.
Duryodhana
saw all this and he burned with jealousy. Already he felt insecure of
his cousins, now their prosperity almost drove him insane.
He
along with Karna, Dusshasana and Shakuni hatched a plot to take
everything away from the Pandavas without any unnecessary bloodshed.
And so with Dhirdarashtra’s blessings came the dice game…A simple
game which went so much out of control that it changed the very
essence of the enmity between the Pandavas and the Kauravas….
During
the dice game, Duryodhana, Dusshasana and Karna misbehaved with
Draupadi so badly that it was said that unholy signs which signified
the end of the entire Kaurava race was heard and seen by all the
people in the Kuru assembly. And in the name of the dice game being
considered proper, the Pandavas were also quiet and did not question
the atrocities of Duryodhana, Dusshasana and Karna.
And
strangely enough, the great teacher – Dronacharya, the man who had
taught the Kauravas and the Pandavas, kept quiet when Drauapdi came
asking him about the rightness of Duryodhana’s act. Not just him,
Bhishma and Kripacharya also chose to remain silent…..
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