Swayamvadhu : The Bride he Chose

28 : The Demise Of The Crown

Within minutes, the brittle and weary figure of king dhritarashtra touched the floor with a loud thump, making everyone go bewildered...
Karn sprang upwards from his sitting posture and sprinted towards dhritarashtra to prevent the king's body from rolling down from the stairs infront..
Karn somehow got successful in hindering his phlegmatic body from falling down effectively...
The events happened infront of their vision were so abrupt that it took some moments for the courtesans and other royals to perceive what happened...
Arjun, nakul and sahadev swiftly leap up from their throne... Arjun,Nakul, sahadev, vikarn along with chitrasen scurried towards dhritarashtra who was half lying on karn's lap losing his consciousness...Arjun and sahadev glanced at the figure of the king , unexpectedly sahadev grasped Arjun's palms tightly and closed his eyes...
His precognition showed him something...he could foresee a comet approaching, aiming his mother land which signifies both the predicament and the inception of a golden era of the country together... sahadev swiftly opened his sight after getting the intuition...

" Bhrata...I sense something infelicitous is going to happen in our country .."
Sahadev agitatedly divulged and they saw the other princes ,with the help of some servants carrying dhritarashtra to the medical chamber...

Upon heeding to the conversations, her majesty , Queen gandhari comprehended the stress arising inside the court and ran behind the princes followed by an anxious kunti...

As soon as they made dhritarashtra reach the medical chamber...the rajvaidhya solicited everybody to wait outside except nakul and sahadev...the twin sons of pandu assisted the rajvaidhya to examine the king ... finally, checking the pulse of the king twice, the rajvaidhya 's visage stiffened and the tears permeated from the twins eyes...they anticipated a positive response and glanced at the rajvaidhya...but his face carried the same graveness...

"It's too late, princes.."
He divulged softly and tears made their way down through the twins eyes... sahadev gulped down the saliva as his throat dried..his instincts were true...
Rajvaidhya exited the chamber with grave face..by then, dhuryodhan, dushassan were also present infront of the medical chamber...karn saw the rajvaidhya approaching him with a stiffened face , followed by his brothers...He saw a devastated gandhari standing, with kunti supporting her...

"Your highness , I earnestly feels dejected to announce that the throne of hastinapur has been orphaned...his majesty has attained salvation under the feet of almighty..."
The rajvaidhya articulated the bitter truth in a quivering baritone and the whole palace shook by the manifestation... today, hastinapur witnessed the demise of the crown...

" My son !!! No, this can't be true"
Bheeshm lamented infront of everyone, smashing all the etiquettes and fell on his knees, sobbing...

Karn's eyes widened in aghast and gandhari 's sharp shrill reverberated in the palace walls... Arjun's eyes abounded with tears and cascaded down through his cheeks... dhuryodhan Clenched his fist and enclosed his eyes tightly as stream of tear made its way down through his ruddy visage...he felt feeble..he felt exasperated and enraged at the same time...he saw his brothers striving to restrain his mother who was yelling like an insane, inside kunti's arms ...
Twins hung their head and sobbed silently unable to bear the demise of their paternal uncle...

•••••••••••*•••••••••••

Draupadi and dussala were spending their own time inside Dussala's chamber by cracking jokes and humming hymns...just then, Dussala's waiting maid hastily scurried into her chamber... draupadi and dussala got up from their sitting posture and prior to ask something, the maid revealed...

"There's a message princess...his majesty has admitted to the medical chamber and..."

Dussala's eyes widened and glanced agitatedly at draupadi... draupadi placed her palms above her shoulder to tranquilize her..but she could feel the raising palpitation of Dussala...