Draupadi's Mahabharat

Part 7

I was impressed by his gentle manliness and even though he was a son of a charioteer, it did not matter to me much. "You could also call him Angraj as he rules over the province of Anga which I have gifted him or if you like you could also call him the best archerer of the world" said Duryodhan interrupting the conversation. "You don't have to praise me every time friend" said Angraj Karn. "I don't praise you, I praise my best friend" Duryodhan said to Karn. "So princess do you not care about my being a sut" Karn asked me, to this I replied confidently "Of course not it doesn't matter whose son you are what matters is who you are" that was what I thought and I said it. "She is a noble princess Karn, the daughter of Agni Dev has to be like him" said prince Duryodhan. "You are right friend,she is truly noble" said Angraj, after this all of us retreated to our chambers.

The next day was  Dushala's mehendi, everyone got ready and went to the main hall.

I was dressed normally and first I thought, I should go to the hall alone, but then I felt that if Govind accompanied me I would feel confident and not lonely. When we entered the hall it was looking magnificent and well adorned.

I saw princess Dushala and went to her straight. "Congratulations princess you are going to get married soon" I said excitedly. "Thank you princess Draupadi" she replied happily. "So are you excited for it" I asked, "Of course I am who would not be excited for their wedding" she replied. "When is King Jayadrath going to come?" I asked not knowing about it. "They may reach here by tomorrow morning" she said. Then the door keeper announced the arrival of the King of Anga. He came in slowly and held his head high, he had no signs of a sut. He was no less than a Kshatriya prince. He came first and greeted Mahamahim Bhishma and Govind and all the elders present, then he came to me and Dushala.

 "How have you been doing princess?" he asked "Great, all this is just too good and people here are really kind. How about you?" I asked him. "I am just as normal as I can be" he replied. "By the way I have a question if you don't mind it" he said a bit hesitating. I was shocked to see such a great warrior like him hesitate in front of me. "Sure, please ask" I said without delay. "Don't feel bad about it, but I really wanted to ask it for a long time. Were you really born out of fire or was it just rumors spread by your father?" he asked finally. Was he hesitating for such a small question? "Obviously,I was born out of fire, otherwise how could I have come on this earth such big" I smiled. "Never bad to confirm" he said and took his place.

The door keeper again announced the arrival of the king and the queen with the princes. All of them came to the hall and the ceremony started as soon as they were settled. Mehandi was applied and all the women helped her in this. After all this was over Jayadrath arrived everyone was shocked to see him so early, the women except me took Dushala to her chamber as the bride and the groom were not supposed to see each other the day before the marriage."King Jayadrath, you are here so early but you sent a message that you would be arriving tomorrow morning" said King Dhitrashtra to him. To this he replied that "I heard that you had invited many  guests to this marriage including Panchal Kumari  Draupadi, I could not wait to see a fire born with my eyes". Everyone turned to look at me as he said this, I did not expect him to give such an answer, I was still thinking about his words when I heard Dhri say "King Jayadrath please stay in your limits". "I am in my limits, I did not even turn my head towards her" he replied unaffected by my brother's words. "Enough" I said, "I cannot stay in a place where women are humiliated" after saying this I got up and left the hall. While I was going to my chamber I kept wondering that if what I did was right. Even if it was not I could not do anything about it as it was already done. I could not wait for the program to get over and everyone to return. I wanted to talk to Govind about it. When the maid told me about it, I rushed to Govind's chamber and asked a maid to take permission from him for me to enter his room. The maid came back immediately and said I was allowed to go inside.

"Govind" I cried, he was removing his crown. "Yes sakhi tell me is it something important" he asked. "Important Govind? It is very important" I said irritated. "So, tell me about it sakhi" he said. "Was it right? What I did and said in the hall room?" I asked finally.  "What do you think about it sakhi?" he asked. "I don't know, maybe it was right, but I could not control it, everything just happened on its own. It was a reflex" I stated.  "See sakhi, someone does something only because they feel it is the right thing to do at the moment, and you did it because you thought it was right" he said trying to say that what I had done was right. "What would you have done Govind if you were in my place?" I asked again.To this he replied "Had I been in your place I would have done something different because you and me are different". "That's what I want to know Govind what you would have done?" I asked impatiently "I would have just stopped him just like you did but I would have not left the place. I would have stayed there to see what Jayadrath did next"  he replied. "What did he say Govind? What did he do? after I had left the hall" I asked. I had never even thought about it, how the elders would have reacted ? I never tried noticing it, What I did was it right? I realized that I should not have left the hall. I knew Govind was not going to tell me about it so I had to go to someone else and I knew who it should be.