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ACT. 3 — SCENE 6.
Third Person's POV
Yashaswani walked through the hallways of the palace. The lamps in the fire were cackling. It felt as if the fire of anger within her was igniting the lamp. The Jagat Mata, the one who forgives, was now replaced by Mahakali, the epitome of death. She wanted to burn this palace into ruins, the palace which has given her nothing more than pain and sufferings.
Her anklets created a threatening sound as if warning the people on the path to make way for her, before she decapacitates them. Her bangles jingling with each other harshly, leaving cut marks on her wrists which were also created between the fight of her with Dusaha. Her eyes were burning with fire of vengeance. She was now the fire herself.
End of her dupatta got stuck in lamp, Yashaswani could only care less about it. She kept walking bringing the lamp and curtain near it down. The lamp of fire on sensing the curtain, spread, creating a border between the two sides of hallway. Yashaswani entered her room, she looked around the room from where Dusaha inhumanly dragged her away from. The things were still spattered. Her breathing increased as anger started consuming her again. She turned around and closed the door harshly.
She closed the curtains, stopping the light from entering her room and then took a lamp and set it on fire. The whole room was now burning in the fire of her anger. She sat with a thud on the ground as the room kept burning, the smoke clouding her vision.
The Pandavas after making their vow, left the sabha, not wanting to see the deceitful faces of their own family. Their main concern was Yashaswani and Draupadi, who also left after her soul sister left the sabha. What they didn't know was that Narayan was already there for his Narayani.
Krishna pushed the gate slightly, the flames greeting him. Yashaswani, who has been crying by hugging her knees close to her chest, looked up to see Murlidhar standing in front of her, not bothered by the burns she would get by the fire. She got up and fell at his feet, sobbing as soon as Krishna entered in the room the fire died down, also calming the fire that was burning her heart.
"Krishna!" she wailed.
Krishna crouched along with her as he ran his fingers soothingly in her hair, feeling the pain of humiliation that she felt.
"Kya dosh tha mera Kanha?" she asked as Kanha let a tear slip through his eyes. "Kaunse paap ka parinaam mila hai mujhe?"
"Ismein na toh tumhara dosh tha aur na hi ye tumhare dushkarmon ka dand hai, priye." he said as she sobbed into his chest.
"Then why?!" she asked. "Then why was I humiliated? Why was Panchali humiliated?"
"Karm ka siddhant yahi hai, priye. Accha karya, adhik accha karya karvata hai aur bura karya, adhik se adhik bura karya karvaata hai. Aur aise vyaktiyon ke liye jeevan hi nark ban jata hai, priye." he said.
"Kintu peeda toh main bhog rahi hoon, Kanha. Apmaan toh mera aur Draupadi ka hua tha, un papiyon ka nahi." she retorted but he had a faint smile on his face.
"Toh uss peeda ka tyaag karo, bair ka tyaag kar do, Radhe." he said in his divine voice. "The tragedy in Hastinapur wasn't your doing. But if you fill your heart with sadness and revenge, you will experience nothing but hell."
"And why do you want to suffer for their wrong-doings?" he began. "Man ko nirmal kar lo, bair ka tyaag kar do. The impurity in the river drowns itself in the ocean and in this way the river stays clean. Drown your miseries in the Supreme Lord, priye. He is always is ready to accept it."
"Arthat? Kuru sabha ko kshama kar doon?" she asked bewildered as she looked up at his face.
"Haan, priye. kshama kar do, varna pratishodh ki aag mein phansi rahogi. Pratishodh dushkarm hai wahin nyay satkarm hai." he calmly said.
"Bhed kya hua, Kanha?"
"Aryavart ki Samragyni aur apni swayam ki behen ke saath jinhone itna durvyavahar kiya, vo samanya streeyon ka kya karenge, vichar karo, priye." Yashaswani thought about his words.
"Apni peeda mein sansar ki peeda ko dekho. Apne dukhon ko sangharsh bana lo. Ek baat samajh lo, priye. Jo keval apni peedayon ko gale se lagaakar ke jeeta hai, wo nirbal ban jaata hai, kintu jo samaj ki peedayon ko apne saath lekar chalta hai, wo balwaan ban jaata hai. Apni peedayon ke baare mein sochna, dushkarm, kintu sansar ki peedayon ka upaay dhoondhna satkarm."
"Haan priye, main tumse kehta hoon. Sabse pehle Duryodhan ko kshama kar do, wahi uske vinash ki or pehla kadam hoga aur phir Duryodhan jaise aur dushton ka vinash ka upaay dhoondho. Sansaar ke sabhi nribal stree, purush ka uddhar karo. Paramarth ke liye kiye gaye yudh, chahe kitni bhi hinsa kyun na ho, phir bhi wo dharm yudh hai. Kaho, kar paogi ye karya."
"Haan, Kanha. Main iss andhkar ke vinash ka upaay avashya dhoondoongi." Yashaswani said as she wiped her tears and looked at Krishna with determination in her eyes. She flinched when his hand held her arms. The trauma still fresh in her mind.
"Don't touch me Murlidhar," she whispered. "I do not wish to taint you."
"Taint me?" he couldn't believe his ears. "You are my wife, the bane of my existence, you can never taint me."
"Your wife?" she repeated. "I was disrobed in front of the whole assembly and you call me your wife? What makes you think that people will accept someone as unpure as me with someone as divine as you?"
"I don't care what they think my dear, I accept you and that is all that matters." Krishna firmly said. "-which is why I am taking you back to Dvarika, I cannot tolerate seeing you next to the ones who wronged you."
"With what right are you going to take me back?" she pointed out. "I am not your wife Dvarikapati, people will question my purity and chastity."
"They won't if I get married to you now," Yashaswani looked at him confused. He pulled out a small box of vermillion, making her look at him shocked. She held his hand before he could do anything.
"Think about it once Dvarikapati, are you ready to face the soceity, are you ready to be with a woman like me?" she questioned. Krishna gently cupped her face.
"I have never been surer dear," he said as he took a pinch of vermillion and filled her hairline with it, Yashaswani closed her eyes as a lone tear escaped. She slowly opened her eyes and looked at Krishna, who softly smiled at her. He gently pulled her into a hug as she cried in his embrace.
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Yashaswani sat in the room as the hand maidens made her wear the jewelleries for she was now a queen while removed Agnisutaa's as she got ready for her exile.
The Pandu family walked off the stairs of the palace, the praja of Hastinapur stood at the sides of the road to greet the Purva Samrat before their exiles begin. The Pandu family turned and joined hands before the palace for the last time. Yashaswani looked at the palace with her eyes filled with determination, determination to the punish the ones who have ruined them. The Pandavas looked at their sister with tearful eyes knowing that she will now have to live away from them for 13 years for they had to complete the promise of their agyaatvaas.
"Yashaswani." Yudhishtira said as she turned to face him."Mujhe kshama kar do--"
"Main aapko kshama aapko uss din karoongi, Jyeshth, jis din aap mere aur Panchali ke huye apmaan ka pratishodh lenge." Yashaswani said.
"Don't worry, Parthvi. Those sinners will have to pay for their sins." Bheema said as Arjun nodded at him.
"Just trust us." Yashaswani's face softened at the words of the eldest Madrinandan. "I trust all of you. Nothing can break my trust and love for you.
Jo humare saath hua, vo vidhi ka vidhan tha. Terah varsh paschat jo hoga, vo bhi bhagwaan ki leela hi hogi." she thought of Kanha's words.
"But sakhi where will you go?" Draupadi asked, not seeing the vermillion on her head which was hidden by her maang teeka. Yudhishtira interrupted before Yashaswani could speak anything.
"She will be going to Dvarika with Madhav," he grimly smiled. Draupadi then noticed the vermillion and gasped.
"When?" Draupadi gasped.
"Just a few moments back," Yashaswani chuckled lightly. "I wil be going back with him to Dvarika along with Subhadra," Arjun's eyes saddened at the thought being away from his unborn child.
"Don't worry Bhrata Arjun," Yashaswani consoled. "I promise you, your child will get every ounce of love they deserve."
"I never doubted it," he smiled.
"Mere jaane ka samay aa gaya hai, mujhe aagya dein." she said as Draupadi tearfully engulfed her into a hug. Breaking from the hug, Yashaswani stared at her brothers, who hugged her, the same way they used to hug each other in childhood.
Shakuni stood at his balcony as he saw the siblings hugging each other. They broke from hug, Yashaswani turned to look at Shakuni, who had been observing her. She looked at him and smirked, Shakuni's insides were shaken by the cruelty he could see in her smirk.It felt as he was being warned of his doomed future by just one look of her. She bowed in front of him and turned as Shakuni looked at her retreating figure with fear filling each cell of his body. The man who gambled the lives of Pandu also gambled his own mind in it as now each night of the next thirteen years would be filled with anxiety of what the devaputras and putri were achieving.
Yashaswani looked at the path ahead of her, the path that would change her life forever. She looked back at the path where her brothers once stood. She turned back and started walking towards Murlidhar, who waited for her in his chariot.
"Ready m'lady?" he asked, she softly smiled at him as he helped her up on the chariot. He pulled the reins of the horse as they embarked their journey towards the path of dharma
─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───