Đ₳Ɏ 16
The day was unfateful for the Kaurav army.
Angraj Dandik was made the Kuru senapati. Maharaj Shaly his sarthi.
There was fierce fighting between the two sides, Arjun Karn and Dandik. They fought over and over.
Abhimanyu, Moksh and Neelansh kept Duryodhan occupied.
To say Duryodhan was shocked to see Abhimanyu would be an understatement.
His shock was so loud that he could not avert five of seven arrows launched by Neelansh.
" Abhimanyu! I thought we killed you tomorrow! " He said, fighting with his gada.
" Tajshree! I told you yesterday itself. I won't be defeated so easily. Today our buashree will get her justice. "
" Aaargh! " He yelled back, attacking them ferociously.
As the three of them kept Duryodhan and Shakuni occupied, Dandik was kept occupied by Karn and Arjun.
" Jyeshth? If we launch a shakti astr now, each we can kill him. Com on! Jyeshth! We need to be quick! " Arjun yelled as he kept Dandik distracted.
Karn took the stance to do so, but just as he did, Dandik launched a deadly arrow at him, one laced with the poisons of the forest and Nagrag Takshak himself.
" Jyeshth! " Arjun screamed, jumping off oh his rath, running across the field.
' When you most require your knowledge, it will become lost to you! This is my curse! ' Mahaguru Parshuram said sadly, remorse in his eyes as Karunika stood by, too shocked to say anything.
Karn looked up, just in time to see Arjun, holding the arrow by its shaft.
" Jyeshth? What happened? " He asked, shocked. His Jyeshth's knowledge was unparalleled, he knew more than him.
" My curse. " Was all he could whisper.
" So it has now been fulfilled KuntibhojSamrat. " Krishn said.
" Yes Vasudev. But the circumstances are unusual. "
" Why so Maharaj. A person needs their knowledge the most when they have to fight for their own lives. Had Parth not been there, you would have died, instantly. The curse took it's effect. You are now free. " He said, now smiling.
The war between the two sides began yet again and just then,
" Pitashree! Tajshree! Tajshree Bheem has trapped Kakashree Dushasan. Moksh has gone to get Buashree from the camp. " Arjun's son, Shrutkarm said.
_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_
Bheem was now dragging Dushasan by his hair across the field.
Karunika stepped down the chariot to look at her brother.
He threw Dushasan at Karunika's feet, looking up at her with eyes full of determination.
" Jyeshtha! This man touched your pure hair and body with his arms. I will remove his arms from his body! " He roared, grabbing and pulling his arms apart.
Blood splattered on both Bheem's face and Karunika's clothes.
Adam reached the place, running upto stand behind his wife. A hand on her shoulder. The one that kept her from crumbling right there and there.
This was justice. Wasn't it?
Putri. No mother deserves to know that her son died such a gruseome death. Please, have mercy on your own brother's soul. He would be shattered later.
" Mata, I would have done so. But the day I was dragged into that sabha like an animal and none of them lifted their eyes to even look at me, shameful of their own actions, I had made them strangers.
They were no longer my brothers that day and today will be the same. Today I am a woman looking for her justice. I would have done so myself had I had the energy to fight right now. But I don't. Pranipat mata. "
" Bheem! Don't do this! " Duryodhan screamed as he was stopped by the Angraj and Gandharaj.
" Jyeshtha! That day I had vowed. I will kill him! By drinking the blood from his chest! " He roared yet again and with his full might, ripped apart Dushasan's chest.
A single tear dripped down Karunika's eyes and fell on Dushasan's. A tear to mean I forgive you. A tear to fight her own honor.
As Bheem bent down to complete his promise, " Bheem. Stop! No one deserves to die like this. He's your own brother. " Karunika said, now face streaked with silent tears.
Bheem looked up at her and his rage calmed at her tears. His own guilt caught up to him as he sat, holding his hands above Dushasan' chest.
Wiping her tears she got up.
" Do you see the extent of your damage Yuvraj Duryodhan! You've reduced my own brother to have to act like a rakshas. Your own brother lies dead, miserably as countless others are. I'm telling you. Ask for forgiveness. Give us five villages of Indrprasth. That's all we need. No more bloodshed is necessary.
You have untill tomorrow morning. Choose your fate."
She got up and went up to Bheem, hughing her brother close. She rubbed his back as he cried out in the pain of the deaths of his own brothers, the death of Dushasan and more. He cried at his fate. One which wouldn't let him live peacefully.
" Kshama Jyeshtha! Kshama. I didn't mean to do this! I did not! " He kept repeating. She whispered reassurances in his ears, all the while staring and Shakuni with eyes that could kill.
" Gandharaj! Remember my promise don't you? " She shouted and he backed off, visibly afraid.
The day brought back sorrow for both sides as they lunged back to their rooms.
_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_
Karunika had finally been able to clean her cloth, the one stained with blood.
Adam sat on the bed, talking to Aahana as she kept her head in her father's lap.
Maharani. Samrat Yudhishthir wishes to meet you.
" I am coming out. Wait. " She said, getting up to go out. She kissed her daughter's forehead and looked at her husband. Time had made him old, weary, yet his youthful smile and those beautiful eyes never betrayed his love for her.
She walked out, spotting a very hyper Yudhishthir, standing by her camp.
" Come Samrat. We'll take a walk."
She held his hand and took him near the river.
" Jyeshtha. Life has been unusual these past few days. I -I had to lie to my own Gurudev. I tricked him. I can't do this anymore Jyeshtha. This war is demanding too much out of us. Our children deserve to go study, the elder ones need to get married yet they are stuck in a war. They -they are children Jyeshtha! Like we were." The evercalm Yudhishthir said, nearly losing all his patience. " Then, you decided to step onto that wretched field. How grievously you were injured. Jijashree was inconsolable and I didn't know what to do! You broke your promise! I can't-that scene-it haunts me Jyeshtha. You lying there it -" He shouted, standing up and grabbing the hair on his head in frustration.
"You looked so incredibly weak. We didn't know if you-you woul-would even make it through the night! Bheem had gone mad in worry, Arjun sat by , conflict evident on his face. Should he rejoice his son's life or worry about the near loss of his sister's? " He said, now sitting on his haunches, head in his hands.
Silently she got up and turned his head up, holding him in her arms.
It is said that a mother's hug solves every problem in the universe.
For those who don't have their mother, they have their elder sisters.
When your mother can't be there, you have your elder sister. That is what Karunika had become for all of them. Another mother.
She hugged him, gently rocking his body.
" Today, seeing Dushasan, I was to conflicted. On one side was my mind as a mata, who wouldn't bear it if someone had done this to Moksh, but on the other I was a woman who demanded her justice. Justice. What justice would it be without karuna. Then it is just law. We hadn't made any laws. We fight for ourselves. We fought for our lives, the lives of countless other children who would be born under Duryodhan's rule. We must fight now, not for us but for them. We must be strong. Strong enough to live with our scars from the battle so that our children never have to fight such wars anymore. Yudhishthir. Life is always a lie. It is a maya. Your lie was never a lie at all! You never tricked your Gurudev. You told him the truth. He never asked if the Aswhathamma that died was his son or not! " She said, consoling him, even as she herself cried.
" And what about you Jyeshtha? You did trick me. What about that? " He asked her, now angry.
" I never tricked you Yudhishthir." She answered back calmly, gauging his reaction.
" Why not? You never told me that you were going to fight. No indication at all. "
" Would you have allowed me to fight if I did? I may hold more power as your Jyeshtha, but you are my Samrat. I am only the Yuvrani. It would have become a Raj aadesh. Tell me. Would you have let me? " She asked, piercing gaze upon him.
" No. " He answered, answering hers and his own question.
" That's why. This is why I never told you. I never meant to hurt my own body to that extent. I am extremely sorry that you had to see me like that. But this is war. Kaal Bhairav jis jis ki aahuti maangenge, hum denge. Alright?"
" Ji Jyeshtha. "
" Now go. Wipe your tears and love your wife. She needs your love too. " She told him as he turned red and laughed.
_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_
As she returned back to her camp, she entered to see her daughter and her husband, sleeping. Aahana had left some space for her on one side and she carefully got in when.....
"Priye. We must talk. It's about Angraj Dandik. "
_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_
" So what you are saying is, Angraj Dandik.... Is Eklavya! " She said, confused, angry and worried, all at once.
" Yes priye. Keshav told me, that the day Guru Dron cut off his thumb, he started praying to Mahadev, going to extreme lengths to attain a boon. He worshipped him for five years and when Mahadev did appear he asked for his boon. "
" Which is what Arya? "
" He said, that since Guru Dron had made him someone who couldn't use his weapons all because of Arjun, he needs to have a chance at killing him. He couldn't do so in his life, so he said that he will die and shift souls with someone who had a similar situation. Courage and comptence but no class. Hence, his soul was transported to Angraj Dandik's body, when Angraj suffered an accident at the hands of fighting bulls in his village and had 'died'. " He told her, watching as she became shocked.
" But why -why you! What does he have with you? "
" His second boon, was that he found out how you stood up for him and his competence in front of Guru Dron, to the extent of taking a curse upon yourself so he wanted to be able to marry you in the future. But before he could say tathasthu, mata Lakshmi stopped him, saying it would be adharm to steal her daughter's right to marry. So she blessed him herself, saying that if at all in the future he proposed marriage to Karunika and you agreed, he could marry you, otherwise not. At the moment he deemed it acceptable and gave up his life. A few months later after the bull incident, Duryodhan saved him from a few high class men who seemed to trick him and then they became best of friends. "
" Wow. I - I don't know what to say. "
" There's more. "
" More? What more could there be? " She asked, now apprehensive.
" Well, when he couldn't marry you, he chose to make me a target for his fury. He yet again prayed to Mahadev, asking for another boon to compensate his loss. This time Mahadev was unable to make a loophole. He wished, that when he dies, he should lose his life in your lap. This time Mahadev could not do anything but agree to his boon. So he did. When Angraj Dandik dies by Arjun's hands, he will only lose his life when you keep his head in your-your-your lap and lose his life there. " Adam finished, wiping a stray tear off of his eyes.
" Arya! How can I do that! I never even stepped close to another man other than my brothers and you and that! That person! Who called me a harlot in front of the whole sabha. Who suggested I be disrobed simply because I didn't accept his marriage proposal! I would have to hold him as he dies? I can't do that! That would be betrayal. To you! My husband. I can't do that! I won't! " She said, standing up.
"But Priye! We won't have a choice. I don't like it either. But it is Mahadev's boon. You know we can't escape it right? " He said, hughing her as she cried into his arms. This was the biggest test of her life.
" That doesn't mean I have to like it Arya! "
" No it doesn't. Question is, will you still do it? For the good of Aryavart? " Keshav asked, walking upto the two of them....
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