In my last article, I argued that Karna’s submission of tribute to Bhima was a hint that the Pandavas’ conquest campaigns, aimed at securing Yudhistira’s claim of being an emperor, were in fact being made in the joint name of the Kuru family. This explains why none of the Pandavas are shown to be demanding Duryodhana to accept Yudhistira as sovereign.
As we approach Yudhistira’s rajasuya sacrifice, it helps to remember that the Pandavas and Kauravas have had almost fifteen years of peaceful coexistence now. Naturally, all the prominent men in Hastinapura are invited for the sacrifice in Indraprastha, and the cousins are given key responsibilities. Duhshasana, for example, is in charge of food and other objects of pleasure.
Duryodhana is in charge of receiving the tribute brought for Yudhistira. Readers who only know the Mahabharata through television serials shall find this image of Duryodhana and Duhshasana, as eager-to-help cousins at a grand party, difficult to conjure. But the abridged view is perhaps not so bad, for we soon learn that Duryodhana’s act is put-on, and that he is being eaten alive by envy.
The events at the sacrifice pan out such that the supremacy of the Kuru family is reasserted on all the kings of the world, along with a special emphasis on the family’s rock-solid alliance with Krishna and his concomitant Yadavas. What sort of supremacy have the Kurus achieved, though, if, just before beginning the sacrifice, Yudhistira finds it necessary to ask for Krishna’s permission? The strongest argument for this, even in the text, is Krishna’s divinity. Krishna is not only a relative of the family; he is, quite simply, God. This assertion is politically charged, for almost no other royal family or king agrees with this view of Krishna.
When the first offering from Yudhistira’s rajasuya sacrifice is made to Krishna, Shishupala—king of Chedi, and a relative of the erstwhile king of Magadha, Jarasandha (killed by Bhima as per Krishna’s plan) - raises questions of the propriety of the gesture. According to Shishupala, it is adharma to make the first offering to Krishna before his own father, Vasudeva; or before Drupada, who ensures the welfare of the Pandavas; or before Drona, who is the Pandavas’ preceptor; or before Dvaipayana, who is the sacrificial priest for the rajasuya.
His logic cannot be argued against, unless one claims that Krishna is divine and therefore has the first right over the offerings. Bhishma provides this explanation, but Shishupala rejects it and starts what can only be called a contest of insults. My favorite is when he ridicules Bhishma by saying: “With you at the forefront, it is but natural that the Kouravas should be like a boat tied to a boat”. Krishna eventually kills Shishupala with the sudarshana chakra. A great energy exits the corpse and merges into Krishna. The graphic event proves Krishna’s divinity to the kings, and validates the Kurus’ treatment of him.