During the Pandavas’ exile, Draupadi is not the only one who urges Yudhistira to take swift action against Duryodhana and wrest the kingdom back from the Kauravas. Bhima also gets into a protracted conversation with Yudhistira, emphasising the propriety of decisive action over a sterile upkeep of the way of dharma.
The conversation between Bhima and Yudhistira takes place after more than a year of exile. There is news of the Kauravas forming new alliances, especially with rulers who had earlier been oppressed by the Pandavas in their quest for the rajasuya sacrifice. This definitely brings an element of heightened risk—as the Pandavas’ enemies increase in number, so reduces the probability of them surviving the 13th year of forest life anonymously.
The network of spies and informants shall be larger; there shall be more people interested in their capture. But these practical difficulties are not the only things troubling Bhima’s mind. He is irritated, quite like Draupadi, by his elder brother’s attitude of gentleness, and his persistence with notions of dharma.
Bhima begins by chiding Yudhistira for being obsessive about dharma (ethical conduct), at the cost of the other imperatives: artha (profit, possessions) and kama (pleasure). A particularly profound line sums up Bhima’s point of view: “A man who always resorts to dharma follows weak dharma.”
This suggests that the three imperatives are not independently sufficient, and the attainment of each is necessary and routed via the others. To be more specific: in Bhima’s eyes, ethical conduct isn’t helped too much by obsessive cogitation over what is and what is not ethical conduct, for then, nothing is really being conducted. In confounding matters, it is perhaps prudent to follow what the other imperatives demand. Rather than an ethical inertia, it is preferable to pursue material possessions, or even pleasure. “No one has won the world with only dharma in his soul,” Bhima also says.
Yudhistira shouldn’t have needed reminding that he was once a world-winner, and that his own quest ought to be to regain with haste all that he has lost to his cousins. When Yudhistira suggests that the outcome of their current predicament shall be in their favour, but only in the 14th year, Bhima reminds his elder brother of the folly of mistaking Time (with a capital T) for a strategy. Bhima points out that Time also means mortality. Why should the Pandavas regain their kingdom only after they are 13 years closer to their deaths.
Why should these years be wasted? If a war is certain, why not have it right now?
Yudhistira then reveals that he got into the dice game because he was pursuing artha: “I took up the dice with a desire to take away the sovereignty and kingdom of Dhritrashtra’s son.” This registers almost like a confession, and immediately explains how, in his repentance, Yudhistira might be more concerned with dharma than artha. Also, he isn’t certain that the Pandavas will triumph over the Kauravas in the field of battle.
Tanuj Solanki
Twitter@tanujsolanki
The writer is reading the unabridged Mahabharata