When a game of tactics and dice seals Pandava fates

After Draupadi’s humiliation in the Kaurava sabha, Dhritarashtra mitigates some of the tension by granting her husbands their freedom, and also restoring the Pandavas’ kingdom and riches.

After Draupadi’s humiliation in the Kaurava sabha, Dhritarashtra mitigates some of the tension by granting her husbands their freedom, and also restoring the Pandavas’ kingdom and riches. But this pacification comes too late, for by then, Bhima has already taken the vow to kill Duhshasana and Duryodhana.

Fearing that they are not ready for an immediate war, the Kauravas approach Dhritarashtra and demand that he call the Pandavas back for one last roll of the dice. Shakuni’s proposal is to stake a 12-year stay in the jungle, followed by another year spent in compulsory disguise. Dhritarashtra, forever partial to his sons, agrees to this. And thus the Pandavas are called back to the sabha for one last roll of the dice. Even then, Yudhistira doesn’t decline the challenge.

The inevitable happens, and the Pandavas are asked to be exiled. But that there will be a war in the 14th year is a conclusion beyond doubt now. All the Pandavas, save Yudhistira, pledge it: added to Bhima vows is Arjuna’s pledge to kill Karna and Sahadeva’s pledge to kill Shakuni.

If one thinks tactically, the exile of the Pandavas is a better move for the Kauravas than the mere appropriation of their property. Making the Pandavas poor would not have made them lose their alliances with the Yadava kings (even if Krishna had decided to be neutral) and king Drupada. An immediate war would have ensued.

This is why Dhritarastra’s generosity to the Pandavas after their losses in the first dice tournament is a good thing for the Kauravas —it grants them a moment to step back from their inebriation with an illusory victory and rethink their tactics. The bone-chilling howls of Bhima, baying for Duhshasana’s blood, would have helped too. They at least explain why it is Duhshasana who goes to Dhritarashtra with the proposal of one last roll of dice with exile at stake.

The Pandava exile defers the war, granting the Kauravas two critical advantages. First, they have twelve years to consolidate their position and to renegotiate their alliances. Indraprastha, once assumes, will come into their direct command. But the most critical aspect might be the time it grants them to break some of the Yadava kings in their favour. The second advantage is through the possibility of running a manhunt in the 13th year and defer the war by a further 12 years — an outcome that would, inevitably, crush any chances of a Pandava comeback.

Duhshasana is villainous, though, and wants the best of both outcomes. When the Pandavas prepare to leave, he offers Draupadi to abandon them and choose someone among the Kauravas as her husband. Draupadi, angry beyond measure, curses the entire Kaurava clan, announcing that in the 14th year from now, the royal women will weep as all the men and their sons will be vanished from the face of the earth.
Given Draupadi’s origin story, her status of being born from a fire, her words are taken as prophecy.

Tanuj Solanki

Twitter@tanujsolanki

The writer is reading the unabridged Mahabharata

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