Capturing the cattle of Matsya

After the death of Kichaka, the kingdom of Matsya is deemed to have become weaker. Susharma, king of the rival kingdom of Trigarta, sees this as an opportunity.

CHENNAI : After the death of Kichaka, the kingdom of Matsya is deemed to have become weaker. Susharma, king of the rival kingdom of Trigarta, sees this as an opportunity. He enters into an alliance with the Kurus of Hastinapura and encourages them to raid the kingdom of Matsya with him. The riches of Matsya are indeed attractive for Duryodhana and the others. Especially attractive is the idea of capturing the cattle of Matsya. Duryodhana thus asks Susharma to proceed with the raids and promises to follow a day later.

The text clarifies that for Hastinapur this initiative is at the cost of intensifying already-existing espionage operations to find the Pandavas. Karna, noting the opportunity in Matsya as more profitable than exerting to make the Pandavas’ repeat their twelve years of exile, even surmises that the Pandavas are dead. Little do Karna and the Kauravas know that their search for riches will, in fact, take them in close proximity to their rivals.

When Virata, the king of Matsya, learns about the raids on his cowsheds, he prepares for war with his brothers. He instructs his younger brother Shatanika to arm four members of his palace: the Pandavas in disguise (save Arjuna). Other than Bhima, who has wrestled for the king in gladiatorial tournaments, it isn’t apparent how king Virata knows of the combat capabilities of these commoners.

A bloody battle ensues: it is described in particularly ghastly details in the text (“severed heads could be seen, covered with dust, with mangled lips, but the noses intact…”). The battle is so fierce that it causes a dust storm that brings on a total darkness, forcing the warring parties to pause till the moon is out. After the battle resumes in the night, Virata is captured by Susharma.

Seeing the panic in the Matsya forces after the capture of their king, Yudhisthira tasks Bhima with freeing the king from Susharma’s clutches. But Bhima is not to use his regular style of uprooting a tree and driving away the enemies using that: if he shows his superhuman strength, Bhima will jeopardise his disguise. Eventually, with nothing more than the use of common weapons, Bhima, Nakul, and Sahadeva are able to defeat Susharma and free Virata. All the captured cattle and other riches are also retrieved. At the battlefield itself, Virata elevates the four Pandavas to the status of lords. Back in the Matsya palace, another cowherd reports of raids in a different part of the kingdom.

These are the raids carried out by the Kuru forces a day after Susharma’s attack. Matsya’s son, Uttar, perhaps in order to impress the women of the palace, announces that he will go out and vanquish the Kurus if only he finds a good charioteer to hold his steed. Draupadi, disguised as Sairandhari, advises Uttar to take the eunuch Brihannada (Arjuna), as his charioteer.Circumstances are thus created for a great battle, one potentially pitching Arjuna against all the big names from the Kaurava clan.

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