MAHA BARATHAM 3- NANGANALLUR J K SIVAN
Everyone has some weakness. The Pandava emperor Yudhishthira, loved the game of dice and gambling though he was not an expert in it. It was capitalised by Dhuryodhana, and Yudhishtra was challenged at an evil hour to play dice with Shakuni, the crafty gambler and the evil genius of Duryodhana.
It was customary pracatice in ancient India, to accept at any price, if one is challenged to uphold his honour. So when Yudhishtra was challenged to play dice, it was a point of honour for him to play. King Yudhishthira, was in fact an incarnation of all virtues and earned the name Dharmaputhra, A great sage-king, he was, he had to accept the challenge . Knowing this the evil Shakuni and his party had made false dice. So Yudhishthira lost game after game, and stung with his losses, he went on with the fatal game, staking everything he had, and losing all, until all his possessions, his kingdom and everything, were lost.
At the last stage, when further challenged, Yudhishtra had no other resources left but to stake his own four brothers, and then himself, and last of all, the fair Draupadi, and lost everything. So now the mighty Pandavas were completely at the mercy of the Kauravas headed by Dhuryodhana, who cast all sorts of insults upon them, and subjected Draupadi to most inhuman treatment in the open court.
At last through the intervention of the blind king, they got their liberty, and were asked to return home and rule their kingdom. But Duryodhana saw the danger and forced his father to allow one more throw of the dice in which the party which would lose, should retire to the forests for twelve years, and then live unrecognised in a city for one year; but if they were found out, the same term of exile should have to be undergone once again and then only the kingdom was to be restored to the exiled.
Playing dice in this last game also, Yudhishthira lost, and the five Pandava brothers retired to the forests with Draupadi, as homeless exiles. They lived in the forests and mountains for twelve years. There they performed many deeds of virtue and valour, and would go out now and then on a long round of pilgrimages, visiting many holy places.
The stories of Mahabharatha are very interesting and instructive, and various are the incidents, tales, and legends with which this great epoic is replete. When the Pandavas were in exile many great sages, Rishis, visited them and narrated to them many telling stories of ancient India. It reduced the burden faced by the Pandavas. They were told the story of Savithri and Sathyavan by a Rishi and it is a very interesting story,which goes like this;
There was once a king named Ashvapathi, who had a beautiful daughter called Sâvitri. It is a holy name of goddess we pray every morning while doing Sandhyavandhanam. When the princess Savitri grew old enough, Aswapathi asked her to choose a husband for herself. in the ancient Bharath, it was a custom in royal families and the princesses were very independent to chose their own princely suitors.
Savitri happily travelled in distant regions, mounted in a golden chariot, with her guards and aged courtiers. She stopped at different courts, and seeing different princes, but was not satisfied with any of them. They happened to visit a holy hermitage in a forest. In the olden days the animals birds and fish in the pond were all so friendly with the loving sages and they all lived in peace love and friendship. Many kings who deserted their kingdom too lived in forests along with the rishis, in utter peace.
Now it happened that there was a king, named Dyumatsena, who was defeated by his enemies and was deprived of his kingdom when he was struck with age and had lost his sight. This poor, old, blind king, with his queen and his son, Sathyavan, took refuge in the forest and passed his life in rigid penance.
Savitri at last came to this hermitage, Asrama, and wanted to pay homage to the sages living in it. Whenever kings passed by such hermitages they would visit the Rishis and pay their respects, and receive blessings in return.
So Savitri came to this hermitage and saw there Satyavan, the hermit’s son, and her heart was conquered. She had escaped all the princes of the palaces and the courts, but here in the forest-refuge of King Dyumatsena, his son, Satyavan, stole her heart.
When Savitri returned to her father Aswapathi’s palace after the tour, the king asked her “Savitri, dear daughter, speak. Did you see anybody whom you would like to marry ” “Yes, pa.” “What is the name of the prince?” “He is no prince, but the son of King Dyumatsena who has lost his kingdom — a prince without a patrimony, who lives a monastic life, the life of a sage, rishi, in a forest, collecting roots and herbs, helping and feeding his old father and mother, who live in a cottage.”
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