~*~Bidding Farewell~*~

1 years ago

Astraea

@Astraea1306

[In reference to this chapter, I have assumed that the following oaths have already been taken at the Dyut Sabha:

1. Bheem pledged that after 14 years, in the battle field , he will rip apart those hands of Dusshashan, with which he tried to disrobe their dear wife Panchali. He will also tear open Dusshashan's chest and drink his life blood like a lion to extinguish the fire blazing in his heart. He further pledged to break those thigh of Duryodhan, on which he invited Draupadi to sit.

2. Arjun pledged that he will slay Karna and will punish his wicked tongue which dared to call their dear wife, a whore.

3. Sahadev pledged to kill the brain of all these conspiracies, Shakuni in the battle field in the most treacherous manner possible.

4. Draupadi pledged that she will keep her long hair disheveled and will not tie them until and unless someone brings Dusshashan's life blood to clean the dirt of insult and humiliation from her hair.]

~~~~~

Before setting off on our long journey,  I considered it's our responsibility to seek blessings from our Pitamaha, Taatshree, Guru Dron, Kulguru Krip, and Uncle Vidur, who were not only our elders but also our well wishers. I agree that all these people, except Kakashree Vidur, stayed mum while Duryodhan and his gang humiliated my brothers and my wife in the most inhuman manner infront of the whole Rajsabha; but these were the people whom I have idealized since my father passed away. I could not misbehave with them. So, I along with my brothers, our dear wife Panchali, and our mother, went to Hastinapur to bid our farewell. 

Also, I was not willing to let mother accompany us in this hard phase of life. I could not compromise with her health and wellbeing at such an old age. So, I decided to leave her at the Kakashree Vidur's residence, where I knew she would be safe and comfortable.  That was another reason for us to visit Hastinapur.

When we reached the Rajsabha of Hastinapur, our everyone's (except those four) eyes were glistening with tears. We went to each one of them to seek their blessings. All of them were so ashamed of themselves that they were not able to look to us. Even, I was unable to raise my eyes, but I could very well perceive whatever was going around me. 

Then, I went to Uncle Vidur and sought his blessings. He was ill-reputed for having a bitter speech, for being able to speak harshest truth with utmost ease, but I was always fond of him. He understood me the most among everyone in the family. Before I could say anything he, himself proposed the idea, "Dear Yudhishthira, I think its not fit for Bhabhishree to accompany you all into the woods. Look at her delicate health and her old age. Your father Pandu was like my own  brother. In this context, Bhabhishree is very respectable as well as very dear to me. If you don't mind, I will propose to let her stay at my residence and give me and my wife the fortune to be at her service."

Before I could reply, Dusshashan, pretending to be humble, said, "If Bharatashree allows, I want to be at service at Chhoti Ma." 

Bheem snapped him by with growl. "Don't you dare to call my mother with that wicked mouth of yours. I don't want to become indebted to you. If I become indebted to you, then it will be very difficult for me tear apart your chest to take your lifeblood for my dear Panchali's hair." 

Anyone can understand that Bheem's oath has indeed instilled fear in the heart of Dusshashan.

Finally it was decided that mother will stay at Kakashree Vidur's place. He advised all of us to stay united. He further gave instructions with respect to routes we may follow during these 13 years and Sages whose blessings and teachings we need to obtain to strive through this long journey and life thereafter. Then he wished us of good health and prayed for us to return whole and safe.

Then, we went to seek blessing from mother. She was weeping and sobbing. The mere thought of separation from her sons  for such a long period was making her weaker with every passing moment. 

To refresh her mood, Nakul said, "Mother, one thought has really tensed me, now who will look after sharing our food so that we four brothers can also have something in the presence of majhle bhaiya (Bheem)." All of us broke into a soft giggle even at the time such distress. 

My mother blessed Draupadi with good fortune and asked her in soft tearful voice, "Dear, you are more like daughter to me. I know you are capable of taking care of all my sons, but do take care of yourself too. Please look after my dear Sahadev the most, he is youngest among everyone and forgets to take care of himself."  For the last time, before our departure, we all the brothers shared common hug with our mother, as we used to since our childhood days.

After releasing from the hug I could feel mother's eyes gazing at me, yet I could not raise my eyes to look at her. It felt as if she was trying to sooth my burning heart and soul. Before leaving I asked, one of my brothers to blindfold me. They were quite taken aback, yet Sahadev complied with it. Then we all left for our exile.

~~~~~*****~~~~~

Dhritarashtra's POV:

I got to know from Sanjay, my charioteer, about the unusual ways in which my dear Panduputra left for exile. This made me very anxious. I immediately called upon my knowledgeable brother, Vidur, to ask him about it. He clarified the reasons thereof as under: 

Yudhishthira, despite being robbed of his kingdom, wealth has not yet left the path of virtue. His heart was furiously burning with wrath inside. Due to his yog abilities, his single glance can turn this whole Hastinapur into ash. In order to avoid such havoc, he blindfolded himself.

Bheem went while swinging his arms to show his enemies the sheer power of his strength which will send them to the abode of Yama.

Arjun went while spreading sand all around to signify how he will bring down the rain arrows on his enemies when he will meet them at the battle field at the end of these 13 years. 

Nakul and Sahadev went covering their faces with dirt to avoid showing their distressed faces to their enemies.

And Draupadi went covering her face with her disheveled hair and weeping and sobbing, showing the plight of all those women, whose husbands have done so wrong with her.

After listening to Vidur's clarification, my heart was damn scared for my sons. 

~~~~~*****~~~~~

When we reached the outskirts of Hastinapur, my wrath was somewhat tamed, hence I removed the blind fold and realized that almost entire population of Hastinapur and Indraprastha had accompanied us to the forest. I was aware about the hardships, me and my family, will be going to face. It tormented me to let my people suffer with us the hard forest life. So, I started convincing them to stay back in the town. But, they were adamant and were not ready to leave us. I was overwhelmed to see their love towards me despite the sins I committed towards them. 

But, I knew I had to stop them from following us into the woods, so I tried to make them understand for the last time.

"My dear  citizens, the love and respect you all have bestowed on me is way more than I deserve. I know you want to live with us the, hard life in the woods. But as a king, I will be extremely anguished to see you all suffer. Currently, our family members at Hastinapur are in deep grief due to our separation. I request you all, to please return to the town and ensure to keep our family there safe and happy." 

Almost all the citizens, except few snatak brahmans and their families, disheartendly agreed return to the town. 

The sun has set and it was almost dark when we reached the banks of river Ganga near the mighty banyan tree Pramana. It was quite risky to venture into the woods in the dark, so we decided to stay there for that night. Me, along with my brothers went into the river to bath and purify ourselves. 

We left our kingdom emptyhanded. We literally had nothing other than our simple clothes, our weapons and our grief. For the first time since our marriage with Panchali, we had nothing to feed ourselves or the Brahmans accompanying us. 

I watched everyone around me, including my brother Bheem, who cannot bear hunger even for a blink of an eye, drinking water alone as their sole sustenance. These scenes tormented my soul. My chest felt constricted. I felt as if my soul was getting ripped apart from the body. I wanted to scream out and let out all my pain. I wanted to hug my little brothers and cry my heart out. I wanted to seek solace in the arms of my dear wife Draupadi. But my misjudgments have led me to lose all such rights.

As night progressed, the banks of the river started echoing with the hymns chanted by those Snatak Brahmans. With numerous thoughts swirling in my mind, I was sitting at the roots of Pramana, when I felt that someone took hold of my hands. I raised my eyes and realized that, Nakul, holding a fire torch, was looking at my swollen, red, blistered palms which were also bleeding at few places. I almost forgot about them this entire time. Even if I remembered, I would not have taken any care for them. What is the use of such punishment which does not cause any pain? 

I lowered my eyelids and tried to remove my hands from his grip but it made his grip firmer. His startled and distressed face clearly showed his love for me. 

He left my hand and went away only to return back a few moments later. This time he was carrying a vessel (made out of leaves) carrying water, a small earthen pot, few medicinal leaves and and a piece of cloth, tore from his angavastra. 

He kneeled infront of me and took my hands to wash away all the dirt, blood and pus. The moment water touched my blistered hands, I felt a stinging pain and unconsciously, a small hisssss... escaped my lips. Nakul immediately looked at me. I realized his eyes were glassy. Then, he took the earthen pot, which contained some celestial salve, and applied it  in a gentler manner all over my palms. I could feel immediate relief from the stinging pain. Finally, he took those leaves and bandaged them around my hands with the help of that piece of cloth. In a similar manner he attended to the wounds under sole of my feet, caused due to walking on the thorny paths barefooted while being blindfolded. After treating my wounds, he got up and went away without saying a word. 

His touch really had some magic that all my pain just vanished. After all he was the son of great Ashwini Kumar and was an amazing physician. I thanked my good fortune for having a little brother like him who still loved me so much  and despised my action which has turned my fun loving little brother into a gloomy person. It refreshened the scene at the Dyut Sabha, when he volunteered to be staked against Vikarna. 

That night marked the beginning of all my sleepless nights.

~~~~~*****~~~~~

Nakul's POV:

That night at the bank of Ganga was very disturbing. The happenings of the day kept flashing infront of my eyes. At once my trance got broken with the memory of an incident and unintentionally, a sigh left out my lips, "JYESHTH!!". 

Immediately, I got up, took a fire torch and started moving towards the roots of Pramana, where Jyeshth was sitting. I have never seen him so unmindful that he could not even register my presence. Silently I  took hold of his and placed them under the light of fire torch to examine. 

Mentally, I was not ready to see  what I was watching. His soft golden hued hands were swollen and red. They were covered with blisters. Traces of blood could also be seen due to lack of care. Also, his body felt quite warm which indicated that the wound got  slightly infected. The sight infront of me brought tears into my eyes. 

My medical instincts told me that the wound needs to taken as soon as possible, otherwise it may turn fatal. So, I left his hand and went away.  Just near that place, there was small garden which was an abode of many medicinal herbs. I collected few medicinal leaves, pure water of Ganga and tore a part of my angavastra to substitute for bandage. I also summoned the earthen pot containing celestial salve, which was a gift from my Godfather. I returned back to my Jyeshth.

While washing his hands in water, I heard a whispered yet sharp cry immediately left his mouth. I looked up at him and wondered, how he could endure so much pain, while carrying a calm and composed face.

Once I was done with bandaging his hands, my eyes fell upon his feet which were smeared with blood. Very carefully, I lifted his foot and witnessed that his sole was punctured at innumerable places with thorns and due to exertion of force, blood was oozing out. I treated those wounds too and left from there silently without uttering a word.

I was not angry with Jyeshth but was crestfallen with him. I still could not believe that the most righteous man in this whole Aryavarth, my Jyeshth, staked us, himself and even our wife Panchali in the game of dice. But that does not meant that I did not love him. I still could not see him suffer him alone.

My Jyeshth always had this bad habit of suppressing his pains and troubles for the sake of others. During our childhood days, whenever any of us came down with fever, or any injury or felt unwell, Jyeshth would not leave our bedsides until he nursed back us to our good health. However, with respect to his own injuries and illness, he never uttered a single word until any of our mothers, father or any of us found out. 

I can clearly remember that one incident during our stay at Shathasringa forest.

*****

##Flashback##

Me and Sahadev were around 10, Bhrata Arjun was 11, Bhrata Bheem was 12, and Jyeshth was 13 years old. It was around noon time of a hot summer day. We were done with our morning lectures and were playing near a huge mango tree. The tree was full of delicious ripened mangoes. Bhrata Bheem had already climbed up the tree to devour on those sweet fruits. Bhrata Arjun, holding a catapult, was hitting the ripened mangoes and Sahadev was catching them before they landed on earth.

I was always a close companion of Bhrata Bheem, so I was getting ready to climb on the tree. Jyeshth, being the careful one, was helping me out by pointing where to put my foot. At one point I was about to set my right foot on a branch, when I saw Jyeshth, immediately placed his right palm in upturned position on that branch and asked me to step on his palms to avoid getting hurt. I obeyed him and soon reached the branch where Bhrata Bheem was sitting.

We all played there for around next 1/6th prahar [Authors note: 1 prahar = 3 hours, so 1/6th prahar = 30 mins] while Jyeshth (after forbidding us to go anywhere) went to a near by stream to quench his thirst. As soon as he returned, Bhrata Bheem climbed down the tree and announced, "Brothers, now its almost lunch time. Lets go back now. We can come here again tomorrow."

Bhrata Bheem never forgot about lunch time. I too followed him down and asked, "But Bhrata, you just had so many mangoes, will you be able to eat the malpua and kheer so soon."

Bhrata Bheem took me in his tight side hug and said, "Little brother, I agree that these mangoes were too delicious, but these taste nothing infront of the kheer made by mother Kunti and malpua made by mother Madri. I can eat them even if I have eaten all the foods of this world." We all looked at him surprised and then broke into a loud laughter.

While returning, we all were almost running but Jyeshth was walking a bit slowly behind all of us. From time to time he was also wiping out his sweat with his angavastra. In next 1/6th prahar, we reached our kutir and went inside after washing our hands and feet. Mother Kunti was already waiting for us to serve our lunch.

It was our everyday practise, our three elder brothers use to eat on their own and mother Kunti use to feed me and Sahadev by her own hands. This day was also no different. We were very excited to complete our lunch as soon as possible because mother Madri has promised all five of us that she would be telling us the story of Hanuman.

We were eating quite enthusiastically, when suddenly a loud thud was heard followed by a loud shriek of mother Madri, "PUTRA!!!"

We all looked at mother Madri, who was standing at the gateway of our kutir. We followed her line of gaze to see........

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Our Jyeshth had collapsed in his place and was lying down with his eyes closed.