~*~Meeting Our Long Lost Son~*~
After walking for few days, we reached at the river side of Payoshni. As per Rishivar, long time back, a very pious king, Maharaj Gaye, had conducted 7 Ashwamedh Yajanas at that place. Hence, taking bath in that river could free anyone from their sins. Hence, following his instructions, I along with my brothers and Kalyani took bath in the pious water of Payoshni. From there we went towards Vaidurya Mountains, which were located at the riverside of Narmada. Rishivar narrated us the tale of Great Sage Rishi Chyavan. We were moving towards the northern Himalayas, for as per Devarishi's direction, we were supposed to meet Arjuna at the hermitage of Badri [1].
As we were moving towards north, our journey was getting more and more difficult with each passing day. The routes had become rocky with significant slopes. Unlike the hills, we journeyed across the Dravida, the Himalayan mountains were very steep and extremely slippery. On top of that because of the instability of these mountains, landslides were quite frequent. Moreover, because of the high altitude, fruit trees were scanty in those areas. So, most of the time, we had to walk empty stomached before we could reach near a hermitage and arrange for meals for everyone. But Rishivar's amazing stories, which he narrated on the course of our journey, had kept us motivated and energized.
Walking like these for about one and half month, we had crossed mountains like Ushirbeej, Mainak and Kaalshail, and we were standing at the point from where we could view all the seven streams of river Ganga. From there we were supposed to ascend the Mandrachal Hill and Mount Kailash. Rishivar informed us that our next destinations, were habitats of many Demons, Kinnars and Yakshyas. They were extremely powerful and had the ability to even defeat Devraj Indra. Hence, in order to remain safeguarded against them, Rishivar asked us to remain extremely alert and careful.
Then Rishi Lomasha, joining his hands and addressing River Ganga, Mount Meru, Mata Shailputri, and all plants and animals, he prayed, "Maharaj Yudhishthira is a very respectable and pious king. In the current world destiny has chosen him for the reinstituting Dharma. So, I request all of you save him, his family, and his companions from all the dangers."
It had been so long since we started our journey with Rishi Lomasha, but never I had seen him so nervous. His tensed attitude clearly indicated me about the perils on the way ahead. I signalled Bheema, who was standing near Draupadi, to come aside. When we were outside the earshot of Draupadi, I spoke, "Anuj, you must have heard, what Rishivar has said about the path ahead.."
Bheem: "Jyeshth, I, myself, will be the worst danger for the one, whoever will try to endanger anyone of us."
Me: "I have complete belief on your strength and bravery but I am afraid that Draupadi might not be able to undertake such a rough journey. I am extremely concerned for her safety."
Bheem: "I am also worried about Panchali, but..."
Me: "That's why I have come with this proposal. I know you can keep her safe from everything. I want you, Panchali and Sahadev, along with our fellow Snataka Brahmans to descend to Haridwar and stay there and wait for us. Me, Nakul and Rishi Lomasha, only three of us shall go ahead and come back with Arjun."
Bheem: "Jyeshth, you know this very well Panchali had started off on this journey with the sole objective of meeting Arjun. Moreover, all of us, including you, are extremely eager to meet Arjun, then how can you tell us to stay back."
Me: "Anuj, I can feel the state of mind of all of you. But I am also concerned about the safety of all. There is no guarantee, if we can ever return from the journey, we are about to undertake. So, I must try to save as many of you as I can."
Bheem: "And what about your safety? How would we face Mata, if anything happens to you or Nakul?"
Suddenly, I ran out of words. Bheem continued, "Every step on the path ahead is full of life-threatening situations. How could we let you and Nakul walk on these paths alone while we wait here, in safety, at Haridwar."
I interrupted, "But Bheem, you must also think about Kalyani. That poor soul has already suffered a lot because of me."
"And by not taking me on the journey ahead, you will increase my sufferings by 10 times."
I was taken aback as soon as this new voice hit my ears drums. I turned around to see, Kalyani looking at us with daggers in her eyes. Before I could try to explain her anything, she came to me and said, "Aryaputra, I never knew that you took me to be a weakling. So far, the ultimate goal of meeting of Aryaputra Arjun at the end of this journey has kept me strong and motivated and now you propose to leave us here and wait for you all to return, like a man awaits his death, then sorry I reject your proposal."
Before I could say anything, Bheem said, "Panchali is right Jyeshth. And you don't worry. You yourself accepted that you have complete faith on my strength, then I promise you that, whenever Panchali, Nakul or Sahadev won't be able to walk or pass through any range of valley, I will carry them on my shoulders and back and make sure they remain safe."
I completely lost infront of their strong determination. In my heart, I prayed to that Almighty, to keep my Bheema, always happy and cheerful.
Then all of us cheerfully started on moving towards our next destination. After walking for one whole day, we reached at the outskirts of King Subahu's kingdom, Kulindraj. King Subahu was a dear friend of us. As soon as he got news about our arrival, he himself came near the outskirts to welcome us into his kingdom. He invited us to stay at his palace for quite a sometime before continuing our journey, but I had to reject his invitation. We were sentenced to exile for 12 years in forests, hence during that period we could not accept favours like this. However, some of the Snataka Brahmans and their families, who had been accompanying us since the beginning of our exile, were too fragile for our upcoming journey. So, after a lot of negotiation, they agreed to stay back at Kulindraj. King Subahu too agreed to take them under his care till we return from our journey.
As indicated by Rishivar, the journey towards Mandrachal Hills and Mount Kailash was not an easy one. At times we had halt at one place for days, without any food and water, due to bad weather conditions. Whenever it rained, the mountain slopes became extremely slippery. Hence, climbing such slopes took a lot longer time than usual. We four brothers and the sages, were quite habituated to this hardship of life, but I felt sorry for my Kalyani. She had always lived like a princess at Kampilya, then like queen at Indraprastha. Her feet, which were as soft and smooth as feathers, were meant to walk on roads covered with flowers and not these roads which were filled with thorns. Every time Bheem offered to carry her on his back while passing a difficult terrain, she would reject the offer and would rather walk on her own. She was perhaps even stubborn than me in few matters.
While moving ahead like this, we almost lost the count of time, but one thing I knew that almost 5 years had passed since, the last time I saw Arjun. As time passed, I was becoming restless to see my little brother. At times, under the death silence of the night, I used to express my grief and lament to Sahadev. Sahadev would always lighten up my soul the with supreme light of his knowledge.
Our bodies got freed from all the fatigue the moment we took bath into crystal clean water of River Alakananda. After walking for few more days, we reached at the foothills of Gandhamadan Mountains.
As soon as we reached there, we were welcomed by the fresh fragrances of herbs and flowers. After resting for one day, we started climbing the mountain. Unlike the scenes we had witnessed so far, since we started our journey of the northern mountain ranges, the scenic beauty of Gandhamadan mountains were completely different. The mountain range was covered with trees laden sweet and juicy fruits. The bushes were covered with berries and flowers.
But our happy moments were short lived. We had ascended only few meters when we witnessed a huge cyclone was approaching us. The sky suddenly got covered with black and grey clouds. The cyclone took the shape of a tornado. Because of high-speed winds, the entire atmosphere, which was scented with the fragrance of fresh flowers even few moments, got completely covered with dust. Even though it was day time, suddenly darkness, as dark as new moon night, swept across the entire region. The loud noise of thundering had almost blocked our eardrums.
Soon, it was becoming extremely difficult to even stand at our places. Also, the risk of getting injured due to flying boulders and uprooted trees had increased. Therefore, we as best as we could, hid ourselves behind the large rocks or inside the caves and kept waiting for storm to end.
No one knows for how many days we waited, but when we saw the first glimpses of sunlight after the storm, we came out of our hiding spots. Even though, due to the heavy destruction caused by the storm, the Gandhamadan Hills did not look as good it looked before the storm, but we felt extremely delighted to be able to see clear sky after such a long time. Without waiting for another moment, we started moving ahead in a much faster pace, for we wanted to cross these ranges of hills without facing another storm.
Initially I felt, all our hardships were over as the storm subsided, but what happened next made me realize that how wrong I was. I was walking ahead with Rishivar Lomasha, when I suddenly heard a commotion behind. As soon as I turned back to see the reason for such commotion, my heart seemed to stop for a moment and the ground seemed to slip under my feet.
My little brother Nakul, seated on the ground, was supporting the collapsed body of my Kalyani and was shaking her vigorously to rouse her up. I immediately rushed to her side and started calling her frantically, but her eyes remain shut. The moment I touched her cheeks to wake her up, I flinched for her body was burning like hot coals. I raised my eyes to look at Nakul only to realize that Nakul had known since long time about Panchali's fever. Looking at my questioning gaze he replied, "She forbade to inform anyone about her ill health. She did not want everyone to get worried for her."
My heart got completely shattered. The pious lady, who was raised as lovingly as flower by Maharaj Drupad is now falling on the ground like this, and the only person who can be held responsible for her such miserable condition is me. But right then lamenting on my past actions would not have made any changes. So, I ,suppressing all my emotions aside, said to Nakul and Sahadev, "Anujo fortunately we are at the Gandhamadan Hills. These hills are abode to multiple kinds of medicinal herbs. I want both of you to immediately go and look for some herbs to cure her, and until Kalyani gets fine, we shall not move further." Then turning towards Bheem, I said, "Bheem, can you please get some timber and food items from the forest."
All three of my brothers went out to carry out the respective responsibility assigned to them, while I stayed with Kalyani and kept giving her cold compressions to lower her temperature.
With the help of Nakul's excellent medications, Kalyani regained consciousness after sunset but hardship of such long and strenuous journey had weakened her.
That night, after serving meals to all the sages, brahmans, and my brothers, I brought some light food for her. Because of fever, the food seemed tasteless to her and she kept throwing tantrums like a baby. Last time I saw her like this when she was pregnant with our youngest child, Suthanu. Fever has perhaps made her quite delusional, for I knew that in right state on mind Kalyani, would not throw tantrums like this on me, after the dice game incident. But for that one night, I wanted to forget everything and relive the memories of those old days once again.
After spending around 2/3rd of a prahar, I was able to feed her something to replenish her strength. That night, she slept with her head on my lap and I kept caressing her open hair. That feeling was like a déjà vu to me. I stayed up whole night, for I did not want to miss any moment of this short yet blissful time.
By next morning, we started off with a new enthusiasm and zeal. After walking for few more weeks, finally we were able to cross several peaks of Gandhamadan hills and we were standing at the base of the last peak, on top of which Badrikashrama was supposed to be situated. Unlike, the other peaks, this peak was much steeper and had deep crevices in between. In simple terms, climbing this peak was indeed life-threatening task.
The strenuous trekking on Gandhamadan hills since last few weeks has taken a good tole on us. My limbs were aching severely. My lungs felt as if they were burning due to lack of oxygen. My vision had become slightly blurry and my head felt as if it was going to burst any moment due to pain.
Rishivar Lomasha said, pointing at the peak ahead of us, "Maharaj, as you can see Badrikashrama is located on top of this peak. We will have to walk only for 10 days more to reach there." For the first time in my life, I felt like giving up. Due to extreme weakness, I dropped on the ground on my knees. Bheem, Nakul and Sahadev immediately rushed to support me. I said, "Anujo, I cannot walk another step. Even if I rest a complete day here and start walking tomorrow, I am afraid if I will be able to survive to see Arjun again in this life." I was feeling as if my vision was getting dark with every passing moment. Had I not been surrounded by my brothers; I was sure my body would have touched the ground by then.
I was almost giving up to my exhaustion, when I heard Bheem's voice, "Jyeshth, I have a way through which we can easily reach the peak of this mountain without any effort." I looked at him with a questioning gaze. He closed his eyes and started muttering something which I could not hear. After few moments the rustling sound was heard and soon a large group of Giant Demons, headed by my nephew Ghatotkacha, was standing infront of us.
The delight of meeting my little plump nephew after such a long time was something which I could never express in words. Keeping all my exhaustion aside, I rose on my feet and embraced my lovely nephew in tight hug. Being the first born of our family, he was more like a son to me. One by one he took everyone's blessings. Though Draupadi met Ghatotkacha for the first time, but the way she embraced him felt as if she had known him since ages. Perhaps this was the power of a mother, who does not know to distinguish between any of her sons.
Then, he went towards Bheem and asked, "Father, please tell me how can your son serve you. You have summoned me in such haste, there must be some reason."
Bheem replied, "Son, we have encountered a very big problem and now only you can help us. We must reach the top of this mountain peak to meet your Kakashree Arjun, but none of us is physically fit to climb up this peak."
Ghatotkacha replied, "Father, you should have summoned me earlier, then you all would not had to take so much pain. Don't worry, me and my group will carry all of you and fly you to the Badrikashrama. I will carry Tatshree and Mata Draupadi and my team will carry the rest of you."
Just as he said, Ghatotkacha, very securely, carried me and Draupadi in his arms and his team carried the rest. Within a blink of an eye, we were flying across wind among the clouds. That day, for the first time I saw, how birds see this world from the top. After flying for few moments, the Badrikashrama was visible infront of us. The journey to the Badrikashrama, which would have taken more than 10 days had we gone by foot, took less than even a prahar and we were all standing safe and secure infront the hermitage.
Though, the exile was full hardships and misery, but it was not always bad. Because of this exile we had chance to meet so many great sages like Rishi Brihadashva, Rishi Lomasha, Rishi Agastya, etc. and obtain their blessings. This exile caused us to meet our long-lost son Ghatotkacha once again. After all every coin has two sides, it depends on us as to which side we want to see.
Author's Note:
[1] – The present day Badrinath Dham, which is located at the extreme Northern Boundaries of Uttarakhand.
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