~*~ The Serpent's Questions~*~

7 months ago

Astraea

@Astraea1306

With quick steps, I strode towards Bheem. My mind was bursting with thousand of questions. As soon as I reached there, worriedly, I shot my questions at Bheem, "Anuj!! What is this? How did you get into this situation?"

Bheem looked at me helplessly. Never had I seen Bheem so fatigued and powerless. On seeing me, when he called me 'Jyeshth', I noticed that he wasn't scared, rather he was depressed for being unable to fulfil his promises and vows. In a dejected tone he said, "I am thankful to God that he has sent you to me. I have seen you, now I can peacefully close my eyes forever."

I cannot explain how I felt when I heard those words. It seemed as if someone had pierced a hot iron rod into my heart. After all, how could a father be at peace, hearing his son talking about death. It's true that I was elder brother to them, but after father's death, I had raised them as a father raises his sons.

Bheem continued and narrated the entire incident as to how he got trapped by the serpent, the serpent's introduction and serpent's further plan with respect to devouring him.

The serpent seemed to be a noble one, for the entire time Bheem narrated the incident, it did not interrupt us even for once. Suddenly the name of the serpent, as mentioned by Bheem, 'Nahusha' felt like a lightening on my memory. I asked myself, 'Wasn't Nahusha a name of one of our ancestors?' I immediately remembered about Kulguru Kripacharya's lessons about rulers of Chandravansh[1]. Guru ji had said, "Nahusha was the most powerful ruler of Chandravansh. He was the son-in-law of Lord Shiva, for he was married to the daughter of Lord Shiva and Mata Parvati, Devi Ashoksundari. His prowess as a ruler had been matched by only Chakravarthi Samrat Bharat." I chose to confirm about this from the serpent.

I questioned, "O Great Serpent!! Are you the same Nahusha, who was once a great Chandravanshi ruler?"

The serpent replied, "Yes, when I was a human, I was one of the greatest rulers of Chandravansh, Samrat Nahusha. But my own deeds have brought me to this condition. Who are you and how do you know about me?"

Immediately, I prostrated in front the giant creature. I introduced myself, "I am Yudhishthira, son of Chakravarthi Samrat Pandu. I also belong to the same dynasty as you." The serpent eyes shined. It said, "Okay, so both of you are my descendants. But I am very sorry to say that you would have to bade farewell to this brother of yours, for I am going to devour him soon. I also advise you to go away from here as soon as you can, otherwise, you will too end up being my meal."

I tried to negotiate, "O invincible one, I request you to please spare my brother's life. In return I can do anything for you."

"Wise king, I have been starving since many days, and today I have caught your brother as my prey. Forgive me, I cannot spare your brother. In fact, this body of mine is whispering me to eat you too but perhaps a portion of noble soul of Nahusha, still embedded in me, is telling me to let you go.", The snake said, denying my request. 

My heart, mind and soul just said one thing 'save Bheem, no matter whatever it takes....'

"THEN I OFFER MYSELF AS YOUR MEAL!! In exchange, please let my brother go.", I offered.

Bheem opposed, "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING JYESHTH??? HOW COULD YO......" I cut him in the middle, "Anuj, I am your JYESHTH. As long I am alive, I cannot let anyone of you die. AMONG THE FIVE OF US, I HAVE THE FIRST RIGHT TO DIE." Then I murmured under my breath, "Anyways, my contribution in the upcoming war will be insignificant as compared to that of yours."

Perhaps, Bheem must have clearly heard me, for he kept looking at me astonishingly. But, the serpent did not seem to be in a mood to any kind of negotiation. It rejected my offer saying, "Listen, I cannot spare your brother in any situation. But I am really touched by your and your brother's bravery. Even in such a dire situation, neither of you are scared to give away your lives. I have been living here since ages, but never have I seen someone as sacrificing as you, who is willing to give away his life in order to save other. In return, I can fulfil one of your wish, but don't ask me to spare your brother." 

Our acharyas always used to say, in order to defeat our enemy, first, we must know everything about it and identify its strengths and weaknesses. I said, "O strong one, I would like to know about how you got cursed and how did you end up in such a predicament?"

Nahusha nodded and started narrating about how he was offered the throne of Heaven in absence of Lord Indra. Blinded with power, he dared to try to force Devi Shachi, Lord Indra's wife, into marrying him. Mata Shachi, in order to save herself, tricked Nahusha, saying that she would be willing to marry him, if he comes to propose her for marriage, sitting on a palanquin, carried by the Saptarishis. Nahusha managed to agree all the Saptarishis to carry his palanquin. Since all the Saptarishis were too old, they were walking very slowly. The extremely slow pace caused Nahusha to lose his patience and he gave a hard kick on Rishi Agastya's chest. Rishi Agastya was so enraged with the rude behavior of the egoistic king that he cursed him to live a miserable life as the giant serpent on Earth, until he is released from the curse. An eternity had passed since that day, and no one had come till now to release him from the curse. 

'Okay.....if the serpent is freed from the curse, then perhaps Bheem might be saved.' I thought. I asked further, "Now I understand how you could easily trap my brother, who is the strongest man of the Earth, so easily. Can you plea.....", I suddenly stopped speaking. I noticed that the huge serpent had, lowering his head, come very close to me. It kept looking at me with wonderful shining eyes. It started examining me while gently wrapping his upper body around my body. Looking at the change in its behavior, a slight hope arose in my mind that perhaps the serpent had agreed to my proposal and would spare my Bheem.

Seeing that terrible giant creature being so close to me, Bheem roared and said, "YOU MONSTER!! GET AWAY FROM JYESHTH!! IF YOU WANT TO EAT ME, THEN PLEASE PROCEED, BUT DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT HARMING MY BROTHER." The snake hissed loudly at Bheem. Then turning towards me, it said, "You said your brother is the strongest man on this Earth, Right?"

I replied, "Indeed, currently no mortal person in this world is as strong as my Bheem." The serpent questioned again, "And what did you say your name?" I answered, "My name is Yudhishthira."

The snake flicked its forked tongue a few times in excitement and then said in a happy tone, "Yes I remember....I remember it very clearly. Rishi Agastya had said that the day I will catch the strongest person, a noble man by the name Yudhishthira will come and release me from this curse. Today that day has come. Now I will be free."

Immediately, I took the opportunity and asked, "Please tell me what can I do to release you. I promise I will do anything to free you from this curse, even if it meant giving away my life. In return promise me, that you will leave my brother."

The serpent said, "I hold your brother in my coils and I will eat him if you don't answer my questions on dharma, which no man, no Deva, no Gandharva, no one at all has ever been able to. I think the danger to Bheem will sharpen your wits, because I see that you love your brother more than your own life. Let me test you, Yudhishthira. Let me see if your knowledge of dharma is as deep as Rishi Agastya thought it would be. Come closer to me." I complied and went closer to the serpent, despite Bheem's repetitive forbidding.

The serpent asked its first question, "What is a brahmana?"

I thought for a moment and answered, "To me, a brahmana is anyone who is truthful, generous, compassionate and capable of sacrifice." It stared at me and then nodded its head slowly

It asked the second question, "What is the supreme knowledge?" I replied, "I would say the Brahmam."

It again asked, "Which is superior along the way to liberation, sorrow or happiness? Which makes the way clear?" I answered, "I have heard that, to the enlightened, what we call sorrow and joy are not different from each other."

In this manner the question-answer session went on. The questions ranged about the ordering of society, wisdom and power, the nature of the soul, of time, old age and youth, varna ashrama, poverty and wealth, death, liberation, sorrow and joy, dharma. And I answered all the question to the best of my knowledge and I presume that I answered them all correctly, for the serpent seemed quite pleased with my answers.

After I answered the last question, the serpent declared in delightful tone, "O Noble King of my lineage. I announce that you are the wisest man I ever met. No doubt, I am touched by your wisdom, but I am just amazed by your humbleness. You are so gentle that despite having so much wisdom about each and every aspect, I noticed that you never answered any of my questions assertively, or with arrogance. You always said either, 'I think', 'I have heard', 'I have been told', or 'in my opinion'."

In the past, I have been praised for my wisdom by many people, including Acharya Dron, Acharya Krip, Kakashree Vidura, my mother, Rishivar Vyas, but the sweet words from the mouth of the giant creature sounded the sweetest. Perhaps the happiness of being able to save my brother from the impending death had increased the sweetness of those words by 10 times.

The serpent continued, "I have been living here since ages. In the due course, I have met many learned men, some I have even eaten. But none of them were as humble as you. Perhaps that's what Rishi Agastya wanted me to learn from you, hence he had designed this curse in this manner. How can I even think of eating Bheem, knowing that he is your brother, O Yudhishthira Muni."

Saying this, the serpent released Bheem from its grip. Due to being held in the same position for such a long time, Bheem fell on the ground and found it hard to stand on his legs. I immediately went near him and took him into my arms. It felt as if my heart had stopped all that time and then started beating once again. Had I failed to save him that day, I would have requested the giant serpent to kill me as well. Then I separated him from my embrace, kissed his forehead and again took him into my arms. Both of our eyes were shedding tears like waterfall.

Bheem could clearly understand how I had been feeling, for he started caressing my back with his palms and kept cooing into my ears, "It's fine Jyeshth. Everything is fine. You have saved me in time. You have nothing to fear now. Its okay Jyeshth....Its okay...." 

After sometime, I had calmed myself. I separated from Bheem and turned towards the serpent. Joining my hands at the giant creature, I said, "O Rajrishi [2], I shall be indebted to you for the whole life for sparing my brother's life. Please tell me anything that I can do for you."

The serpent just shook its head and said, "Not at all Vatsa. You already have done so much for me. Rather I am indebted to you. I can, in fact, feel something transforming in my body as if the curse is breaking."

As soon as the snake stopped speaking, a golden luster lit the twilight sky above us. Gradually in front of our eyes, the serpentine elements of the giant snake vanished and, in its place, with all his grandeur, stood our age-old ancestor, Samrat Nahusha. 

Both of us fell at his feet. He lifted us from his feet and took us into a tight embrace. Tearfully he said, "Please forgive me, my kids, for getting both of you into so much trouble. Forgive me putra Bheem, for I intending to kill you." Bheem replied, "No...we are your descendants and, in that sense, we are like grandsons or great-grandsons to you. You must not seek forgiveness from us. What do you say, Jyeshth?"

I added, "Yes, whatever Bheem is saying is right. You will always be venerable to us." Samrat Nahusha was overwhelmed by our response. He adorned us with gifts of his blessings. Then he turned towards me and said, "O Mahatma Yudhishthira, you are even wiser than what Rishi Agastya had said. May your lesson of humility always remain with me, for it is the most precious wisdom of all."

Finally, a divine chariot landed in front of us. Samrat Nahusha ascended the chariot and vanished in a blink of an eye. I turned towards Bheem and started caressing his arms and cheeks. Unknowingly, a tear drop started rolling down my cheeks.

Bheem's POV:

To be honest, for few moments, I really felt as if I was going to die. But Jyeshth saved me. His wisdom saved me. In the past, I had mocked at him for listening to the stories and lessons of every passing monk and sage, but today the lessons he obtained from them had saved my life.

I felt deep regret for all the rude words I spoken to him. Since the starting of the exile, it was me who had misbehaved the most with him. I even went as far as calling him coward. Yet I never apologized for that. And Jyeshth, he never said anything to me and that day, he had even offered to sacrifice his own life in order to save me. That day, I realized that our Jyeshth was not a human, but a form of God who had been sent to us in the form of our elder brother.

When he turned towards me and started caressing my arms, I saw a tear drop rolling down his cheeks. Even then he was more worried for my well-being. Unable to hold myself further, I hugged him and started crying bitterly.

End of Bheem's POV

[2] I was taken aback with Bheem's behavior. Why was he crying like that? Did he really get scare? But I never knew my brother to be that afraid. I caressed is back and sweet spoke to him. "What happened Anuj? Why are you crying? Won't you tell me?" 

Bheem replied sobbingly, "J...ye...sh..th....ple...ease.....forgi.....forgive...me. I...I.....have....been so wrong....to.....you." I tried to pacify him, "Bheem!...BHEEM!!...First stop crying. Then tell me what are you apologizing for."

Bheem replied, "Since the beginning of our exile, I have misbehaved with you on many occasions. I called you coward. I even mocked your wisdom and dharma. I disregarded how much you were repenting and continued holding you responsible for our plight. I mocked at you for listening to the stories and lessons of every passing sage and monk. Today, I take all my words back, for I know without your wisdom, I would have died today. Please forgive me! Please! I promise I will never misbehave with you."

I hushed him, "Hsh...hsh....I feel you have cried enough for your entire lifetime. What I did at the Dyut Sabha was adharma. And I feel you all were absolutely right about holding me responsible for our miserable life, because its true that my decisions and false understanding of the dharma had brought us to this stage."

Bheem shook his head and was about deny my words when I interrupted him, "Lets talk about this later, for the time being let's head back home. It's getting dark and it is going to be a long way back home." To lighten the mood I added, "And I am telling you, if we get late because of your unnecessary ramblings, I am going to tell Kalyani that we got late because you wanted to stay away from the angry lioness." Saying this I started walking towards the hermitage.

Bheem, stood there, what I just said and then leaped behind me shouting, "Jyeshth but this is cheating.....you cannot put your little brother as prey in front of that angry lioness." 

I took the chance, "BHEEM!! You called her angry lioness......Now I will definitely tell her." Saying this I started running towards our hermitage and Bheem too followed shouting behind me to stop me.

~~~~~

Author's Notes:

[1] – Chandravansh – The Lunar Dynasty. Ancient India had two of the most famous Dynasties, the Solar Dynasty or the Suryavanshi and the Lunar Dynasty or the Chandravanshi. Lord Rama belonged to Solar Dynasty and the Pandavas and the Kauravas belonged to Lunar Dynasty.

[2] – Rajrishi means Royal Sage. The kshatriyas who were as virtuous as sages were called Rajrishi.

[3] – The story continues in Yudhishthira' POV