The Mighty Warrior 2

8/12/2019 The Mighty Warrior 2

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The mighty warriorArjuna looked back at Indraprastha as he smiled sadly at it.He was not going to

see it for the next 12 years.Arjuna sighed as he turned back and walked away from

there, without a backward glance.

***********

There had never been a place where Arjuna had stayed for long. Arjuna was born

in the forests and felt at home in the rough and tough jungle. The only rule there

was the rule of survival. Arjuna, now an archer par excellence felt that he owed it

all because of his upbringing in the forest.

When Arjunas father Pandu had been alive, Pandu, had often told him of the

stories of Hastinapur. But to Arjuna, Hastinapur seemed some sort of mirage.

Something like a dream.But then talking to Yudhishtara convinced Arjuna, that

their father, the pale man, who roamed about the jungles with the sharp skills of a

hunter, was in fact, the king of Hastinapur.

Pandu, the king of Hastinapur.Arjuna tried thinking about it and found the idea

too incongruous. His father who always wore the coarse clothes made of tree bark

and who lived in a thatched hut in the middle of the forest and who ate simple

food.could not be the king of Hastinapur. But then as Arjua studied his father

and mothers, he realized that he had been foolish in not guessing this fact before.

Agreed his father was not surrounded by the lavish wealth of the palace, but his

parents had that stamp of regal authority which was present in almost everything

they did.

And then when Yudhistara had become sixteen, their father had died. Mother

Madri was sobbing so hard that Arjuna felt more sorry for her than he felt for

himself. Mother Madri took Nakula and Sahadeva, aside and took them to Kunti.She is your mother from now on! Follow Yudhishtara and support him! He now

holds the position of your father! She had said to the twins.

Mother Madri turned to Kunti and no actual words were exchanged between the

two women. There was no need to. Both the women loved the same man who was

now lying dead. Kunti, the stronger and the more mature of the two queens would

carry on looking after the children. She loved all the five Pandavas like her own

children and never differentiated between her own children and Madris children.In fact her favourite among the five was Sahadeva, the youngest of the lot.
http://hindumythologyforgennext.blogspot.com/2014/06/the-mighty-warrior-part-2.htmlhttp://hindumythologyforgennext.blogspot.com/2014/06/the-mighty-warrior-part-2.htmlhttp://hindumythologyforgennext.blogspot.com/2014/06/the-mighty-warrior-part-2.html


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Madri nodded to Kunti and without a backward glance had stepped into the funeral

pyre along with Pandus dead body.

After that, Kunti had brought the five of them to Hastinapur. She had felt that the

Pandavas being princes of Hastinapur, they had to know all the arts of warfare and

diplomacy and for their education had come back to the palace.

Arjuna could not explain it, not even to himself, but the palace never felt like home

to him. Agreed, now he had comfort which he had not dreamt of even in his

wildest dreams. He could do everything.and strangely enough Arjuna found

himself wanting to be in the open jungles more than ever. Though there were

several reasons for his discomfiture, Arjuna attributed his uneasy feelings mostly

to the Kauravas, his cousins and the sons of Dhirdarashtra, his fathers blindbrother and now the king of Hastinapur.

Arjuna could not help but feel that Duryodhana, the eldest son of Dhisrdarashtra,

did not like them at all. The way Duryodhana looked at them always made Arjuna

feel like he was in a wrong place enjoying something, which was not his.

Arjuna was not sure he could take this continuous animosity directed towards him

when something happened which changed his life forever.

Dronacharya. The man who had made Arjuna realize his passion in life. Arjuannever forgot the feeling when he had had his first archery lesson.

When Arjuna felt the bow in his hands, it felt like time had stood still. The bow

and the arrow felt like a part of him and the target was all he could see, as the

world paled to insignificance. The sound of the world had ceased and all Arjuna

could hear was his own heart, steadily beating, the thrumming moving to the bow

in his hand. Between the sounds of heartbeats he knew the exact minute he had to

let the arrow go and at the exact second he let the arrow loose. He watched it withabsolute certainty as the arrow seemed to follow his thoughts andthwack! The

arrow had hit the target exactly where he had aimed it. Arjuna watched the arrow

firmly embedded in the target and then suddenly blinked as he was brought back to

reality. It seemed to him like the volume was turned on as the world came back to

focus sharply. His brothers thumped him in the back for the excellent

shot.Arjuna saw the quiet pride in Dronacharyas eyes and smiled.

After that there was no looking back. But then on the front of his cousins, all thathis archery skills did was to make Duryodhana more angry at him.


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Yudhishtara learnt the art of managing a kingdom really well and people began

talking of making Yudhishtara the king of Hastinapur after Dhirdarashtra. After all

Yudhishtara was the son of Pandu and he was the eldest among both the Kauravas

and the Pandavas.

As if Duryodhana needed any more reason to hate themThe talk of the people

was the final straw. The animosity which he secretly had was threatening to

become a full-fledged hatredThe weak Dhirdarashtra, finally havingno other

choice in the matter, had handed over the barren landKhandavaprastha to

Yudhishtara for him to rule.

It was Arjuna and Krishna who had been responsible in making Khandavapastha, a

barren place run over by Asuras and thieves and dangerous beasts, intoIndraprastha, the place what it was under the rule of Yudhishtara. And Yudhishtara

ruled Indraprastha like a man born to rule.

In fame, power and prosperity, Indraprastha eclipsed Hastinapur almost into

insignificance. And for some time Arjuna had actually liked staying in

Indraprastha.

But then he was exiled from Indraprastha for the next 12 years.

*********Arjuna and his brothers had all married Krishna Draupadi, the fire-born, dark

princess of Panchala. Wanting to avoid any jealousy among the Pandavas, the

brothers and Draupadi had agreed for a system where Draupadi stayed with one of

the brothers for a full year and then staying with the next brother for the next year.

In order to deter further problems, the brothers had agreed that if any one of the

brother broke the deal, that brother had to go on a self-imposed exile for 12 years.

For the next 12 years, the Pandava would never come near Indraprastha. And now through a quirk of fate, Arjuna had broken this promise. He had been in

Draupadis inner chambers when she was with Yudhishtara.

Arjunas mistake was that he had placed his bow in Yudhishtaras inner chambers,

the previous day. The next day, a subject had come running to him for help

because someone was abducting his cows. Having no other choice, Arjuna knew

that he was consigning himself to a twelve year exile, he entered his brothers

chambers and took his bow.


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Yudhishtara and his other brothers tried convincing Arjuna that the exile

was not necessary. But then Arjuna never spoke a lie and he always kept

his promises. Arjuna started his 12 year exile from Indraprastha

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The Mighty Warrior 2