Intro
Dyuta Parva is the story of the gambling match with dice.
All the chapters in this parva are available -
https://crackpot.substack.com/t/dyuta
As It Rhymes
1.
Karna said,
“The three wisemen got it twisted.
There was no shakedown.
2.
The Pandava queen is now a wench to quench lust.
Dhritarashtra’s son owns her wedding gown.
3.
Hubba! Hubba! Yajnaseni pick another husband.
Many men here would gladly lend a hand.
4-5.
Remarry. Retool.
Not Sahadeva.
Not Nakula.
Not Arjuna.
Not Bhimasena nor Yudhisthira.
Not another downclass fool.”
Drupada’s daughter felt a tilt in the Sabha’s mad descent.
6.
Vaishampayana said,
‘Bhimasena muttered threats of death under fiery breath.
Bhima visibly burned with wrath like an angry lion.
Bhima’s withering gaze could melt iron.
But Dharma’s lashing rope tied Bhima down to Yudhishthira’s shook crown.’
7.
Bhima said,
“I am not angry at the sutaputra’s wisecrack insult.
I will not stoop to insult the king whose bad bet brought on this wack result.
Goddess, take what Indra of man you can stand.”
Bhima hissed and spat indicating Yudhishthira with a quivering hand.
8.
Vaishampayana said,
‘After Bhimasena spoke Yudhishthira remained silent.’
9.
Duryodhana said to Yudhishthira,
“Bhima and Arjuna look like death.
Their fate hangs on your breath.
Draupadi’s question calls to you, please advise.
Is Panchali free because the good king was a slave with no rights to a wife when he bet her on dice?”
10.
After Duryodhana taunted the bewildered Kaunteya, Duryodhana mouthed to Panchali ‘yes or no’ and exposed his thigh.
11.
Duryodhana’s bare thigh was like a stone pillar.
Duryodhana’s skin was shiny smooth like banana bark.
When Duryodhana’s foot struck the floor it looked like a bolt of lightning arced from hip to plantar.
12.
Duryodhana egged.
Duryodhana trolled.
Duryodhana posed with sass.
Duryodhana’s thigh was exposed from knee to ass.
13-14.
Lava poured from the mad bull Bhimasena’s blood red eyes.
The Sabha witnessed Duryodhana’s provocative pass.
Vrikodara said,
“I vow on my ancestors fame to mace that thigh in a fight.”
15.
Bhima’s tongue flicked like a flickering flame.
Bhima blazed like a tinder tree lit.
Bhima’s white hot rage could melt glass.
16-18.
Vidura said,
“Destiny can be a harsh sun.
When Bhimasena turns his mind to extermination.
All Dhritarashtra’s one hundred sons will be gone.
A terrible fear that the Bharata race has been run.
The Kuru runner staggers and stumbles.
What’s done is done.
Shooting dice in the Sabha.
To assault a woman in this hallowed place is an ugly disgraceful humiliation.
Kuru yoga faces annihilation.
Toward the end of dharma’s decline the foundation crumbles.
Our fields lay fallow.
Into a blazing fire we all fall low.
19.
Treats won this way are like feats of a dream.
Vedic wisdom asks the Kurus to stay on Dharma’s path.
Divine will and Destiny’s child reign supreme.
Keep King Gandhara’s wisdom in your heart during the long dark night of Bhima’s wrath.”
20.
Duryodhana said,
“I will hear whatever Bhima or Arjuna wish to say.
Yudhishthira too could answer Draupadi’s question and save the day.”
21.
Arjuna said,
“This runty king will not fade Kunti’s light.
I leave it to Kunti’s son Yudishthira to decree what’s lost or won when it comes to cast dice - wrong or right.
I am the dark night of fine art.
The Kurus commissioned a masterpiece of destruction, you will all be finished after I paint my part.”
22.
Vaishampayana said,
‘Just then by a gust of wind the Agnihotra candelabra’s flames extinguished.
A horrible scream came from Queen Gandhari’s inner chambers that sounded like a cow at slaughter.
A flock of birds flew in from all sides thereafter.
Their angry screeching echoing from Sabha rafter.’
23.
The knowledgeable Vidura recognized the inauspicious omens portending disaster.
The wise three Bhishma, Drona and Kripa yelled ‘peace!’, ‘peace!’ back at the eerie birds’ screeches.
Saubala’s daughter Gandhari, blind king Dhritarashatra’s blindfold queen, heard ill omen and saw doom reaching in the ghastly noise after the latest breach by her bad boys.
24.
Wise Queen Gandhari and scholar Vidura beseeched blind King Dhritarashtra to rethink his strategy.
‘Veda’s decline follows the decline of minds’, Vidura preached.
25.
Dhritarashtra said,
“My lazy minded son Duryodhana’s fame is already forgot.
Now Dharma rots where Draupadi squats.
Our Kuru name burns in shame.
Everyone in Sabha - Kuru or not - followed this mean puffed up fool’s plot.”
26.
Dhritarashtra had a well wisher’s heart without hate.
Dhritrashtra spoke to Krishnaa Panchali with words of genuine concern for her fate.
27.
Dhritarashtra said,
“Panchali - pony tailed girl - ask me any question.”
28.
Draupadi said,
“Big poppa Dhritarashtra you are by far the best Bharata.
If it’s my choice to voice a question,
I ask, can you unclasp Yudhishthira’s chain?
29.
I ask out of friendship to spare Prince Prativindhya pain.
To spare his rebirth in this life as a servant’s son.
30.
A person who falls from their station faces a dirty kind of humiliation.
‘Kings once bounced this one on their knees, now poor potter prince Prativindhya serves the kings as they please,’ the other servant boys will tease.”
31.
Dhritarashtra said,
“Well played! Well played!
Let it be that way! Let it be that way! Let it be just as you say!
You are too deserving of favor for just one boon.
Please ask for a second boon.”
32.
Draupadi said,
“Can bowmen Bhimasena and Dhananjaya, and the twins, again be free men addressed as ‘king’?”
33.
Dhritarashtra said,
“Like that - done and done - their release.
Go free with my blessing.
May you all go like Nandini’s calf in peace.
Panchali is my chief daughter-in-law on Dharma’s path.
Can you think of a third asking?
Just a hint - a king needs bling.”
34.
Draupadi said,
“Greed is Dharma’s destroyer in this world.
I dare not ask to restore any more from Bhagavan the good lord.
35.
They say,
‘One boon to reward vaishya, two boons to award kshatriya. A hundred boons to feed the brahman diaspora.’
36.
My husbands being freed from a prison of sin is all I need.
The Pandavas will win wealth again by warrior deed.”
Notes
[1] Karna is a principal antagonist of the Pandavas - and a brother as Kunti's firstborn son.
[2] Siva is one of the three principle Hindu deities, along with Brahma and Vishnu.
Siva may be a form of Shiva known as the 12 Rudras. Rudra means wrath.
[3] Kama is lust, sexual desire. Yajnaseni is Draupadi. Karna is a jerk heel.
[6] Vaishampayana is one of the principle narrators of the Mahabharata.
Vaishampayana narrates the story to Janamejaya, who is the last surviving descendant of the Kuru dynasty after it falls apart.
Janamejaya was Parikshit's son. Parikshit was born from Arjuna's son Abhimanyu.
[7] Sutaputra means son of a suta. Bingo, gringo.
Indra is the king of Gods and a brother to Vishnu as one of the Dityas.
[10] Kaunteya means son of Kunti. Kunti gave birth to the Pandavas Yudhishthira, Bhima and Arjuna.
Panchali is Draupadi
[14] Vrikodara is Bhima. Vrikodara means wolf belly. Bhima has a large appetite.
[16] Vidura is a Kuru uncle, known for truth and a virtuous mind.
[22] Agnihotra is a fire sacrifice. Agni is fire.
[23] Bhishma is a step-brother (sort of) to Dhritarashtra and Pandu. Pandu's sons are the Pandavas. Dhritarashtra's sons are the Kauravas, led by Duryodhana.
Drona is the preceptor, or trainer, for the Kuru warriors. Drona's enmity with Drupada factors in Draupadi and the Pandavas' marriage.
[29] Prince Prativindhya is Draupadi's son by Yudhishthira.
[33] Nandini is a mythical mother cow
[34] Panchali is Draupadi
[35] The four basic divisions of every human society are warriors, sages or holy men, merchants or farmers, and laborers. These are kshatriya, brahman, vaishyas and shudra. Modernists may also argue child rearing is another sphere of activity.
Notebook Collage
References
- Debroy, Bibek. The Mahabharata. Penguin Random House India, 2015.
- Dutt, M.N. The Mahabharata. Sanskrit Text with English Translation. Parimal Publications, 2022.