Justice!!!! (Short story) Completed✓

Chapter 2

Firstly , it is unfair to compare two women, any two women and you will never do justice to the subject.

Draupadi

Draupadi’s life had been the most bizarre and no one else would have gone through the ups and downs experienced by her.

She was born through fire. Not a common place birth. She was born as a full pledged lady, not as a baby girl. Her physical appearance is outstanding, to say the least, that any person would have loved to marry her. Her body had a natural fragrance. When she was presented in Swayamvara, there were hardly any suitor who did not want to win the contest.

Her Swayamvara event was a landmark event for the Kshatriya community. She was an instant heroine.

Her marriage to five husbands was one of the most controversial events of those times, raised many a eyebrow, though it was blessed by sages and approved by elders.

It was through marrying her, Pandavas felt good enough to announce her and a sort of forced Dhritarashtra to oblige giving them their rightful ( or half of their rightful ) share .

Her husbands became victorious on all four sides and performed a Rajasuya and she became the undisputed empress of Bharatvarsha.

She had ably supervised the ceremony and played the role of hostess with aplomb.

Lord Srikrishna ,had accepted her as a friend and treated her with affection and respect all through.

She had thus reached the peaks of marital bliss, glory, riches, respect and everything, no other woman could dream off.

Then, the wheal of fortune turned a full circle and she had gone through ordeals, no other woman would think of undergoing. Her husband staked her in the game of dice , and lost her. She was considered declared a slave of Kauravas. Her humiliation in Kuru sabha is too well known to be recalled once again. She didn’t flinch. She held her head high and questioned the propriety of their actions and her sheer will power and the moral superiority had shaken the old king to concede her demands. She watched helplessly when her husband again lost and they were forced to go on a long exile. She endured the forest life. She endured the life of a sairandhri and had faced the patronising behaviour of Keechaka and his overtures. She had been kicked by Keechaka almost in front of her husband Yudhistara. She had to go through the ordeal of being put on the funeral pier and taken in a procession to burial ground. Must be a rare experience for any woman ,any time.

To cut a long story short, she again emerged as the queen of Hastinapura after so much of destruction only to lose her father, brothers and all her five sons. Did she gain through war? May be yes ,may be no, but she did what was her duty as a Kshatriya woman. She had protected her self respect. She comes out as a very strong character, stronger and wiser than any of her heroic husbands even. She was the central force around which the motivated Pandavas lead their lives.

Subhadra

Subhadra loved Arjuna and voluntarily got abducted by him and even driven his chariot to leave him hands free to fight with the chasing Yadava warriors or whether she was abducted without her notice, the love of Arjuna towards her was incomparable. She must be much ,much younger to Arjuna, a demure ,sweet damsel when Arjuna saw her for the first time. Krishna himself told Arjuna that the best way to Arjuna to marry her was to abduct her without hesitation as befitting of a Kshatriya. Krishna was sure that Subhadra would surely approve Arjuna and would lead a great blissful life.

Subhadra , the loving sister of Balarama and Krishna , must have had a great early life as her father was out of prison and started living a happy life by the time she was born. She was Dwaraka’s pride and described to be of a great beauty. She had immediately realised the good fortune befallen on her by the abduction of Arjuna, whom she knew to be her brother’s alter ego, and she was quick to get the blessings of not only Kunti but also Draupadi, the head of the household and the supreme queen. She had endured separation from her husband for thirteen long years, stayed in Dwaraka and reared her son Abhimanyu who turned out even better than his worthy father . Subhadra had to go through the bitter parting with her only son Abhimanyu in the war, endure the sadness of losing even her grandchild before he was rescued by Srikrishna. In the end, she was the only senior left alone to take care of both the Yadava prince Vajranabha and the Kaurava prince Parikshat as both clans of Yadava and Kauravas were almost extinct. It was to her , the responsibility to ensure there were no disputes between the two as the closest surviving senior relative to both of them.She stands alone at the end of Mahabharata as a bridge between the past and future. The sister of Lord Srikrishna, the wife of the greatest warrior Arjuna, the mother of heroic Abhimanyu and the grandmother of future destiny Parikshat. Hers was a great saga in itself and she is revered alongwith Srikrishna and Balarama in Puri, lord Jagannatha temple, a rare honour for any sister.

We need not have to make comparisons and decide who is best in Mahabharata. It was a multistarrer and was not single hero and heroine kind of story. Explore each character and fall in love with them.

This much for today! Hope u enjoyed it!

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