HELLO MAHABHARATA

64. Vagary

Vagary/An unpredictable instance, a wandering journey; a whimsical, wild or unusual idea, desire, or action. Pronunciation | va-ga-re /Origin: Latin

SHE WITNESSED THE FAMILY STANDING AGAINST EACH OTHER IN THE WARFIELD, for the first time. Long before Kurukshetra's soil tasted their blood, the courtyard of Virata had ravens hovering.

When the blazing sun god raced his golden chariot in the cerulean sky, a smoke of spies swarmed in gravel and foliage crept inside the palace from the tunnels beneath the secret symposium halls. They came from the outskirts. The network of spies Matsaya was the win factor for the kingdom and for the Pandavas as well from a year. Virata was standing on the parapet of his personal chamber facing the east. He dropped his bronze kalash, hymns of Surya abruptly stopped on his lips and he ran covering himself with a violet velvet shawl for the swan copper lamps had toppled; an indication that his intelligencers returned from the deep and dark forests.

"Trigarth's army attacks us on the southern borders, the target is our cattle. We also have the rumours from the central regions that the attack on the north is almost possible" the leader with only one eye had informed. The cats on the porch and mezzanine began to cry ruthlessly and it was an omen of ruin and destruction. A crow gaping at the king from the palladian window only made his distress powerful. Kichaks merciless assassination and finding a flock of dead pigeons on his palace terrace near the bougainvillea was not a coincidence. 

As Virata stood inside the war symposium halls, iron armours cladding his chest and sword wrapped around his hips, he held out commands, strategically listing and darting those right targets to ensure less bloodshed for his army. "Gather our forces general Kushdhwaj. The brothers of Susharman and he himself are practically invincible warriors. They tried to even retaliate the forces of Prince Arjun during the Rajsuyayagya. We need men equipped with whatever kaal comes to our death. Rudra, I need you to summon before me Kank, Vallabha, Tantripal, and Granthik"

It was not hidden from the experienced eagle eyes of the monarch that these men who sought employment in his palace twelve winters ago, were not just mere breadwinners for their own families but possessed some dint of divinity, despite all they claimed and proved to be some ordinary. Surely these words of the king led everyone present in the halls to do a double take. Whispers slurped in the army and scrutinising eyes demanded answers. While Rudra left to fulfil the orders, the general was suspicious, "But what will this domestic help do if I may ask Maharaj?'

"At this hour we need as much bones and muscles as we can. And besides, the ones I have summoned, they aren't ordinary men, they have a mysticism to them, I believe they are Gandharvas. Here they are, I seek your help. You are demi-gods; even if not, ever since your feet have graced my kingdom, it has only flourished. Help me and my army vanquish the usurpers. Save my people and their lands" Virata opened his arms, chains mails clanking and there was a desperation in his bleak blue eyes.

"My king, we have consumed the salt of Virata from a year. You've given us a roof, water and grains. We shall do everything in our power to save the kingdom" Kank promised and behind him the cook, cowherd and holster smiled, their eyes darted towards the armoury.

Axes, spears and swords were beckoning them; warriors in grimy clothes stained of animal hair, candle waxes and blistered fingers who held dices. Kshatriya blood boiled with every war cry, slam of blades and twang of bows, arrows piercing the flesh and soldiers adoring their wounded heads with crowns of martyrdoms.

Caterwaul screamed on the battlefield, where scarlet streams flowed glimmering in the raging sun of noontide. Susharman and his brothers leading the Trigartha army were in consternation by the mayhem in the war field. Even in the warping fog of chockful sand and yells of the scampering men, four men in the enemy army were clear as the north stars in the midnight sky. Susharman believed every word that had escaped Duryodhan's mouth now as he watched the catastrophe with his own eyes aching with a fresh scar. Their kingdom was subdued by the Pandu's son Arjun during the Rajasuya event and they harboured grudge since that woeful evening. Hence, they had an agreement with the Kauravas, to lay waste to the kingdom that nestled the nemesis for twelve months. Bathing in crimson and crushed by horses in the filthy soil, militia and trained soldiers of Trigartha were on the threshold of bereavement, because of them. These four men wreaking tumult in the war were indeed the Pandavas.