In the Wake of the War

Chapter-5

As soon as Vrishaketu had left and the door of the Widows' Wing had closed behind them, Bhanumati seemed to deflate. Chandramukhi and Mridula each took one of her hands and lead her to one of the couches and made her sit. Vrushali sat beside them.

Bhanumati turned to look at Vrushali with tired but dry eyes, eyes that seemed to have shed so many tears, they could shed no more.

Vrushali gently guided her head down to her chest and wrapped one arm around the woman, using the other to stroke her head.

"I had managed to avoid the Pandavas and ignore their wives for the most part till now." Bhanumati murmured. "But coordinating your arrival with them for the past few days..."

She sighed. "As much as I wanted to see you both, didi, it has been so exhausting. So..so.." Bhanumati's voice cracked at the end.

"I'm so sorry, my dear." Vrushali said. "You don't have to talk to them anymore."

Bhanumati laughed. It was a harsh sound.

"I just told Vrishaketu didi. It is impossible to avoid them forever in this palace. And now we have agreed to stay here."

Chandramukhi stood up abruptly.

"I know what my husband and brother in law did in that accursed Dyut Sabha is unforgivable," she said, "and yet every time I see that Bheem... I am moments away from cursing him into oblivion."

Angry tears fell from her eyes. "For his actions, my husband's death was almost inevitable in this war. But the way he was killed..." she broke down into sobs.

Mridula made her sit down again and wrapped an arm around her. Vrushali watched, her already broken heart breaking into even more pieces.

"You are the one person here who has actual right to be angry Mridu." Chandramukhi said. "Your husband stood up for Draupadi. He was the only one that day to do so. And yet he was killed. But I don't see the anger burning in you."

Mridula smiled sadly. "Not all of us have world destroying rage like the Samrangi, didi. Not that I blame her for her anger." She sighed. "I'm just so tired. And I know that my Vikarna would not have wanted to live with all his brothers dead."

"How are you handling it didi?" Bhanumati asked Vrushali, lifting her head off the older woman's chest. "Suddenly finding out that the men against whom your husband fought, the men who insulted him all his life are his brothers."

"I found out before the war." Vrushali said.

The other women all gaped in shock.

"Oh yes, Radheya told me and his parents the truth right after he found out. We didn't tell any of our sons."

"What did you do?" Bhanumati asked.

"What was left to do? Radheya was not just going to leave Duryodhan. No throne," She spat, "would make him betray his loved ones. He would rather die. And he did."

"Doesn't it anger you?"

"That's not so easy a question now, is it?" Vrushali sighed.

"It angers me that the woman who gave birth to him never accepted him despite having him in front of her eyes for decades. It angers me to think that she could have prevented this enmity between the cousins from escalating so far if only she had revealed the truth earlier and yet, she didn't."

Vrushali exhaled loudly.

"My Karna could have been a bridge between the Kauravas and the Pandavas had he known the truth earlier, before the hatred had spread so far. But... By the time he learnt the truth, it was far too late."