Vishnupriya

15

Brihannala who had woken up in the middle of the night yawned and stretched as she made her way to the kitchen.

"Why are these clothes so difficult to walk in? How does Dushala run in these?" Dhanajaya in the guise of Brihannala commented as he walked in the moonlit corridors of Vishnupriya's bhavan.

It had been a few days since the madhya pandav kumar in the guise of Brihannala stayed as a guest in Kritida-ladli's bhavan. No doubt that Vishnupriya was beautiful, way more beautiful than any normal women or any beauty renowned rajkumari Arjuna had ever met but compared to the Ashtabharyas of Krishna she couldn't be called the most beautiful like she can be among the mortals. At first Arjuna didn't understand why Vishnupriya was so dear to his Madhav when he had such beautiful wives whose beauty was that of Shree's.

But after their first proper conversation, he understood why she was so dear to his famous cousin. Vishnupriya had her way with words, she talked sweetly in her mellifluous voice which attracted others towards her like a swarm of bees being pulled towards the most beautiful flower in the garden.

Her sakhis were always eager to see her, the gopikas were always eager to be seen by her, to be heard by her, to be smiled at by her. Whenever once was tasked to call her others would chime in just to call her name.

Arjuna smiled to himself since he understood why his madhav had labelled her as a mayavi, she was a charmer and he too was charmed by her. If Arjuna could, he would divide himself in two beings; one as the Gandhivdhari Arjun and other as a beautiful gopika who would serve her besides her beloved sakhi Vishakha.   

Arjuna now felt stupid for saying Subhadra that since Vishakha was the dearest gopika sakhi of Vishnupriya she should stop talking about Vishnupriya all the time since she didn't have the same position and importance in Vishnupriya's heart as Vishakha. 

He now understood Subhadra's words explaining how it didn't matter to her that Vishakha was considered Vishnupriya's dearest to heart since she too had a special place in Vishnupriya's heart. He could see that all the gopikas of Vrindavan were dear to Vishnupriya and had their own special place in her heart. Brihannala too had her own special place in Vishnupriya's heart.

As he walked towards the kitchen to get water his eyes fell on the figure of Vishnupriya who was standing by the door. It was already late night, it was currently Triyama prahar yet she was awake standing at the door looking outside.

Arjuna had been familiar to the sight after spending so many days in the bhavan, almost every night he has seen Vishnupriya standing at the door all night from Pradosha prahar till the Usha prahar looking outside waiting for the Muralidhar.

Her upper garment in the color of molten gold like the complexion of Radharani and her lower garment in the color of dark blue like the color of Girdhari, which she often wore were her favorite to wear besides lilac, red-yellow and white-pink.

Her long dark curls were left open set neatly in place as flowers were still adorned on them. She wore a simple gold necklace and bangles making sure she looked presentable and beautiful for her Shyam when he came to visit.

Vishnupriya stood there twirling the moor pankh in her hand as she looked outside. Arjuna knew that the beautiful woman he was looking at was waiting for his Madhav. He wondered for how many years has she been waiting like this standing at the door every night, dressed in her finest silks, with her shringar done to welcome him. 

His own heart ached for the woman younger than him who was probably a little younger than his own younger brothers; the Madrinandhans if not the same age as them. He would never admit it but deep inside his was angry at his Madhav, often questioning why he never visited even once or sent a letter to the gopika who is said to be one of his dearest and is waiting for him everyday.