Mahabharata

21. Delicate Kshatriya

The Pandavas and Kunti were happy and celebrated the arrival of a new family member in their family. Meanwhile, Duryodhan was angry because someone just stole his chance of winning the strength of Drupad. King Drupad was quite strong and only Arjun could defeat him. So, he would be an important factor for Bhishma and Vidur to consider him as the next king. He had to compete with his ninety nine other brothers as well for the throne after all.

Shakuni then informed his nephew about Subhadra, beloved sister of Krishna and Balram. Krishna was the king of Dwarka. So, Duryodhan immediately decided to visit them as he was Balram's disciple. He was sure that Balram would give his sister to him. Meanwhile, the Pandavas and Kunti along with Draupadi had come to visit Krishna too because they wanted to plan how to get Hastinapur back and Krishna was the best person known for political planning. So, while this was going on, Krishna suddenly sensed something going on in the palace. He immediately looked at the Pandavas and asked for their gotras of their last six generations.

After he collected the information, he ordered Arjun to follow him. "What happened Krishna?" Arjun asked worriedly.

"You will need to kidnap Subhadra from her Swayamvar because if you don't, she will put the garland on Duryodhan's neck because she always listen to her brothers. If this happens, Hastinapur may slip out of your hand and Subhadra may suffer for a lifetime," Krishna explained.

Arjun was dumbfounded when he heard this. He looked at the delicate king in front of him, not ready to believe that he was reliable enough for them. He was talking about committing an adharm.

"But I and Subhadra are first cousins. We can't do this. It's against dharm," Arjun argued again.

Krishna explained patiently, "Letting her marry Duryodhan will be more of an adharm. What do you choose Arjun? Bigger adharm or smaller adharm? Remember that what you are calling adharm is not adharm but aapat dharm, adharm done in cases of emergencies. Cutting through the flesh of an innocent person is adharm but when it's done to save the person, it's aapat dharm and far greater than dharm. Besides, you are the only one I trust," Arjun was once again left speechless, not knowing what to say. So, he quickly left with Krishna to arrive at her Swayamvar and picked her up before she was going to put the garland around Duryodhan's neck.

He brought her back to Krishna and took his blessings, marrying her as soon as possible. Krishna gave his blessings to his best friend and sister. They lived there for a year before Subhadra gave birth to Abhimanyu and then the Pandavas, Kunti and Draupadi left for Hastinapur to claim their Kingdom back.

Dhirtarashtra didn't want to give Hastinapur to Yudhisthir who was away for so much time. He simply refused to do that. Bhishma and Vidur were tired of arguing with him. So, Krishna stepped in and suggested that they give half of the kingdom to Yudhisthir and the other half to Dhirtarashtra. Duryodhan was worried and said, the forest land of Khandavprasth will be given to them. Yudhisthir, being polite, accepted the place. Soon, they burned the forest and started setting up a prosperous and rich Kingdom there.

Arjun had saved a demon called Mayasur. Mayasur wanted to repay Arjun but Arjun didn't want anything in return. However, Mayasur insisted and then Arjun sent him to the delicate kshatriya and his new best friend. Mayasur was a great architect. So, Krishna told him to make a maya Mahal for the Pandavas in the Indraprasth, the capital city of the Pandavas...

However, this story is fake because a demon is a person who has inhumane strengths as well as had evil intentions. After centuries, demons are considered those who have horns and are ugly because of the imaginations of the demons from the Abrahamic religions. So, we need to consider that there is a demon inside us. If it gets up, we are demons too and lots of demons are moving around you everyday and you won't be able to even recognize them. However, Maya Mahal was a big hit and its details will be given in the next chapter.