Draupadi - The Impregnable Queen

20

"You can give this to the goldsmith and inform him that it all needs to be melted and be converted into coins and be delivered to the destitute, all except this nath, I want you to have it.

The servant could speak nothing but shed tears.

Abhimanyu saw it all from the background, he wiped away a tear with the back of his hand. He couldn't help but get teary, seeing the woman he had seen sitting on the throne with sumptuous garments whose load she didn't fancy much, in a white cotton dhoti, with a khadi blouse and a cotton white angavastram and around her arms a khadi fabric. Clothes fit for a hermit. 

"Maa!" 

"Abhi!"

"I made you a little something." he said hiding his right hand from her.

"What is it?" the woman asked with childlike curiosity, her hair showed some silver, but her beauty was nevertheless ethereal. Abhimanyu opened his palm, revealing a pair of earrings and bracelets with a necklace all made up of Rudraksha beads. 

"I know it isn't much, but when you bear them they will automatically look gorgeous!" stated Abhimanyu beaming.

"Abhi, these are beautiful, but they will be more if you help me wear them."

Just as Abhimanyu had slipped on the last bracelet his father came in, with clothes fit for a hermit, his silver locks tied up in a bun and held by Rudraksha beads. Seeing him come in, the woman stood up.

"Shall we, Draupadi?"

The woman just nodded. The three stepped out of the chambers and held the view of the other four Pandavas in similar clothing, their ladies by their side in royal garments, four young men three of who were groomed as princes and one as a ruler, behind them stood their spouses, all four of them carrying a child, whereas Uttara Abhimanyu's wife was expecting.  All of this was sound, but not the bawling Subhadra.

"Jiji, how can you leave me alone here? Take me with you!" she sobbed.

"Subhadra, I am not leaving you alone, Devika, Vala, Karuna and Vijaya are here, and so are all our sons and their wives and their children. Even your grandkid is going to enter this world soon! How can you shed tears?" Draupadi said, brushing Subhadra's cheek like an elder sister.

"All that is fine, but you will not survive a day without me Jiji!"Subhadra said, wiping her tears, "You may be the greatest warrior Queen for times to come, but you are not very skilled at the culinary arts Jiji. How will you survive without my delicious food? Huh?"

"Why do you think I am taking Vrikodara with me?"

Subhadra grinned.

"It is so touching to see my wives get along so well and unintentionally ignore me!" Arjuna joked.

"Oh, I will miss you too. It's just that I will miss her more!" replied Subhadra shrugging.

"We all will miss Maa!" said Abhi.

"That's my son!" Arjuna said mockingly.

"Baba!"

Abhimanyu walked towards him and hugged him tightly. 

One by one Draupadi saw the pairs of fathers and sons embracing each other. Abhimanyu breaks the hug and looks expectantly towards his father.

"Go, we all know you love her the most." Arjuna said, smiling.

Abhimanyu and all his brothers ran to their Badi Maa. For a few blissful seconds it just her and them.

"Putro, when a man renounces his life, it is only because he knows the future in is safe hands." said Bhima.

"With the dhairya you have acquired Yaudeha, and with the nyaay you yearn for Niramitra. With the samarpan in you Sarvagya and with the gyaan bestowed upon you Suhotra and with the prem embedded in you Abhimanyu. Continue the legacy of your mother. My wife. Our queen." said the eldest of the Pandavas.

"Not because we expect you to, because it is your duty to do so!" Nakul joined in.

"As long as the five of you stay together balance other's weakness with your strength, Dharma will prevail." said the youngest.

"Be better than us my sons. Be the men we could have been. Be the men we weren't. Make us proud our sons. Make us proud." Arjuna said choking.

"Putro-" Draupadi beckoned them to come near her, 

"Who are you?"

"Followers of Dharma."

"What is that you strive for?"

"To better ourselves and those around us."

"How will you achieve that?"

"With dhairya, anyway, samarpan, gyaan and prem."

"Till when will you strive?"

"Till our bodies are bereft of life."

"Why?"

"Because it is our duty to do so."

Draupadi smiled.

"Rule well my sons and fight even better!" she grinned.

Laughter echoed through the palace of Paripurnam, which was soon to be deprived of its Queen.

-

It had been three years since the six had left the royal leisure behind and become sanyasis. On the Himalayas the weather was never good. But today was different. The weather today was the best they had seen in days. The cold yet soft breeze played with the hair which had escaped the practical buns atop their head. The sun outstretched its arms and provided warmth. The rare plants which managed to survive the harsh conditions waved in the breeze today.

Apart from all of this, in the weather was knowledge. Knowledge of what was to happen today. No one spoke it but all knew as they had a content smile on their faces. A smile yearning for moksha.

Author's note: I am providing a vocabulary for words you may be unfamiliar with:
Uttara - The wife of Abhimanyu
Sanyasis - Hindi for hermits

-- The End --