Rise of Dharma: Book One of Samrat Yudhishthira Trilogy

Authors'Note

Yudhishthira has been my favourite character since I have read the summerised Bengali version of Mahabharata written by Rajshekhar Basu in my school days. The eldest Pandava’s honesty, wisdom, humility and many other positive traits have won over me and I started to admire him, almost next to Krishna.

But as I grew up, I began to discover that this character of Mahabharata does not have a good reputation to many people. To most of them he is nothing more than a gambler who caused misery in his family members’ lives, an unworthy husband who did not protest against humiliation of his wife, and a selfish brother who just used his brothers to get everything done, and yet pointed out their flaws unfairly. Many others see him as a weak, boring person who only preaches the rulebook Dharma and sometimes even justifies his own wrong decisions in the name of the same. Even some of the popular renderings of Mahabharata have shown him only this way. The percentage of people that still respect him as Dharmaraja, seems to be very small.

These experiences made me rethink. While I do not support Yudhishthira for his wrongdoings, at the same time I cannot also overlook several other positives in him. I acknowledged his flaws, but could not see him as a totally flawed person. The popular negative image of Yudhishthira made me confused. I wondered why would Krishna, the most wise and intelligent kingmaker of his time, choose such a flawed person to rule the empire of Dharma in Bharatavarsha? Why would he, keep supporting Yudhishthira and leave no stone unturned to make him the emperor again?

To find my answer, I started reading the unabridged version of Mahabharata along with many other retellings, translations and research works by various scholars. All these things made me realise how underexplored Yudhishthira is, and how grossly we have been highlighting only his mistakes, overlooking his virtues. I felt this is time to explore him as he was in Vyasa’s epic, with both his positives and negatives. I strongly felt that he should also get an opportunity to tell his side of the story, which the readers have not heard of much. “Rise of Dharma” is thus, my first endeavour to unleash the lesser known perspective of Yudhishthira in front of the readers.

I have mainly used Kisari Mohan Ganguly’s translation and Critical Edition of Mahabharata translated by Bibek Debroy as my references. My understanding of Yudhishthira’s character has been greatly inspired by the works of Sri Nrisinghaprasad Bhaduri (Krishnaa, Kunti Ebong Kounteya), Sri Gurucharan Das (The Difficulty of Being Good), Sri Buddhadeb Bose (Mahabharater Katha) and Sri Abhijit Basu (Marvels and Mysteries of the Mahabharata). I have also taken help from Indrajit Bandyopadhyay’s online articles published in Boloji.com. The blog ancientvoice.wikidot.com has helped a lot with necessary maps and information.

For literary styles and characterisation, I have drawn my creative inspiration mainly from Krishnavatara by K. M. Munshi, along with two Sanskrit plays, Pancharatra by Bhasa and Benisamharam by Bhattanarayana, The Great Golden Sacrifice of the Mahabharata by Maggi Lidchi-Grassi and few Bengali plays of Girish Chandra Ghosh.

Though creative liberties are common in fiction writing and I have also taken some, I tried my best to stay true to Vyasa’s storyline and characterisations. Writing in first person narrative did not give me much opportunity to give enough space to some important characters in this book and I apologise for that. I shall try to give them more space in the latter books.

I cannot begin without counting the blessings I have received in the entire writing journey. My heartfelt thanks to my editor, Smt. Saiswaroopa Iyer, a best-selling author and a passionate reader of Mahabharata. Her continuous support and guidance brought this book to its present shape. Her love for the characters of Mahabharata made me understand and write them in a better way. I cannot thank her enough for the hard work she has done to make my book better in every phase of editing.
I thank my cover designer, Manoj Vijayan, for making Yudhishthira alive in the beautiful cover.

I seek blessings from my father, Late Narayan Chakraborty, who made me love Mahabharata and left a huge library to enrich my knowledge of the epic. I pay homage to my grandmother, Late Hasi Chakraborty, who always encouraged me to stick to Indian Mythology and Spirituality. I bow to my mother, Smt Jharna Chakraborty for her never-ending support and encouragement that has helped me to overcome every writer’s block that I faced.

My friends and colleagues, who are more like siblings to me, have encouraged me in every possible way whenever I felt low. A special thanks to Shivang Buch, Debipriya Roy, Soumya Pal, Lavina, Ayanika Dey and Ankita Das Chattaraj. They read my manuscript and gave their valuable feedback. Without their support and trust on me, this book would never have seen the daylight.

Last but not the least, I thank all the readers who have trusted a debutant author like me and laid their hands on my first book. Seeking blessings from Sri Krishna, I present this offering to you, hoping that this story of Yudhishthira will find a place in your hearts.