Episode#82 The Pandavas performed the Arghya (Venereal offerings to the departed soul) in honour of martyrs who had laid their lives in the war and camped on the bank of the Ganga for a month. One day, Narada appeared before Yudhishtira. "Son, through Krishna's grace, the valour of Arjuna and power of your Dharma, you were victorious and you are the sovereign Lord of the land. Are you not happy?" He asked. Yudhishtira replied "O great Devarishi, it is true that the kingdom has come into my possession but all my kinsman have gone forever  We have lost sons that were dear to us, for me - this is no victory at all, on the contrary it is my greatest defeat! O sage Narada, we took our own brother for an enemy and killed him; Karna stood rooted like a rock in honour and the world wondered at his magnanimous valour- we have slain him mercilessly! This terrible act of slaying our own brother was the result of our sinful attachment to our possessions. Karna, on other hand, ...

Episode#81 Gandhari says "I do not envy the victory of Pandavas and ibagree that my intense grief has robbed me of my understanding! These Pandavas also are my sons. I know that Dusshasana and Sakuni brought about this destruction and that Arjuna and Bhima are not to be blamed! My sons deserve the fate they have met - only because of their flase pride and vanity I do not complain about it. But in Vasudev Krishna presence,  Bhima challenge Duryodhana to battle and knowing that Duryodhana was stronger and could not br defeat in a single combat, Bhima struck him below the naval and killed him! Vasudev Krishna continued to be an indifferent onlooker! This was against righteousness and it is this that I find it impossible to forgive." Bhima, who heard this, came near and said "Mother, I did this in self-defence, whether is was right or wrong, you should bear with me. Your son was invincible in combat a d I had to resort to self-defence what was undoubtedly wrong,  but then ...

Episode#80 "Why should we weep for them? Those who die in battle after a heroic fight go as a guest to be received in the heaven! By grieving for what is past, you cannot gain anything back in the form of Dharma, pleasure, wealth." Thus, and in many more ways, did the wise and noble Vidura try to assuage the King's grief. Vyasa also approached Dhritarashtra for consolation and said: "Dear Son, there is nothing that you do not know and which you have to learn from me. You know very well that all living beings must die. This great battle came to reduce earth's burden as I have heard from Lord Vishnu. Under no circumstances, this calamity could have ever been prevented and hence weep no more. Henceforth, Yudhishtira is your son; you should try and love him! In this way, bear the burden of life, giving up grief. " Making his way, through the crowd of weeping women Yudhishtira approached Dhritarashtra and bowed before him. Dhritarashtra embraced him but there ...

Episode#79 Hastinapur had turned into city of mourning with the women and children weeping and lamenting for their slain nearest and dearest ones. Thousands of women dragged themselves to the battlefield inclusive of mothers, sisters, wives, some were old, frail with age; some were young and at the prime stage of their lives; some carried babies in their arms; some had young children crying behind them. They were searching the bodies of their beloved. Some mothers identified their sons, widows found their husbands,  and sisters saw brothers lying headless, limbless, crushed by the wheels of chariot, they were killed to establish Dharma; was this war of Kurukshetra fought for Dharma - righteousness? If yes then at what cost...? The wives of common soldiers,  whose death spelt dire poverty and constant starvation to the family, they were now exposed to the outer world! They are unaccustomed to the  outside world except going to temples and shrines; they led a very monoto...

Episode#78 "I curse you Krishna, if I have been a devoted and faithful wife, may my curse come true! Oh Krishna, mark my words - after 36 years from today, you will slay your own kinsmen akin to Pandavas and Kauravas! Your cousins, their sons, and grandsons will kill each other while you  Krishna, will wander alone in the woods and die a lonely and Ignominious death! Your dear ones shall run around the woods in desperation and grief exactly in the same manner as these women are doing now." Krishna allow Gandhari to spew her venomous fury out of her system and accepted the curse calmly and with Grace! He replied with a smiling face, "Your curse is preordained by fate. As none can destroy Yadavas, they are destined to slay each other and meet their destruction at their own hands." She looked at Draupadi "Look Draupadi, your hair is dyed with the blood of my son Dusshasana, but to get that blood, so much of rage was generated that it cost you the lives of your...

Episode#77 "Look at my daughters-in-law, look at them Krishna, they don't know whether to weep over dead bodies of their husbands or their sons? These women have never seen the sun; they have never stepped out of the palace without their heads being covered or without being surrounded by maids - they have never been seen in the open!" "Look at them now Krishna - with their cheeks bathed in tears, eyes crimson red, lips quivering with uncontrollable sorrow as they try to give expression to their grief; choked and suffocated, hugging and clinging to each other in an attempt to seek and give consolation." "Look how they pound their chests, pull their hair. Look at how their tender faces are streaked with fresh blood as their tears at their skin brutally in their savage sorrow. Listen to their shrieks, Krishna; listen to their wails that fill the battlefield of Kurukshetra and e ho from distant hills. Look at the great heroes lying dead, their bodies being t...

Episode#76 (Henceforth all episodes are about my perspective of Janani Janmabhoomi.) After the war, both Gandhari and Dhritarashtra entered the battlefield of Kurukshetra followed by Pandavas and Vasudev Krishna; behind them followed the massive crowed of women and children weeping sorrowfully over there dead kith and kin who would never return back to them ever...! The Kurukshetra field had become muddy and blood-splattered with flesh-pieces and distorted limbs strewn all over that one could barely walk on it. Both Gandhari and Dhritarashtra held each other's hands tightly even as they staggered and wobbled in search of their slain sons! The battlefield was stuffed with beheaded skulls, torn hands, sliced and tattered limbs with blood splashed all over them in huge mountain piles. The sight of heaps of body short of limbs and limbless bodies lay before those very women who were innocent - beyond blame or reproach, immensely protected within the confines of their places; unaccu...