Dhritarashtra: Have the Cake and Eat it Too

Now it so turned out that the barren Khandav Prastha was turned into a prosperous Indra Prastha by the rule of Yudhishthira and the Pandavas. To commemorate that and to establish the supremacy of Yudhishthira, a grand sacrifice, the Rajasooya Yagna, was organised. In an act of goodwill, the extended royal family of Hastinapur was invited for the event. Bheeshma was extremely pleased and attended. Dhritarashtra due to his blindness did not travel. Duryodhana attended hoping to see his cousins in misery.

What they saw there blew them away. While Bheeshma returned full of joy, Duryodhana returned burning with envy and anger.

What Dhritarashtra might have thought was the end of the story for his son to rule Hastinapur in peace turned out to be the start of another. And a very bad one.

From all accounts, Dhritarashtra tried to convince Duryodhana that he had everything he needed. He had a big army, all royal pleasures, servants at his beck and call, all that a king could wish for. What was he short of? Why should someone else’s prosperity make him feel less prosperous? He rationalised but to no avail. On the contrary, he faced counter questions from Duryodhana. How can a king sit in peace when his biggest adversaries are doing so well? You must be a really unambitious, spineless, egoless good-for-nothing to feel that way. And even if you feel that way, I will not be happy to be in that situation.

Dhritarashtra allowed himself again to be manipulated. Duryodhana pushed all the right buttons, and pulled the right triggers. He said that the only way for Hastinapur to be equal to Indraprastha was to defeat Yudhishthira in a gambling match.

This was a shocking proposal even to the attached father. He knew in his heart that it was the wrong thing to do. He bought some time to take the counsel of Vidur and Bheeshma, both of whom told him to avoid the match and refrain from going anywhere near that proposal.

But in the end, he went ahead and allowed it. He portrayed it as a friendly game. The blind attachment to his son’s happiness again prevented him from acting the right way, though his mind and intellect discerned that it was not right. He went ahead with the wishful thinking that, at worst, nothing much will come out of it, and at best, it would be an opportunity for Duryodhana to usurp Indraprastha.

It was a rigged match as expected. All rules were flawed and in favour of Duryodhana and Shakuni. All through the match, Dhritarashtra acted helpless. But whenever Duryodhana won something, he eagerly asked, “Has the kingdom been won? Has Yudhishthira been won?” and eventually, his eagerness crossed the borders of shame when he asked, “Has Draupadi been won?”

The brazenness and utter shamelessness of the event met its resistance in the form of stringent protests from Vidur. Everyone in the assembly asked Dhritarashtra to stop the game much earlier but things came to a pass when the disrobing of Draupadi was attempted. Dhritarashtra heard the strong vows of Bhima to kill his sons, and perhaps out of fear than out of righteousness, he realised that things had gotten too far.

Draupadi was eventually saved by the Lord Krishna but after that she chastised the assembly for have allowed something as audacious as the public disrobing of the royal daughter-in-law.

Dhritarashtra probably realised that it was time for him to redeem himself and in an act that did redeem some of his inaction, he went ahead and told Draupadi to ask for three things that he could do for her. She asked for her husband’s freedom and their weapons in addition to her own freedom. She did not ask for the kingdom, but, in a voluntary act of goodness, Dhritarashtra declared the game null and void, and returned the kingdom to the Pandavas. The blind king had, for once, seen the light.

But alas, for the attached, even after seeing the light, it turns out to be more like a flash of lightning that goes away. It is like a temporary torchlight that shows you the map, but when you have to take the steps in your journey, they fall back on their attachments leading them astray.

Duryodhana in private was livid. He had zero regrets about what he had done, and felt that his plan had worked, if not for the unnecessary and untimely goodness demonstrated by his father. You spoiled everything, he scolded Dhritarashtra. You snatched my happiness, he added. I was on the verge of it, he said. The blind king was manipulated again. On seeing those cracks, Duryodhana said he could still make things work, if only Dhritarashtra invited Yudhishthira again for just a single bet. A bet in which the side that lost would go on a twelve year exile followed by a one year incognito exile.

Any sane man, after seeing what had happened, would have found this outrageous. But not Dhritarashtra. The light he had seen faded and the darkness of Duryodhana took him over. In an act that was the limit of attachment to a pampered son, King Dhritarashtra called Yudhishthira again for one last bet. There are no prizes for guessing who won. But this only goes to demonstrate to what extent a man can be blinded by his attachments.

Well, the Pandavas did complete the terms of exile holding themselves responsible, to an extent. For Dhritarashtra, after thirteen years, it was time again to call them and give them their rightful kingdom back.

Bheeshma and Vidur advised him then to hand over their share to avoid any further complications. But again Duryodhana had other plans. Dhritarashtra knew what was right but still instead of overruling his son, he played doting father to him again.

When the Pandavas were discovered after the war of Virata at the end of their exile, instead of inviting them to take their rightful kingdom, Dhritarashtra sent them a wily, underhanded message. It suggested that if they were used to the forest life, he did not mind them continuing that way. He said that he was aware they were peaceful people who did not like conflict and therefore, he was sure that they would not bring about bloodshed on the Kuru dynasty by unnecessarily insisting on being rulers. As it is, they were used to a life of renunciation, so why should they desire anything else? A wily king had tried to again brush his son’s deeds under the carpet.

Despite Yudhishthira firmly saying that they are Kshatriya princes who need a kingdom, there were no signs from Dhritarashtra of getting their share back. That was when Krishna intervened and went as the peace messenger. He requested Dhritarashtra to give the Pandavas their rights and that they were willing to settle for even five villages. But Dhritarashtra played victim this time. I understand what you say Keshava, he said, but I can’t convince my son. Krishna laughed and reminded him that you are the emperor of Hastinapur, the most powerful kingdom of Bharat. If you act powerless, what should others do? This is your last chance to avoid war, he warned. It was then that Krishna showed his Virata Rupa so that Duryodhana gets a glimpse of who he is dealing with. Moreover, he also gave Dhritarashtra divine eyes, on his own request, to see His Virata Rupa too, so that he can act based on that.

But Duryodhana, after a few moments of genuinely wondering if Krishna indeed was God, dismissed it as a play of his mind, coupled with a magician’s tricks. Seeing Duryodhana dismiss it and stuck on his demand for the full kingdom for himself, Dhritarashtra also didn’t act. He begged Krishna to be merciful, but his attachment to Duryodhana did not allow him to accept the peace proposal.

The final war of Kurukshetra was inevitable and, among other things, Dhritarashtra and his blind attachment were responsible for it.

The final instance before the war of how a man’s mind gets blinded by attachment was when Dhritarashtra spoke to Vidur after Krishna had left. Vidur insisted that Dhritarashtra could still, if he so wanted, avert the war. But Dhritarashtra was blinded again. If a war and the destruction of the Kuru dynasty is in my destiny, then want can I do? he asked Vidur. The wise Vidur reminded him that words like destiny are not to be used when you don’t act when you still can. Destiny is what happens even after you have done what you could, Vidur told Dhritarashtra silencing him.

You can’t have your cake and eat it too.

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