Begotten as the son of Dharma, Yudhishthira’s name means stable in war, and his primary virtue was virtue itself.
After their return to Hastinapur after the untimely demise of Pandu, it was Yudhishthira and his virtuous nature that led the five brothers maintaining restraint and a low profile. The intentions of Duryodhana and his malicious nature to get rid of what he felt were an intrusion on his rights as the heir to Hastinapur were clear. They manifested themselves in numerous occasions, the most infamous of them being the attempt to poison Bhima and throw him into the snake-infested river. But Yudhishthira’s ability to put himself in the shoes of the opposite person and, despite that person’s behaviour, still act as per the virtuous path of dharma, ensured that the cracks and rifts between the sons of Dhritarashtra and the sons of Pandu weren’t obvious and wide open. To that extent, his ability to adhere to the path of dharma from a young age were largely responsible for the non-escalation of the conflict.
The limits of that tolerance were tested in the Lakshagriha episode of Varnavat. Yudhishthira played a major role in ensuring that he was able to safely escape from the palace of Lac knowing fully well about the conspiracy, thanks to his mentor and uncle Vidur from whom he had learnt and inherited the wisdom inherent in his nature. Using coded messages and messengers unknown to anyone else, Yudhishthira and Vidur orchestrated the great escape from Varnavat. Even after that, it could have been possible for Yudhishthira to present all evidence of the conspiracy to the assembly of Hastinapur, expose Duryodhana and stake his claim to the throne. But in his sane wisdom, he concluded that the odds of the elders, especially Bheeshma, supporting him might be low despite their personal opinion, owing to their allegiance to the throne. He also made the right judgement that Dhritarashtra could be manipulated by Duryodhana and hence, there may be nothing to gain by exposing such a conspiracy in the heat of emotion. On the contrary, it might only lead to more cracks in an already split clan. Owing to this, Yudhishthira took the wise step of maintaining a low profile and staying in the forests till they were eventually discovered after Draupadi Swayamvar.
It was then that the virtuous king did not hold back from demanding his rightful kingdom as per Krishna’s advice.
After the Draupadi Swayamvar, when Kunti unwittingly asked Arjuna to share whatever had been won equally, Yudhishthira was also responsible to set up what might be called the terms of engagement that the brothers would follow in as far as their common sharing of a wife were concerned. The primary intention in this act was not as much about sharing Draupadi but more about ensuring that the predicament that they found themselves in might not lead to any fissure in their unity, knowing fully well that the potential for it existed. Hence, Yudhishthira’s primary motivations were all about following his duty and to ensure that conflict is avoided at all costs.
When Dhritarashtra handed them the half kingdom in the form of Khandav Prastha, it was again Yudhishthira who ensured that the Pandavas did not rebel against such mistreatment despite knowing fully well how unfair it was. Again his nature demanded obedience of his elders even though they may be wrong on their part, and not act in any way that would increase the tensions and conflict.
But once having gotten Khandav Prastha, Yudhishthira did not spare any effort in converting that into Indraprastha. The rajasooya sacrifice was the epitome of his achievements as the King and his brothers went to the four corners of his empire to ensure the expansion. During the sacrifice, the agra puja of Krishna demonstrated Yudhishthira’s priority towards virtue and devotion to the Lord despite being bestowed with all the wealth and power.
In fact, unknown to him, the seeds of the war might have been sown after the rajasooya sacrifice. Duryodhana had visited Indraprastha for the sacrifice and was aastounded by the wealth on display, particularly by the palace of illusion. In his curiosity and awe, Duryodhana had found himself in embarrassing situations a number of times in that palace, often mistaking water to be the floor and getting wet, or a wall to be a door and banging his head unable to make out the difference. On these occasions, he had found himself to be the laughing stock of a number of harmless onlookers including those from the Pandava clan and Draupadi herself. While it was laughter in jest, Duryodhana took it as an insult. Yudhishthira observed this and again calling for restraint tried to assuage Duryodhana’s rage, not realising that it only led to putting more oil into the fire of his wrath. It was then that Duryodhana went back to Hastinapur unable to tolerate the wealth and wellbeing of his cousins and desperately wanting to get even with them.
It is pertinent to note that as per some versions, Ved Vyasa had visited Yudhishthira after the sacrifice and made a prophecy that after a period of thirteen years, there would be a calamitous war due to an irreparable split in the Kuru clan. Yudhishthira’s piety came to the fore again. He pledged that he would try his best not to act in any way that would cause the war. He made a pledge that he would follow the path of virtue whatever happens, and obey his elders irrespective of what they do, to ensure that there is no conflict that escalates into this calamitous war. He perhaps did not realise then that that very pledge and actions emanating from it would in some way sow the seeds of irreconcilable difference and, among other things, cause the war.
As they say, vice finds a way to escalate and Duryodhana wanted that to happen. In fact, one of the primary assumptions of his gambling match scheme was that Yudhishthira would act virtuously and that would pave the way for him and Shakuni to cheat them of all their wealth, kingdom and Draupadi.
When invited for the gambling match, Yudhishthira very well knew that it was a path of disaster. He tried his best to avoid getting into it through diplomatic means. But spurred constantly by warrior code of conduct and his own pledge of obedience, he found himself accepting the invitation from Dhritarashtra for the gambling match. Even before the match commenced, on realising that Shakuni would throw the dice on behalf of Duryodhana, knowing well that Shakuni’s skills were unmatched, Yudhishthira registered his protest that this was against the established rules of gambling. But again spurred by the vicious gambler Shakuni and hearing only silence from the elders, particularly Dhritarashtra, despite Bheeshma and Vidur’s vehement protest, Yudhishthira went ahead with the match.
What happened thereafter was the most excruciating display of cunning and vice ever seen in a royal assembly, watched helplessly by the very elders that Yudhishthira had pledged to obey. One may reach the conclusion that a virtuous king like Yudhishthira could have stopped the game at various stages if he wanted and if he was truly virtuous. No one forced him to gamble his wealth, his kingdom, his brothers, himself and eventually his wife away. How could a virtuous man like Yudhishthira fall prey to such bad judgement?
There are many ways of looking at this instance of the gambling match.
The first is from the literary perspective of Yudhishthira himself. His pledge to obey elders and avoid conflict at all costs came in his way to stand up what might have been a justifiable revolt in hindsight. But imprisoned by his own virtuous nature, he found it more viable to try one final attempt every time to regain everything back rather than stand up to what was an obvious and vicious act of cheating in front of everyone.
The second way of looking at this is from a moral perspective to demonstrate that even a virtuous and pious man of Yudhishthira’s stature can find himself inexplicably locked in a gambling match as if in a bind, then what to speak of other regular people driven by greed and fear. Hence, this instance can be seen a lesson from the epic.
The final way of looking at it is from a spiritual perspective. The gambling match and Draupadi Vastraharan (disrobing attempt) were plans of the Lord to do two things. One is to demonstrate that when all else fails, only the Lord saves, as he did to Draupadi through the miracle of the unending saree. Second, and something that is more aligned with epic’s storyline is the fact that it led to actions from various characters, significantly Duryodhana, Dushasan, Karna and Shakuni, that sealed their own destiny in some way.
Duryodhana was spurred to ask Draupadi to come sit on his lap, leading to Bhima vowing to kill him by breaking his thigh. Dushasan was spurred into pulling Draupadi by her hair, again leading Bhima to vow to drink his blood and not rest till he washed Draupadi’s hair by the blood of Dushasan. It led to the only blemish on Bheeshma’s spotless character when he refused to answer Draupadi’s questions in the guise of confusion, thus following the letter of the law more than the spirit. It led to Nakula vowing to kill Shakuni after the Pandavas lost everything again due to his guile and were exiled to the forest.
Most importantly, it spurred all the Pandavas and charged them emotionally enough to reunite after the disastrous gambling match and insult to Draupadi. It shook them enough to not forget these insults and motivate them to end the atrocities of Duryodhana and company in the eventual war. It may thus be seen as the plan of the Lord Krishna, who orchestrated it to take forward the plan for His descent.
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