Shakuni & The Dice of Doom: Book 2 of the Mahabharata Series

by Mallar Chatterjee

Shakuni understood that if Pandu’s boys stayed away from Hastinapur, Duryodhana would never learn to hate them. They must be brought to Hastinapur to make Duryodhana feel insecure. In fact, they had a greater right on Hastinapur’s throne because the eldest of them, Yudhisthira, was older than Duryodhana. Duryodhana had to be reminded of it. It would be very easy for Shakuni to incite Duryodhana against them.

If Pandu dies suddenly, two birds can be killed with one stone. The two widows of Pandu will be compelled to return to Hastinapur with the children and a tension inside the Kuru family can be created. And…and…a husbandless, unprotected Pritha will be there for the easy taking.

The prince of Gandhara had forgotten that once upon a time he had been a decent gentleman, a brave patriot, a devoted son, a loving brother and a brilliant mind. A wrong marriage had started to cripple him internally and his disastrous infatuation for Pritha finally pulled him down to this abominable low. He was aware of his dreadful transformation but gave a damn about it. He was implacably busy plotting a devastating revenge instead.

Shakuni slowly walked up to him and took a closer look at his face. He said, ‘It is really unbelievable. Parvatak, I sent you to kill one, and two have been killed. Although you can’t claim any credit for this, you shall still be rewarded.’ Parvatak smiled a little, ‘Shakuniji, initially I thought I’d take no rewards from you as I didn’t have to do anything. But I changed my mind. The unfortunate incident has brought about a change in me. I shall henceforth try to live a decent and honest life. But for a new beginning, I shall badly need that hundred gold coins you offered. I have planned to buy some cattle and set up a dairy farm.’ ‘That’s very good, Parvatak. I appreciate it. Here is your reward. There is much more in it than what I promised you, trust me,’ said Shakuni with a hearty smile, holding a brass pitcher. The pitcher had a lid with many small holes. ‘Close your eyes and put your hand in it. You won’t believe what you’ve got!’ Shakuni said joyfully. With a curious and expectant smile, Parvatak closed his eyes and put his right hand into the pot. The very next moment a blood-curdling scream erupted from Parvatak and he fell down on the ground holding his right hand with the left. He was contorting with excruciating pain. Blood was dripping from his hand. ‘Ahh…my secret soldiers have kissed you, I think. My little, sweet scorpions from Gandhara! They are lethally toxic. Don’t

worry, you won’t take long to meet Pandu and Madri again—on the other side.’ Shakuni sat on his chair with a cruel smile, tightening the lid on the pitcher. Parvatak had become still by now with a frothing mouth. ‘Sorry, man. You were a witness to my wicked plan. How could have I let you live?’ Shakuni muttered.

Vidur wiped his tears as he saw Shakuni slowly emerge from behind a pillar. Vidur’s cheekbones jutted out in anger. Shakuni was staring unblinkingly at Kunti. He was looking grim. But there was no sadness on his face. Vidur had expected him to pull a sorrowful face but it seemed Shakuni did not even care to pretend anything.

The failed adventure dispirited Duryodhana and his brothers again. Surviving the scare, Bheem became more confident, aggressive and dominating. But Shakuni was not at all unhappy. Even in this apparent failure, he had found a hopeful side. Absence of any remorse in Duryodhana seemed like a good sign to Shakuni. Malice had taken full control of the young boy. Shakuni said to himself, Su has now become like a well-strung bow from where I can shoot my arrows at Pritha’s sons.

Shakuni looked at his brother-in-law with disgust-filled eyes. This man is so useless! He can’t even understand that this Krishna is a relative of Pritha and her sons, not of Dhritarashtra. With this boy’s support, Pritha’s sons could be invincible. Then who will protect Dhritarashtra’s sons? And this fool is feeling proud now. Tch, tch!

Before taking leave, Vidur said with a slightly unkind smile, ‘And mind you, your enemies are feeling much stronger now. They now have the support of the mighty Karna—your estranged and illegitimate firstborn.’

Shakuni chose Varanavat because he knew that the place was quite familiar to Vidur. Shakuni’s actual plan was to pass this information to Vidur by some means so that he could take proper measures to protect Kunti and her sons. It would be easier for Vidur to make such arrangements at Varanavat than any other place. Duryodhana and Karna cheered gleefully, taken in by his pretence. Shakuni’s crookedness was well beyond their reach.

Is this Shakuni really a secret paramour of Kunti? So deep is his feeling that he is even ready to sabotage his dear Duryodhana’s plot for her? The present development does prove my suspicion to be correct... But…but…is the feeling mutual?

Am I being too possessive about Kunti? Am I actually seeing in Shakuni a rival fighting me over her? But why should I? Why am I turning so unfamiliar to myself?

He had handled that bow so comfortably as if it was his own limb.

Shakuni could foresee that this man would one day control the history of the entire country.

Krishna happens to be a Vrishni Yadava. And he has a clear allegiance towards the Pandavas. The Pandavas are understandably ‘the estranged Kuru faction’ Devapi mentioned. Are these clear indications that Devapi’s prophecy is coming true?

‘The present is a moving shadow wheeling around us fast….’

‘The future is lying low Soon it shall rouse the Past, The Present is a moving shadow Wheeling around us fast, Eight years from now Shall there be Light, Grab the Lamp away Or perish in the Fight.’

Shakuni once heard Duryodhana tell Karna, ‘See Karna, this is what Draupadi rejected you for. She is now whoring for five declassed princes….’

Vyasa had felt that all the Pandava brothers were equally smitten by the girl and it would be extremely difficult for them to accept her as a sister-in-law. Apprehensive of serious complications in the future, Vyasa decided a polyandrous settlement would be much better although it was unorthodox. He managed to convince everybody, including the Panchala king who had initially taken serious offence at it. When Vidur came to know of this from Vyasa, he too found logic in his system and accepted the arrangement.

However, Shakuni’s own relation with Duryodhana was straining too. When angry, Duryodhana would not even spare him. Shakuni’s love for Duryodhana was receding fast. After many years of settling in Hastinapur, he was feeling lonely again. But he realised one thing—his mission did not require him to love Duryodhana. For him, Duryodhana was only a weapon to harm Pritha’s sons. The loneliness had become a habit; in fact he was quite comfortable being alone. He had prepared himself well to live off only hatred.

‘You heard me. But do it with some guile. Announce that you are equally dividing the kingdom between your and Pandu’s sons as you don’t want to deprive anybody. Then give them the worthless Khandavprastha province and retain Hastinapur for your Suyodhan. He will be the king of Hastinapur while Pandu’s boys will get to rule over some aborigines and wild beasts in that desolate land,’ Shakuni winked an eye at Dhritarashtra. Dhritarashtra was left open-mouthed. He wondered, what a brilliant idea! Why did not it occur to me earlier? But…but…will the elders allow me to do this? How shall I convince them?

Dhritarashtra again looked clueless. Shakuni elaborated, ‘Just tell them that the cousins can never get along. In future, the rift will only widen. It’s better to let them amicably part ways before anything untoward happens. I think this is enough to blow sense into those old bats. And mind you, you are the reigning king now. Your decision should be final.’

Shakuni was enjoying the situation to the hilt. The fire is about to spread now.

‘I must take your leave now. But before I leave, I must tell you one more thing. It’s not an advice, but a friendly suggestion. Enmity must not be limited to a particular generation only. If you reckon anybody as your enemy, you must count his descendants too as the same. What I want to say is that even if you fail to punish your enemy, his progeny must not escape your wrath. If you have successfully destroyed an enemy, you must annihilate his descendants too. Only then will your mission be complete. Even if his offspring are too young, show them no mercy. Not even should you spare his unborn babies. It was Arjuna’s mistake that he let me go. He will have to pay for this. We must not return the favour. Good night.’

Life seems particularly difficult for Yudhisthira now, as he is the most sensitive of them. Nobody knows better than me how a man feels when his wife is in love with his own brother! Shakuni felt no necessity to explain this to Duryodhana.

Unbelievably, Yudhisthira himself refused to quit the game although he had the option. Gripped by a strange madness, he was readily accepting Shakuni’s every formal invitation to start the next game. His suicidal stubbornness seemed to be a greater mystery than Shakuni’s incredible play. Had the eldest Pandava taken leave of all his senses? He had, actually. The confounded ‘Karkotaka’ was taking its toll on the poor Yudhisthira. Nobody except Shakuni knew that. Not even Duryodhana. Shakuni had Yudhisthira’s morning drink spiked with the potion Ashwasen had given him. Completely under its influence, Yudhisthira was just playing in his hands like a puppet.

Everybody knew Shakuni was a bad influence on Hastinapur. But nobody could even imagine how diabolical his mind was. He had a crooked calculation in his mind. He had correctly expected that Yudhisthira would swallow the last bait too and continue playing with his family members. Shakuni actually wanted him to play the game with his mother at stake. What could have been a sweeter revenge for Shakuni if he could reduce Pritha to a slave woman?

But his plan was not successful due to the over-enthusiasm of Duryodhana and his henchmen. Shakuni had no interest in Draupadi but Duryodhana and Karna had. They had their own scores to settle with her. As soon as Draupadi got reduced to a slave woman, they went completely overboard and crossed all limits of decency. In order to humiliate her, they plunged to an abominable depth.

‘Don’t feel sad, Panchali. Your humiliation will be duly avenged one day. And don’t blame your poor husbands for this mishap. They were helpless victims of the circumstance. But you have me by your side. No one shall dare do anything bad to you. Go inside with all your pride and honour.’

But should Devavrata feel sorry about the imminent extinction of the Kuru line? Rather, shouldn’t he be happy and feel rather avenged?

Shakuni had been standing still with a blank look in his eyes. He smiled a little, gave a sad nod and finally, muttered to himself, ‘Die I shall. But live you shall not either, Pritha!’

It would be Shakuni’s last strike, anyway. It would inflict on his enemies a wound much more grievous than what his notorious dices had done. Shakuni had no dearth of patience to keep waiting for the right moment to deal his final and most brutal blow to Pritha and her sons.

Shakuni was sitting aloof, for he had no need to participate in it. He was thinking instead whether Devavrata’s anger was genuine or feigned. How many masks does this man wear? Is his real face itself a mask too?

Does he mean to say even Tatshri Devavrata is not as devoted to Hastinapur as I have been? Does he have any reason to doubt Tatshri Devavrata’s loyalty?

For that matter, the children born through Niyoga may also be foreigners, just like the Pandavas are—having no Kaurava blood in their veins.

My own mother reduced me to something like a male prostitute!

I secretly admire Devapi because he has done what I myself could not. He has hit back; he has brought the Kauravas down to their knees.’

Vyasa ignored the question. There was now a funny smile on his face. He muttered in a low voice as if talking to himself, ‘It will be interesting to see what Devavrata does now. His life is even more pathetic than mine. I feel he will assume the command of the Kaurava army and occupy the battleground for some days, pretending to fight. He will keep the battle in a stalemate allowing neither side to win or lose. Then one day, he will commit suicide or let himself be killed when his lust for life will completely drain out.’

Vyasa said with misty eyes, ‘Me? I shall embark on an extremely ambitious project now. I shall author a chronicle of the troubled history of this Kuru family. I shall write about how the men and women of our time lived, loved, thought, felt and fought. I shall write how blissfully we found our gods, how miserably we lost them. I shall leave records of everything. And if I can by any chance get Lord Ganesha to scribe my story, I swear I shall make all of you immortal. All of you shall live long beyond your deaths. It will be my tribute to the great Kuru family.’

He thought, why did Devavrata turn so pale when I informed him about Devapi immediately after meeting him? What was Devavrata’s fear? Does he see Devapi as a threat? Possibly, Devapi bears a grudge against this family for being disowned and Devavrata is aware of it….

Shakuni bit into his lip and wondered, how astonishing it is that this particular pasha set repeatedly gets involved into contentious incidents at different points of time. Is this merely a co-incidence? Isn’t it strange that I never lost any game played with that pasha set? Did Devapi actually pack any occult power into that particular set to use it as a totem weapon? But why did he give it to my father? Did he particularly want me to inherit it? Did he believe only I could be able to use it most effectively? But how did he guess that I would be entangled in the affairs of a faraway Hastinapur some day? Was it sheer clairvoyance, or a far-sighted political calculation that Gandhara and Hastinapur would have to come close to each other in their best interests? Does it mean that Devapi actually stitched a colossal conspiracy, thread by thread over the years, looking so far into the future?

Another strange thing was happening to Shakuni. Lately, Arshi was coming to his mind quite often. And even more strangely, Pritha never did. How is Arshi doing now? How does she look now? I haven’t seen her for years! Is she feeling lonely there? Or, is she enjoying her freedom from me? Does she still maintain her relationship with Arjak? Does she remember me sometimes? Does she feel guilty? Should I write to her one last time before the war? But what should I write? We have long buried all words between us, haven’t we?

Shakuni knew Krishna would make all the differences. He was sure that the war was lost. He was now just trying to make the victory as costly for the Pandavas as possible.

The war will be won by the side with the most intelligent man.

But Duryodhana’s reply was courageous, ‘You’re possibly right, Drouni. We have lost to Krishna. But it’s already too late to think of a truce. Tell me why should they forgive me? Their hearts are burning with rage. Draupadi will never let them forget the past. And why should I live anymore? All my dear relatives, brothers, friends are lying there lifeless. No, Mitra. I cannot beg for their mercy. Better, I shall die fighting. I shall die with pride. What do you think?’