Keechak Vadh...retold

Keechak  Vadh...retold

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Please don’t force me, I am already married to Gandarvas, they are five in number and mostly remain invisible. Pleaded Sairandhari to Keechak the Chief of Army of Virat Raj of Matsaya kingdom. Keechak was also brother in law of the king.

But the ruffian Keechak won’t leave Sairandhari who actually is Draupadi. During this time of Pandava’s exile the last year was Agyat Vas , they have to live in anonymity. Draupadi as Sairandhari was working as maid of the queen and Keechak was enthralled by her beauty and wanted to marry her.

Let us see how her five husbands were hiding their identity. Incidentally all six of them decided to spend the one year of anonymity in Matsaya kingdom which was very close to Hastinapur, the plan was audacious as Duryadhan had put spies to locate them, as per condition if Pandavas are spotted then their exile will start from the beginning which was 12 years of exile in forest and one year of Agyat Vas. All of them did not arrive together; Yudhishthir came as a Brahmin who was expert in playing dice. The king appointed him as a minister and would play dice often with him. Yudhishthir was addicted to playing dice and having lost kingdom in a crooked dice game with Duryadhan he was honing his skill in playing dice with the king of Virat. Another dice game with Duryadhan? I don’t think he would have played having lost everything. Of course there was no scope for that as Kurushetra battle was the deciding field or the killing field for Kauravas, Where Arjun’s Gandiv spoke, Bheem’s gada thundered and Krishna’s far sight steered them to brutal victory….धर्मक्षेत्रे कुरुक्षेत्रे समवेता युयुत्सवः।

मामकाः पाण्डवाश्चैव किमकुर्वत संजय॥१-१॥

Sanjay, gathered in Dharma-kshetra Kurukshetra (place of Dharma, Kurukshetra), what are my and Pandava’s sons doing?

That was blind Dhritrashtra asking Sanjay about the battle………..those are the opening sentences in Bhagwat Gita.

Well let me roll back to Virat where Keechak is making his advances to Draupadi. It is a tricky situation for Pandavas, if they interfere then they will stand exposed and Duryodhan’s spies will pick up the scent. Their incognito stay will be exposed. Yudhishthir as usual advises Panchali or Draupadi or Sairandhari to manage the situation. Arjuna had a curse to be a eunuch, he is disguised as Brihanalla and engaged to teach dance to the princess Uttara. So he is of no use to handle the explosive situation. Draupadi is smarting under the lewd remark thrown at her by Keechak. She wants Keechak’s blood. Nakul is Royal groom in horse stable and Shadev is a royal cowherd, but as we know both are not warriors to match Keechak who is a great fighter.

Let us come to the fateful day.

As usual Draupadi after finishing her chore was coming out of queen’s chamber when the willy Keechak who was lurking around jumped on her. She struggled tooth and nail, fell on the ground , got hurt, her head starting bleeding , seeing the blood Keechak left her for the time being promising to be back. Draupadi goes running to king’s court and pleads with the king. The king is helpless , Yudhishthir as Kanka who was present there in the court asked her to manage the crisis. Draupadi was in rage and wanted revenge and swore not to wipe her blood till Keechak is killed by the night.

Oh, I forgot to mention about Bheem. Bheem was fond of food so he disguised himself as cook named Ballav. Ballav had heard about humiliation of Sairandhir or Draupadi in the hand of Keechak so he rushes to court to help Draupadi. Kanka means Yudhishthir stops him saying that his rash action will expose them to Durayadhan and their terms of 12 years of Vanbas and 1 year of Agyatbas will start again as per conditions.

But Draupadi has already taken oath of revenge; she meets Bheem in kitchen and asks him to act. So the scene is like this..Yudhishthir will not act, Arjuna is eunuch as Brihanalla so can’t act, Nakul and Sahdev are no match so it was left to Bheem.

Draupadi and Bheem hatch a plan.

Keechak is very excited finally his wish of spending night with Sairandhari or Draupadi will be full filled tonight.He takes a few goblets of Madira to ginger himself up for the big occasion. He stealthily approaches the dance hall where Draupadi is waiting for him.

He reaches the dance hall , a very few lamps on the wall was lighted. The reflected light of outside moon on those glass works around created a mesmeric ambience. In that mystic atmosphere Keechak spotted Draupadi waiting for him in a corner. She was draped head to toe in a black cloth. The creep Keechak with his libido approaches her and touches her shoulder lovingly.

“Wham”  a big fist lands on his face, from the cover of black cloth Bheem reveals himself. We don’t have to dwell much on the fight as we all know Bheem is way above the inebriated Keechak. He just kills him within a few moments; hardly that Chief of army of Virat could put up a fight.

Somehow this Virat parba of Mahbharat always intrigued me. Arjuna famous with his Gandiv was helpless as he was cursed to be eunuch. Why was he eunuch?

Here is why?

When Arjuna, the hero of Mahabharata, visited Amaravati – the Palace of Indra to obtain the weapon from his father( by the way Indra was the biological father of Arjuna), a party was arranged for his reception where court dancers of celestial beauties and fame like Urvashi, Tilottama, Rambha and Menaka were invited to perform. During the programme, there was exchange of passionate glances between Arjuna and Urvashi and in the night when Urvashi stealthily came to Arjuna’s bedroom with an intention to present herself to him, Arjuna retracted addressing her as mother.
Dear Arjun it is not done, calling an apsara Amma, it is like Arjun Kapoor in the film Gundey calling the cabaret dancer Priyanka Chopra a mother.

Urvashi felt very much insulted and being extremely annoyed, she cursed Arjuna that he would become eunuch and live with women dancing and singing. Later, on the request of Indra, Urvashi reduced the curse from whole life to only one year period i.e. the thirteenth year of Pandavas’ exile.

So Arjun as Brihnalla is a eunuch in reality because of the curse of Urvashi. 

Yudhishthir as usual gave gyan like a consultant does in any company but of course he had the responsibility of keeping anonymity. He was right on his own way.

But then we have this hot headed Bheem, Draupadi had to finally use her charm on him to act and the act he did with real gusto. Imagine the plight of Keechak who lustily approaches the shadowy figure draped in black for a good time and gets the shock of his life. He was there for amorous purpose and not for wrestling duel. I would have loved to watch his expression. 

 Yes that is the climax which I liked, i tried telling that episode the way i looked at it. Kind of retold by me.