Jaya: An Illustrated Retelling of the Mahabharata Read online

  Parnada did as told as he travelled up and down the rivers Ganga, Yamuna and Saraswati singing Damayanti’s song. Everyone was intrigued by the lyrics but no one responded to it. Finally, in the kingdom of Ayodhya, ruled by Rituparna, the royal cook, an ugly dwarf called Bahuka, responded to the song with another song. ‘Despair not beloved of that unlucky soul. He still cares for you. The fool who gambled away his kingdom, whose clothes were stolen by a bird, who wandered off in the middle of the night leaving you all alone in the forest.’

  Parnada rushed back and informed Damayanti of this incident. ‘That’s Nala,’ said Damayanti with a smile on her face, ‘He still cares for me. That is why he responded.’

  ‘But the man who responded is an ugly dwarf and serves as the king’s cook. Not at all like the handsome Nala I remember from your marriage,’ said Parnada.

  ‘No one but Nala knows of those birds that flew away with his garment. It must be him,’ said Damayanti, fully convinced.

  She came up with an idea to get Nala to Vidarbha. She requested Sudev to visit Ayodhya and give the king there a message. ‘Tell him that since there is no trace of Nala, the king of Vidarbha has decided to get Damayanti remarried. He has invited all the kings of the land to his city so that she chooses a husband from among them. Tell him the ceremony will take place on the day that immediately follows your arrival.’

  ‘The next day! But how will Rituparna reach Vidarbha in one day?’

  ‘If Nala is in his kingdom, Nala will bring him here for he is the fastest charioteer in the world. And Rituparna will want to come at any cost for he was one of my suitors before I married Nala and still desires me.’

  Sudev was not sure the plan would work but he followed Damayanti’s instructions. Sure enough, Rituparna offered a huge reward to whoever could take him to Vidarbha in one night. ‘I will,’ said his cook. ‘I will take you there provided you tell me the secret of rolling dice.’

  ‘So be it,’ said Rituparna, and the two made their way to Vidarbha, speeding through the forest like a thunderbolt on a chariot. Through the night, as they travelled, the king shared with Bahuka his secret knowledge of dice. By the time the chariot reached Vidarbha at dawn, Bahuka had become an expert in the game.

  As soon as the chariot crossed the palace gates, Rituparna and Bahuka saw two children. Bahuka jumped off the chariot and hugged them and wept profusely. ‘Who are these children? And why are you hugging them? And why are you crying?’ asked Rituparna. Bahuka did not reply.

  Damayanti observed this from afar and heaved a sigh of relief. ‘That man is Nala.’

  ‘But he does not look like Nala. He is ugly and short and deformed,’ said the maid.

  ‘I do not recognize the body but I do recognize that heart. Follow him and observe him. He may not look like Nala but he will behave like Nala. And the world around him will treat him royally for he has the soul of a king,’ Damayanti said with confidence.

  The maid followed Bahuka and sure enough, saw the most amazing things. ‘The man has magical powers. When he passes through a gate, he does not bend; the gate rises so that he passes with head held high. When given meat to cook a meal, the meat almost cooks itself; the wood bursts forth with fire and water pours out of the ground.’

  ‘That man is Nala for sure. He may be poor and ugly, but even the gates of the palace, the firewood and the water in the ground acknowledge his royal aura. They rise up to greet him,’ explained Damayanti.

  Without any consideration to those around, Damayanti ran to the stables and hugged Bahuka shouting, ‘Nala, Nala.’ Rituparna was shocked and her parents embarrassed. How could this ugly servant be Nala, the handsomest of men?

  Bahuka then spoke up, ‘Yes, I am Nala. In the forest, after I left Damayanti, I came upon Karkotaka, a dreaded Naga, who with his venomous breath transformed me into the ugliest of men. He then advised me to gain employment with the king of Ayodhya, and learn from him the art of playing dice. My ugliness and my servitude were punishments to make me see the errors of my ways.’

  Rituparna found all that he was hearing too fantastic to believe. So Bahuka pulled out a magic robe given to him by the Naga Karkotaka. He wrapped it around his body and was instantly transformed to his original beautiful self. With that there was no doubt in anyone’s mind: Bahuka was indeed Nala.

  After thanking Rituparna for all his help, Nala hugged his wife and children. The terrible days of misfortune and separation were over. They were together once again.

  A few days later, Nala visited what was once his kingdom and challenged his cousin to a game of dice. ‘If I lose, you can have my beautiful wife,’ he said motivating Pushkara to take up the challenge. This time, however, Nala won, thanks to the tricks Rituparna taught him.

  Thus did Nala get back all that he had once lost—family and fortune.

  ‘So it shall be with you, Yudhishtira,’ said the sage Vrihadashwa, blessing the eldest Pandava.

  The Rishis explain Nala’s foolish behaviour through the idea of Kali, the herald of misfortune. Kali is the ugly, misshapen carrier of bad luck who strikes those who do not observe rules of hygiene and those who touch polluted and inauspicious things. Kali is blamed for making Yudhishtira lose all good sense during gambling. This Kali needs to be distinguished from Kali, the wild goddess of the forest. Through the notion of Kali, the Rishis help Yudhishtira cope with shame and guilt: he can blame an external agency rather than himself for the Pandavas’ misfortune.

  Damayanti comes across as a strong-willed woman who is unafraid of her husband’s misfortunes. She never stops loving him and always stands by him. Nala, on the other hand, is consumed by shame and guilt. His ability to cope with misfortune leaves much to be desired.

  The story of Nala and Damayanti is told so that the Pandavas do not wallow in self-pity. It also gives them clues as to how they can spend their final year of exile in hiding. Like Nala, Bhima becomes a cook and Nakula becomes a stable hand while like Damayanti, Draupadi becomes a queen’s maid.

  The story of Nala brings to light the concept of raj-yog or royal aura that some people possess. Even if they are poor, the cosmos acknowledges their royalty. In Nala’s case, the doorway would rise so that he need not bend and food would cook itself so that he did not have to dirty his hands.

  In most retellings of Nala’s tale, he is described as the best cook in the world. In some retellings, Damayanti finds him by getting to know from travellers in which country they had eaten the tastiest of foods.

  67

  Servants in Virata’s court

  Then came the thirteenth year.

  In the dead of the night, the Pandavas hid their weapons in a bundle of cloth shaped like a corpse which they tied to the branch of a Sami tree.

  Then they took various disguises.

  Yudhishtira presented himself as a learned Brahman called Kanka well versed in the art of managing a kingdom. Bhima presented himself as a cook called Ballava. ‘Like Nala who served Rituparna, I will be the greatest cook in the world,’ he said. Arjuna wore the clothes of a woman and presented himself as an accomplished dance teacher called Brihanalla. ‘I have learnt the art of dancing from the Apsaras themselves,’ he said. Nakula presented himself as a groom of horses called Damagranthi and Sahadeva presented himself as a physician of cows called Tantipala. Draupadi presented herself as a beautician called Sairandhri.

  All six of them went to the kingdom of Matsya and sought employment from its king, Virata.

  So good were the disguises that Duryodhana’s spies found no trace of them when they reached Dwaitavana. All they found in the caves last occupied by the Pandavas were Dhaumya and a few Rishis performing yagna, praying for the well-being of the Pandavas.

  Many loyal servants such as Indrasena followed the Pandavas into exile, serving them in the forest as they served them in the palace. It was these servants who acted as decoys to distract the Kaurava spies while the Pandavas made their way to the kingdom of Matsya, disguised as servants.

  The hidi