Pregnant King Read online

  Yuvanashva’s cradle was placed in Shilavati’s audience chamber. This disturbed the Brahmana and Kshatriya elders initially as they were not used to a leader who nursed a child while discussing matters of dharma.

  Guided by Mandavya, Shilavati carried out her role as ruler and mother with aplomb. She organized the annual cow-giving ceremony for the Brahmana elders while putting Yuvanashva to sleep. She permitted the Vaishya elders to burn a forest on the western bank of the Kalindi for a new farmland while feeding her toothless son a meal of bananas. She gave the Shudra elders instructions to build a new gate for Vallabhi while Yuvanashva chewed on her hair. She decided the rate of tax while playing hide and seek. The ministers and advisors gradually got used to this and even started participating in the raising of the prince. A time came when the eldest Kshatriya, commander of the army, could discuss the need to organize an archery tournament to select guards for the palace while tying Yuvanashva’s dhoti.

  When she was eighteen, Shilavati organized an elephant hunt. ‘There are no metal mines in Vallabhi. We can sell the captured elephants to the king of Anga for his gold and copper,’ she said. An elephant hunt demands many resources and complex organization: digging of vast pits to serve as traps, the beating of gigantic drums to scare the elephants into the trap, torturing and forcing the leader of the herd into submission. Shilavati supervised it all. Her success earned her the respect of Vallabhi’s Kshatriya elders, who at first thought she would merely be a figurehead.

  Like any good king in Ila-vrita, Shilavati appointed a network of spies who posed as bards and who knew all that happened in Ila-vrita. These ‘eyes of Varuna’ as they were sometimes called told her of the strange ceremony by which Drupada had become father of twins: a boy and a girl. ‘From the yagna’s fire-pit, the two Siddhas, Yaja and Upayaja, churned out for the king of Panchala the children Shiva had long ago promised him.’

  ‘But did Ileshwari not give Drupada a son?’ asked Shilavati.

  ‘But not quite the son, he wanted,’ said the spies. ‘On Shikhandi’s wedding night, his bride had come out of the bedchamber screaming that her husband had no manhood, that he was a woman. The bride’s father, the king of Dasharni, was so angry that he sent his chief concubine to check if this was true. The concubine contradicted the bride and insisted Shikhandi was a man. The words of the wife, however, did confirm something that had long been whisphered on the streets of Panchala: that the son of Drupada was no son at all, that he would never be allowed to enter a battlefield and so could never kill either Drona or Bhisma. A desperate Drupada approached Yaja and Upayaja, two Siddhas, and had begged them to perform a yagna through which Shiva’s boon would be realized. He wanted the children who would destroy Drona and Bhisma and divide the house of Kurus. After a long and complex ceremony, the two sages drew out from beneath the embers of the altar a fully grown woman now called Draupadi and a fully grown man now called Dhristadhyumna.’

  ‘The king of Panchala manipulates cosmic forces in his desire for vengeance. The consequences will not be good,’ said Mandavya.

  ‘I agree,’ said Shilavati. Her father always told her that in crisis change your mind, not the world. Its easier. Simpler. Safer.

  As ruler, Shilavati was responsible for ensuring everybody followed varna-ashrama-dharma and conducted themselves in accordance with their station in society and stage in life. She was constantly in touch with the elders of the four varnas making sure that all was well in the kingdom. That wealth poured inwards, not outwards. That there were enough lakes and tanks in the villages so that one did not depend on the whimsical rains. She organized festivals and fairs around Ileshwara at different times of the year, attracting more pilgrims and with them more wealth. She resolved conflicts between the varnas and received envoys of neighbouring kings. All those who came to the palace, were looked after by the royal mother. Vast amounts of food were cooked in the royal kitchens to feed them.

  Had it not been for Shilavati, this small principality would have been swallowed by neighbouring kings as soon as her husband died. She secured the kingdom’s boundaries by allowing the royal horse of rival kings ride through her kingdom when they performed the Ashwamedha sacrifice, a gesture that symbolically expressed her submission to the horse’s master. This allegiance to multiple kings ensured no one claimed exclusive rights over Vallabhi, for while the kings were not afraid of a widow-queen, they were wary of each other. Shilavati was left alone provided she paid them a handsome tribute once a year.

  Vallabhi could afford these tributes. The peace that followed Shilavati’s policy of submission had made it prosperous. No sugarcane harvest on the banks of the Kalindi was ever destroyed by marauding armies. Caravans of traders and pilgrims on its highways, making their way to the many festivals and fairs organized by Shilavati, feared no attack. The granaries of Vallabhi overflowed with grain. Stables were full of cows, horses and elephants.

  When Brahmanas complained that peace and submission was making the warrior clans restless, Shilavati addressed the Kshatriya elders, ‘Kingship is not about winning wars. It is about maintaining order. Order is dharma and dharma is Vishnu. Vishnu holds in his hands not only the conch-shell trumpet of war but also the lotus of diplomacy. Diplomacy has served us well. It may not have brought glory but it has brought stability. In Vallabhi, Vishnu does not ride the hawk of war; he reclines in peace on the serpent of time. At his feet, seated on the lotus of diplomacy, is Lakshmi, the goddess of fortune, blessing us all.’

  The Kshatriyas agreed.

  Shilavati told her son, ‘If you want Lakshmi to follow you, be a Vishnu. Do your duty. Don’t run after glory.’

  Yuvanashva obeyed.

  mother

  Ideally, at the age of seven, a prince is sent to the hermitage of an Acharya where he is educated with Kshatriyas and Brahmana boys his age. There he stays, serving his teacher, living and learning with him all year round, returning home only during the rains. But Shilavati broke from tradition. She appealed to Mandavya, ‘He is the last of the Turuvasus. I don’t want him in any danger. I don’t want him out of my sight.’

  And so all the best of the Acharyas in and around Vallabhi were invited to the palace to educate the prince. A new section was added to the palace to serve as the royal school. To give the prince company, young Kshatriya and Brahmana boys were invited to stay with him. Their families agreed willingly. Amongst them was Vipula, Mandavya’s son, who became Yuvanashva’s best friend.

  Every day, the prince was encouraged to run, wrestle, lift weights, climb on poles, regulate his breath, make his limbs nimble by performing asanas. Masseurs were engaged to relax his tired limbs, to make his bones strong and joints flexible. At dusk each day, the Veda was chanted in his presence so that the potent power of the hymns shaped his thoughts. He was taught how to string a bow, shoot arrows, use the spear and the sword. He learnt to wrestle and ride chariots and fight with the mace. Acharyas were appointed to teach him statecraft and economics and politics. He was also taught to appreciate the arts, music and painting, the smell of fragrances, the flavour of food. ‘The future king must know the importance of dharma. Of rites, rituals and rules. He must also appreciate the value of sensory delights. For what is life without indulging the flesh,’ said his teachers.

  Every evening, Yuvanashva would go to his mother’s chamber to eat. Shilavati preferred cooking for her son herself. Her maids cut the vegetables, cleaned the grains, washed the meat and prepared the spices but it was she who did the cooking. Boiling, frying, roasting, steaming. A delight for her son every day.

  Yuvanashva would refuse to eat alone. ‘You must eat with me mother,’ he would say.

  A plate of gold would be kept before the prince. A banana leaf before the queen. When Yuvanashva asked why, the maids replied, ‘Your mother has no husband. She must eat simply.’

  ‘But my mother is queen. She must eat like one. Get her a plate of gold.’ The prince had spoken. A plate of gold was brought and Shilavati ate from it. ‘And yo