Mahabharata – Crown Prince – {Ep.181} – Stories From India Podcast

In this episode, we’re continuing the Mahabharata. We did a number of peripheral stories, but it has been many months since we were in the main storyline of this great epic. In the main storyline, we’ve done many stories about the education of the Pandava and Kaurav children. Well, there are many more stories around that time in the Mahabharata, but if we try to cover them all, it might take an actual lifetime. So we’ll skip forward a bit. We’ll still cover more stories from the Pandava and Kaurav childhood but we’ll keep coming back to those in future episodes.

Today we’ll see a pushy father get preferential treatment for his son. Irrespective of how undeserving the child might be. With the succession at stake, there’s more drama with this Royal family than with, let’s say, the British royal family. That includes more name calling in public and in private, more character assassinations, and more direct outrageous actions. And without any  journalistic mud-slinging!

Let’s do a recap of the story so far. If you haven’t heard any of the Mahabharata episodes before, it might be a good idea to check them out. Those previous episodes are linked in the show notes and the site.

The Story so far

But anyway, here’s a quick summary of the story so far. The Mahabharata is of the two greatest epics from India. It started with Bhishma, the crown prince of Hastinapur. Bhishma made a promise that he would not marry or have children. He did this just so that his father could marry Satyavati, a ferry operator. He also promised that Satyavati’s unborn children would sit on the throne. 

The people of Hastinapur had mixed feelings. Some were upset because Bhishma was a very capable warrior and had all the makings of a fine ruler. But also dodged a bullet – a Prince putting his empire in danger just because his father had discovered romance in his retirement years. 

But that’s how the story continued. Satyavati’s children, and then grandchildren faced tragedy after tragedy. And the situation evolved into confusion. Dhritarashtra, who was born blind became the ruler after his brother Pandu abdicated and later passed away. His was a largely ceremonial role. Bhishma did most of the administration, as he had sworn to do in support of whoever sat on the throne. Dhritarashtra had over a hundred children. And Pandu had 5 sons. All those children were physically healthy, and fully qualified to be emperor. I mean if you checked their medical history and IQ tests and so on. The problem which lacked extreme clarity was – should Pandu’s son Yudhishtir rule or should Dhritarashtra’s son Duryodhan rule instead? Yudhishthir was older than Duryodhan, but Duryodhan was the eldest son of the current emperor. No one clarified this. It would have saved a lot of lives if they had. 

The Pandavas and the Kauravas grew up under the tutelage of first Kripacharya and later Dronacharya. And each child found something to be passionate about. Arjun the Pandava was the expert archer. Bhima, also a Pandava, and Duryodhan were each the strongest amongst their siblings.

A Parent-Teacher Conference

We’ll continue the story. But instead of going back to the kids to Dronacharya University, we’ll instead go to a parent teacher conference.

Dronacharya himself was in conversation with Dhritarashtra, Gandhari, Kunti, Bhishma, Vidhur. Practically the whole gang was here.

Dronacharya was describing how the kids had done a fabulous job in defeating Drupada. Dronacharya claimed the battle with Drupada had more to do with testing the kids than avenging an insult to Dronacharya from King Drupada. “But don’t worry,” Dronacharya added. “I’m sure Narada will cover all that in a future episode”

“So, Professor” Dhritarashtra began “when are my kids done with education?”

“Learning is a lifelong process, your majesty” Dronacharya. “A person is never done learning, and a professor is never done teaching”

The Need for Early Graduation

Gandhari rolled her eyes, but no one could see that because she had taped them shut. “Yes, Professor, we understand. But what my husband is asking is when our children will be ready to graduate?”

“Ooh, they still have a long journey ahead. It will take many more semesters, I haven’t even designed some of the courses.”

As I mentioned, Gandhari had blindfolded herself in supposed solidarity with her blind husband. But she was remarkably perceptive. She knew how to motivate Drona.

“That’s too bad Professor. We were thinking that once the kids graduated, we could fund your very expensive weapons research project that you’d been asking about. But I understand if you want to continue teaching them longer…”

“Did… Did I say `long journey`? I only meant that in relative terms. Of course, I have crash courses lined up. They’ll graduate in no time. Yudhishthir and Arjun and Bheem especially. They are exceptionally bright boys!”

Dhritarashtra has a bee in his bonnet

That last remark made Dhritarashtra visibly uncomfortable. Kunti was happy to hear that of course, but she didn’t say a word. She was relying on Dhritarashtra and Gandhari for sustenance.

Dhritarashtra spoke up with more than a trace of annoyance. “Of course, Professor. We mustn’t take shortcuts with them. Let them have the full education they deserve. In fact I would personally sponsor their PHDs and highly encourage them to continue studying. I’m only worried about Duryodhan. He seems less gifted for academia, why not let him graduate? He can sit on the throne, relieve my burden a bit”

There was a long pause. No one spoke. 

“What’s wrong? Why don’t you say something Uncle Bhishma, don’t you agree?” 

But Bhishma was able to weasel out of providing an opinion. “You know, I can’t have a say on who gets to be emperor. I already made a decision not to make that decision”

“Convenient excuse” grumbled Dhritarashtra. “What about you Gandhari? In your view, don’t you think Dhritarashtra is ready to rule?”

But Gandhari replied that anything she might say might imply a mother’s bias, so she’d better sit this out. Also, that she didn’t have a real physical view, thanks to her being blindfolded. No thanks to him. 

And Kunti said the same thing as Gandhari. Not about being blindfolded but about a mother’s bias just applied from the opposite perspective. That is to say, she lacked a mother’s bias. 

“Dronacharya, you should have an opinion. They spent more time with you than the rest of us”

“I do, your majesty. But how can I play favorites?”

“Nonsense. Of course teachers play favorites all the time! GPA, rankings, what are they for?”

 “GPA? What is that?” asked Dronacharya genuinely puzzled

Dhritarashtra was getting exasperated “GPA – Grade Point Average. It’s a grading process for applying standardized measurement to quantify a student’s academic achievements. How exactly have you been evaluating our kids at your school?”

Dronacharya shrugged “Pass or Fail. That’s the norm. Simple binary decision. No gray area in between. GPA, huh? I don’t know, I just don’t see it becoming mainstream ever.”

Vidhur speaks his mind

Finally Dhritarashtra turned on the one person who had not spoken yet. “Vidhur, you tell me. Is Duryodhan ready to sit on the throne?”

Directly addressed Vidhur had no choice but to speak. And because he always spoke the blunt truth, he did that this time as well. “Duryodhan is vile, he lacks judgment in the simplest of situations, he actively works to undercut anyone who opposes him in the slightest, he’s like a mob boss and demands loyalty”

Dhritarashtra absorbed that for a moment and said “So what you’re saying is that he’s ready for a career in politics?”

“No your majesty, quite the opposite. You are blinded by your love for him” Vidhur replied

“Don’t be absurd Vidhur. I was born blind and that too because of a clerical error. Don’t you dare blame my son for that”

“That’s not what I meant, your highness. Let me be absolutely clear. Duryodhan isn’t going to do a thing for the good of the public. With Duryodhan on the throne, there will be a palace revolt. Your empire will collapse. And meanwhile he will be sipping wine with his brothers and playing the fiddle.”

Dhritarashtra was surprised “I didn’t know Duryodhan could play the fiddle. My boy is full of surprises! I must hear him next time”

It was Vidhur’s turn to be visibly frustrated. “Read my lips. On second thoughts, you can’t. But hear me clearly. Duryodhan. Does. NOT. Deserve. To. Be. Emperor.”

Dhritarashtra is upset

Dhritarashtra was upset. As you might expect him to be. “Alright, do what you want. You want to put Yudhishthir on the throne. Do it. What do I care? Put Yudhishthir’s slippers on the throne for all I care. They did it in the Ramayana – why shouldn’t you? But don’t say I didn’t warn you. You wait and see.” 

He stormed off. Or he pretended to. He quickly hid around the corner and eavesdropped on them. Or he thought he did. That’s a challenge with being blind. It was a little embarrassing for the rest of the crowd to see Dhritarashtra through a window standing right outside the room making increasingly fainter walking sounds, pretending to be walking away.

Bhishma decided to intervene, before Gandhari could say anything. He had to protect the Emperor. But not just from physical harm, but from embarrassment too. “The Emperor isn’t here. There is no point discussing this further today. Let’s talk to him about it again tomorrow.”

Everyone got the message and dispersed. But they were tactful enough to let Dhritarashtra slink away before they exited the room.

Dhritarashtra and Gandhari

That night, Dhritarashtra and Gandhari had a conversation. She told him “Look, I really think Vidhur made a good point”

“I can’t “look”, I’m blind. But you’re just being biased like everyone else”

“No dear, you’re the one who is biased. Everyday it is Duryodhan this, Duryodhan that. It’s like you don’t even have the other 101 children.”

“What are you saying? Of course I know my other children! How can I not?” the Emperor protested.

“Oh yeah?” Gandhari replied. “Last weekend when I challenged you – you could only name 10 of our other kids”

Dhritarashtra got a little hot under the collar. “A) that’s not true! B) I could name 12 not just 10 and C) it doesn’t even matter, because I have my own nicknames for them 

“like number 38, number 39?” Gandhari asked, sarcastically.

“Those are perfectly okay names,” Dhritarashtra protested. “Anyway, going back to a much more important thing I want to discuss. It’s a request from Duryodhan and Shakuni”

A strange request

Gandhari was alert. “A request? What is it?”

“A request is an act of asking politely or formally for something. I’m surprised you didn’t know that already.” 

Naturally he didn’t see her shaking her head. He continued explaining that he guessed Duryodhan and Shakuni had heard through the grapevine, how everyone wanted Yudhishthir to become crown Prince. And they wanted to do something nice about it. 

Gandhari was at the edge of her seat. If Duryodhan and Shakuni thought about it, there must be some malice here. The boy was a bad influence on her brother. She would have to warn Shakuni to keep better company.

“So they are asking for funds to build a palace for not just Yudhishthir, but his brothers and Kunti as well. Isn’t he sweet? And so clever, he wants us to integrate better with the tribes of the land, so he wants to give the Palace a bit of a tribal feel – it’ll be made of wax, bamboo, straw”

Gandhari didn’t like the sound of that. Didn’t the three little pigs discover what a bad idea it was not to use bricks and stone? 

A Wax Palace?

“Who’s going to blow down the palace? The big bad wolf? I’ve never liked that story. How can a pig build anything? With its feet, it can’t hold hammers, nails and stuff. Maybe that’s the real reason their huts broke down. Typical capitalist motive blaming it on building material.” 

“What did you tell him?” Gandhari asked

“Oh of course I granted their request. What a thoughtful boy Duryodhan is. I don’t understand Vidhur’s reservations. This is a clear example of my boy showing how much he cares about every one of subjects, not just the ones who live in the capital” Dhritarashtra said.

Gandhari was still apprehensive. Like Vidhur, she still had reservations. But on the surface of it, she couldn’t say anything now, could she? There had to be a catch. But what was it?

Dhritarashtra went on and on about how Duryodhan had described his clever idea. The boy said he got it after visiting Madame Tussauds wax museum. Wax. It looked so nice on all those statues, so why not make a palace out of it? It would be nicer than silly old brick and stone. It was a clever idea.

“Of course,” Dhritarashtra said “I’ve already approved their request. They are probably starting construction tomorrow. I do hope the Pandavas can see that their brother really means well and wants to take care of them. He’s a shining example for what it means to be an older brother, and an Emperor. Yes, indeed! The Palace of Wax is going to be amazing! I know I can’t see it, but I’m sure if its made of wax it’s walls will be pretty smooth to the touch”

We’ll pause the story there. We’ll come back to see what happened in the Palace of Wax in a future episode.

That’s all for now

Notes

Previous Mahabharata episodes are here

Next Time

In the next episode, we’ll do a story about Jayant. Some of  you have specifically asked to hear other stories about Jayant, so we’ll do one from the Ramayana! Amongst other things we’ll see one possible explanation for the Kumbh Mela’s origins.