Change of Fate

After some discussions, it was decided that a proposal for marriage could not be sent to Veerbhadra's parents that day as it was a Saturday, and not that auspicious a day for the beginning of such an important discussion. It was therefore decided that the marriage proposal will be sent the following Monday, it being a very auspicious day. This news made Gandhari very happy indeed. Saumya couldn't believe it when Gandhari told her. This was something she had simply not expected. She had expected heartache and heartbreak, and maybe some violence, but never this! She thanked all the Gods in the skies above, for blessing them with such a good fortune!

***

"STOP! Stop it!" Gandhari's soul whispered, and Chitragupta immediately freezed the flashbacks.

"What happened, Gandhari?" Yama enquired. "Do you want to ask something?"

"Yes." There was suppressed anger and tears in her voice. "What did I do to deserve this? Why was my heart broken? Why couldn't I have been married to Veerbhadra? Why?" She sobbed.

Yama let her sob for a few moments. This was the first time she had cried and let out this pain that she had held within herself for so many years – the first of her much heartbreak, the beginning of her very long misery. Even Chitragupta had softened a little.

Then Yama answered her gently, "Things don't always happen the way we want them to. It's in the nature of time to keep changing. You can't always be happy, or sad. Life is meant to give us a taste of all of it – happiness, sadness, peace, unrest, good, bad, all of it, and more. It is meant to have all shades. Things don't always happen for a reason. Sometimes, they happen because they happen, and no other reason at all. Maybe, this was one of that?"

After a few minutes, her sobs subsided, and she composed herself.

"Should we continue then?" Chitragupta asked, his voice a little softer than it had been before, and Gandhari's soul nodded her agreement.

***

Saturday evening, however, brought with it a change to Gandhari's fate. That evening, Bheeshm, the caretaker of the great kingdom of Hastinapur, and the descendant of the great Kuru dynasty, came to visit Gandhaar. The King welcomed him warmly and arranged for comfortable quarters for him to rest. Arrangements for a small feast were made quickly, and Bheeshm was requested to have dinner with the royal family, which he accepted.

When he reached the dining hall, he noticed the delicate artistic decorations of the room, and found that the aroma of the food was quite enhancing his appetite. He thoroughly enjoyed his food, and then requested to speak with the King alone after dinner, which the King accepted without hesitation. Therefore, after dinner, The King and Bheeshm went to the Small Darbaar, The King's Private Court, together, for a private meeting.

The Small Darbaar was an intricately designed, small, but beautiful, multi-purpose room. It was often used by the King and his sons to sit together for brain-storming on important decisions, where they were sometimes joined by important courtiers, if required. However, on some odd days, it was even used for small private functions, etc.

Upon the King's instructions, two aasaans had been arranged in the room, facing each other, with a bowl of fruits and a plate of dry fruits between them. King Subal and Bheeshm, both sat down, now facing each other. The servants ran in carrying two glasses of sweetened lemon water, called Nimbu Paani. Then, the King ordered everyone out of the room, so that he and Bheeshm could speak alone.

"Could you tell me, who made the arrangements in the dining room?" Bheeshm enquired, as a way of starting the conversation.

"Well, my daughter did. She arranged for the food too. She makes all the arrangements for any and all events." replied the King. "Was the food or decoration not to your liking?"

"On the contrary, sir, I am deeply impressed. So impressed, in fact, that I want to make an offer to you. I wish your daughter to marry nephew, Dhritrashtra."

King Subal was speechless.

"Your daughter is a rare jewel, and worthy of becoming the daughter-in-law of my great Kuru clan." Said the Kurushreshtha. Then, noticing that Subal was still silent, he prompted, "Well?"

One the one hand, it was a great honour for any kingdom to have marriage relations with such a strong kingdom as Hastinapur. It would have meant a great increase in the prestige of Gandhaar. The alliance by marriage was always a very strong form of alliance. No kingdom would dare to attack Gandhaar, with Hastinapur as their ally! Not even Jarasandh, the powerful King of Magadh, or Kans, the tyrant Prince of Mathura!

On the other hand, however, it was a kind of insult to offer marriage with a blind prince! And everyone knew that Dhritrashtra was blind by birth. Then there was also the matter that Gandhari loved someone else. However, refusing marriage to such a powerful kingdom would have been seen as an insult by Bheeshm, which would have meant a war that they were sure to lose, as Hastinapur was a much more powerful kingdom than Gandhaar.

King Subal was in a fix!

In the end, he decided to ask for some time to make a decision. That way, he thought, he could consult his sons about this matter.

"Respected Sir, I alone cannot make such an important decision alone. I need to discuss this with all my sons first. I would therefore request you to permit me a little time to decide."

Bheeshm was surprised, and felt a little insulted. He sensed the hesitation in the King's voice. He thought it over, and then said, in a final sort of way, "Please let me know your decision by tomorrow evening." He immediately got up from his aasan, folded his hands to the King in a form of a quick Namaste (a way of greeting), which the King replied to with a similar gesture. Then Bheeshm said, "Permit me to leave now. I shall come again, tomorrow evening, for an answer."

He immediately took his leave, leaving the dumbfounded King Subal behind. He went straight to the chariots waiting for him outside the Palace Gates, and, refusing the hospitality of the Gandhaars, he went ahead, to spend the night at the military camp his men had set up for themselves, on the outskirts of Gandhaar.

Subal did not know what to do. He rang the call bell as soon as Bheeshm had left, and a servant appeared before him within a few seconds. "Call all my sons here. Tell them to come immediately. It's an emergency!" He instructed.

The servant immediately ran towards the palace rooms where they slept, and gave the message in each of their rooms. One by one, the brothers all came out, and hurried towards the Small Darbaar, to meet their father, Prince Shakuni in the lead.

My sons! We are in a grave danger!!" Subal said to them as soon as all of them had settled down and the servants had left. Small beads of perspiration had appeared on his forehead, but he was too preoccupied to notice.

It was the cold month of November.

The sons were puzzled, and worried. "What has happened, father? Please tell us in detail." Shakuni asked his father.

"Bheeshm has asked for Gandhari's hand in marriage for his nephew."

"His Nephew? As in, Pandu? That sickly yellowish young man?" Vrishak enquired immediately.

"No."

"Then who….- No. NO. NOOOO. Not Dhritrashtra! Not that burly, blind, frustrated young oaf!" Shakuni nearly shouted.

"Father you can't!" Achal cried.

"It's an insult to our kingdom! No way!!" said an indignant Vrishak.

"Marriage to a bling Prince, who will never even be made a King? Ridiculous!" Gaja roared.

This went on for a few minutes, after which, they all quietened down a little. It was then that Subal said, "My children! Please think over everything before you come to any conclusions. Hastinapur is a powerful and influential kingdom. It has a very strong army, that is led by none other than the great warrior Bheeshm, who is the son of Ganga and Kuru King Shantanu. He is a disciple of Lord Parshuram himself, and it is said that he has been blessed that he will not die till he himself choses it as his time of death. He alone is capable of defeating our entire army!"

He paused, and then continued, "Please bear in mind that such great and powerful men have equally big egos. A refusal on our part will mean a war that we are sure to lose."

"And what about Gandhari? You do know she likes someone else! We ourselves decided on her marriage with Veerbhadra this very morning. And now, you want to break her heart and tell her that she has no choice but to marry a man she has never met. And who will never appreciate her beauty because he is BLIND?" hissed Shakuni.

"I am a King first, and everything else later. This whole kingdom is my responsibility. I can't risk a war just for the sake of one girl's wish!"

"THAT girl is your daughter!" Gaja said, with anger in his voice that he was desperately trying to control.

"And she is a Princess!" replied Subal. "It is a responsibility of the Princess to think of the well beings of her subjects before herself. I am sure -"

"Does she know?" Shakuni cut in abruptly, looking straight into his father's eyes.

"No." Subal signed. "I do not know what to say to her. How am I supposed to give her such news? How am I supposed to give her such a blow?"

"Nevertheless, it needs to be done." Shakuni said, in a final sort of way. "It is her life after all. She should be the one to choose. She should have a say in this too." Subal nodded his agreement.

"What if she refuses?" whispered Subal in a soft tone.

"Then," said Shakuni, "we will fight! Even if it means that we fight till the end of our lives… My sister will have a say in her life. She won't be forced into anything!"

A deep silence met this declaration.

Immediately a servant was sent off to the Princess's chamber, to bring her to the Small Darbaar. Within a few minutes, Gandhari had arrived. After the servants bowed out of the room, Gandhari greeted her father, and all her elder sons, and then stood there, staring at them quizzically. She sensed that something was very wrong. She couldn't quite understand why, but suddenly she was feeling as if her heart was being squeezed very tightly and mercilessly by a pair of large icy cold hands. She tried to repress a shudder running down her spine.

"Gandhari! My child!.... I am so sorry! Please forgive me." Subal whispered to her softly.

"Wh..What happened? What is the problem? What's the matter father?" Gandhari felt a kind of panic rising in her throat. She swallowed.

"My child…. Gandhari… -"

"Bheeshm has asked for your hand in marriage for his nephew, Dhritrashtra." Shakuni blurted out, seeing his father's hesitation.

It seemed to Gandhari that suddenly there was no air in the room.