Chapter 10: The Royal Court I

The Royal courtroom of Hastinapur Kingdom was breathtaking in its appearance. The hall stretched vast and unending, with its floor polished with marble in such a way that people could see their reflection on it like a mirror.

The walls and pillars were huge trees of stones craved in a way that they were sight to behold, a masterful display of art and architecture. Expensive crystals, rubies, diamonds were embedded into them in the way that anyone seeing them would be in awe.

The ceiling above was covered in murals painted in vivid hues with their beauties nearly blinding. The entire room was covered in the heavy mixture of scent of incense that could calm anyone down. The soft music of Veena was able to make anyone fall in love with the sound. 

The throne was on an elevated pristine white marble and gleamed like a beacon of authority. The seat itself was made from solid gold and was embedded with various gemstones that caught light and scattered it like stars in the sky. Its back rest was shaped in the face of lion signifying that the one sitting in it is like a lion in the forest.

And the one seated in it was King Dhritarashtra. Even though, he was blind, his presence was like that of a commander that demanded the absolute attention. After all, how can it not? Bhisma had raised and trained him to be the King from the childhood.

Even though it was Pandu who became King because Dhritarashtra was blind, all of his other abilities were excellent. His youngest brother Vidur was to the mind of Hastinapur and his middle brother Pandu was to be the strength but it didn't mean that he himself was not worthy of the throne.

No, Dhritarashtra was trained to be even better ruler than any other. He was unmatched in physical strength and also a master of sound-guided arrows. And he had an aura that said, 'I can see you even if I am blind.' And if the push came to the point, he could not only destroy his enemy but also rule very wisely.

In the one side of the throne were Mahamahim Bhisma and in other side, the sharp-witted minister Vidur. Both of whom were the guardians and pillars of the throne of Hastinapur. Both of them were sitting in their respective chairs, which was also beautiful piece of architecture.

The nobles and some high ranking officials of the royal court were seated in the both sides of the room while leaving the middle open as the stage for the people who came to the court to seek or face justice among other things. Behind the nobles were soldiers who stood guards and behind them were the civilians who came to the court to seek the justice.

And one such case was on trial in the court.

"Mi King, I be a humble and poor farmer from the border of Hastinapur Rajya. I has a small fertile land that I use to grow food for me family. Due to lack of rain for few years, it's been hard to grow as much food as I used to before. The crops I grew was just enough to feed me family this year.

And last month, the ox from the local lord entered me land and destroyed me crops. Now I has nothing to feed my family. When I told it to the lord, he say that the ox is an animal and can't be held responsible for the damage it did. Mi lord, please give me justice."

Hearing the plea of the farmer, the nobles in the court room began to discuss. Vidur looked at the farmer, then at the noble and asked, "Is that true?"

The noble replied, "Yes my lord, it is the truth. My ox did indeed entered this farmer's land and destroyed his crops but what can I do? We live in the outskirts of Hastinapur. There is a huge forest with many animals my lord and sometimes bandits and thieves also make their hideout there.

I have to conduct regular inspection of the forest to keep the animals away from the village or arrest the criminals. Almost all of my wealth is spend on these expenditure and whatever little I have left, I use it to pay the guards and buy foods. So, I don't have any wealth left to pay him.

And ox is an animal, we cannot control where it goes nor can we held it accountable. Bringing it in front of you is a nothing more than a joke, my King."

When the court heard this, they were not very happy. And neither was King Dhritarashtra. He spoke, "Vidur, describe both of their looks to me."

"Yes my king. The farmer is very thin and his clothes too don't look very good. It has patches in some places and his body is also fragile. His arms looks rough and as if they have not seen a good day in their life.

While the nobleman has worn clothing that look to be fancy and his body also looks quite good. The skin in his arms looks to be soft and smooth as well and his complex is far better than the farmer. Also he is groomed quite nicely." Vidur said.

"Well, my nobleman, from what my minister, who is also my brother described your appearance to me, it seems that you don't have any financial problems and neither do you do any kind of manual work since your arm is smooth. Which contradicts what you said before about the forest inspection. So, what do you want to say about this?" The King asked the noble.

"Ahh…Umm…Umm." The noble was unable to answer.

"Why are you silent? Answer me." King Dhritarashtra pressed.

"It's not like that Maharaj. I do arrange raids in the forest regularly, I just haven't been going in one myself for some-times due to my other duties. And I just groomed because I was to be presented before the throne and nothing else." The noble replied.

Hearing that, the Kuru King said, "Even now you dare to lie. The court doesn't just listen to the accused and accuser to provide justice but also investigates especially when the case is against a lord who is in charge of land in outskirts of Hastinapur, near the border.

When the charge was filed against you, my brother, Minister Vidur had you investigated and we found some interesting things about you. Not only you give shelter to the bandits, thieves and spies from other kingdoms but you also take bribes.

You had stock flied food and wanted to sell it in expensive cost to the locals and the farmer here was a problem because he had crops. So you destroyed it using your ox even though he might not have sold it to anyone else. But the farmer saw and made a ruckus which made it impossible for you kill him.

And you thought court would support you and won't punish you since it is a normal case of field destruction by animal and at most you would be fined and nothing more. But the thing is your crime has been found out and you will be punished for it.

You will be put in the cells and be give capital punishment for shielding all of those criminals even when you are a lord of the Kingdom, which makes your crime equal to treason. Your family will be stripped of their lands, their wealth and will be banished from the Hastinapur Kingdom."

When the lord heard that he was stunned because the history about lords getting punished was very-very little and whenever a lord was punished it was due to some big reasons and he doubted that he would be punished so harshly just for some fraud even if his crime was found out.

It's not been long since Dhritarashtra became a King and he needed to show that he is both strong and unforgiving to crimes to make sure that the lords won't plot against him due to his blindness. The noble just didn't know that it was his bad luck that he became perfect example for the King to put his fear in other small nobles, so that they won't undermine his rule.

"No my King. Forgive me. Mercy. Mercy."

The noble pleaded to the King but he was not granted mercy.

"Guards take this criminal to the cells and keep him there." King ordered the guards who followed his orders and took the noble to the prison. Then he looked towards Vidur (A.N: though he can't see) and said, "Vidur, see to it that this poor farmer is appropriately compensated from the crown."

"Yes my King." Vidur signaled a worker who took the farmer away to compensate the poor fellow. Then the King turned towards Bhisma and said, "Mahamahim Bhisma, You are the Senapati of Hastinapur. I request you that you see to the proper punishment of the noble and his family is carried out. Also assign someone loyal and competent to the lands of the noble."

"I will see it to the end, My King."

King Dhritarashtra then turned ahead and said to courtiers, "Do we have any more issues to deal with today?"

"No my King, there are no more issues or cases for today." Came a reply.

"The let's dismiss…" As King was about to dismiss the court, a worker silently rushed towards Mahamahim Bhisma and whispered something in his ear. Although, Dhritarashtra couldn't see his sense of hearing was enhanced. That's why he knew what was happening in the court around him even if his hearing isn't enhanced enough to hear the whispering.

After the worker left, King turned towards Bhisma and said, "What's happened Mahamahim Bhisma? Is there something that's needed to be addressed in the court?"

"Nothing serious, my King. It's an official whom I sent to inspect some tool that was being created by son of my charioteer in Champanagari. The official is requesting a meeting. We can meet and discuss privately or in this court itself if you wish."

"What kind of tool was it for you to send an official himself to inspect, Mahamahim?" Vidur asked.

"I believe it was some kind of wheel that can be used to fetch a large amount of water from the river to the villages and solve the problem of drought until and even after it rains."

The King then said, "Then I think this matter must be discussed in the courtroom."