Chapter 33: SWAYUMVAR
Chapter 33: SWAYUMVAR
NO ONE'S POV
THE SWAYUMVAR
In Draupadi's swayumvar many maharathi's had come like the crown prince of Vidarbha, Rukmi, the
prince of Hastinapur Duryodhan, with his 99 brothers, King Karna of Anga, Shakuni from Gandhar, the
King of Cheddi Shishupal, Shindhu Raj Jaydrath and many more kings and princes.
After their entrance, King Drupad said, "I welcome all the present kings and princes. All of you know
why you have been invited, it's for the swayumvar of my daughter who is gifted to me by the heavens,
a divine born from the fire, who is pure and radiant, only the most competent man can marry her, so I
ask all the present kings and princes to come forth and exhibit your competence, my son Drishtridum
will now explain the challenge. Drishtridum came and said, "I welcome all the guest who have come for
my sister's swayumvar. Such device has set up which cannot be conquered by any ordinary warrior,
reveling the bow he continues, -this divine bow can only be lifted by a person who has nothing but
confident in his competence, even a little shadow of doubt in one's heart they will feel the weight of this
bow even more then of a mountain.
The string can be only tied by a person who has no desire, anger and greed, one who knows to bear it,
to him this art shouldn't be for gaining something but to learn something further" after saying that he
takes out his bow and shoots a arrow to the sky reveling the challenge. The challenge was to shoot an
arrow on the fish's eye swimming in the sky by looking at it's reflection in the water only by one arrow.
After seeing the contest Shakuni asked Duryodhan if he could win or not and he replied, "I can't
mamashree my archery is not that good, plus I can't insult my self for a women" hearing this Shakuni
moved his head saying, "nahi, mere bache it's not about a woman but about politics, think if we win this
swayumvar we will have alliance with kampilya as well, we already have the other half with
Ashwathama" Duryodhan replied, "even tho mamashree I can't win it and this swayumvar was is kept
to insult all of us present here, because if it were meant to keep for a great warrior they would have
kept mace fighting or sword fighting, as who will be able to win in this?" hearing this Karna said, "I can
win this mitra, if this wasn't a swayumvar I would have participated."
Hearing this Shakuni smiled and said, "you can still participate in this swayumvar angraj, just
participate on behalf of Duryodhan and win it" Karna nodded and said, "then I shall participate in this
swayumvar for my mitra Duryodhan."
DRAUPADI'S ENTRY
Draupadi entered making everyone awestruck, she looked very radiant and walked with elegance, her
every step made people more mesmerised by her looks and beauty, touching the bow in respect and
greeting everyone she sat on her sit and the swayumvar started.
Many kings and princes tried but couldn't even lift the bow, soon it was Duryodhan's chance, he said,
"Pranipat king Drupad to take part in this comeptition, I send my friend Karn to participate instead of me
as he has dedicated his competance to me" after he finished Karn came forward to participate when
Drishtidyum said, "wait!! Forgive us Ang Raj but we can't give you permission to participate like this, the
person who will marry my sister has to show his competence himself" hearing this Karn said, "but this
compitition is not fair, one's competence is not limited to his archery skills, my mitra is skilled in mace
fighting, if this was a competition of mace fighting no one whould have won against him and he would
have surely would be known superior" to which Drishtidum replied, "but we want a person who is best
in archery" karn then said, "even so I still have the right to participate instead of him" to which Krishna
replied, "like a tree only grows with water and not milk, similarly you can't show his strenght" hearing
this Duryodhan got up and said, "okay then my mitra Karn will participate as the king of Ang, then no
one shall have any problem right?" Krishna just noded and sat on his chair.
Karn went towards the bow, he was able to successfully pick it up, he took the arrow and looked at the
reflection in the water, he amied and missed it! Leaving Duryodhan and others in shock and king
Drupad started to get worried, will anyone be able to win this?
PANDAVAS
They were going the opposite direction of Kampilya, a voice asked, "where are you going Bharamans?"
turning they all saw a old man sitting by a tree, Yudhisthir answered, "we are in search of bhiksha" the
old man replied, "why go somewhere else, when you can get bhiksha in Kampilya?" Arjun replied to
this question, "we do not have any interest going there" and Sahadev added, "if you have any bhiksha,
it will be great if you can give us some" the old man looked down and said, "I don't have anything, I
wanted to go to kampilya for bhiksha, but I'm cripple, I wish I could go there as they are giving away
delicious food and gold, I suggest you to go there and carry me with you" hearing this they all looked at
ech other with uncertain expressions and the old man continued, "why would you help me? My own
son has left me" they all looked sad and decided to help the old man and started their journey to
kampilya.
Reaching the swayumvar they saw so many kings and princes were present there, and saw how no
one was able to even lift the bow, they heard Drupad announcing, "Seeing no one could win I invite the
Bharamins to participate" hearing this everyone looked at each other and the Bhramin who brought
pandavas here shouted, "you guys look very strong one of you participate and win this" hearing this
everyone turned towards the Bhramins making them panic about getting recognized and Arujun said,
"jesth we should leave now before anyone recognises us" Yudhisthir nodded and said, "let's go" and
they started to leave.
They were leaving when they heard Krishna say, "where are you going young Bhramins, knowing you
have the strength to win yet you are leaving is called competance as well but what has this kind of
competance ever done good for this world, to only think about your happiness, sadness and oath is
selfishness but competance is never selfish, think about it, if you have true competance tthen come
forward and participate in the swayumvar" hearing this they turned around and Bheem said, "your mitra
vasudev has invoked you as well has assured you, now you can not back away" and Yudhisthir added,
"if Krishna is saying you should go participate" nodding Arjun touches Yudhishtir and Bheem's feet
taking their blessing he started to move towards the arena.
Ignoring the comments Arjun went ahead and said, "my greeting to king Drupad, my greetings to
vasudev Krishna, Princess Shrikhandini and Princess Draupadi I bow before you" making everyone
laugh and Rukmi said, "if by any chance you end up marrying Princess Draupadi will you keep her in a
temple" to which Arjun replied, "every women is a roop of mata durga, we should respect them and
who doesn't has no competance" and Krishna added, "every house is a temple and our wife is the
murti, don't worry prince Rukmi I also always bow to your sister with all my heart everyday" making
Rukmi scoff, moving ahead Arjun went towards the bow and touching it gave his respect to it, picking
up the bow successfully he tied the string with ease, making all the present kings and prince's jealous,
he took the arrow in his hand and started to aim, after aiming he shot the arrow successfully hitting the
target and wining the swayumvar lot of flowers were showered on him and the Bhramins present there
started to celebrate happily because a Bhramin won and the other pandavas were happy about their
brothers victory, while the present kings and princes were fuming in anger and jealousy.
Coming down elegantly towards Arjun, reaching there Draupadi took the garland in her hands and put it
around Arjun's neck, and Arjun took the garland and put it around Draupadi's neck.
The kings and princes and started to get angry and made a plan to attack the five Bhramins and
Draupadi as they felt very insulted becuase what they couldn't do was done by a mere Bhramin, as the
pandavas and draupadi were about to exit they all started to attack them making Bheem unroot a tree
and slam it on the ground making all of them retreve, The pandavas then started their journey back to
the hut thinking about Kunti's and Aadhya's reaction.
AADHYA
Aadhya was returning towards the hut after getting some fruits for herself and Kunti when she saw a
kid crying alone she went towards him and puts a hand on his head making him look up sacred then
she says, "I won't hurt you, tell me what happened, I will try my best to help you, so stop crying hmm!"
the kid wipe his tears and said, "I'm lost, me and my mother were going to the swayumvar, but I got lost
and now I'm here" finishing what he said he started to sob and seeing this Aadhya hugged him and
said, "don't worry kid, I will take you to your mata, for now tell me your name, I'm Aadhya" she smiled
saying that, the boy looked at her and said, "I'm Varad" Aadhya smiled and said, "you have such a nice
name Varad, let's go search your mata, but first here have some fruits I'm sure the crying has made
you hungry, oh my I even hear your stomach asking for food, here have some fast before your stomach
starts to cry" she gave the fruits to him making him giggle at what she said, he sat down and he started
eating some fruits making Aadhya smile assured.
Aadhya asked, "so where did you last saw your mata? we should start from there it will be best, as she
might be waiting there for you or searching for you near there" he just nodded and said, "the troops of
kings and prince's were coming so it became a little chaotic which is the reason I got separated from
her and ended up here" Aadhya nodded understanding and replied, "it's okay, let's start to search her
from kampilya boarder" after few minutes he finished eating fruits and they both started their path
towards kampilya. After a walk of 10 minutes Varad started getting tired, seeing this Aadhya carried
him and started walking saying, "I think it's better I carry you so you can have a proper view" he smiled
and said, "okay!" making Aadhya smile happily as well.
Searching for his mother, they went all the places they thought she could be at, it was above lunch time
and Aadhya was praying that they find his mother soon, as she can see Varad is starting to get restless
plus even mata kunti and her bothers would have started worrying for her, she then thought that she
should go to Mahadev Mandir as she might be there, reaching the Mandir she saw a lady crying and
saying, "mahadev please return my putra to me! He is the only thing left in my life, he is the reason I'm
still living" and Varad says, "mata!!!!!!" without wasting any second he ran towards his mata as soon as
aadhya kept him down, the women turned around hearing a familiar voice and started crying happy
tears when she saw it's her son. Varad jumps in her arms and started crying and said, "I missed you
so much mata, why did you let go my hand!", she kissed him all over his face said, "I'm sorry Varad I
will never let go of your hand again from now on!" Varad stopped crying and said, "Aadhya jiji got me
here mata, without her I still would be sitting in the forest near the borders."
The lady looked up seeing Aadhya she joined her hands and said, "putri thank you, thank you very
much you have returned my life back to me!!" Aadhya held her hands and said, "please don't join your
hands and thank me, you are elder then me and this was my duty, instead just give me a blessing"
hearing this the lady smiles and says, "putri you are such a wonderful person, may mahadev bless you
with a husband you love, the house you marry to will have lots of joy and prosperity" smiling she
nodded and touched the lady's feet taking her blessing. Aadhya then said, "mata I shall go now, even
my family is waiting for me, she got down to Varad and patted his head saying, "strong boy I will take
my leave now! never let go of your mata's hand, stay happy with your mother and take good care of
her" Varad smiled and said, "I will become a strong guy who will always protect her" making Aadhya
smile at his comment she ruffled his head and took her leave.
Reaching the Hut she sees everyone in a serious mood and sees Draupadi!? And kunti crying??
Shocked she asked, "sakhi what are you doing here? What happened why is everyone so serious And
why are you crying mata? What happened?" Sahadev spoke as he was the closest to her, he told her
everything that happened in her absence, making Aadhya shock. She turned around and questioned
Arjun asking, "why would you talk with mata indirectly when you knew she was in dhyan, you know we
did this once and shared the punishment with bharata bheem, HOW can you forget that!!!!" Look what
has happened now, even you jesth bharata how could you let this happen?"
Aadhya looked down and said, "it was my fault as well I should have joined you guys instead or only if I
found Varad's mata sooner I would have got here faster and this wouldn't happen who am I to blame
you all" saying this she turned to Draupadi and said, "sakhi please forgive me I-" before she could say
anything further or convince them not to do this, Maharishi Veda vays said, "it was all destined putri, in
her last birth she had received a boon of 5 husbands from mahadev, this is all according to her boon"
Aadhya looked down and accepted the fact and didn't say a word after that.
After Draupad knowing and accepiting the situation with the help of Krishna, Draupad said, "the
wedding will be held tomorrow morning" agreeing to this they all went to their given chambers without
talking much, letting this dreadful situation sink in.