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blackknight-100 · 7 months

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Can you write something with Vrishasena and Arjuna? Arjuna would have been such a good uncle and all of them would have been such a cute family.

Hello there anon! You're right on time, I wrote this in the return train ride lol.

About Arjuna being an uncle to Vrishsena, I'm not sure if you're asking for a canon-divergence? Let me know if you have a specific scenario in mind. But, for now, here is a canonical one:

3 times Vrishasena found his Uncle, +1 time it was otherwise.

Indraprashtha's Palace of Illusions is larger than the one in Anga, and infinitely more complicated than the one in Hastinapura. Vrishasena is, simply put, quite lost. His father's is in Uncle Duryodhana's retinue and far too busy smoothening the Prince's ruffled feathers to pay him any mind. The other Kings are not people he has been introduced to, and he's pretty sure approaching them for such a trifle would start a war. That left the Pandavas.

Vrishasena stops at the huge double-doors leading to the garden. Made of mahogany wood, they are twice as broad as he is tall, and eight times as high. He studies the carvings on them while he contemplates his options. Yudhisthir he refuses to ask for help - the Emperor-to-be referenced etiquette and scriptures eleven times in the six minutes he has known the man. Crown Prince Bheem is out of question, for obvious reasons. The twins are a good choice, but he doesn't know where they are. That leaves Prince Arjun, who is strolling in the garden with the King of Dwarka.

Vrishasena gives the guards a dubious look, then makes his way towards his target. Krishna notices him at once, and a beatific smile brightens up his face. He spreads his arms wide and turns towards Arjun. "Look, my friend. The Prince of Anga is here."

Arjun notices him and offers him a polite tilt of his head. "Namaste. How may I help you today?"

Vrishasena bows. "Namaste, I was looking for Prince Abhimanyu."

Arjun's face goes from courteously disinterested to downright suspicious in less than a second. "Why?" he asks, far too curtly in Vrishasena's estimation.

Krishna throws back his head and laughs. "These are two young boys in a bunch of nagging kings engaged in politics. What did you think would happen, Parth?"

Arjun flushes. Vrishasena hurries him along. "We're acquainted, Prince. He was gracious enough to offer to show me around."

"Oh," Arjun mumbles. "Try out the kitchens, he's always trying to charm an extra sweet out of the cook."

Vrishasena bows again. "I thank you. Have a good day."

He is quietly backing away when he hears Arjun's stiff reply. "You too. I hope you like Indraprashtha enough to visit again."

Hastinapura's Palace is a veritable playground for his brothers and the Kaurava children. Vrishasena, as the eldest of them all, has been saddled with the unenviable responsibility of minding them today. This, naturally, involves a great deal of screaming and shouting on his part, and a much greater indifference on the part of the children.

"Do not run in the corridors!" he yells after Lakshmanaa, who gathers up her skirts and runs faster. "They have been wiped. You're going to slip! Lakshmanaa!"

Lakshmanaa lets out a shrill shriek as he comes dangerously close to snatching her hand and turns around the corner. Vrishasena's only warning is a muffled "oof!" before he skids around the corner himself, and barrels straight into someone.

They collapse in a heap - him dazed, Lakshmanaa laughing and the man grunting out in pain.

"Oi, you!" says a feminine voice. Vrishasena looks up. A beautiful woman looms over them, dusky face cut through with a bright, toothy smile, eyes sparkling like diamonds. "Please free my husband," she requests, shoulders shaking with laughter. "Warrior though he may be, I fear he will not live long like this."

"Empress Draupadi," he manages, then scrambles over to see which of Kunti's scions he has had the misfortune of knocking over. Of course, because the universe hates him, it is his father's mortal enemy.

"Prince Arjun," he greets, somewhat stupidly, then drags a still-giggling Lakshmanaa off him. "Are you hurt?"

Arjun rubs his forehead. "Apart from my pride? No, I don't think so."

"We're sorry," Lakshmanaa offers, not sounding apologetic at all. "Brother Vrishasena is having a hard day."

"I wasn't the one who knocked him over," he protests, half tempted to wring his hands in frustration.

"You did fall over, though," Draupadi points out, then starts laughing again.

"Where are you going?" Lakshmanaa asks, not even portending to be subtle about changing the subject.

"Your father invited us to a Dyut Sabha," Prince Arjun says, just eager to move on. Humiliation is not a good look on him.

"I hope you enjoy your game," Vrishasena offers, then bows. "Come, Lakshmanaa, let's go."

"Listen, Vrishasena," Arjun calls after them. Vrishsena waves the little Princess away. "Don't tell Angaraaj this happened."

"Lakshmanaa will tell Unc- er- Prince Duryodhana."

Arjun sighs. "Duryodhana has seen lots of embarrassing situations first hand. One more is no gain for him."

"Okay," Vrishasena shrugs. "I won't lie to him if he asks, but I won't tell him on my own either."

Draupadi gives them both a bemused look, but Arjuna nods. "Thank you. That is all I ask."

It has been many years since Vrishasena saw Arjun. The Pandava Prince looks different now. His gaunt face is shielded by a scraggly beard, his hair is tangled and haggard. The finery he once bore with ease now hangs loose from his lean frame. The war and Abhimanyu's death have worn him down, perhaps more than it has worn down Vrishasena.

It is not easy to keep pace with Arjun - fabled archer that he is. But Vrishasena is Karna's son, blessed thrice by love of his parents, of the Kuru clan, and the love of his people. Ten times he pierces Kunti's youngest child, ten times more he goes after Dwarka's King. He fights even as his father and the Kauravas draw close, and Arjun taunts them with the inevitability of his demise.

The sight of him makes Vrishasena stop heckling Bheem. His charioteer tries to steer them after Bheem, but Krishna cuts through their path and draws up in front of them. In the distance, he sees the white conch of his father's flag flutter ever closer. Arjun lifts up his bow in challenge, and Vrishasena thinks quietly to himself, Death has come for me.

He does not have the breath to speak, but he thinks of his father and pleads fervently, Let me fight, let me go, and Karna, whether he hears it or not, stays away. Arjun's arrows take off his arms one after the other, and then take off his head. Vrishasena does not have the time to feel anything but relief.

+1.

Sometimes, Arjun thinks, it is better to be ignorant and live in bliss.

Yudhisthir sits slumped on the ground, head buried in his hands. Draupadi is quiet, eyes turned heavenwards in a blank stare. His other brothers are gathered around, gaping at their mother. Even Krishna is silent and still.

"I want to go home," Sahadev says suddenly, sounding like the little boy he was all those years ago when they made their laborious way from Shatashringa to Hastinapura. The words make Arjun's heart ache.

"We will be going home right after," Kunti soothes, placing a hand on his arm. He had ever been her favourite child.

Now, Sahadeva throws off her hand and turns away. "No!" he shouts, choking on a sob. "I will not go to that graveyard. I want to go home!"

Yudhisthir lets out a strange sound, somewhere between a hiccup and a cough. Arjun looks towards the burning pyres. Karna he cannot mourn - their history is longer than Vishnu's endless serpent and deeper than the waters of the ocean. But he thinks of Vrishasena, Karna's son and his nephew, sprawled on the ground - without arms or a head, and his stomach turns. He thinks of Karna killing Abhimanyu and can feel nothing but rage. He thinks of Vrishasena coming after Nakul, and feels his heart leaden with sorrow.

Somewhere among the burning pyres Vrishasena's body smoulders. Arjun dares not go search for him.

"I'm sorry," he tells the bitter winter air. He watches the words mist in front of his face, watches the mist float heavenwards, mingling with the smoke from the pyres. He thinks of himself weeping over Abhimanyu's mangled remains, thinks of Karna stoically arranging Vrishasena's severed parts for his last rites. He thinks of devoted friends and silent mothers and cursed thrones, and apologizes no more.

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krishna-premi · 8 months

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so who's gonna write a fanfic where Kunti's five sons come to know about Karna early on in the story and welcome him in the family and they all end up getting along really well and Yudhisthir gets his chance to be the younger brother for once and then—

#krishna #kanha #krishnablr #gopiblr #mahabharata #arjuna #karna #yudhishthir #younger brother yudhisthir #the pandava quintet #kunti

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herawell · 9 months

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Not me thinking about Kunti in the aftermath of Abhimanyu’s death and seething that she had secured five out of six sons’ lives from Karna, but she hadn’t said anything about her grandchildren. (In the versions where she is the one to talk to him, not Krishna.)

#mahabharata #hindu mythology #kunti #karna #alia talks

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musingsonthemahabharata · 8 months

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101 on Gāṇḍīvadhārī Arjuna, Maheṣvāsa Dhanañjaya.

he is perhaps best known as the recipient of the Bhagavadgītā and as a highly skilled warrior, but i find that he is often presented one-dimensionally in popular culture, and his well-rounded & complex, captivating nature is overlooked;

handsome, dark and curly-haired, Dhanañjaya (my favourite name of his!) is playful, assisting Kṛṣṇa in his exploits, in which they dress together as women and beguile all who encounter them;

brave and well-schooled in the laws of dharma, he concomitantly does not conceal his love for violence in episodes such as the burning of the Khāṇḍava forest, in which he delights in the unleashed carnage;

such an exciting hero - more below! and this barely scratches the surface!

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skyred-blog · 10 months

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I just go around Tumblr and see a conversation about Kunti and Karna's birth, so I just decided to give some information for people who are interested in this:

First, some people mistake this mantra for a boon. They are 2 different things. Second, Kunti didn't want this, but she was scared and decided to receive it.

She was curious about the mantra. The problem is coming, but the critical part is...

She is a YOUNG GIRL, this is very important, please remember this.

The problem begins.

(sorry because I'm not very skillful) Surya said he would do whatever she asked and yet when she asked him to return, clearly, he refused, not without giving her a son and even threatening her if she refused him. Now, where is her fault? Surya was just unreasonable.

She said that she didn't have any power over her body, well because women at the time didn't have freedom (even in modern times, they are still fighting for it.) and also because she was just A CHILD. When she talked with Krishna before Kurukshetra, she said she was given away to other people by her father when she was a child. Even Surya said she is a child.

She accepts this because she thinks about her family. She is not a selfish person.

She is just A CHILD.

Thanks to her, Karna has his famous Kavacha and Kundala.

She cares for him.

Her wish for his safety is very long, I just cut out the first part, again, she cares for him.

Now where is her problem here? She is only curious because she is just a child. Sun god Surya, at much as I respected him, is the one at fault here. From how the mantra work, he should listen to her or maybe be more generous to her, he knows she is a child after all.

(All this info from Mahabharata BORI CE vers.)

#Mahabharata #just some infos #and my opinions #Kunti

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ninetwentytw0 · 5 months

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Amanda Lapore- That’s it.

#art #transgender #kunti #photography #fashion #amanda lepore #icons #gay #lgbtqia #mother #mother is mothering #blondie

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eremin0109 · 1 year

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mahabharata fix it headcanon (kind of??)

Man, sometimes I wish to read a funny, crack-y retelling of the Mahabharat. Of Pandavas and Kauravas having more or less a friendly, playful rivalry than the blood feud they have in the canon. Of Karna being the mediator between the cousins if things got a little too heated. Of Abhimanyu, Ghatotkach and other Upapandavas being spoilt rotten by their 100 uncles and Lakshman Kumar and other Kaurava children having study sessions with Yudhishthir and Sahadev, going on adventures with Bheem and Arjun.

Yudhisthir would be the King of Indraprastha and Duryodhan, the King of Hastinapur and the Kuru empire stretches from Gandhar in the north-west to Anga in the north-east, with two stronghold capitals to keep it secure instead of just one. Karna, despite being offered to be crowned the King of either kingdom, chooses to let his younger sibling and cousin take over, being content in his small, prosperous territory of Anga.

Kunti and Gandhari would both be mother figures for both sets of cousins, acting as advisors in the family. Bhishma, ever the guardian of his large family and Vidur, the maverick politician, retain their roles but have relaxed responsibilities as the kingdom (and the household) is at peace.

Dhritarashtra and Shakuni would have some skirmishes between them, classic brother-in-law tussle but for the most part would be harmless. The former king sits at the advisory board of Hastinapur while Shakuni is properly coronated the king of Gandhar, to keep him from meddling in the internal matters of the crown.

The Queens, Draupadi and Bhanumati would be great friends with respect and affection for each other. Being in charge of not just the palace but also crucial departments (finance for Draupadi, public welfare for Bhanumati) of their respective kingdoms. Draupadi acting more or less as an older sister to all of her fellow co-queens, but she has very special affection for Subhadra. It's no wonder Panchali loves her, as she's Krishna and Arjun's darling too.

The Rakshabhandhan at the Hastinapur palace is nothing short of an annual grandiose event. There are friendly bets amongst all the brothers on who can get their dearest sister/cousin the best gift. Of course, Dusshala loves her brothers and cousins too much (though Duryodhan and Nakul-Sahadev are secretly her favourites) to actually give a ranking of the gifts, so the contest remains at a draw for year after year.

Karna chooses to stay at Hastinapur, when Indraprastha should've been a rather obvious choice. Not that he doesn't like spending time with his siblings, but he just has a closer bond with his cousins. Not to mention there's a whole other reason he spends more of his free time at Hastinapur. The Pandavas are well aware of his affection for Duryodhan and tease him endlessly about it, just as the Kauravas tease their eldest for being so enamored by the Pandav-jesth.

Arjun is Karna's favourite sibling (ha, I did say this was a crack-y au) just because of the sheer similarities they have. They help each other to hone their archery skills, with Karna teaching Arjun secret techniques he learnt from his time with Parshuram. Arjun admires Karna and the way he is the amalgamation of all the qualities that the rest of the pandavas possess individually. They also bond closer due to the both of them being gay and Karna acting as a support system for Arjun as he comes to terms with his feelings for men, and Krishna in particular.

Krishna is the Kurus' biggest ally obviously. His relationship with Kauravas is more understated, but there is a mutual respect and admiration there. The Pandavas are his dearest obviously, some of them a LOT dearer than others AHEM but yeah, you get what I mean.

Obviously, they would still have family drama, what Indian household doesn't? But at the end of the day, they all apologise and make up and live happily ever after.

@fanfictionroxs

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hum-suffer · 8 months

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The death (birth) of us.

Sahdev isn't used to being lavished with attention unless it's from his mother.

It makes sense for her, of course. She's his mother. She may not have nursed him but she taught him his first word. He doesn't remember the mother he shares his blood with. Jyesth says she was very kind and sweet.

(Sahdev knows it, of course he knows, where else did Nakul get his sweet talk from?)

But it makes sense. Of course Mata loves him. He always tries to be good for her. He always holds her hand when they walk together. He holds her padukas to help her wear them. He makes her rings every year on the day of her birth since he could use threads and flowers to now, when he usually makes it from bronze.

(Not many know outside of their family, but she prefers bronze over gold. She's hated the colour yellow for a long time, he can't say he knows why, but he's seen flashes of yellow that burn his eyes and he's felt her heart beat wildly in his chest and oh please he wants to choke and die, he can't breathe, she can't breathe—)

But.

Vijaya listens to him when he sings. Vijaya laughs when he stumbles on flat ground. Vijaya rights his loosely tied strings of his armband. She grins harder when she sees him.

"My melody," he calls her, but the words die in his throat when she whips around, her step son and his son in her arms and a smile on her face. She raises an eyebrow, tries to urge him to speak but he can't, she doesn't know and then all he sees is blood.

When the vision fades, there's bile in his throat and eyes that are wet and cheeks that feel warm and wet at the same time. Vijaya is holding his hand and Shrutsena is babbling something incoherent in a corner and oh god he's alive.

She kisses his closed eyelids and his head falls down of its own accord (it's going to be down a lot). "My dream," she says, because words come to her better than they do to him and he's jealous for a short moment because he wants so much to tell her that her eyes look beautiful when they're wet and he remembers pressing a kiss to her cheek yesterday but he feels like he left a scar instead.

"Dreams are lies, my melody."

"Then let me love a lie anyway."

He kisses her like he's a man who has found god while dying in the lone sea. Please, love me. Please, forgive me. Please, let me go. Please, never let me leave. You're my home. You're driving a knife instead of my heart.

He doesn't see Vijaya smile again, but she presses a shameless kiss at his jaw even when he's in ascetic clothes and humiliated because of the manipulation his family couldn't recognise and the vision that has haunted him for years. "My dream." She whispers, tears running down her eyes and he's only ever made her cry, why did she marry him? "Come back to me."

"It is already the dawn of a bloody reality, my melody." He whispers in her ear, eyes closed. He doesn't want to see her break because he can feel her break in his arms already.

Her lips press a kiss on his shoulder and he's sure the rough fabric of his clothes is coarse on her soft skin.

"Dawn has the best time for dreaming."

#sahadeva #mahabharata #yudhishthir #kunti #desiblr #suffer ye suhana nahi #thoughts #ficlet #I'm sorry but im in love #writers on tumblr #hindublr #krishnablr

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stxrrynxghts · 5 months

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Hogwarts houses ft. MB characters

Can't believe that I haven't done this YET. Srsly, I am disappointed in my self.

GRYFFINDOR

Bhima

Arjun

Balrama

Abhimanyu

Draupadi

Satyabhama

Amba

RAVENCLAW

Nakula

Sahadeva

Yudhishthira

Rukmini

Uttara

Pradyumna

HUFFLEPUFF

Subhadra

Vikarna

Satyaki

Jambavati

Bhishma

Gandhari

SLYTHERIN

Krishna

Kunti

Shakuni

Duryodhana

Drona

Karna

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ilovekrishnarjun · 9 days

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Wait wait, i hope you all have heard the song whose lyrics goes like: "if i get more pretty, do you think.. he will.. like...me?"

So what if it was from Arjunaa's(MHB) pov:

"Shut up!" Shouted Kunti as she slapped her daughter for doing masculine practices and hobbies. "Be more feminine!"

"This is why you will never look good in sarees." Kunti said, lowering her daughter's self esteem and making her more insecure.

"Wish i...was like you.." Said Arjuni as she glanced at Draupadi. "Blue-lotus shaped eyes, a perfect body..." Arjuni always had rough hands from practice and she always thought that her body was not in a good shape though her body, was everyone's dream body.

"Maybe i should try harder..." thought she as she always tried to please her mother, doing whatever the older woman wanted.

"You should lower your expectations." Kunti said roughly, making Arjuni flinch.

"I am no quick curl princess...." whispered the insecure princess as she punched the mirror, making her hand bleed as pieces of the mirror dug on her arm.

"I was fated to be never cut out for being a queen.." she whispered again

"If i get more pretty..." the Youngest princess of Hastinapur thought as she stared at the Dwarkadheesh. "Do you think he will love someone like me..?"

@orgasming-caterpillar @a-really-hot-caterpillar @arjuniya-fanpage @natures-marvel @prettykittytanjiro @h0bg0blin-meat

#arjuna #arjunaa #arjuni #krishna x arjuni #krishna #kunti #insecurity #thoughts #au #draupadi #feeling insecure

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itsmeagain-lezabeth · 25 days

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we read the mahabharata in english and here are some of my little doodles

#i said “fuck all” for historical accuracy #amba #draupadi #Arjuna #gandhari #kunti #I love amba #and arjuna #and Krishna but I didn’t like how he or yudhisthria turned out #mahabharata

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blackknight-100 · 10 months

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Mahabharat AU: Draupadi does not accompany the Pandavas to the exile + Bonus Subhadra

This is a complementary piece to this Ramayan AU.

Warnings for mentions of harassment, and violence. Major character deaths. Possibly going to make you cry, but +1 should revive you.

Yudhisthir may have lost everything – his kingdom, crown and coins – but he has not yet lost his thirst for justice. It is his folly that has brought this upon them, and he will not let Draupadi take the fall for it. Already once his royal wife has walked barefoot on rough paths, forsaking the joys of her father’s house for her husbands’ sake, and he will be damned before he allows that again. When Draupadi declares her intention to accompany them – and it shames him in a way no taunts or mockery of the Kaurava courtiers might – he turns to her and says, “No, you must stay.”

Yagyaseni, bless whoever named her so, flares up like the fires she was born from, and bares her teeth at him – a flash of lighting across midnight sky. “You would leave me here then, husband, at the mercy of your noble cousins?”

Krishna speaks before he can answer, “Take her, cousin, who knows what is on the way?” Then he smirks daringly and adds, “She is more than five of you put together, are you sure you want to court her wrath?”

Draupadi whacks him across the head. Yudhisthir wishes he had done that. But he will not be moved, and to his surprise, his mother touches his wife’s hand and murmurs, “Stay, little flame, do not leave me alone. Think of your children, of your sister-wives, and stay.”

Subhadra, only too happy at this turn of events, starts chattering about going to Dwarka, and Draupadi, never able to deny her best friend’s sister, reluctantly gives in. Yudhisthir is only glad he has won at least one match today.

It occurs to them that Draupadi would have been the best keeper of the Akshaya Patra – for she had ever diligently managed the Finances and Kitchens of Indraprastha, but she is not with them, so their eldest brother gives Bheema the vessel to keep. It is only meet, for when it comes to food, he is the most knowledgeable of them all. Every day, he takes care to serve his brothers and their companions and feeds himself last. Every day he wipes the dish clean, for hygiene is as important as the food itself, and Bheema will not have anyone ill under his charge.

Rishi Durvasa arrives with his proteges after he has finished his meal one afternoon, and Yudhisthir – after sending them for a bath – wrings his hands in dismay. “Oh, what shall we do now? How do we feed them?”

“The Akshaya Patra will give no more food, Jyestha,” he tells him, and Yudhisthir moans.

There is a knock on their window, and a peacock feather flashes outside.

“Madhav!” Arjuna exclaims, “Madhav is here. He has come to help us. Have faith yet, Jyestha.”

But the faith is for naught, for Krishna listens to their tale, leans over the empty pot, and shakes his head sorrowfully. “If only Krishnaa were here,” he laments, and Bheema heeds his words no more.

Durvasa returns from his bath and erupts in wrathful tirade, and flings at them a furious curse, “One day, you too shall be given hope, and have it snatched away.”

They bend their heads and listen, for what else is there to be done?

Draupadi feels safest in her city in the hills, in her brothers’ arms, but her father has taught her of duty so she accompanies her twin to check on her mother-in-law. Not for the first time she wonders what keeps her there, in the shadows of the Kaurava’s might, cowering in her brother-in-law's house.

“This is my home,” Kunti says, when she asks her, “and they shall not drive me out of what my husband has left for me.” Draupadi supposes she can respect that.

Outside, Dhristadyumna stops to admire the flowers in the Prime Minister’s garden, ever flourishing under the ministrations of his gentle wife, and Draupadi leans against a tree to rest. A hand snatches at her waist, and before she can react, Jayadratha’s husky laugh tickles her hair. Draupadi does the only thing she can think of then – she screams.

Dhristadyumna barrels around the corner and throws himself at them. He is no match for most of the warriors who attend this court, but with Jayadratha he is equal.

Vidura comes running out of his house, and Jayadratha curses and flees, but not without leaving one last gift – a diagonal cut across her brother’s chest. Draupadi watches, and weeps.

Sahadeva has known premonitions all his life. Experience taught him to believe what they say, and this day, he knows, something ill befalls Panchali, miles away in the elephant city. But they are far away, and their hands are tied, and he must keep his silence, as he did all his life.

Arjuna, now Brinnhala, loathes his- no, her new body, the strange vulnerability, the crawling sensation of lustful eyes trailing across her person as she walks. Nakula – now Granthika – teases her mercilessly, but calls himself her husband, reminds her to refer to herself as a woman, and wraps a loving arm around her when Keechak comes close.

It provides little obstacle for the burly man, for he is the King’s kin and hand, and there are few things he cannot possess. He grabs her when he comes to meet sweet Uttaraa and drags her uncomfortably close.

“Be mine,” he murmurs, hot and sultry, uncaring of his niece’s presence, and Brinnhala shudders. She suddenly has a lot more sympathy for her wife.

When she speaks of this to her brothers, Bheema bares his teeth and Sahadeva shuts his eyes in grief. But it is Nakula, sweet, dear brother that he is, who is the most furious. “I will kill him! I swear, I’ll kill him,” he seethes. “How dare he?”

Yudhisthir, however, shakes his head. “We can hardly afford to reveal ourselves now,” he says, sounding older than his years, “I am sorry, Arj- Brinnhala.”

She dips her head, and accepts that, for what else can she say?

King Virat of Matsya is quietly apologetic when he hears of their true identities but politely refuses his aid. "We are a small kingdom, and can hardly afford to engage in family matters, Your Majesty,” he tells Yudhisthir. “Hastinapur has been ever friendly to us, and already we have offended them by hosting you."

Beside him, Keechak sneers. Perhaps it is the memory of Arjuna’s torment, but the Pandavas had hoped to have this kingdom's support, as if Keechak would ever owe them anything. Arjuna almost wishes Duryodhana would have attacked Matysa, for then perhaps they would have convinced this complacent king. Yudhisthir offers kind words and his farewells, and they leave Matsya with little to their name.

Drupada is eager to avenge his daughter's humiliation. For that they need an army, so the Pandavas call their potential allies to war. They arrive at Kurukshetra with their banners and standards, and Sahadeva sees Uncle Shalya in the Kaurava camp.

"I had hoped to have you fight with us," he cannot help but say, bitter and shamed. His uncle has no answer.

Yudhisthir is not quite sure what the Aacharya is planning. It seemed to him they were planning a chakravyuha before, but it never came to pass. Krishna says it is because Jayadratha has gained no boon. Yudhisthir cannot fathom what that means, but then, no one understands anything his cousin says.

“I have thought of a way to kill Drona,” Krishna tells him.

He had never thought of killing Drona, and he hears the plot with dismay. He has never lied in his life, and yet now he must utter words of deceit to the very person who taught him all he knew.

“It is not lying,” Krishna tells him. “It is not your fault if he does not hear.”

Yudhisthir clings to those words but hopes still that his teacher be spared.

They put it to action the following day. They are close, for already Drona has forsaken his weapons. Arjuna’s hands tremble, and Yudhisthir can sympathise. Dhristadyumna rushes forward and slices his throat. Somewhere close Jayadratha’s conch blows, and a single arrow strikes their commander’s head off his shoulders. Ashwatthama bears down upon them like Rudra come to earth. Krishna turns Arjuna’s chariot away. The rest of them follow, wondering what to tell their wife.

Yudhisthir gets away but Nakula’s day is far from over. Karna joins Ashwatthama as they chase him, and the King of Anga challenges him to a duel that he loses. He hopes he will be killed (for how could he live with such humiliation!?) but Karna – bloodied and vicious – laughs and mocks him, his lineage and his brother’s dharma, and leaves him sitting in the dust.

Arjuna grows weary of listening to Karna’s taunts sometime on the fifteenth day, and they finally face each other. The battle around them pauses, and the soldiers from either side give them a wide berth. Their enmity is inflammable, waiting for a spark to burst into conflagration. Both are eager to provide that spark, and no one wants to be in the way when the inevitable comes to pass.

He has to give it to Shalya, the man spews every imaginable insult at the King of Anga, and then some. He sees his ever-loathed adversary lift a simple arrow, and for a moment does not know what it is. Then, Ashwasena’s head appears at its tip, and for a moment, Arjuna panics. Madhav leans forward, forcing his chariot to sink to the ground, and the shot aimed at his neck takes off his diadem instead. Madhav gets down to lift the wheel, when Karna nocks another arrow. Arjuna stares. Surely, for all his rage, Karna would not attack him now? He had mocked Draupadi, true, but all others spoke of his kindness and generosity, and he had already spared his brothers.

But then he thinks of Vrishasena, and all his other sons they have killed, sees Karna lift his bow, and feels foolish for hoping otherwise.

(When he falls, he looks at his adversary standing tall and still, wrath upon his fair face like the sun on earth and is somehow reminded of Kunti after the dice game. ‘They could have been mother and son,’ he thinks, and then his eyes close, and he thinks no more.)

For all that has happened, and for all they have lost, Bheema cares only for this moment, when Dussashana lies dying at his feet, and he finally has a chance to fulfil his oath. “Call Panchali,” he tells his brothers – the ones that remain – his body thrumming with bloodlust.

Panchali comes upon the battlefield dark and fierce and beautiful. ‘If this is how the goddess Kaali had looked like,’ he thinks to himself, ‘then it is no wonder that Shiva lies at her feet.’

He rips open Dussashana’s chest (it is beautiful, but it hurts, oh how it hurts!) and lifts a handful of blood to pour down her open hair. Duryodhana is screaming, and Karna and Ashwatthama can barely hold him back. Panchali walks to him, her eyes alight, and Bheema finally sees some hope in this dire end.

And then, she stumbles and falls, mouth open in soundless cry. “Panchali,” he screams, and he hears his brothers echo his call. There is an arrow – a lonely, treacherous thing out of her back, and Bheema can think of only one who would do this.

“YOU COWARDLY SUTA!!” he roars, but Karna is as stunned as he is, and his bow is slung across his shoulders, his hands still restraining a struggling Duryodhana. He turns around wildly, and a raggedy soldier, a commoner, steps out from the Kaurava ranks, bow in hand.

“You killed a woman. Have you no honour?” Krishna speaks before anyone else can.

The man spits at his feet and then turns to spit at Duryodhana’s. When he speaks, his voice drips with scorn. "This is the witch for whom we must forsake home and hearth and come to war? Shame!"

Bheema sees red. 'She is no witch,' he wants to say. 'She is the kindest of us all.’

But Draupadi lies cold and lifeless, and her hair spread like starless sky mere feet away from her tormentor's blood, so he lunges forward and wraps his hands around the man’s neck, snaps it with a crack. The man falls, dead, and Bheema stands there, quiet and lost. Panchali is gone. Arjuna is no more. The throne is now a distant dream - more of a nightmare. Bheema sinks to his knees and weeps.

Subhadra joins the exile

When Draupadi announces her intention to accompany them on their exile, Subhadra jumps up and begs to be taken along. No one wants her to come, but she will not be swayed, and never has any of the Pandavas or their Queen managed to deny her. So, with them she goes, much to Krishna’s dismay.

The two women share custody of the Akshaya Patra. When Durvasa comes to their place, it is Draupadi's day with the vessel. Already, she has eaten, and Yudhisthir frets. Subhadra pats his hand and goes out to meet the sages. There is but a small particle of food stuck to a corner, and when she places it upon Durvasa’s plate, Arjuna prepares himself to be cursed. But then Yogmaya's magic fills every plate with food, and there are singers and dancers in their forest glade, and the sages leave sated.

Things are bearable until Jayadratha comes to kidnap Draupadi one miserable morning. Subhadra stands before her sister-wife. When Dushala’s husband looks upon them, all he sees are grotesque rakshashis, and he runs all the way back to Hastinapur to tell tales of the company the Pandavas keep.

The Pandavas settle in Matsya for their year of exile in incognito, but all they need are new names, for somehow Draupadi and Subhadra are the commonest of women instead of their blue-blooded beauteous selves. It hardly stops Keechak, and when Bheema beats him to death, Subhadra runs her hands upon his bruised face and leaves it marred beyond recognition.

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