ARYAVARTA

chapter 6

Pavan rode without rest reaching Hastinapur with in a day. The guards at the watchtower saw a horse racing towards the palace. After some time they identified the horse.but the image they saw petrified them.the white fur of pavan now was red and a man was clinging to the horse as a last  resort.The gaurds lowered the bridge and blew the huge horns notifying the royals arrival of someone important
Bhishm was with his nephew Vidhur.Vidhur may not be a warrior like his other brothers,but among them he was the most knowledgable and a strong supporter of righteousness. Hearing the sound bhishm was in confusion since no one had notified him about the arrival of someone important.bhishm looked towards Vidhur and realised that he too is confused like him.Both walked towards the entrance.Bhishm saw the gaurds carrying a injured man .Beside them stood a horse whose fur was covered with blood.Bhishm recognised the horse as pavan, the same horse he gifted to his son on his 12 th birthday.Bhishm run towards the soldiers to check whom they were carrying.Fear was evident on his face.At that moment the lifeless body of veer flashed in his bhishm and Vidhur saw that it was Pandu not veer who was injured . Pandu was still breathing . They carried Pandu to vaidya . Bhishm saw that Rajmata Satyvati,Amba and Dhritarashtra  coming towards the room
" What happened tAtashree why did gaurds blew the horn and who is injured" asked Dhritarashtra
" It's Pandu ,he is injured looks like he fought with a powerful opponent" replied Bhishm
" If Pandu is here,then jyesht to has to be here,is he injured?"
Before bhishm could reply vaidya opened the room
" He is safe , Maharathi bhishm, though he had lost too much blood,his vitals were not injured.He is stable now .if you want all could see him" said vaidya
At this moment Ambika and Ambalika too came,They all entered the room.Seeing her son in such a state Ambalika rushed towards the bed
" Pandu,my dear who did this to you" asked Ambalika cryingly and  caressing his hair . All others in the room too were schoked to see Pandu in such a state,Dhritarashtra was fuming for vengeance against the one  who did this to his brother.
Pandu stirs and opened his eyes.He saw his mother, brothers aunts and bhishm .
"Brother who did this to you,and where is jyesht?" asked Vidhur
Pandu eyes were brimming with tears ,his voice cracked when he spoke he looked towards bhishm" I am sorry tAtashree, jyesht saved my life,but I failed to protect him, forgive me tAtashree,Mata Amba" Pandu explained the incident happened at panchal,the fight with Drupad and how veer challenged Drupad and trapped in the chakravyuh.
Amba fell  to the ground hearing this and started sobbing . Ambika and Ambalika tried to pacify their sister ,but failed miserably, Satyvati was shocked and tear drops flowed from her eyes .Dhritarashtra after hearing the fate of his jyesht flew from the room Ambika followed her son to stop him before he do something stupid. Bhishm felt useless, not only he failed to protect his son but also failed to protect the Maharaj of Hastinapur.
Ambika entered her son's room and saw him venting his anger on the walls.Amba held her son's hands stopping Jim from hitting the walls.Dhritarashtra understood  it was his mother  whom stopped him
" What are you doing son?"asked Amba .she knew how much her son loved and respected his elder brother.Dhritarashtra hugged his mother and cryingly said
" He promised me he will come back, how could he break his promise" Amba caressed her son
" You need to be strong my son, for your brothers,me, your Mata Amba and taAtashree.Veer wold never wanted to see you hurt yourself . The future of Hastinapur lies in your hands ,putra"

The citizens of Hastinapur cursed fate for taking away their beloved king At Hastinapur royal palace Rajmata satyvati called her grandsons and bhishm to discuss the future of Hastinapur
"It's been already a month brother died,I say we should take our vengeance on Drupad now" said Dhritarashtra
" There will be no vengeance,I had already lost  my one grandson, I don't want to lose another one too" said Satyvati
" You are ordering us to do nothing,he not only killed your grandson,he murdered the Maharaj of Hastinapur" said Dhritarashtra
" Brother, grandmother is right we can't go to a war now, we are still suffering due to the previous wars, economy is not stable, going to wars means letting our people suffer more, Drupad killed jyesht on his lands he was not invited to panchal and if Drupad tells other kingdoms that he killed jyesht because he entered his lands without authorization and burned his granaries, other kingdoms would ally with him, especially now when Hastinapur has lost its king and above all jyesht too would not want the people to suffer in his name" said Vidhur
" Vidhur is right, we can't pull Hastinapur to a war now,I had failed twice in protecting Hastinapur not anymore,I won't let people suffer as Vidhur said Veer too would not want that" said bhishm
" So we would let this slide" asked Dhritarashtra
" No we will wait,and when the opportunity knocks we will have our vengeance,we will avenge our Jyesht" replied Vidhur.Everyone was startled with the way Vidhur spoke, hatred to Drupad was evident in his voice
"Now we need to discuss about the coronation of the next king" said Satyvati
" Not now" replied Pandu
Pandu had shut himself from others  for many days due to the guilt that it was for him his brother died
" Now is not a right time, let this dark phase over , like us people are still mourning for their king.we should not coronate a new king at this time " said Pandu
" Jyesht is right, grandmother now is not a right time" said Vidhur.Dhritarashtra too agreed with his brothers
" As you wish,the coronation of the next Maharaj of Hastinapur will be conducted after six months" said Satyvati.All others present in the room agreed with her

Kuntiboj, private chamber of Maharaj shurasena

"The seed has already been sowed, nothing can be done now Maharaj" said the court vaidya
Maharaj dismissed him and turned towards the other occupant in the room
"You and Priyamvadha will accompany her, I had talked with my brother all arrangements will be there at his ashram, to others you all had gone from a pilgrimage,even to our son" said shurasen
His wife and queen Marisha nodded her head and dismissed herself from his chambers
" The seed may can't be destroyed,but I will crush that fruit before it ripes" murmured shurasen to himself