A Heart of Gold

Interlude : Son of the Blood

Tiny chapter, coz I have fever and can't raise my head.

The six year old boy leaned over the rocking cradle, his hands fisting the bejeweled edge of the railing, and peered at the face of its occupant. Then he straightened up, turned around, and frowning at his mother's amused face demanded, "What is that?"

His mother, the Queen, sat back on her heels, and smiling with languid indulgence answered, "Your sister, Shakuni."

Shakuni peered into the cradle again, crinkling his nose up in distaste, "She's a girl."

The Queen arched an aristocratic eyebrow, "And that is pertinent because...?"

Shakuni rolled his eyes, "She'll never fit in with a hundred brothers. Why couldn't you have a boy? I don't want a sister." The complaint, initiated with firm belief ended in a whine.

Shakuni's mother only laughed. "We'll see how long you don't like her."

Shakuni vowed to hate her forever.

They named her Gandhari, daughter of the kingdom of Gandhar. Shakuni's ninety-nine elder brothers fawned over her, and he - no longer the youngest - failed to monopolize their affections. For a while, he hated Gandhari - the pale, delicate child that all his brothers swore to protect - and her large, almond shaped eyes that threatened to break his resolve. Then, one night, as his brothers gathered around Gandhari to play with her, the little girl held her hands to him and opening her toothless jaws uttered her first word, "Shaa...uu...eeeee..."

The room froze like the chilly mountain air outside, his family gaping at her. She had just spoken, for the first time, in human language, and it had not been any of her parents whom she called. Instead, it was the brother who tried his best to ignore her. Shakuni blinked owlishly at everyone. One of his brothers whirled around at him in disbelief, "Did you teach her to do that?"

Shakuni jumped up, annoyance colouring his features. "No! Why would you say that?"

Their father, King Subala, rose from his grand armchair by the fireplace, and spreading open his arms, smiled at him, "Shakuni, dear son, our baby Gandhari loves you so much." He walked up to him and gave him a warm hug. Shakuni blinked and leant over his sister. She laughed in delight and cooed at him, "Ooo... eee..." Then, to his receding horror and blooming fondness, she held out her little hand and grabbed his index finger. Any lingering attempt at hatred flew out of the door and into the snowy ravines of cold Gandhar.

Shakuni held her hands and taught her to walk. He stood by and applauded when she learnt to ride a horse. His smile was the proudest when she won an argument against him. His howl was the loudest when they lost to Bhishma, his sorrow the greatest when her marriage was fixed, and his rage the most profound when her eyes, bright and glorious, shut forever.

In prison, his father gave him a grain of rice and asked him to get it out of the bars. Shakuni put it near an ant who carried it. And with the grain, he gave away the vestiges of freedom in his life. He watched as his brothers died while he ate the single handful of rice they were given, and sobbed when his father twisted his leg to remind him of his vengeance. But most of all, his silence screamed when Gandhari told him to accept her husband and sons.

'They killed us, Gandhari,' he wanted to shout. 'They imprisoned and killed our family. Your family.'

But King Subala had not only twisted his leg, he had twisted his mind. So, Shakuni smiled his suave smile, that had melted every Gandharan nobility in the past, and bowing, said, "Of course, Your Majesty. The lost past should not sour present relations."

'They should destroy it.'

He could have loved the Kauravas. He could have loved his nephews, his sister's sons. But he could not love the grandsons of his father's murderer. He could not love the children of the man that forcibly married his sister.

'So, what if she's happy? She could so easily not have been.'

And every time the little boys looked up at him, calling 'Mamashree, mamashree, come, come', all he heard was his father saying, 'Carry your sorrow with you, Shakuni, and carry it well.'

As he saw the laughing subjects in the market that his blindfolded sister could not see, his innards boiled.

'My sister is pious because she blindfolded herself for your impotent King?! Fools! She blindfolded herself so she would not see the man she was forced to be with.'

But deep down, he knew that might not be true. His hatred flared like a solar wave.

'You all will pay. These dreadful boys will pay. Your worthless King shall pay. The stuck up Bhishma and righteous Vidur will pay. ARYAVART WILL PAY, IN FLESH AND IN BLOOD!'

(Gandhari will pay too, for she is a traitor.)

(It is still difficult to hate her.)

Interesting info to make up for lack of a proper chapter : There are several versions of the story of Gandhari and Shakuni. In nearly all of them, Shakuni is imprisoned with his 99 brothers and father in the dungeons of Hastinapur. They are given only a handful of rice daily. Shakuni's father, King Subala recognizes him as the cleverest brother and gives him that rice. (He was given a grain of rice and asked to get it out of the bars without going near them, and he gave it to an ant which took it out. His brothers failed.) His entire clan dies. Only Shakuni, ever the survivor, gets out of prison, takes the Kauravas under his wing, and sets upon a journey to destroy the Clan of Kurus. He is, perhaps, the only true winner of the Mahabharat, the victor even in death.

There are several versions of the imprisonment also.  In one version, (which is the one I use in this story), Hastinapur attacks Gandhar, defeats King Subala and his hundred sons, and brings back Gandhari as a war hostage and wife for Dhritarashtra, apparently because of her boon of bearing a hundred sons. In other cases, Bhishma gives them a marriage proposal, the Gandharan royal family refuses it and is attacked. In the authentic KMG version, a proposal is sent and Gandhari's parents accept it with reluctance and she ties up her eyes before her marriage - refusing to see the world when her husband is blind, and Shakuni gives her away to Dhritarashtra. This angers Shakuni because in his opinion, the elders should not have allowed her to be blind-folded.

Shakuni disappears afterwards, and pops up from nowhere after the poisoning incident with Bhim and Duryodhan. (I have a sneaky suspicion Vyasa forgot about his existence like Shakespeare forgot about Portia's other three suitors.)

Another version comes up from first version where Gandhari is a Mangalik, i.e. a person whose planets, mainly Mercury (Mangal) is in a controversial position when observed from astrological aspects. She was supposed to be widowed soon after her marriage, so her parents married her to a goat and killed the goat.  When Gandhari marries Dhritarashtra, he is not told that and later, he finds out that he is, technically, his wife's second husband. 

Dhritarashtra goes bonkers, but can't punish his wife (remember 100 sons? Yeah that) so he imprisons her brothers and father, cue another ant incident and Shakuni getting all the food, getting out, and Dhritarashtra wisely dumping his kids in his vengeful brother-in-laws care. Aaaaannnndddd, history repeats itself.

I hope you liked my not so little monologue. If you know any other versions of this story, let me know in the comments below! I love reading them :P