The Great Indian Epic: MAHABHARATH

SHAKUNI - THE VICTIM

Coming out of Dhritarashtra's room, Shakuni went to his sister's chamber. She was sitting on a bench with blindfolded eyes. His heart aches at the sight. Gandhari senses someone entered her chamber. "Who is it?" She asked. "It's me sister" he replied. She was relieved at his voice. He sat near her in silence. "I am really glad that you are alive brother. I couldn't bear the loss of our family. I must be an unlucky person on this earth. My family is dead, my husband hates me. What sin have I done brother." Sobbingly Gandari rested her head on her brother's shoulder. Shakuni's heart was filled with pain and agony. He couldn't tell her sister that his whole has not died because of war, they were mercilessly killed by the Gangaputra Pitamaha.

Flashback.....

Days after the marriage of Dhritarashtra, Pitamaha Bhishma was walking on the banks of the Ganges, knowing that the Kuru clan is now in good hands. He was at peace. One of his spies came to him and greeted him. Pitamaha asked him, "Is there any news or is there nothing like every day."

"There is Pitamaha, and I am sure it is not a good one." Pitamaha stood and looked at his face. "What is it?" He hang his head, he didn't even dare to look at Pitamaha's face. "Look at me and tell" 

With a horror-filled face he said, "Pitamaha when Gandhari was born, her astrologers predicted that her husband will have a short life. So King Subhala and his sons married her to a goat and later sacrificed it to nullify the defect." Hearing this Bhishma's blood boiled because they let a widow marry in his Kuru clan. He went to the Kingdom of Gandharva and captured King Shubala and his sons. He kept them all in their dungeons. He also captured all the people who knew about this. He did all of this without the knowledge of anyone. It was kept as a well-hidden secret.

Killing our kith and kin is a sin. So Bhishma ordered his guards to serve only one grain of food to everyone. King Shubala knows that his son Shakuni is the only one who can take revenge on them, not by his physical strength but with his wit. He asked everyone to give their share of food to him to make him survive. Days went by slowly one by one died because of hunger. When King Shubala was about to die, he said, "My son, I know you are the only one who can take revenge on the Kuru Clan. You are a warrior but above that, you are a man of wit. Make a pair of dice from my bones after I died. Promise me that The Kuru clan will be destroyed to the root. Remember, A great kingdom cannot be destroyed from the outside. But It can be destroyed to the root from inside."

He promised his father. 

When everyone died, Shakuni was the only one who was alive. Pitamaha let him live. He made him sure that the fact that Gandhari was a widow should not be known to anyone. He let him do the funerals of his family. Shakuni made a pair of dice from the bones of his late father.

Later, Pitamaha Bhishma allowed Shakuni to stay with his sister until Dhritarashtra and Gandhari reconciled their relationship.