Krishnaanuja Subhadra

Rajsuya Yagna

Little Abhimanyu certainly did liven up the household. He would licked in a baby chair and would watch his parents practice archery. (It's legal don't worry). When he did, his entire attention would be on his parents, their movements, their bow, and nothing else. He wouldn't even notice the fluttering butterfly which he chased all the time then.

Whenever Krishna was over, he would tuck Abhimanyu in bed because he insisted. Of course, Abhimanyu heard all the classic bedtime stories like - The psychopath mamashree who killed all his 6 nephews, 100 crazy cousins who tried to burn their brothers alive, you know, the usual.

One day, all the Pandavas, Subhadra and Draupadi were sitting in the sitting room, while all the kids were playing. Subhadra was stitching an angavastra, torn by, yours truly, Abhimanyu.

The Upandavas were playing with Abhimanyu. But the 5 month old was distracted. His gaze fell on Arjun's Gandiv, which was so heavy, only the best archers could life it. It was placed on a table, amidst the sprinkled flower petals. He waddled over there, took support of  a pillar, walked his first steps !! The cloth dropped out of Subhadra's hands, as she looked at her son with pride. Abhimanyu, now confidently, walked over to Arjun's Gandiv, picked it up with ease and sat suddenly on his....well the thing we sit down on.

"Maaa...ta !!! Dha...nu !! (Baby talk - Mata Dhanur !) Everyone looked at him with surprise. Subhadra ran to Abhimanyu and hugged him. "Look Arya, I told you his first words would be mata." She said with pride. "And, he walked all the way here." Arjun went towards them. "But how did he puck up the Gandiv ? Even Prativindya wasn't able to pick it up." "Hey !" Came a protest. " That thing weighs a ton. My hands ached for the rest of the day trying to pick it up." He complained. 

Yudhishthir said, "That may be putr, but how can Abhimanyu lift it up ?"

"I.....stwong !!" Came an enthusiastic reply from Abhimanyu.

Everyone laughed.

The days passed like a cool breeze. Abhimanyu grew up, learning the art of archery from a very young age from his father (like 1 year old or something).

Soon Abhimanyu, who was now 2 and a half years old, was a better warrior than his siblings who were way older.

Meanwhile, Krishna, Arjun and Bheem had been successful in killing Jarasandh (Bheem did the hard part, but all right).

Therefore, now Yudhishthir was eligible to become the emperor of Aryavart. Only, he had to perform the Rajsuya yagna to update his status to that of an emperor.

So it was. Upon the advice of Krishna, a date was fixed for the Rajsuya yagna. All the kings were invited to this grand ceremony.

RAJSUYA YAGNA -

The kings invited to the ceremony, had a hard time reaching the illusionary court of Indraprasth, made by mayasur.

They did arrive, though Duryodhan looked a little purple (with envy). Unfortunately, among the guests was the talkative Shishupal, who was also the Pandavas and Krishna's cousin.

Shishupal lived in a misconception that his words were powerful. Hence he spent time abusing people. Ever since Krishna kidnapped and married Rukmini, who was to marry Shishupal, his hatred for Krishna increased.

Krishna had promised his aunt, that he would forgive the first 100 mistake of Shishupal. If he made 1 more than that, he would kill him, as predestined.

Subhadra wasn't there at the yagna. She was taking care of the children with Kunti. She was going to attend it, but Krishna warned her not to. Without questioning him, she stayed back.

The yagna was nearly completed when the pandit asked Yudhishthir to honour8 someone as his advisor. Without a second thought, Yudhishthir chose Krishna. He began washing Krishna's feet, the twins held the towels, Bheem held the scented perfume and Arjun dried Krishna's feet. Shishupal watching this with growing anger. Draupadi started feeding Krishna sweets when Shishupal cracked.

"Heh ! What is this madness ? Why are you honouring this cowherd so much samrat ?" Said Shishupal, his words coated with jealousy and hatred." Cowherd ?" Said Arjun with gritted teeth, going to Shishupal, but Yudhishthir held him back. "Prince Shishupal," he said with calm demeanour, "kindly keep your mouth shut or leave the room." Shishupal laughed "O Samrat ! Why are you giving me these feeble threats ? I have a right to speak against people who kidnap other people's bride and marry them themselves !!" Duryodhan leapt out of his infuriatingly comfy chair. " So do I ! This Arjun ! He kidnapped my bride who wanted to marry me."

"Technically, she hated you and wanted to murder you but she couldn't go against her elder brother's order." Said Arjun. " Well she disobeyed him at the end !" " That's because she felt that her second older brother is right and obeyed his request."

"Forget that !" Said Shishupal. " Rukmini was mine ! She is mine ! Listen to me O Krishna ! Ranchod !......"

And he proceeded with many insults to Krishna, who cared the least about them. With a smile on his face, he calmly counted all the sins of Shishupal.

He was on 100 when he said his last insult - " What kind of a brother you are ! Telling a stranger to kidnap your own sister !" When he stopped abruptly. According to his calculations, he was on his 101th sin. Oh no.......

Still smiling, Krishna got up. There was a bright light, and suddenly the Sudarshan Chakra was on his finger. The diplomatic Krishna had an angry gleam in his eye. The Preserver Himself was angry. He launched the Sudarshana onto his cousin.

And in the blink of an eye, Shishupal lay dead, with his head severed from his neck. Sudarshan returned to Krishna's finger and disappeared.

Yudhishthir shook his head like - You had it coming dude.

Duryodhan was fuming mad. He tried to turn the kings against Krishna and the Pandavas but in vain. All the kings had clearly seen that Shishupal was at fault. Krishna had simply made him shut up.

Subhadra entered the court. Her eyebrow raised when she saw the dead body of her cousin, but said nothing. She stood next to her brother and then spoke - " Shall we finish the rituals now ?"

Bheem scratched his head "Oh yeah, right." Yudhishthir just prostrated before Krishna when Duryodhan left the court angrily. As he left, he as glaring back, and fell into a carpet which was actually a pool ! He fell into it, getting himself completely wet.

The Pandavas (except Yudhishthir) burst out laughing, along with Draupadi, who was roaring with laughter. As Duryodhan looked at her, tears of laughter streamed her eyes. His rage had no bounds, but he controlled himself .

Subhadra, understanding the situation went near Duryodhan and pulled him out, which Karn and Dushassan were too distracted to do. She called a maid and told her - " Bring some dry clothes for brata Duryodhan please."

At this, the Pandavas came to their senses and stopped laughing. But Draupadi did not. She still continued laughing. Duryodhan thanked Subhadra, and left the court angrily, swearing revenge on the new Samragni, who needed to be taught a lesson.

After all the kings left, when only family members were left, Subhadra said to them - " You shouldn't have laughed at him. You know what's he's capable of. Gods know what he'll come up with now for revenge."

Arjun groaned. " I know, we shouldn't have laughed. Even though I wanted to stop I couldn't." He said ashamed.

"I just hope he dosen't come up with some scheme to hurt us." Sighed Yudhishthir.

Well that's all for today !!

Signing Off,

Invisible Dragon.