Vasudev and Pritha -Siblings who brought the Gods to the earth #Mahabharata

"Make it come true!"

"Five children!"

"Think of our five! We must not fail the sixth." Vasudev looked up seeing Devki nod. 

"You almost did it fine last time." She whispered. 

Vasudev did not respond and instead went to fetch the pot of boiled water from the inner room for Devki to dip her feet. "Are you sure Devki? I...would rather die than do something that would..."

"What you struggle to speak out is the fate of our sixth otherwise." 

The looming presence at the door alerted Devki and she pressed Vasudev's shoulder. 

"Wish my husband did that! Press my feet when I had carried Baka and Agha." The midwife sighed and smirked at Vasudev. 

"I am not yet due Putana." Devki dismissed her remark. "And you can leave."

"But today was supposed to be the day!" Putana came closer and held Devki's hand. "Or do you think keeping him in your womb can save him. Foolish girl, it will kill you both."

"Enough! I am not pregnant for the first time!" Devki snapped shoving Putana away. A contraction hit her then, wrenching her inside. But she swallowed it.

"You ARE in pain." 

"Stop faking concern, your Ogre!"

"Walk and show me!" Putana demanded.

Vasudev was about to push the heartless midwife away when Devki stopped him. Getting up from her seat with a super human effort, she laughed. "Look at me walk."

Each step proved more difficult than the last. Devki felt her womb would explode any moment. "Happy? Now stop pestering and get lost! Might be auspicious to not see your damned face for a while!"

Putana stepped forward her chest heaving at the provocation. Vasudev hurried to stand between Devki and her raising a forbidding finger. "Go away or else..."

"Pooh! Your threats of all! Look I am trembling!" Putana laughed and yawned. "Fine I shall be back by dawn and be here all day."

She left just in time for Vasudev to turn and catch Devki from collapsing. 

"It is time!" Devki whispered when he carried her towards the inner room. "This is much more painful than the last!"

"Trust me?" Vasudev embraced her before she lied down.

"More than I trust Putana. Pray, don't hesitate. Brother Nanda might be waiting already!" Devki tugged at his arm. 

Vasudev steeled himself to play midwife. If he succeeded in helping Devki deliver the child before midnight, he could signal to Nanda waiting on the other side of the river from his back yard before the guards could get the wind of the child. 

Devki had started pushing, suppressing each of her screams at every contraction. her bloodshot eyes and reddened face the only indications of what she went through. 

"Devki, we have seen enough. This IS our chance! Probably our only chance! You can do it!" Vasudev urged, furiously massaging the soles of her feet. 

"Doing my best!" She groaned exerting her everything. 

"For the five children we lost, for the hell we passed through these seven years! We owe this to our sixth."

"Stop telling me things like I don't know!" Devki gritted her teeth, hurling the empty copper goblet at him. "You have no idea what goes through me right now!"

Vasudev took a deep breath. "Forgive me, Love."

"You called me, 'love'?" Devki exclaimed and smiled through her predicament. "And I used to die of guilt everyday at the way you stay a prisoner just to protect me Vasudev!"

"You have been my strength all these years, Devki, the only reason why I breath and tell myself I am worth breathing again. I need this strength of yours some more moments. We shall then save our sixth born."

Devki chuckled, seeing the possibility. At least one of mine would be alive. I just need to suppress my screams! "It is coming Vasudev!"

The head of the child that would live at last!

Vasudev's heart leaped in excitement. "Yes Devki, yes!"

"I can't!"

"You can!"

In the light of the lamps, he saw her bite into her own hand, pushing the new born further. His hands shook as he held the child half out of her womb, processing what needed to be done now when her forbearance snapped. That very moment when they needed it the most! 

Devki let out a scream, louder than she had ever done.

To their horror, the footsteps sounded by the door.

Devki now screamed in frustration that overcame her exertion. 

On the other side of the River Yamuna, Nanda waited for the signal. It never came.

------

"I failed him! I failed him! It is I who killed this one with my stupid lack of forbearance!" 

"Devki, for the hundredth time, STOP BLAMING YOURSELF!" Vasudev held her back just before her head hit the wall and wrapped her in an embrace so tight that she winced.

"Strangle me Vasudev. I can't do this anymore. Not after failing my child who had the only hope of survival!"

"Right!" Vasudev cried, not letting go of her. "If this makes you feel guilty Devki, then you can't imagine what it takes to wake up everyday, see your young wife suffer for no wrong of hers, not do anything worthwhile to ease her pain and live on impregnating her to only lose the fruit of her labour every time! Don't give up now."

"Can we plan it better next time?" She asked after a long bout of painful silence.

Vasudev nodded, relaxing his hold upon her and she collapsed onto his lap.

"Forgive me Vasudev."

"Dare you say that again! It would kill me Devki. It literally would kill me!"

"Do the Gods exist, Arya? Don't they understand the pain of a mother?" She asked. She did not hear a response from him and did not expect it too. His gentle stroking of her head told her he wanted her to sleep.

"As irrational as I may sound, Gods are our only chance, Love." Vasudev replied remembering the years of futile prayers that had gone into saving his children. Faith had visited and deserted him countless number of times. 

"Our six sons, treat them as our offerings to the Ultimate One, each of them a milestone towards birthing that deliverer."

Devki looked up at him. "You never believed in that prophesy!"

 "Narayana is nothing but the fruit of man's ultimate journey, the result of his Tapasya." Vasudev mused, detachment taking over his troubled soul. "Let us stop looking at our horrendous past as misery and treat it as a penance done in his name. He can't fail us. Gods can't fail us."

"We shall make them come down to save our next." She whispered caressing his cheek.

"Or make Gods of who we sire next!"