Dwarkadheesh YudisthirA lot of you were puzzled a few weeks ago, when one of the scenes in Dwarka had people wagering their wives, much to the chagrin of Balarama, and to a lesser extent, Krishna (for whom the act was less sinful 😈) As usual, we did our behind-the-scenes investigations, and here is what we discovered.
Although it's generally thought that only Arjun was close to Krishna & the Yadavas, Yudisthir too was a closet admirer of the Yadavas. In fact, in his heart of heart of heart of heart of hearts, he considered himself to be more a Yadava than a Kuru or even a Pandava. However, being the eldest of the grandsons of King Vichu of Hastinapur, it would have been blasphemy for him to have publicly admired another family above his own, what w/ Duryodhan's rival claims. Indeed, due to the fear that a public endorsement of the Yadus over the Kurus would cost Yudisthir the support for the Kuru succession, Kunti advised him to keep it secret, and instead, let Arjun be the face of the Pandavas to the Yadus, and the face of the Yadus to the Pandavas.
A lot of eyebrows were also raised when Yudisthir, while justifying the execution of Sishupala by his instantly appointed Rajasuya executioner Krishna, described Rukmini as the 'Kuru kulvadhu' who had been insulted by Sishupala (even though Sishupala, in his tirade about napunsaks, lampats, apradhis and so on, had said absolutely
nothing about Rukmini). Actually, the answer lies in the circumstances in which Rukmini ended up w/ Krishna. As is well known, Arjun took her by the hand and ran off w/ her, b4 dropping her @ a temple. Since Arjun touched her first, Yudisthir secretly regarded her as his kulvadhu as much as Subhadra was. However, to avoid scandal, Rukmini was publicly recognized as the kulvadhu of just the Yadus. Nonetheless, following the adharmic tradition of all brothers regarding their brothers' wife Draupadi as their own wife, the same was done w/ Krishna as well: since Yudisthir regarded Krishna as a brother, Rukmini was given the honorary title of 'Kuru kulvadhu' - a fact that was well hidden from the Kuru queen Gandhari, lest it complicate Samba's claim on her grand-daughter as his wife. 😆
This gesture by Yudisthir, while overlooked in both Hastinapur & Indraprastha, didn't go unnoticed in Dwarka, They saw Yudisthir's gesture for what it was, and were inspired. As it is, they envied Indraprastha: whereas Indraprastha had a young samrat in Yudisthir, Dwarka was tied to the aging Ugrasena, who was the grandfather of Yudisthir's cousin, thereby causing most Dwarka citizens to feel disconnected w/ their king. Most of them were secretly disgruntled w/ Krishna's decision to not sit on the throne, but just rule indirectly from outside. Since Krishna & Balarama were known to be divine, they couldn't connect w/ them. But w/ Yudisthir secretly embracing them, they felt comfortable identifying w/ him, especially given that he combined the advantages of being dharmaic, which was true about Ugrasena as well, w/ being young, which Ugrasena wasn't.
As a result, when Yudisthir staked his wife in the game of dice, news of this arrived in Dwarka. At first people reacted in shock, but since even Draupadi & Krishna ridiculed Yudisthir for getting his hands burnt by Bhima, the citizens of Dwarka took it as a sign that what Yudisthir did was actually okay. This really excited the citizens of Dwarka - at least those unhappy w/ their wives.
In order to avoid the perception that they openly admired Yudisthir, the people of Dwarka decided to be as discreet about their admiration for Yudisthir as Yudisthir was about his high regard for Rukmini. So they decided that instead of betting their wives over dice, they'd wager them over mace fights. Also, Yudisthir staked Draupadi b'cos of his pride in her, but the Dwarka citizens staked their wives b'cos they really wanted to be rid of them. 😈 As a result, this new patiyogita (sorry, Anjana 😈) started in which Dwarkans would wager their wives in mace fights where the losers would end up winners by giving away their unwanted wives. Balarama, as was shown, was appalled @ this, and Krishna decided to fix things by having his Kuru kulvadhu Rukmini, and his non-Kuru kulvadhu Satyabhama, take into their protection wives who had been won, or lost, or won... whatever, to their non-husbands.
All this resulted in in the following events in Dwarka noted even by Vyasa:
the Vrishnis, committing sinful acts, were not seen to feel any shame. They showed disregard for Brahmanas and the Pitris and the deities, They insulted and humiliated their preceptors and seniors. Only Rama and Janardana acted differently. Wives deceived their husbands, and husbands deceived their wives. Fires, when ignited, cast their flames towards the left. Sometimes they threw out flames whose splendour was blue and red. The Sun, whether when rising or setting over the city, seemed to be surrounded by headless trunks of human form. In cook rooms, upon food that was clean and well-boiled, were seen, when it was served out for eating, innumerable worms of diverse kinds. When Brahmanas, receiving gifts, blessed the day or the hour (fixed for this or that undertaking) or when high-souled men were engaged in silent recitations, the heavy tread was heard of innumerable men running about, but no one could be seen to whom the sound of such tread could be ascribed.When Arjun did his Ashwamedha yagna following the war, some Yadava youths captured his horse. Arjun, knowing that the real Dwarkans recognized Yudisthir rather than Ugrasena as their king, got Ugrasena & Vasudev to get the horse released. As a result, the yagna continued.
Finally, after the Yadava fratricide and the death of all of Krishna's wives, including Kuru kulvadhu Rukmini, Yudisthir decided to come out of the closet. He announced that w/ the end of the Yadavas, he too, as an Yadava in his heart of heart of heart of heart of hearts,would start for heaven. Arjun automatically joined, as did Draupadi, and Bhima, Nakul & Sahadev, not wishing to be left behind, too left. However, their other wives, including even Subhadra, didn't feel any such affinity for the Yadavas, so they just decided to stand by Uttara & Parikshit and help him succeed Yudisthir.
Finally, after all his travails in swarga, Yudisthir finally ended up w/ Krishna, who declared him a real Yadava and gave him a place in Vaikuntha itself for posterity. As a result, Yudisthir was never again separated from Krishna.
Nor for that matter, from Rukmini! 😈
Edited by .Vrish. - 11 years ago
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