Karnava domination36 years had passed since the war ended. As cursed by Durvasa & Gandhari, the Yadavas had a major fratricide that saw the end of Krishna's entire family, including him. Arjun went to Dwaraka and took the surviving members of the Yadava clan back to Mathura. Following that, the Pandavas put Parikshit on the throne and retired to swargalok.
Following this new power vacuum, Vrushadeva decided to consolidate his power, and also take the remaining kingdoms under his protection. Parikshit & Vajra both accepted his protection, as did several other rulers owing allegiance to either the Pandavas or the Yadavas.
A few years later, on one occasion, Kshatradeva and Kshatrasena were visiting the kingdom of Banga, whose princess Shakuntala was having a swayamvara. A prince of Pragjyotisha tried to disrupt the swayamvara by challenging and defeating all the attendees of the swayamvara. Kshatradeva castigated him for disrupting a swayamvara to which he hadn't been invited. This led to a battle b/w the 2, and after a while, Kshatradeva slew the prince. However, the other suitors of the princess, having been defeated, left the swayamvara, ignoring Kshatradeva's pleas to them to return and claim the princess. The ruler of Banga then invited Kshatradeva to marry Shakuntala, and the 2 got married. Kshatradeva then returned to Suryaprastha w/ Shakuntala and Kshatrasena, and all of Suryaprastha celebrated. Jhanvi & Vedavati both welcomes Shakuntala into the family, and following that, Kshatradeva was crowned the Yuvraj and Shakuntala the Yuvrani of the kingdom.
Following this, Vajradatta, the ruler of Pragjyotisha, decided to go to war on Vrushadeva to avenge the death of his son. Karnasena went out to combat him, while Kshatraketu took another section of the army and decided to invade Pragjyotisha itself. Vajradatta was defeated by Karnasena, who pursued him back to his kingdom and joined Kshatraketu there. In the meantime. Kshatraketu had taken the entire royal family captive, and released them only in return for getting Vajradatta's daughter Pragya in marriage. The nuptuals completed, the 3 of them returned to Suryaprastha.
In the meantime, since the treasury was getting strained, Lakshaketu, along w/ Dharmasena, decided to go westwards. Lakshaketu invaded the kingdom of Saubya - formerly of Shalva, and defeated Anushalva. He followed this by marrying Anushalva's daughter Anusuya. Dharmasena in the meantime invaded Jayadravya, and defeated them, and married Jayadrath's granddaughter Jayati. Both princes then returned to Suryaprastha.
In the meantime, the ruler of Madra decided that Vrushadeva's influence over the Pandava & Yadava kingdoms was coming in the way of his increasing influence, and so invaded Indraprastha. Karnasena went off to battle him and killed him and invaded his kingdom. His son sued for peace, and Karnasena agreed, and married his daughter Madrini, thereby preventing Madra from being assertive at Vrushadeva's expense.
In the meantime, Kshatrasena was sent to Kosala as an envoy of Vrushadeva. While there, the ruler of Kosala was holding a swayamvara for his daughter Kaushalya. However, the princess was smitten by Kshatrasena, and on the day of the swayamvara, garlanded him. Her suitors challenged that, but her father accepted his decision, and that led to a battle. Kshatrasena quickly defeated the suitors, and he got married to Kaushalya.
Following this, all the new brides returned to Suryaprastha w/ their grooms. They were welcomes by Jhanvi, Vedavati and Shakuntala, the latter of whom took them under her wing.
One day, news came to Vrushadeva about Parikshit being cursed by a rishi for putting a dead snake on his shoulders since he was unaware that the rishi was observing a vow of silence. Vrushadeva knew that this would cause a power vacuum, since Janamejaya was still a minor, and so decided to send Dharmasena as an observer to support them, and prevent anarchy in the event of Parikshit's death. Parikshit welcomed him, and asked him to be Janamejaya's regent after his death. After Parikshit's death, his wife too died, and so Dharmasena took Janamejaya under his protection and started governing Hastinapur.
In the meantime, Takshak, having killed Parikshit, decided to attempt to fill in the vacuum by attempting to invade Hastinapur, Indraprastha and Mathura. Vrushadeva recognized that as the threat that it was, but to avoid starting any wars w/ the Nagas, since he knew Marichika was supposed to marry into their clan, he decided to perform an Ashwamedha yagna.
The yagna was attended by a host of rulers, far & wide. Karnasena was sent accompanying the horse, and rulers of most kingdoms accepted Vrushadeva's suzerainty. However, the horse was captured by Takshak, and this led to a battle b/w Karnasena & Takshak. Takshak invoked Indra, who was sworn to save him, but Karnasena sent some lethal weapons Indra's way, forcing him to flee. Karnasena then attacked Takshak fiercely and slew him.
The Nagas then rallied to attack Karnasena, who then invoked a Brahmastra which would have made short work of them. However, Rishi Ashtika arrived, and appealed to him not to use it. Karnasena agreed, and the Nagas stood down. A Naga prince Pallavya then approached Karnasena and embraced him. Karnasena invited him to join him and attend the yagna.
Following this, the Ashwamedha yagna was held, and in the midst of all that, Dharmasena handed over the reigns of the Indraprastha throne to Janamejaya, who gave him Hastinapur as a gift. Vajra too was now recognized as the ruler of the Yadavas, having finally come of age. Vrushadeva released his control over them, and handed over power to their kingdoms on the occasion.
After the yagna was over, Vrushadeva announced that the last 2 acts of his reign would be performed. First, Mareechika would be given in marriage to Pallavya, in order to end all enmity w/ the Nagas. The wedding was held w/ great pomp & splendor. This was followed by Vrushadeva crowning Kshatradeva as his successor to the throne of Suryaprastha. Kshatradeva was crowned the new king, and Shakuntala the new queen, and both were acknowledged by everyone as the samrat and samraghi of the entire world. Following this, Pallavya left Suryaprastha w/ Mareechika, and Vrushadeva finally retired to the forests w/ Jhanvi and Vedavati, where they spent their remaining days.
Edited by .Vrish. - 10 years ago
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