10/21/2011: Yudhisthir crowned yuvraj

Krishna is in the Kuru court, and tells Dhritarashtra that he'd like to witness Yudhisthir's yuvraj-abhishek today itself, and Dhritarashtra agrees. Duryodhan is furious, but Shakuni prevents him from doing anything rash - all this is noticed by Krishna. The abhishek ceremony of Yudhisthir starts, and throughout the procedings, the Pandavas and Kunti are very happy, while Dhritarashtra, Gandhari and the Kauravas aren't too thrilled w/ the situation. Finally, the procedings are complete, and Yudhisthir is declared the yuvraj of Hastinapur.

In his chamber, Duryodhan knocks a diya and sets his furniture alight, and Shakuni comes and smothers the fire w/ a pillow (too bad they didn't have fire-extinguishers). He takes Duryodhan aside and demands that Duryodhan learn to rein in his rage, or else, it could well consume himself. Duryodhan angrily tells Shakuni that each of his plots to date have gone nowhere 😆

Krishna is hosted by the Pandavas, who've laid out some sweets for him. Seeing all that, Bhima's mouth waters 🤣 and Krishna notices it. Yudhisthir tells him that he's come a long way and suggests that he eats, but Krishna smiles and tells him he's not remotely hungry, and suggests that they eat. The Pandavas guess that Bhima's condition is behind this, so Arjun tells him that if he is not hungry, neither are they, so until he eats, they won't either, and asks Bhima to back him up on this. Bhima smiles and agrees, albeit a tad reluctantly 😆🤣

Duryodhan and Shakuni enter, and all the Pandavas and Krishna greet them. Duryodhan tells them that he's there to invite Krishna, and Shakuni says that they won't leave w/o him. So Krishna gets up and leaves. Arjun wonders what made Duryodhan so friendly all of a sudden, and Bhima tells him that they were here to try and win over Krishna, but little do they know that Krishna is far more cleverer than anyone on earth 👍🏼

Duryodhan takes Krishna to his room, where he too has a large dish laid out. Krishna tells him that he would have come to him later anyway. He tells Duryodhan that he must have had something in his mind to so specifically seek him out. Duryodhan decides to open up and tells him that Krishna seems to have taken the side of the Pandavas. He points out that neither has he himself ever done anything wrong to Krishna, nor has Krishna ever done anything wrong to him, so why is he backing the Pandavas over him?

Krishna tells him that it's true that Duryodhan has never done anything wrong to Krishna, but points out that he is on the side of dharam. Duryodhan asks him whether Krishna thinks that he is on the side of adharm? Krishna tells him that that is a question to which the answer can't be simply given, but has to be sought by the person asking the question. He tells him that whether one is adharm or not, one will know if he reflects on his deeds. Duryodhan gets flashbacks of him hitting Bhima on his thighs and getting the chandalier to fall over Yudhisthir, while Krishna continues.

Krishna tells him that people who are not his relatives can become close to him by following the path of dharam, while people who are can get alienated from him by following the path of adharm. He tells Duryodhan that if one looks @ society like an ocean, there are several people on boats trying to go either to the coast of dharam, or the coast of adharm. There are some who from their deeds strive to get to dharam, while there are some who do a lot of religious work but try sinking other boats in the process of getting to their destination. Duryodhan invites him to stay, but Krishna tells him that he has to return to Dwarka.

Everybody is at the gates to see Krishna off. He takes Kunti's blessings, tells Yudhisthir to take good care of himself. He then hugs Arjun, who asks him to come back and spend more time. Krishna tells him that from this point, their paths are intertwined, and that one day, he'll be Arjun's charioteer. Arjun is surprised and asks him what he means by that, and Krishna tells him that time alone will tell. Krishna leaves.

Duryodhan is still seething w/ anger, and Shakuni tells him that he needs to stop fuming and come up w/ a plan to kill the Pandavas, so that Krishna can be back soon to grieve. Duryodhan tells him that he only knows how to use his mace, and such political games is the work of Shakuni. Shakuni says that he'll do his work, and plan so that Dwarkadheesh has to return. On his chariot far away, Krishna turns back as though he has heard those remarks.

Comments: Fantastic episode. Liked how Krishna forced Yudhisthir's annointment to happen today itself, totally sabotaging Shakuni's plan to make good use of time. The reactions of the Kauravas - including Gandhari - to this ceremony was just priceless. And Duryodhan just loves pyrotechnique displays. Incidentally, why are there so many lit diyas during the daytime?

The scene w/ the Pandavas hosting Krishna was just funny, although I thought they'd lay out a full meal for him. Bhima should have taken one of the sweets and suggested feeding it to Krishna by hand, and then allow him to feed all of them. As it is, everything got uneaten.

Duryodhan interrupting the proceedings was a spoiler, although I was glad that Bhima was shown to understand Krishna's motives and be pretty relaxed about him leaving w/ Duryodhan. The conversation b/w Krishna & Duryodhan was interesting, given Krishna's non-answers. One thing I like in this - there is always a lot of friction b/w Duryodhan & Shakuni, since the former prefers direct confrontation, whereas the latter's machiavellian approach is just too irritating for him.

I'm guessing that after Krishna returns, the Varnavarta incident will follow next week. Let's see what's going on in Dwarka while that happens.

Thanks for the update. Fantastic episode. Dy's angry expressions at the time of Yd's yuvrajabhisheka & when Yd was made to wear the crown were good. Atleast the table burning was more convincing then the mirror burning. Krishna's messages were excellent today. He told Dy to find answers of his Q himself , made Dy realise quicker, what Krishna means. Before leaving for Dwaraka Krishna told Yd,his path is full of tests so be careful. Yd shows he is quite cool about everything, it is others who are more interested in seeing him as future king.

^^^ Yeah, I was concerned that we had seen the last of JS, but since they're returning to Dwarka, we should see them a bit more. Also, shouldn't they show Balarama & Revathy a bit more, occasionally? Otherwise we get the feeling that they're out of the show. But Balarama would be needed later.

vrish my reply to the poll is Gufi is playing shakuni better in Dwarikadhish ...i can see a lot of gravity on his face and the actor who is playing yudhisthir is gud ,looked really handsome yuvraj in the crown.