Chapter 19

Prakriti P.O.V

Everyone was silent as he stand and looked at us, his face showing disgust. I could see Brother Bhima getting angry, his nostrils were flaring in anger, Arya put his hand on his bow ready to silence Brother Sishupala with his arrows. "Cousin, either you see more deeply than the rest of us, or you are blind. How can you give this cowherd the purodasa in this sabha? I thought the Pandavas were princes of dharma and could never set a foot wrong in anything you did. Ah, what have you done today?" he said turning his head at Elder Brother.

His lips twitched, his voice was cruel "The cowherd is not even a Kshatriya! Look around you, Yudhishtira; can't you see these illustrious munis and these rulers of the earth in your sabha? Yet, you honor this upstart, this nobody, before any of the others? Why, this fellow should not be here at all!

Do you, perhaps, revere him as an elder? But his father Vasudeva is among us. Shouldn't he have the arghya before his son? Do you think Krishna was a friend in your need? But didn't Drupada give you his daughter when you were exiles? Didn't he keep you in his kingdom? Didn't he agree to let all five of you marry Draupadi?

Perhaps, you believe the cowherd is your guru? Isn't your Acharya here in this sabha, the great Drona?

Or do you think Krishna is a tapasvin? Surely, he is not a thousandth part the muni that your own grandfather, Vyasa, is." he said looking at everyone in the assembly, I looked at Brother Krishna who was standing calmly staring at Brother Sishupala without any ounce of anger and irritation on his face.

"Chedi King, there is no one more deserving than Vasudeva here" Elder Brother said calmly , "Dharma - Adharma, heaven - earth, Soul - God, truth - lies, Vasudeva knows about them more than anyone of us" he continued, Brother Sishupala growled and moved forward a little "Everything are fake and lies"

"King and Prince" he said looking at all of our guests "If you look at his life, you will understand that he has done deception in his life, he is a thief, he killed every friends of Kansa and he is the one who stopped Indra's worship, he is Adharmi, rebel and a liar, whoever takes his advice will do no good to the Aryavarta" he shouted raising both of his arms. I was getting angry with the way he was speaking about my brother but I knew the reason behind it, I knew his jealousy and anger. "Shut your mouth, Chedi King, I won't listen your babbling against Vasudeva" Brother Bhima said angrily, Brother Sishupala started chuckling "Or what, you will kill me?" he taunted.

"Bhima, is your body huge or do you have any brain here!" he said pointing towards his forehead, "Look at him, he wedded a demon, now tell me King and Prince, do we let him sit in worship with us who eat even dog's leftover" he started laughing, I could see Brother Bhima fist clenched, ready to unleash his anger. "But this Adharmi Vrikodhara is Prince made by Krishna himself" he said throwing peacock feather on the ground. "Sishupala, I will take your head" Brother Bhima shouted running angrily towards King Sishupala but Grandfather Bhishma stopped him before he could attack Chedi King. "Until King deliver punishment in the assembly, you cannot attack anyone" he said making brother backed away.

"Chedi King, you cannot lose your modesty in my assembly" Elder brother said but Brother Sishupala started laughing, "Look King and Prince, this Yudistira is teaching me lesson on modesty who himself gave the highest position to Krishna" he sneered throwing feather on the ground again counting his sins. "Yudistira, haven't your father taught you any difference between good and bad but how could he, he was also an Adharmi who killed a rishi himself" he said and laughed, my eyes widened as he spoke ill about our father. I wanted to kill him right now but only Brother Krishna will kill him as it is written in his fate.

"Chedi King" Arya shouted in fury moving towards him, "If you have any problems from our yagya, you can go back to your kingdom and wait for our army, I promise you that before your death we won't put umbrella on Elder brother throne" he said angrily, "But don't say bad words and make your respect less" he continued, Brother Sishupala curled his lips and stared at Arya in disgust "You should shut your mouth Arjuna, you have achieved your knowledge by indirectly cutting Eklavya thumb" he taunted "You are manipulator, liar and worthless person" Brother Sishupala said, "Go and die in water" he added snickering. Arya glared at him but he didn't stop just yet. "Kings and Princes, his father Vasudeva was a criminal that's why King Kansa put him and his wife in jail, now you tell me yourself, who born in jail is a criminal himself, this Krishna is a criminal" he said throwing another feather.

"King Sishupala if you don't leave my assembly now, I will give you death sentence" Elder brother said frowning, Brother Sishupala scoffed "I don't fear anyone, rise King and Prince, these pandavas don't have any valor, if they did, they wouldn't have kill King Jarasandha by deception, this Krishna plotted against Jarasandha" he shouted.

Sahadeva cried, "Krishna is our guru, he is everything to us. If you have anything more to say about him, I will kill you!", everyone was getting angry with the way Sishupala was talking about our family.

"Sishupala, we don't have any issues in giving first argya to Vasudeva then why are you rambling" Grandfather Bhishma said standing up from his seat, King Sishupala started laughing.

"Why would you have any problem because you are an Enoch" he laughed hard. "Old man, you don't fool me with your simpering pretense of being a paragon of dharma. You are a common hypocrite. Let the simple-minded believe in your great vow. We know the real reason for your not taking a wife. You are an eunuch and the world would have known it if you married!"

"For your Prince, you have even kidnapped Princess for marriage" he ranted and Grandfather glared at him.

"Brother Sishupala, you have been counting your sins, don't you, because I have promised to forgive only hundred sins and you have already done enough sins before you came here" Brother Krishna said calmly not getting a bit angry by the worthless talk of Brother Sishupala.

He huffed "Keep your mouth shut, Adharmi, you are a lustful person who make other wife your own, everyone knows about your behavior, in Vrindavana, we have known about your Raasleela, Radha was married to Ayan yadav, yet you still pulled her in your fake love, have you forgotten, have you!" He cried scowling at brother.

"Enough Brother Sishupala, you have spoke much in this pure assembly, Kindly don't interrupt in our Yagya anymore" I said politely controlling my fury because if I lose control, everything will be destroyed, he turned his head towards me and narrowed his eyes "You should keep quiet, Prakriti, you are just like your brother, an Adharmi and manipulator, you have spent your childhood in Hastinapur so that you could woe any Prince and became the queen of the Kingdom when your plan flopped of becoming the Queen, you manipulated Yudistira mind to make you the General Secretary of this Kingdom" he snapped at me, Arya started moving towards him again surely to beat him but I gripped his arm, he looked at me in confusion and I shook my head "Not now, we cannot ruin our Yagya like that" I said trying to make him understand, he sighed and stand back beside me again, my eyes went to the feather Brother Sishupala has on his hips, they were limited now, his time is coming near.

Brother Sishupala again moved his eyes towards Brother Krishna, his face showing ugly scowl "You are the world number one incest person" he shouted throwing another feather away, "Say no more Sishupala, don't forget to count your sins" Brother said trying to calm him down, to stop the inevitable.

"I know what I am doing, I also know why are you getting first argya because of your player way, Drupada's daughter must have told her five eunuch husband that first argya should be given to you" Sishupala snapped pointing his finger towards Brother Krishna and started laughing. My fist were clenched and wind started blowing at fast pace, thunder rumbled and black cloud appeared in the sky, earth shook with deep tremors, I could feel the flow of water rising high in the sea as I tried to control my emotions.

"You call her a friend, Friend! But how can a married woman be friend to a man, we know everything, what is the relation between you and your--" he said and touched his stomach for more feather but his hand came back empty , before he could understand anything, his head was on the ground and Brother Krishna stand there with his sphere in his hand. Chedi King's body fell on the ground with thud and his head rolled away near brother feet. Blood gushed from him, spreading in a dark stain on the ground. Everyone quickly stand up on their feet gawking at the death body but nobody dared speak against Brother Krishna because everyone knew he freed Brother Sishupala from the sins he has done in his life.

Elder Brother ordered other Pandavas to honorably cremate Brother Sishupala and crowned his son King of Chedi. Finally, our Yagya completed as Elder Brother completed the argya. One by one, every King and Prince took their leave and went home. Kauravas were with us, Prince Duryodhana and others insisted on looking around our Castle and Maya Sabha. As Prince Duryodhana mounted the steps, he saw what seemed to be a pool of water at the entrance to the sabha. "What a strange place for a pool, as if there are no grounds to set it in. The Asura Mayaa has some vulgar notions of beauty." he remarked to Gandhara King Shakuni while we stand behind and listen on the conversation. But as he walked forward, it was just the polished floor inlaid with marble lotuses, I could see Prince Duryodhana gasping in surprise, then he moved forward and saw a pool before I could stop him to move further, with quick stride his feet fall in the pool, everyone started laughing, I quickly went towards Prince Duryodhana and asked for fresh clothes from the servant nearby. He went out of the pool, his eyes were brimming red. "Prince Duryodhana, change your clothes into new one" I said passing the clothes to him, he moved his eyes around as everyone was still laughing, even servants were laughing. "Stop it, everyone" I said turning my face and looking at everyone pointedly. Even if he is bad person, we cannot laugh at his expense. We are not like him. Everyone stopped laughing and he changed his clothes into new one. Prince Duryodhana gave me a small smile and he resumed his journey again looking around the Castle.

Inside the sabha itself, Duryodhana managed to walk straight into a solid glass wall that he thought was an open door onto a terrace. He struck his head painfully and staggered back. Krishne lost control and her laughter rang out in golden peals. She sat down on a chair and holding her sides, laughed helplessly; while four of Pandavas joined her. I tried to stop them but they were enjoying the moment, I could see Prince Duryodhana getting angry, his lips set in a straight line as his eyes turned from Krishne to Pandavas. His face became red with fury and he quickly moved towards Elder Brother bidding him a quick farewell and moving out of the Maya Sabha with quick strides. He stopped in front of me and joined his hand together in farewell, I joined my hand together and greeted him back, after that he made his way out of the Castle. I looked at Brother Krishna who has a frown on his face, I stand beside him "I could see fury in his eyes" I said without looking at Brother Krishna, he slowly nodded his head "There will be repercussion of what happen today" he responded looking at the Castle door.

I know Prince Duryodhana won't rest until he take his revenge and that what I fear the most for our family, especially Krishne.