By being greedy and losing your senses,
you rolled the dice.
You lost your wife,
then you say it was cheating.
Mahabharat!
The story of good against evil,
that every child still remembers.
By heart!
They say, history is always
written in favour of a victorious side.
In reality, is this story
based on the war between good and evil?
Or this is just a perception
that has been passing for the truth since years?
Because if we look closer
then the lines of good and evil are just as blurred
as the decisions made by both
the parties in this war.
Were the Kauravas completely evil?
And the Pandavas the guardians of good?
Did only one party resort to cheating?
Were the Pandavas completely absolved of sins?
These are some of the questions
that need to be answered
which this show is going to seek.
Mahabharat!
The end or the beginning?
Shri Krishna thought
that it is the only way to calm down his elder brother Balaram.
He should join his hands and apologise.
But Balaram wasn't paying any heed to anyone.
And he made the decision,
that he felt was right.
He said.
The attack was flawed and illicit
which shattered this thigh.
Duryodhana is the winner.
There is no doubt about it.
When he saw the agony of his disciple
tears spilled out of his eyes.
He then used his blood to apply a sect mark for Duryodhana.
On his younger brother Krishna's insistence
he allowed Bhima to live.
He placed his mace on his shoulder,
and marched on his way.
Balaram has left.
And Shri Krishna was standing
by the shores of the lake in the forest
along with the Pandavas and the injured Duryodhana on ground.
His thigh was shattered and the blood was oozing out.
But he was announced
as the winner because of the sect mark.
Duryodhana slid to a nearby stone.
Even while he was nearing death, his face was happy.
His eyes were haloed
reflecting the glory of the Kaurava clan.
Along with Madhava, the Pandavas
were watching, stunned.
Just like a king, Duryodhana sits on a stone
and says to Yudhishthir that he is the elder brother.
Because he was born first.
Actually, what happened was,
the mother of the Kauravas, Gandhari was pregnant
but her pregnancy seemed to carry on endlessly.
So she got restless and started
hitting herself on the stomach.
Due to a premature delivery
a ball of flesh was born.
The physicians said that the ball of flesh is alive.
Then according to the suggestions of the Acharya,
the ball of flesh
was divided into 101 parts.
And every part was placed inside a pot.
The pots were filled with clarified butter and sealed.
After some time, a pot was broken open
and Duryodhana came out.
After that his brother Dushasana.
Then the other 98 brothers.
And from the last pot, there came a small girl,
whose name was Duhsala.
This was the story of the Kauravas' birth.
The story of the birth of the Pandavas is interesting too.
The mother of the Pandavas, Kunti
was given a 'mantra' by the sage Durvasa.
She could use it to pray to any God at any time,
and be blessed with a son of God.
While receiving the boon,
Kunti was unmarried.
But out of curiosity
she invoked the Sun God.
And she gave birth to the Suryaputra Karna.
Suryaputra Karna!
He was born with the divine armour and earrings.
But the unmarried Kunti
was scared after delivering the son.
And she let her son Karna adrift on the river.
A 'Shudra' raised that son.
Hence, he was called as 'Shudraputra.'
But Duryodhana
honoured him by appointing him as king of Anga.
He became 'Angaraj Karna' from a 'Shudraputra.'
He joined the Kauravas in
the Mahabharat war.
After that Kunti got married
to Pandu.
But she was unable to
to conceive a child with Pandu.
So she then prayed to 'Dharmadev.'
And she was blessed with 'Dharmaputra Yudhishthir.'
After that she was blessed with Pawanputra Bhima from Pawandev.
And Indraputra Arjuna from Lord Indra.
After that, Kunti shared the mantra with Pandu's second wife
Madari.
Madari prayed to the Ashwini Kumars.
The Ashwini Kumars were twins.
So, Madari gave birth to twin sons.
Nakul and Sahadev!
Yudhishthir was born before Duryodhana.
Because the demigods born because of the mantras
didn't gestate as normal children do.
According to the Acharya and other Gurus,
Yudhishthir was to get the throne.
But Duryodhana always thought that
because the Pandavas were sons of Gods
so the Acharya is defending them.
Listen, Yudhishthir. I'm the eldest son.
I came into the womb first.
You were given birth to by your mother,
I came out after breaking the pot.
You got your mother's love,
I was breastfeed by a servant.
You are the son of Dharmaraja
you were honoured by everyone.
Vidur, grandfather and Acharya
loved the sons of Gods.
While the 100 hundred sons of the blind king
were merely given a show of loyalty.
You are the son of Dharma.
He is the son of Indra.
He is the son of Vayu.
While defending you, the sons of Gods,
the Gurus failed to pay attention to us.
One day Dronacharya,
was teaching archery
to his disciples in the forest.
A dog started barking there
and started disturbing them.
Everyone was thinking about silencing the dog.
There came an arrow all of a sudden
and it hit the dog's throat in such a way
that the dog was alive
but he lost his capacity to bark.
Dronacharya was extremely impressed by this.
And he tried to find out
who the impressive archer was.
When he came to know
that the arrow was aimed by the prince of
the Nishadha Adivasi tribe, Eklavya
he reached his house while searching for Eklavya.
And he asked him about his Guru.
Eklavya took him inside his house.
And he showed him a statue of mud.
He said that he is my Guru.
Dronacharya was stunned to see that statue
because it was his statue.
Eklavya said to Guru Dronacharya,
Gurudev, I came to your hermitage to learn.
But you rejected me because
I was not a 'Kshatriya.'
Then I returned with the mud that you walked on.
I have made this statue with the same mud.
So you are my Guru.
Dronacharya wished
that Lord Indra's son Arjuna
should be the greatest archer.
But he also knew that, Eklavya
was a far better archer than Arjuna.
In order to pave the way for Arjuna,
Dronacharya said to Eklavya.
If I'm your Guru,
then I want my Guru Dakshina.
When Eklavya agreed,
Guru Dronacharya
asked him to cut off the thumb of his right hand.
Eklavya kept his promise.
He used his left hand,
and cut off the thumb of his right hand
and gave it to Dronacharya.
Drona was such a callous and cruel person
that he asked Eklavya to cut off his thumb
so Arjuna became the greatest archer.
He always hated Karna.
Once the Pandavas erected a city in
the name of Arjuna's father, Lord Indra.
The city was called 'Indraprastha.'
It's the present day Delhi.
The mansions were so huge
that one used to get confused between
water and the floors.
During the inauguration of Indraprastha
the Kauravas were invited too.
The Kauravas reached and
Duryodhana was taking a stroll.
At one of the mansion, he thought there was water.
He tried to escape
but then he took a closer look.
The reflection was visible
but it was on the floor and not on water.
It was so shiny that it appeared like water.
He went ahead.
This was real water.
He thought that it is the floor.
He moved ahead
and fell into the water.
Draupadi started laughing from a balcony upstairs.
And she said.
The son of the blind is blind too!
Duryodhana always remembered this humiliation.
And that was the reason
that he wanted to humiliate Draupadi.
Yes.
My father was blind from his birth.
It wasn't hereditary, it was incidental.
But by saying a son of a blind father
your wife poked fun at me.
"By being greedy, by losing your senses."
"You rolled a dice."
"You lost your wife."
"Then you say that's cheating."
So this was the end of a chapter
from that epic story
wherein reside millions of stories.
But this is the beginning of the efforts
to see this epic story
with a truthful perspective.
And to test for yourself
which side we are standing on.
With the righteous?
Or with the unrighteous?
Or perhaps...
Keep watching, Mahabharat!
The end or the beginning?