“All I have ever lived is in darkness” Dhritarashtra, the blind king was lost in the vast black ocean of his thoughts on a gloomy evening. Lost in the world of suffering and pain. ” Only to witness the horrific war…. to witness the death of all my children and grandchildren…. to witness the end of my family…. eternal darkness consumed me forever”
” A life of sufferings… that’s all I have ever got. Born blind. Not accepted in the world that identified me as imperfect. Denied my right to rule the kingdom. Was it my fault? I did not choose to be born as ‘me’. But I suffered. The throne was passed on to my younger brother Pandu. I vividly remember the day when Pandu decided to retreat to the forest with his wives. No one to challenge my throne. I thought that I would finally get to prove myself and my worth to the people. To my people. But then they arrived. Kunti with her 5 sons to claim back what was never theirs. Hastinapur welcomed them as harbingers of peace and Dharma. I knew since then that my son, Duryodhan would be denied his rights just as I was. He marked them as his rivals from the moment they arrived and I do not blame him. Wasn’t it his duty to protect what belonged to him? The son of the king would naturally be the heir to the throne. But it wasn’t what others felt. They were obsessed with Yudhisthir- the son of Pandu obtained from the god of Dharma himself. When will the society break free from the shackles of the conventional rules? When would the society start accepting individuals based on the skills and merits they possess and not where they were born or who their parents are. Every individual must get an equal opportunity to prove themselves to the world. But people like us, like me, like Duryodhan, like Karna, dared to fight for what was ours. They preach of Dharma, but where was it when you denied Karna from competing against Arjun. Where was it when Eklavya chopped off his fingers? Where was it when Duryodhan was denied the kingdom? Where was Dharma when the battle at Kurukshetra was fought? The battle that consumed all my children. When Bhima killed Duryodhan by breaking all the rules of war, they did not remember to preach Dharma. When Arjun killed Karna who was unarmed, they did not preach Dharma. When Dhristadyumna killed Dronacharya with deceit, who was mourning the death of his son they did not preach Dharma. When all the warriors favored the sons of Pandu over my sons they did not preach Dharma” Dhritarashtra erupted with anger and grief. The glass held in his right hand broke down into pieces as the King’s rage flowed through his veins, determined to destroy everything in his path.
“How would the world ever feel the grief and sufferings that I felt. I would be labelled as the cause of the greatest war of history. As the cause of the deaths of many and sufferings of thousands of family but I suffered too. More than anyone else did. It was never my fault but I suffered. My children suffered. We were bestowed with a curse.”
” Sufferings. Pain. Loss. Rejection. Yearning for acceptance from my own people. That’s all I have ever felt all my life. A kingdom is ruled with righteousness and justice. A ruler must be devoted to his people and to the society. He must fill in the cracks of the imperfect society. Challenge the inherited bizarre norms of the society and bring in changes to sustain the world that is evolving. A leader must pave the way for new inventions and ideas to emerge. Does it matter if the king is blind? The society prefers staying in darkness of the conventional institution but it would never accept the darkness of a blind man. Instead they would allow a leader to rule who can see but cannot feel the ordinary lives. They would accept a ruler who is blind in the pursuit of corruption and power. I agree that Yudhishthir will take the kingdom in the right direction, the direction of Dharma but why did my son have to suffer? Years and years of rejection and envy would make anyone choose the wrong course of action. He did make some wrong choices but what if his rights weren’t challenged? He would have developed into the perfect leader for the people of Hastinapur. He would have carved the society out of the traditional institutions that were holding it from evolving. ”
” The past cannot be changed. But the future can. It’s in our hands. The society of tomorrow must be ruled by a leader who is devoted towards his society. The great war of Kurukshetra must be known to all, only so they can learn from the thousands warriors that sacrificed themselves to Dharma. The society must break the chains that hold it back from evolving and motivating ideas and innovations. The chains that do not accept imperfectly perfect people. The chains that deny skills and merits to flourish and express themselves. The chains that deny the ordinary and the less ordinary from dreaming. The chains must be broken.”
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