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Into the rich tapestry of icy blue nights, slender fire torches topped over each of the sardonyx and irnimite carved pillars that lighted and warmed up the entirety of the small courtroom of Hastinapura. The illustrations of apsaras and gandharvas on the tall ceilings danced in the scintillating light divine sculptures looked down upon the velvety floor of the meeting place only to be met by the sight of a personified felony, whose soul nourished the nefariousness of the entire kingdom ; sharing a dialogue about his self-conceit with his tamed brother-in-law - The king of Hastinapura.

"What unaided yagyas and tactics do you keep fabricating every single day, Gandhar Raj? What is the outcome of all these wary liturgies?" Dhritarashtra spoke under the impression of dubeity.

"Dear Maharaj Dhritarashtra, this Shakuni's heart yearns for nothing but contentment for my sister and her family," the wicked King of Gandhar limped with a coercious smile towards the former, "This urgent yagya tends for the protection and longevity of you and your sons' prestige and prominence in the Kingdom."

"Shakuni, we have Kulguru Kripacharya, Maharishi Ved Vyas and many other revered sages in our Kingdom. You do not need to personally formulate any new ritualistic sacrifice for the same. There is no emergency." Dhritarashtra dismissed uninterestingly, provoking the manipulative side of Shakuni.

"So I assume that if instead of Kumar Duryodhan, one of Pandu's children get the right over the throne of Hastinapura, you, being a very benevolent brother and an idol of jurisdiction, won't have any problem with it. Am I right, the successor of Vichitravirya?" Shakuni squinted his eyes, only expecting a reply that would favour his forthcoming ploys.

"I am the Emperor of Hastinapura and my sons, the only and only successors to it. What more security does this simple fact require and who is going to unabide to my words?" The King inquired, lines on his forehead becoming more visible.

"You must remember, Maharaj Dhritarashtra, that the Kurus' kingdom and dynasty are more akin to a democratic monarchy than a totalitarian one. The public and their needs are served by the royals, not the other way around. Have you not seen, even a decade after her birth, your subjects' delight at learning that Pandu has given birth to a daughter? Not only in Hastinapur but also throughout the entire Aryavarta, the story has spread like wildfire! Gaining the faith and confidence of your subjects and common people is necessary if you want to continue ruling the land as an unwavering Emperor." Shakuni kept circling Dhritarashtra. Waiting for the sightless King to fall into his accursed gambit, "So that even if Pandu were to return home, God forbid, he would not be able to restore the people's confidence and faith.

"What possible harm can a trifling ten year old girl cause to the fortune of such a big Kingdom? She'll eventually met the fate of other princesses whose identity relinquishes under the veils of their household responsibilities. They do not possess any prerogative of meddling with the affairs," Dhritarashtra's arrogance peaked as he chuckled even more diabolically, "Certainly not when their incompetent father is a murderer of innocent sages."

"This! This is where you go wrong, Maharaj!" Shakuni shook his head in disbelief, "You may not notice it until it's too late, but Pandu's daughter is not an ordinary girl, she's elusive! The descend of the cursed Pandu's Demigod-like sons is no secret to the world, but her's? It's like a tangled ball of yarn that can never be unraveled. She and the mystery for her very existence is like a prestidigitator performing illusions. And these are not my own proclamations but the truth uttered by saints and sages who know the enigma of this game of life and death better than the usual mortals." He continued, manoeuvring Dhritarashtra into a perceptional freeze.

"Kunti had got a boon from Maharishi Durvasa by which she can invoke any celestial deity. Why would she wish to have a charlatous child and invite destruction to herself?" Dhritarashtra refuted with a disoriented gape. He was aware of the piousness that lived within his brother and his wife, but Shakuni? He was a master at parading the most treacherous side and the lousiest outcome of the most unostentatious situation and Dhritarashtra was an evident prey of it.

"If you have any qualms about the facts I just presented in front of you, then O son of Ambika, go and ask Vyasa the reason behind the protracted silence behind Dhriti's birth. Ask the famous elders of your clan why Pandu and Kunti were given this child since they had neither wished for nor conjured any Devas. Question them about this strange birth, whose secrecy was so exorbitant that no one could even catch a glimpse of the enigmatic deity who bought her here, besides her parents," Shakuni halted his game of machinations. Noticing the already tricked fizzog, he continued, "Truth is that you will never come across any answers to these ludicrous queries."

Dhritarashtra stood aloof, patently at a loss of words for his vainglory and egomania was profusely been fed with the fueling words of Shakuni. A dreadful mix of vanity and perplexion had fogged the mind of the Emperor who munificence lied in the bajsaed interests of his glory hunter kinsmen. Indeed Dhritarashtra was blind. Blind in multiple folds for he lacked both, the physical vision as well as the vision of one's own mind.

"One man amongst five women does not have as much influence as one woman amongst five men," The avaricious brother of Gandhari begin construeting with various gestures, "When Ram and his magnanimous vanar sena of several thousand shankus were rendered comatose at the end of the battle, Sita alone assumed the form of Bhadrakali and killed those hundred and thousand-faced and infinite armed Shatanan and Shahastra Ravana. In the same way, if you do not wish to deprive Duryodhana and his hundred siblings of the right to the throne and sole advantages, then you must deprive the Pandavas from the possible shrewdness of their sister."
As Shakuni continued fabricating, the unacknowledgement of Shri before the names of the greatest powers in the universe, flashed the soul of Dvāpara working towards his tainted objectives.

"No!" The hazed scepticism on the face of Dhritarashtra flushed away at the thought of losing his statuses. "I have earned the right to occupy a place on my own throne after struggling and overcoming many obstacles and I would not let that privilege be washed away like water from my hands. Tell me Shakuni, how can I prevent your edicted words from becoming true?" Words plunging out of his mouth with nothing but sheer desperation.

"The solution to higher problems is often a very paltrous yet a significant change. We're always one step away from turning the tables in our favour instead of suffering with the rules of this uncanny fate. Just like Duryodhan, who is indeed, one small change away from becoming a Yuvraj." Shakuni smirked. He was close to sowing the seeds of his covetous intents.

"You're absolutely right Shakuni!" And there! Dhritarashtra had let go of the last faint beacon of hope that Vyasa had once conferred through his virtues, to him.
"I am blind due to the circumstances before my birth, but I wouldn't let my disability obstruct the lights of greatness from reaching and illuminating my sons!" The King delcared, still a little speck of dither hovering upon him, "However, I must first consult Rajmata Satyavati, Mahamahim Bhishma and Vidura."

"Consult them?" A cacophonous snicker erupted from Shakuni's mouth. He couldn't believe the gulliblity and artlessness of Dhritarashtra. "Do not forget, she's the same Rajmata Satyavati, who, on the suggestion of that Dasi Putra Vidura, made Pandu the King Of Hastinapur when it should've been you all along! All of them will make you fall a prey to their own bias, Maharaj. Announce Duryodhana as the Yuvraj of Hastinapur without their consultation because you are the Emperor of the Kurus. And the three of them, your mere servants, who can't counter question your choices nor can they tie you down to their own opinions." Shakuni finished off by successfully spueing parasites onto the branches of the same tree.

For the barbarous personification of Dvāpara, He was like a cat who would steal milk and close her eyes while drinking it, assuming that no one would be able to see her, just as she couldn't see them. But at the far end of the extravagant courtroom stood the Queen Mother Satyavati. Her soul ruptured into silence like the fall leaves under the frost. Part of it was pain, which she sure could endure; but the other was that of guilt, the one which neither can be endured, nor cured.

Not yet surrendering to the grief, Satyavati quietly sniffed back the remnant of her warm tears and strode towards the Palace of Vidura - one of the only unblemished minds of the Kuru Capital.

“Vidura! Without interrogating me about anything, make arrangements for a visit to the foothills of Shatashringa mountains. If I fail to bring Pandu back to Hastinapur, the Aryavarta will soon witness Kuruvansh  breaking down into unmendable fragments!” Satyavati ordered, holding tightly to her last strings of fortitude that prevented the suppressed sobs from disrupting.

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Waking up to the starry sky of a wintry midnight is like a visual poetry, but certainly not for Pandu, who was now the father of Chanchala.

Still half asleep, he heard the sound of his daughter's feet, her anklets producing a certain timbre that was very pleasing to the soul. Eyes squinted in a child-like manner, Pandu stood up, 'spying' on Dhriti who was stealthily fluttering her lashes at the moon who was 'playing' peek-a-boo with her.
Pandu chuckled to himself, reliving those perfect moments of fatherhood. There were days and months and years to come, he thought, when he'd recall those adventures of the nighttime and avish them upon his then 'grown up' children over some gathering, no doubt.

"Sorry to disappoint but you won't be able to have the glimpse of Chandra Dev till the dusk of tomorrow," Pandu's guffaws echoed under thea1a1E moonless sky causing Dhriti to wince at the source, "And it's advisable to stay indoors at the time of a lunar eclipse - "

"― Otherwise, instead of the nectarine luminance of Chandra Dev, we may end up feeling a malaise due to the effects of Rahu and Ketu. Right, Pitashree?" The former turned around, with her arms akimbo.

"Hmm... yatharth hai. You know and remember a lot for a 9 year old!" Pandu gave in with a chuckle, unable to refute his daughter's antics.

"I had desired to have five sons from the Devatas, each adorned with a different quality. Nonetheless, here you are, bedecked with all those attributes, blessing our lives even without invoking anyone. Truly a miracle!" Pandu smiled to himself, watching the former's face lit up with his compliment.

"Yippie!" Dhriti silently squealed at her father's opine, "I always remember everything you say like any mahakavya. But still I still have a lot of curiosity left at the back of my mind and you also know how, I cannot sleep without listening to you narrate me a story," She persisted convincingly. An impish smile flickering across her face like a firefly.

"Accha?" Pandu's head fell back with another sanguine chuckle, "This Samrat Pandu has no ability to refuse your affection, after-all. Now tell me, what story will quench the thirst of my dear daughter's curiosity?"

Noticing Pandu's gestures, Dhriti followed him on the inside of the hut, "How were little Nakul and Sahadev born? Like all my Bhratashrees, was there any prophecy made about them? With what desire were the Ashwini Kumaras invoked?" she spoke, condensing her voice into a whisper so as to not wake her Matas.

"Enough, enough, enough!" Pandu smiled, making the younger one rest her head on his arm, "This much information will suffice today's allowance limit of my vault of stories otherwise there won't be any stories to narrate later."

"Having righteousness, strength, valour and immense peace and prosperity personified in the form of you and your Bhratas, our Kingdom needed to flourish in miscellaneous aspects and abundance of wisomd. Hence me and Madri meditated upon the Ashwini Kumaras, the physicians of the devatas," Pandu began narrating, watching Dhriti listen to him with an undivided attention.

"I still remember," he continued sooner, "it was roughly a year about your birth, riding on a chariot driven by horses, the Ashwini Kumaras had appeared near the base of Shatashringa mountains. Madri first asked for son who would master all kinds of sciences, posess the ability to treat even the most lethal of all ailments and a son who'd be immensely devoted to his siblings and towards his dharma," Pandu stated, picturing the moment in front of his eyes, "and then, nodding to Madri's request, the first of Asvinau, Nasatya stepped forward and bestowed a child in her arms. He prophecised that the child would excel in the knowledge of Ayurveda, impart qualities of immense devotion and loyalty towards his siblings and bring in fortune for the common majority of the praja by being an expert in breeding and training various animals required for both warfare and finance of the state. Nasatya then named him Nakula because there will be none more handsome than him in the entire kulas of Aryavarta." The Samrat completed, glancing back at Dhriti to find her peeping back at him.

"Surely Nakula is a chivalrous charmer!" she giggled, "and what about Sahadeva?"

Responding to his daughter's fragmented inquisitiveness, Pandu spoke again, "Soon after, Dasra, the second of the Asvinau, advanced. Perceptive of Madri's wishes, he handed over another son to her and forbode that Sahadeva's wise quietude will hold the prowess to silence a room full of foolish men. He will grow up into a renowned astrologer and a scholar of all the Vedas and Upanishads. No vile trickeries will succeed under his scrutiny for his intelligence will surpass all the nefariousness and hence will be a close confidant of the King and his judiciaries." Pandu stated in a single go, nearly enacting the discourse.

"And are you aware who is always merciful enough to always keep showering his benison over our Nakula and Sahadeva?" Pandu continued with the same exhilaration, "Lord Dhanvantari, the divine manifestation of Shri Hari Na―"

"Dhriti?"

Pandu tenderly beamed to himself, "She fell asleep even without listening to the whole story!"

Her little figurine looked like a tender cocoon, snuggling close to the arms that felt like her safe haven. The inquisitive chatterbox's heavy breathing was slowly ebbing away as the Nidra Devi leisurely embraced the little goddess into her sagacious embrace. Such was her divinity that even in the absence of the moon, her baby face was glimmering like some silvery dust being scattered by pixies.

Pandu's fatherly instincts were drowned in the ever merciful ocean baal Mahālakshmī, soo much that he didn't wish to move to avoid waking her up. Furtively, he extended his orther arm to grab a quilt to cloak her from the chilly air, only for his brain to stutter at the sight; every part of his body halting for him to comprehend.

The lotus feet of Shri were appearing like ever increasing honey for the bee-like devotees who meditated on Padmā. Clearly the last words she heard from the narration of Pandu were about Lord Dhanvantari, none other her Swami Shri Hari Narayan. Whether being unaware of her identity or not, how can Haripriya resist her jubilation upon hearing her Lord's name? Indeed she couldn't, and that resulted into the pious and venerated Pandu attaining the essence of the supereme abide Vaikuntha while still being in all his sense.

Lotus feet of Dhriti -

“De-Devi Lakshmī?” A trail of tears immediately breaking loose on his part, Pandu stammered with an inundation of feelings.

Acquitting all his guilts of the sins he had previously comitted, he bowed down in full reverace, head perfectly touching the glistening feet of Mahālakshmī, who's clemency had regardless washed away all his transgressions the moment she had decided to manifest as his own daughter.

“Kunti should know...Kunti should know that despite all our shattering fates, curses and twisted destiny that brought us here, the ever merciful Jagat Ambika Shri Mahālakshmī has appeared like a fine ray of sudden sunlight falling upon the blackest of room. Tomorrow when I wake up, the word that shall utter from my mouth will be the liberating name of my daughter.” Pandu overjoyously declared to himself, making a mental note of the same; still unwilling to close his eye so as to imprint the divine sighting into his vision forever.

Just like Pandu did, the best way to predict the future is to create it, but what if the creation doesn't coincide with the intent of Prajapati?

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Hello!!
I was supposed to publish the chapter earlier this evening but I went to eat momos. My plans also didn't coincide with that of Prajapati. Lmao what is happening to my humor.

This chapter took vigorous hardwork of 3 whole days and a lots and cancelling and finalizing so PLEASE do not forget tell me your thoughts about the chapter.
(Bhagwaan aapka bhala karega :)

Hope you like it,
If you do, don't forget to vote and comment.
Thanks.
xx.