Week 9 Story: Aftermath of the War

Yudhisthira and His Dog Ascending

     "Extra! Extra! Read all about it!" Everywhere you go in the bazaar the only thing you hear about is how Pandavas defeated Duryodhana and his army. For the Pandavas this might be the best thing that ever happened to them, but to the countless widows and mothers who lost their sons this is the darkest time in their lives. Everyone felt the repurcussions of the great war. Many inlfluential leaders were slain on both sides and the kingdom was in disarray.

    Yudhisthira was in shambles. He had to find a way to get the economy back on track and appease the masses who lost their family. There were many long talks between the five Pandavas on how to go about the reconstruction. Arjuna and Bhima wanted to expand the kingdom and take resources from their neighbors, but Yudhisthira only wanted peace and could not afford to lose any more of his kin. 

    To fulfill his duties as king, Yudhisthira and his retinue would visit the families of the Kaurava fighters to make peace and console them. This worked for a time and the people saw how compassionate and fair a ruler Yudhisthira is, but soon they got hungry and the crop yield was becoming dangerously low as a drought had taken hold of Hastinpura. In addition to this, there were still Kaurava supporters in the government and they would do anything to take the Pandavas off the throne. Yudhisthira needed a plan to bring the crops back and keep the Kauravas from gaining support. He spent hours in meditation and prayer every day. Often, he would forego food so that his subjects could eat more. This did not go unnoticed by the populace and they learned to love him. 

    One important person who saw Yudhisthira's devotion was the great sage Jiraiya. He was a holy man who was known to accomplish great feats and was loved by nature so much that he could even change the weather. One day, he entered Hastinpura looking for food, but everywhere he went there was none available. He finally made it to the palace where he saw the king eating a meager bowl of rice. When Yudhisthira saw the sage gaunt and hungry he immediately offered him all his food not even knowing the sage's identity. This moved Jiraiya to the point where he offered it back to the king. However, Yudhisthira refused and would never let one of his subjects go hungry. When Jiraiya realized how great of a ruler Yudhisthira was he decided to reveal who he actually was.

    "O great ruler, from this alone I see how virtuous you are. I am the great sage Jiraiya and I will help end the drought that plagues Hastinpura." Jiraiya, using his nature power, ended the drought that was decimating the crops and brought plesant rains to the land. The people had a great harvest and most of the Pandavas problems had abated since the people were once again prospering. It was obvious from this that the line of the Pandavas would last for generations to come.

Author's Note: I mainly adapted the story from the condensed reading of the Mahabharata we did this week. I liked this version a lot because there was not any supernatural beings involved and all the problems were caused by humans and their relationships. I decided to write about how the aftermath of the war would be. Since there are not any gods in this version there is no way for the dead warriors to reunite with their loved ones, and Yudhisthira would have to deal with this.

 Bibliography: "The Indian Story Book: The Five Tall Sons of Pandu" by Richard Wilson, 1914