The noise was loud and raucous and it woke him. Vasushena blinked his eyes in the dark. He raised his head slightly. He could see his father on the cot. Atiratha was fast asleep. His mother was awake, as she sat up from her pallet and looked around, bewildered. Sangrama was still sound asleep. Vasu … More Chapter Twenty Four
Vyasa sat in the lotus pose, his eyes closed. Normally, he would have been able to shut out the world as he immersed himself in meditation, but today he found himself unable to do so. Thoughts kept coming, tumbling one over the other, refusing to recede to the background. Usually, he was able to ignore … More Chapter Twenty Three
Vidura was walking down the corridors, frowning. The events of the previous week still fresh in his mind. Queen Gandhari was still in the little hut with the sage Vyasa and his son, and none save her most trusted handmaids had so far been permitted entry. Neither the King nor the queen mothers had been … More Chapter Twenty Two
Queen Gandhari stood before the idol of Shiva, palms joined. Though only a few months pregnant, her belly was already large and she was having difficulty moving around. She needed assistance in doing the most basic tasks. The King and the queen mothers as well as the patriarch Bheeshma were worried about her health, but … More Chapter Twenty One
The moon was a pale crescent, casting little in the way of light into the hut. It stood apart from the others, almost at the edge of the clearing, and the windows had shades unlike the other huts. A beam of the moonlight still found its way into the hut, but not enough to illuminate … More Chapter Twenty
The arrow buried itself into the target painted on to the tree. The arrow was a crude one, just a piece of wood sharpened till it looked more like a stake than an arrow. If not for the fletching of feathers at the end, no one would have taken it for an arrow. The target … More Chapter Nineteen
The forest was unfriendly, and wild, and to Kunti, used as she was to a life in a palace, this place seemed like an enemy. An enemy that sought not just to make life difficult, but which sought to end that very life. Time spent in the forest had not dimmed her dislike if it … More Chapter Eighteen
The streets were decorated with flowers and garlands hung at every corner. The whole city wore a festive atmosphere. Hastinapura was decked out like a new bride. There were celebrations at the palace too. Designs of flowers and coloured powders added to the decorations. “What’s the celebrations for?” Vasushena asked Radha as he helped her … More Chapter Seventeen
There was a nip in the air that day. The corridor through which King Dhritarashtra was led to his chambers by Vidura, was open on one side. It was partly a balcony that ran through the outer perimeter of the palace, before it made a right turn to enter the palace. The King and the … More Chapter Sixteen
The forest glade was quiet. The dasis and dasas were all asleep. The fire that was built in the centre of the clearing to keep away the animals was still burning brightly. One of the dasas wrapped in a blanket sat near it, to stoke it and to replenish it with firewood. In the large … More Chapter Fifteen
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