Justice in the Hands of Torture - Swami Bhoomananda Tirtha

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To these words of Bheema, Yudhishthira just stood speechless likea pillar. Duryodhana at that time sneeringly spoke the followinglooking at Yudhishthira:"O Yudhishthira as all your brothers are under your lordship, thereis no need to listen to their views at all. Because all of them arebound to abide by your Master-hood, I need to listen only to youropinion. You now say whether the daughter of Drupada(Draupadi) has been won by us or not; is she not our slave?Saying thus to the son of Dharma (Yudhishthira), Duryodhana,blinded as he was by prosperity, corrupted by power and infatuatedby his position of superiority, as if to retort to what Bheemahad just remarked, turned to Panchali. Looking at her jeeringlywith a smile and showing his left thigh nakedly and patting on itscornfully as if asking her to sit on his lap, he took a glance atBheema and then burst into a slighting laughter to indicate hismastery and lordship over both.This sight infuriated the already enraged Bheema. Whirling his eye-balls, which were copper-red, Bheema proclaimed aloud, hiswords echoing thunderously in the assembly hall. "Aye Duryodhana,if I do not strike with my mace and rip open that very samethigh of yours in a direct combat, let the world of my forefathers belost to me." The whole assembly shuddered on hearing this.Vidura now intervened and tried to put some sense, at least in thislate hour, into the infatuated Duryodhana and his group:"O kings, born of the Pratipa clan, seek ye now at least the way toescape from the hands of Bheema. Providence had already decidedupon all that is taking place now and will hence. As if to comply22
with Providence the descendants of Bharata are knowingly resigningthemselves to this kind of an evil venture. There is no doubtabout it. The sons of Dhritarashtra played, ousting all justice andpropriety. Now they are arguing about a woman, sitting in a greatassembly like this, alas! Abusing all codes of Dharma, they havestained and destroyed the merit and glory of an assembly like this.When Dharma is abused, the assembly of the wise stands equallytainted."If Draupadi was pledged before Yudhishthira pledged himselfthen it would have been valid. The property which one derivesfrom another, who stands pledged already and thereby has no independencewhatever, is like the wealth one gets in a glamorousdream; it can never become a solid object of enjoyment. O Kurus,you should not swerve from the path of Dharma, listening to the illwords of Shakuni."Duryodhana at this again said: "Let Bheema, Arjuna, Nakula andSahadeva say with oneness that Yudhishthira is not their Lord andMaster. Then I shall absolve Panchali of her servitude."Arjuna then said: "The high-souled Yudhishthira, before he beganto play dice, was the one Lord of all the Pandavas. But, after he wasdefeated in the game, whether he is the Lord of anyone at all, thishas to be said by the Kauravas."Complexity of the Issue – An IndecisionTo summarize: All this meant a total and bewildering indecisionabout the fact of Draupadi's slavery. It was Shakuni and Duryodhanawho specifically sought the pledging of Draupadi byYudhishthira. Towards this end they even teased and coaxed the23
Page 3 and 4: Justice “In the Hands of Torture
Page 7 and 8: Where the role of women is rightly
Page 9 and 10: even myself.’ At this Shakuni lau
Page 11 and 12: question of dharma and propriety. I
Page 13 and 14: ster, from pulling me brutally like
Page 15 and 16: give a fitting and final answer. So
Page 17 and 18: property not merely of Yudhishthira
Page 19: must rid their minds of passion and
Page 22 and 23: virtuous and loyal, are not leaving
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Page 28 and 29: son of Dharma. In response to this
Page 30 and 31: tice and moral propriety. He strong
Page 32 and 33: Even with the two I have given, my
Page 34 and 35: knowledge and its benefit, nothing
Page 36 and 37: will immediately say that his ‘re
Page 38 and 39: In India, right from the ancient da
Page 40 and 41: his was improper on all grounds. Hu
Page 42 and 43: In the case of Draupadi, I will not
Page 44 and 45: own chosen purpose right from the s
Page 46 and 47: noyance all that was his was won by
Page 48 and 49: orbit of Her Creation. In Her warm
Page 50 and 51: Many get steeped in delusion, or th
Page 52 and 53: ever. His life will get fulfilled o
Page 54 and 55: made. It has its specific relevance
Page 56 and 57: out what he wishes to. Then he has
Page 58 and 59: which alone ranks supreme. It is pl
Page 60 and 61: The humans too are fused into the b
Page 62 and 63: fied. In his mind he was already su
Page 64 and 65: is nothing in righteousness which c
Page 66 and 67: als. Her nature was such that in th
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Justice in the Hands of Torture - Swami Bhoomananda Tirtha

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