History is only Half Truth

Somewhere inside the dense forest in north India, blind Dhritrashtra & his blind folded wife Gandhari is living in an ashram. They are also accompanied by Kunti (Mother of Pandavas) and Vidur (younger brother of Dhritrashtra) they had opted for van prastha after the defeat of Kauravas in Mahabharata. Both Kunti & Gandhari had seen irreparable losses in that war. (People do get close to each other if they have gone through same ironies.)

On the day of first death Anniversary of Duryodhana, Kunti & Gandhari is looking back into their lives

Kunti: It seems your husband King Dhritrashtra has become composed now, I think he has reconciled himself now.

Gandhari: Yeah, Time heals every wound. Environment over here is also very peaceful.

Kunti: Sister, your unconditional love always supports him. Now that he has reached the evening of his life, I can see gratitude in his eyes for you.

Gandhari:   (Remains silent)

Kunti: ( Not sure, continues further ) : You have set an idol for the generation to come Your sacrifice of  turning blind towards the world even after gifted with eyes would become an example of sacrifice for coming generations.

Gandhari: (Opens her mouth but did not said anything, uneasily shifts her balance)

Kunti: Oh Sister, what gave you such strength & determination. Though you have been forced into marrying a blind man, you sacrifice your vision for equivalence to your husband. You have managed to see the truth and distinguish between right & wrong though your own son Duryodhana is on the other side. You are truly an idol for the generations to come.

Gandhari: (Earlier looking towards the sky, now look deep into the eyes of Kunti. Many expressions came & gone on her face.)  Dear Kunti, this is what you think and all perceived and would also goes down in the history in the similar fashion.

Kunti: What do you want to say Sister, I don’t understand.

Gandhari: Oh Kunti, You are my dearest sister, But true feelings of the heart may be bitter and that is the reason one prefers never to shares them.

Kunti: You can depend upon me please vent out whatever you have.

Gandhari: History is only one side of the truth, the victorious part.

Kunti: (Listens in dismay)

Gandhari: Black scarf on my eyes is not my sacrifice out of love in fact it is my protest towards the society and its norms. It is a protest of a girl, who had all the dreams about his handsome prince but she was forced to marry a blind king. It is my protest towards suppression of women in this society. No one cares about the rights of a women she was never asked about her choice and has to abide by the wishes of a man. I choose not to see this society.  

I know my protest, would never be recorded in the history, but what a pity it is being perceived as a sacrifice of a women for her god aka husband. Again a symbol of male chauvinist society. 

History is only one side of the truth, the victorious part.

And losers are not always on the losing side alone. Women are also exploited by victors. She will remain defeated even on winning side.  (Gandhari looks sharply towards Kunti)

Kunti: (Gives a look of unbelieving ness)

Gandhari: Kunti, I wonder if you would be able to understand my pain or not but your daughter in law Draupdi for sure would relate to this. She is also bearing the ruthlessness of male society. No one could imagine the plight of living with 5 husbands. And you ought not to think that it is your ignorant order to divide the booty, which led to this mayhem instead it is because of the greed & lust of the 4 brothers who always fascinates towards an astounding beauty of this time.

I know Pandavas would right this in history as their selfless act of obeying mother’s order. Historian would never ask for the perspective of Draupadi.

History is only one side of the truth, the victorious part.

Who knows Sita would have also questioned the conviction / principle of king Rama, when asked to give the test of her chastity on fire. And who knows if Sita has not actually divorced Rama before moving out to Balmiki Ashram. No historian would write the perspective of Sita. .

History is only one side of the truth, the victorious part.

My son right from his childhood lives under the fear that one day Pandavas will come & took over the kingdom of his father and what rightly belongs to him. He always used to felt uneasy with the power & skills of Pandavas & also the ambitiousness of Yudhishthir.

Poor child always believe that as Bharat look after Auyodhya in absence of Ram & handed over the kingdom back to him after exile. His kingdom would also be returned back to him by the Pandavas, as their father Pandu was only caretaker.

My loving son Suyodhan now made infamous by the name of Duryodhan. This is what history is going to do with my son, even his name will be changed to suit the character he is being portrayed into.

History is written under the disposition of winner and will always be a testament of victorious.  It will always be only one side of the truth, the victorious part.

Ages later people who would be reading today’s history would hail Pandavas and may even start worshipping King Rama or our Shri Krishna as God but there are other perspectives too which would be left unsaid.......