The Mastermind

The Prince was sitting on the Balcony of the palace. There was a worried look on his face. He sighed. He was treated as the most intelligent person in the whole of Aryavarta, yet he could not find a solution to this problem. His thoughts were interrupted by his mother. Her eyes showed that she had not had a wink of sleep for the last two days. She informed, " The gifts and flowers have been arranged, the chariots have been called on, and the journey will begin tomorrow morning." Her voice was distant.

" Maata, is there any way...?"

" Saubala Putra, I forbid you; our own happiness is not greater than that of the subjects. Their securities matter the most. So please do not use any Maya on the Emperors to anger them. Your sister has accepted her fate; you, too, do so."

" But how, Maata? She is Intelligence personified; she has boons from Lord Shiva himself. How can we give her away to a blind man?"

" That blind man is the most powerful person in the Aryavarta; he can end our lives."

" No, Maata, his Uncle is. It's his plan to use Gandhari's boon for the betterment of Hastinapur. He feels a hundred male children can bring a bright future for them. I promise you, Maata, they will cause his destruction."

" No Putra no..." The Queen of Gandhar feared her son's intelligence. If turned evil, she knew what his brain could cause.

" No Maata, I will take revenge for this, I will not let our Gandhari's sacrifices go in vain."

Silent, the Prince saw his younger sister tie her eyes to be her husband's better half, and understand his darkness as her own. Silently, he saw her husband disrespect her and mistreat her. He saw the Emperor take her maid as his lover by force. Saubala waited for the right time.

His family was killed by Bhishma and starved to death for refusing Gandhari's marriage to the blind prince at first. He watched them die one by one before his eyes, and he made their bones into a pair of dice. These dice changed the history of Bharata. He was especially affectionate towards his eldest nephew, Suyodhan. He wanted Suyodhana to become king, not because he loved him, but more because at his birth the sages predicted, " This child will cause the greatest doom to this family and Aryavarta." These predictions seemed like the fruits of his meditation. He focused his goal on bringing up his oldest nephew. He taught him to snatch power, hate his cousins and try to harm them. The young lad learned Adharma as right. Subala became Shakuni Mamashri.

He made the most intelligent plots of the epic, and he played mind games with everyone. Krishna Vasudeva was the only person he could not play his mind games on. His intelligence made him the strongest character in the epic without any special power or Astra Gyaan. Although later, Gandhari blamed him for everything, his goal for revenge was fulfilled; he died knowing all his nephews were dead and the Kuru Vansh had fought the greatest of battles amongst themselves and had died, leaving just the five Pandavas. His revenge on Bhishma was fulfilled by his nephew. His dice game is still proof of what gambling and greed can cost, even the righteous of men. His character stands as proof of what a person can do for revenge and how a righteous person loses himself over his thirst for revenge.

He who is portrayed as the greatest villain was indeed a great man turned by circumstances and a few wrong decisions. With nobody to guide him or give him knowledge of Dharma, his idea of Dharma was the same as success to him. His success was in the destruction of the family Bheeshma built; hence, his motive of destroying the family before Bheeshma's eyes was fulfilled by his many plans and plots. He is sometimes depicted as the Dwapar personified of the Dwapar era, in which Krishna came to an end.

Still today, in Pavithreswaram of Kollam District in Kerala, there is a temple dedicated to Shakuni where his throne is kept, and the main deity is his Param, Pujya Mahadev. Shakuni sacrificed his own sons Uluka and Vrikasur for his own revenge plans. He had no motive in life to avenge the wrong done to his younger sister by Bhishma. In his anger, however, he gave his sister immense pain at the death of all her sons and grandsons. He died happy in Sahadev's hands on the last day of the battle, knowing his purpose was fulfilled.

Shakuni remains one of the most read-about characters in literature as well as mythology. His character had been recreated by several mythological writers and Television serials, movies and theatre. His character is the greatest villain of all time and is held chiefly responsible for the Kurukshetra Wars.

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