Indraprastha

The newborn prince lay calmly on his mother's lap, watching silently around him. Royal priest Dhaumya was pouring offerings to the sacrificial fire. The baby widened his eyes. The vision of fire on the altar along with the chanting of Vedic hymns appeared very interesting to him.

"I pray for long life of the prince!" Dhaumya said with joined palms, "May the Gods provide him all the happiness that he deserves!"

Yudhishthira bowed to Dhaumya.

"Bless him with a name that you think will represent him the most, Aacharya!" He asked the priest.

"As you wish, Maharaj. But before deciding his name, let me see the his kundali first." Dhaumya concentrated on a tala leaf for calculating the planetary positions of the baby's horoscope.

What he saw surprised him. Venus, the Lord of happiness, was just leaving the house of luck. And Saturn was taking over. But had he been born just a little while ago or later, the planetary positions would have been very beneficial for him!

As if bad luck deliberately chose him!

Also, there was no planet in the fifth house in the horoscope. Dhaumya's eyebrows met again. This could have only one meaning. The boy would die childless!

How could a Prince's destiny be such?

"Aacharya, what have you seen?" Kunti did not feel good to see the curves on Dhaumya's brow.

"The child will not have a smooth life, Rajmata! At an early age, most likely in his teens, he will have to undergo a huge difficulty!"

Kunti's heart shivered. Sages of Shatasringa Parvat said exactly the same thing when Yudhishthira was born!

"Aacharya!" She exclaimed.

"Worry not, Rajmata! This grandson of yours is too strong to be broken by the difficulties offered by fate! He will stand strong in front of every problem, just like the great Vindhya Parvat withstands heaviest of storms!" Dhaumya caressed the child's head lovingly, "Let's acknowledge that strength of his in his name itself to remind him of his power! I name him, Prativindhya!"

"Prativindhya!" The proud father mused.

"Prativindhya!" Draupadi put a gentle kiss on the kid's forehead.

"Hail Rajkumar Prativindhya!" Chorused everyone.

His tiny lips curved into smile, hearing everyone uttering his name with much love.

***

Rakshasavarta

"Maa! Maa!"

Hidimbaa turned round, "What happened, son? I'm doing puja. Keep quiet!"

"Maa I have got a brother!" Ghatotkacha's little eyes sparkled.

"Brother?" Hidimbaa's eyebrows met.

"Yes! A little brother! I have seen him in my dream!" The boy was too excited.

Hidimbaa did not speak as she was lost in her thoughts. It had been quite long that the five brothers had married the Panchala princess Draupadi. She had also heard from the spies of her kingdom that Bhima had married again, this time the princess of Kashi. It was definitely possible that they had been blessed with more children.

"Maa!" The boy put his arms round Hidimbaa's neck, "I will go to see my brother! Please!"

Hidimbaa sighed. How would she tell this little boy that they were not allowed to enter a human locality? How would she tell this eager child that possibly he would never be able to meet his family?

"Maa!" Ghatotkacha shook her arm.

"You will, son! But not now." Hidimbaa managed to speak, caressing Ghatotkacha's cheeks.

"Why not now?" Ghatotkacha pouted.

"It is not yet time, my child!" Hidimbaa took him on her lap, "When time will come, I will definitely let you go!"

"When will time come?" Ghatotkacha blinked.

"Pray to Mahadevi so that it comes soon!" Hidimbaa bowed to the idol of Mahakali. Following her, Ghatotkacha too joined his tiny palms.

"I want to meet my brother, Mata! Please take me there soon!" He whispered.

***

Indraprastha

"Jyeshtha!"

The voice had all the love that He has for them. Yudhishthira rose to his feet immediately, seeing Krishna grinning.

"When did you come, Keshava?" He took the Lord to his loving embrace.

"Just now! And what did you all think, I will not come to see my nephew? Is this ever possible?" He smirked.

"Really? Then why did you not come earlier?" Draupadi pouted, "Go, I'm not talking to you!"

Krishna laughed, "Sakhi, it takes around ten days to reach Indraprastha from Dwaraka!"

"You cannot befool your Sakhi by this!" Draupadi glared, "Everyone knows here you have a Gadura for carrying you!"

"Apologies, Maharani Draupadi! I have done a great mistake!" Krishna held His ears, "Now if you kindly forgive me, may I have the fortune of meeting the prince?"

Draupadi suppressed a laughter within and nodded with fake graveness. Seeing the two friends doing all these, Pandavas exchanged glances among themselves and chuckled. Their friendship was so pure that it made the five brothers respect the bonding with all their hearts.

"See, putra, your mother is angry with me!" Krishna talked to the child, taking him in His arms, "Wouldn't you help this uncle?"

"Wait!" Draupadi said, "What will he call you? Kaka or Mama?"

"Am I not both to him?" Krishna innocently asked.

"You are, Govinda!" Bhima said, "Better let Prativindhya only decide what he will call you!"

"Fine. But for that we have to wait till he learns to speak. Before that I can be both, right?" Krishna smiled at the child, "What say, son?"

The child laughed heartily for the first time, as if responding to Krishna.

Yudhishthira watched all. The festiveness around him, despite of Krishna's presence, could not make him fully happy. Worry for Arjuna kept bothering him every moment he tried to smile.

Krishna's all-knowing eyes but were aware of what was going inside Yudhishthira. Placing the baby on Draupadi's arms, He stood up.

"Jyeshtha!" Krishna touched Yudhishthira's shoulder, "What happened?"

Yudhishthira looked away as a sigh escaped him. "You know it. Don't you?"

"Stop worrying, Jyeshtha! Arjuna is fine."

Yudhishthira's eyes returned on Krishna's face. He smiled assuring him.

"He will return when twelve years will be over. We have to wait till then. I promise that I myself will bring him to you!"

________________________________________

Author's note: I am generally against changing the original story of Vyasa but since very few is given in the text regarding the children, and some of them do not have more than a single verse, I have decided to include some folklores, regional versions of Mahabharata, and also a few creative liberties in this book.

Though I assure you that nothing will contradict Vyasa's story. I will imagine only few scenes which could have happened but we are not sure that they did. And never ever any good character will be distorted or degraded by that liberty. Neither will I glorify any bad character. Hope you will understand and stay with me!

Reason of this long note is an imaginary incident that is going to happen in the next chapter. I think it could have happened, maybe happened also and Vyasa did not write. I will try to explore it in my way.

Thanks for reading!