The Wrath of Gammon

Disclaimer: This story is my humble attempt to write a fanfiction of the epic Mahabharata. My intention is not to hurt anyone's sentiment.

Aum Namah Shivay!!

Major Jayant Roy, SM is a fictitious character. Any similarity with any living person is merely a coincidence.

Chapter 15

Rajapura, Kalinga Kingdom, Dwapar Yuga

Jayant/ Duryodhana POV

"Today is the day of the swyamvar." I thought to myself. I was sitting in the royal arena, made for this competition. Beside me, Dussasan, Ashwatthama and Karna were sitting in their seats. The arena was filled with kings and princes from whole India. I recognised a lot of them from Draupadi swyamvar. Maharaja Shalya, Maharaja Susharma both came a few moments after our entry. Both of them looked at me and smiled. I stood up, and crossed my hands to them. Maharaja Susharma walked towards me.

"Pranipat Rajkumar.", Susharma crossed his hands to me. Then he spoke in a hushed voice, "I spoke with my cousin sister. She is in love with you."

"Your cousin sister?"

"Yes, Rajkumari Devapriya is my cousin sister. So, I will be very happy to have you as my brother-in-law."

I was shocked again. According to Mahabharata, Susharma was the cousin of Devi Bhanumati. It seemed that, some invisible hand picked up Devi Bhanumati and inserted Rajkumari Devapriya here. I heaved a sigh and tried to calm my mind.

"Have you received the gift send by me?" I asked him. He nodded affirmatively.

"Both myself and Maharaja Shalya hadn't fight a war. Rukmi and Dantavakra both understood that they couldn't send any reinforcement to Jarasandha. Dantavakra even tried to bribe me with gold and women. But I refused him."

"That's great." I nodded at him. Then I walked towards Maharaja Shalya.

"Pranipat Mamashri.", I touched his feet. Shalya looked at me. His natural taunting smirk changed into a light smile.

"This time, defeating me in mace fighting will not be easy for you, Putra."

"I will try my best Mamashri." I replied with a smile. The old warrior started laughing whole-heartedly. He slightly patted my back. His gaze fell on Karna. He tried to say something but controlled his tongue. Maharaja Susharma also came to us.

Then we heard the announcement,

"The commander-in-chief of Matsya Kingdom, Maharathi Kichaka."

The three of us looked at the door. Kichaka was entering in the arena, along with his ten bothers. His brothers were 105 in numbers, known as the 'Upakichakas'. His gaze fell on me, and he stood still. His one eye became red with anger. I was talking about only one eye, because his other eye was a black eye, given by me yesterday. Kichaka looked at me with an angry expression. His hand clenched into fists. He didn't say anything, and silently walked towards his seat. Susharma was looking at me. Then he again spoke with a hushed voice.

"Rajkumar, can I ask you something?"

I looked at him. He seemed nervous, but still he somehow managed to gather his courage. Maharaja Shalya was silently standing there.

"Why did you fought with a man like Kichaka, one who is both physically and politically powerful, for a common maid?"

I heaved a sigh. My mind went to the events happened yesterday.

Flashback:

"Rajkumar, come quickly. Angraaj Karna is fighting with Maharathi Kichaka."

This news from a soldier of Kalinga came out of the blue to me. I quickly jumped from my seat.

"What are you saying? Where are they?"

I quickly ran along with him to the opposite side of my quarters. But an incredible scene greeted me there.

Karna was having a sword fight with another man; I presumed that man was Kichaka. He was tall and well muscled. He had a heavy face, with equally heavy moustache. Then my gaze fell beside them, and another equally horrific sight greeted me.

A woman was standing there. No, she was not properly standing, but somehow balancing her body on the wall. Her dress was torn in many places. Blood was flowing from her lips. She was desperately trying to cover her body with her torn dress. Her face was bruised. I saw her naked shoulder, where I saw another bruise with the shape of a human hand. My mind automatically went to the exile of Pandavas in Matsya kingdom. There, Kichaka not only tried to molest Draupadi, but he even kicked her in the royal court, in front of King Virat himself. Then we all knew what happened to him. Bheem needed someone to unleash all his anger from the game of dice and he did exactly that with Kichaka. He killed Kichaka with his bare hands and made him a lump of flesh.

In the meantime, a lot of people reached the place, but no one had mastered the courage to stop the fight between the two Maharathis. But then I saw Karna's face. His eyes were literally burning with anger. I saw Dussasan standing beside me. His eyes were on the woman. He was looking at her intensely.

"What are you looking at, Dussasan? Go and cover her with a cloth right now." I snapped finally. Dussasan looked at me, like he somehow woke up from a trance. He quickly ran to the girl and covered her with his angvastra. Then I directly ran towards the two fighters. I grabbed both hands wielding sword.

"Stop this right now! It's an order!" I roared in my army voice. Karna's hand stopped. He looked at me with his angry red eyes then took a few deep breaths to calm himself down.

"He is right, Sutputra. Run away before I will send you to death myself. Oh, are you lost your heart on this maid? Then don't worry, I will send her to you as a charity after I enjoyed her totally. After all, you should be habituated something that is given to you by another person, just like that crown on your head. You are nothing like a dog who roams around the garbage, licking the leftover food from the plates."

Karna's face became black with anger. He again tried to charge at Kichaka, but I hold him tightly. Then I turned and faced him. He was still smirking at me, no, at us.

In the next moment, Kichaka found himself lying on his face on the ground. A well-placed roundhouse kick from me landed directly on his face.

"If I want, I would crush you like an ant under my shoes. But no, I will not. Not today. I will humiliate you tomorrow, in front of each and every king and people present in the swyamvar."

End of flashback.

"She is a woman, Maharaja. As a man, it is our duty to protect their dignity, irrespective of her class. Even if you are taking a prostitute in your bed, you still care for her consent and dignity. Women are not an object to play and to fulfil our lust. They have feelings too."

Susharma was curiously looking at me. But suddenly, I heard a small laughter.

"If I didn't know you well, then I would think of you as a Rishi. But still, I am amazed at your thoughts. We Kshatriyas fight war and make love. This is in our nature. Our blood calls for enemy's blood in the battlefield and for beautiful maidens on our bed." Shalya smirked.

"Then we must tie a leash on this nature Mamashri."

"Ok, then tell us one thing. Why are you behaved like that in Draupadi swyamvar? You literally made it clear that you didn't want her. Why...no, how can you resist a beauty like her?"

"First things first, Mamashri, she is now the wife of your nephews. Secondly, well, one who was born out of fire, both in the yagna's fire and the fire in her father's heart, can only burn. So, the wise people should stay away from her. But there are five fools...pardon me Mamashri, who tied themselves with her."

Shalya and Susharma both were speechless. They were both looking at me, probably thinking about what to say or do next. Then suddenly, I heard the announcement from the guard.

"Maharaja Chitrangad, Rajkumar Shrutayudha and Rajkumari Devapriya are entering the arena."

I quickly looked at the kings present in the arena. I recognised king Senavindu, Jayadrath, Chekitana, Brihadvala and some other kings from Draupadi swyamvar. I also saw Rukmi and Dantavakra. Both of them were literally glaring at us. I looked at Rukmi's head. His head was still bald thanks to Sri Krishna. Dantavakra...well, his crooked teeth made his name quite accurate to him. This ceremony was not so grand like the one in Panchal, but still, it had its own beauty in its simplicity.

I looked at Devapriya, who just took the wedding garland in her hand. Our eyes met and she gave a small smile. Maharaja Chitrangad stood up then, and announced the starting of the swyamvar.

"Kalinga kingdom is feeling honoured that all of you mighty kings from different mighty kingdoms of Aryavart came here in my daughter's swyamvar. As we all know, my daughter will marry the greatest mace fighter in Aryavart. So, I will call two names at a time, and...."

"No!" a loud roar echoed in the arena. Kichaka was standing up from his seat, mace in hand, "I am challenging Duryodhana first." The Upkichakas started cheering loudly. Maharaja Chitrangad was literary startled. He looked at me. I stood up from my seat too and willed my body to be normal.

"I accept."

Kichaka entered into the arena. I closed my eyes and made a quick prayer to Mahadev and Dau Balrama. Then I took my mace and entered in the arena, ready to face my enemy in the field.

"You're dead today!" Kichaka growled at me. I didn't say anything, just smirked at him.

"Fight!" came the voice of Shrutayudha who was the referee.

Like a raging bull, Kichaka charged at me. I swiftly ducked his blow, and landed one on his back. He was startled, but somehow balanced himself and again charged at me. Our maces connected to each other and clanked. He was hurling blow after blow using his brute strength. But I was fighting with full concentration, and blocking his blows. Then I noticed a gap in his left, and started attacking. This made him startled a bit. Still, he was an experienced warrior, so he quickly composed himself and started fighting.

The time was flowing by. Both of us were fighting for each other's blood now. But there was still no result. Kichaka was now becoming impatient. With a loud war cry, he charged at me and lunged a heavy blow, trying to finish the fight in one hit. But my superior reflex managed me to evade the blow, but this made him lose his balance slightly. I was looking for a chance like this. With a loud roar, I landed a heavy blow on his torso. Kichaka fell on the ground like an uprooted tree. His mace landed on the ground.

"Winner, Duryodhana." Shrutayudha shouted.

Kichaka stood up. His face was red with anger and humiliation. He gave me a poisonous glare for a moment then walked out of the arena followed by his brothers.

I came back to my seat, and took a deep breath. I knew in my heart that from today, I had made another enemy of Kuru kingdom, though there was an old peace treaty between Kuru and Matsya.

The next match was between Maharaja Suketu and between Maharaja Shalya. Both the kings entered in the arena. The match was short. Though Suketu fought bravely, he was not a match of skill and experience in front of Shalya. In a few moments, a heavy blow from Shalya knocked him on the ground.

The next matches were small but interesting. Rukmi defeated Senavindu, Jayadrath defeated Chekitana, Dantavakra defeated Chandrasena, Bhoorishravas defeated Nila, Brihadvala defeated Pattana and Somdutt defeated Sala.

Maharaja Chitrangad again stood up.

"We have now eight valiant warriors in front of us. Rajkumar Duryodhana, Maharaja Shalya, Maharaja Dantavakra, Rajkumar Rukmi, Maharaja Jayadrath, Maharaja Somdutt, Maharaja Brihadvala and Rajkumar Bhoorishravas. Now they will compete among themselves. Before I announce the names, if there is anyone who wants to challenge someone, then he can go ahead."

Rukmi stood up first, "I am challenging Duryodhana. I heard that he was learning from that drunkard Balrama. Let's see if he can handle this disciple of Parashurama."

I heaved a sigh.

"It seems that your brain is still not functioning properly after losing both your capital and your hairs. But don't worry. With my total respect to Bhargava Parashurama, today this disciple of Balrama is going to wipe the floor with you."

So, this is chapter 15.

King Brihadvala was the ruler of Koshala kingdom, which was the part of Ayodhya once. He was a descendent of Sri Rama himself, from his son Kusha's line. He fought in the Kurukshetra war in the Kaurava side. He was killed by Abhimanyu inside the Chakravyuha.

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I got sad news today. Praveen Kumar Sobti, who played the role of Bheem in BR Chopra's Mahabharata, passed away today. He was an athlete before starting his acting career. He won gold, silver and bronze medals in Asian Games in discuss and hammer throw. He also competed in 1968 and 1972 summer Olympics. In films, his iconic role was of 'Mukhtar Singh' in the Amitabh Bacchan movie 'Shahenshah'.