'When Hastinapur got a strong king like Pandu..'
'..the very contours of India's map changed.'
'The borders of Hastinapur came alive..'
'..and began to recede further away.'
'Kings who thought..'
'..that they don't need to live their future..'
'..under the protection of Pandu found..'
'..that Bheeshma's student..'
'..Pandu's arrows left their mark on their fate.'
'Kashi, Angadesh, Bangadesh.'
'Kalinga, Magadh.'
'All fell before the might of Pandu's army.'
'One day, as Pandu's army..'
'..was returning victorious..'
'..they saw another army approaching.'
Who's this courageous leader..
..who refuses to acknowledge Hastinapur's might?
This is Madra's army, King.
Prepare to attack.
Forward, charioteer.
What kind of warrior is he and what kind of a battle is this?
Oh, King of Madra.
You're welcome if you seek friendship.
If not, stay there.
King, friendship is between equals.
Then why come here with an army under your flag?
This army is yours and so are the flags under which it fights.
It's not that we don't know to fight.
We do.
Although we may not be the first in battle..
..we're not the last either..
..but it doesn't hurt our honour to bow before Hastinapur's king.
Will Hastinapur's king accept my friendship?
If not we're prepared to fight unto death.
We believe in friendship. Oh, King of Madra.
There's nothing more beautiful than friendship.
What friend is he who'd dethrone a friend?
The crown suits you. Let it remain.
But you'll have to accept my gift.
- Accepted! - Without knowing it?
A friend's gift will be pleasant.
A friend can never betray.
This is a gift from a friend.
This charioteer, King?
Yes. This charioteer will guide your life's chariot.
My life's chariot?
This is my sister Madri. Please accept her.
You've placed me in a moral predicament.
A moral predicament?
I don't understand.
Don't be angry, King.
Only a blind man..
..will be oblivious to Madri's charm.
Her beauty will light up my heart..
..and bring the rainbow's colours into my life.
But only Kunti has that rights to accept iy or not.
If she has no objection..
..then the gates of Hastinapur and my heart..
..are open for her.
Please take me with you to Queen Kunti.
Let her decide.
My brother has already given me away to you.
Let me test my fate.
Oh, King!
Allow us to take your leave for Hastinapur.
Come, King.
Victory to King Pandu. Victory to King Pandu.
Victory to King Pandu.
King Pandu has reached Hastinapur, Queen.
Victory to King Pandu. Victory to King Pandu.
The citizens have stopped the King's chariot, Queen.
They're all dancing with joy and raining flowers..
..as if they were monsoon showers.
Victory to King Pandu. Victory to King Pandu.
The king's chariot heads the procession followed by the conquered crowns..
..gifted animals, heaps of rare jewels..
..and then our victorious army.
- With the king is.. - Who?
How can I say it, Queen?
- Is the king okay? - Oh, yes, Queen.
If the king is okay then everything's okay.
The Princess of Madra is with the king, too.
The Princess of Madra with the king?
This is Madri, Princess of Madra.
Kunti welcomes little sister.
My respects, Grandmother.
Congratulations on your victory.
It's all due to your blessings
Queen Kunti wishes to see you, Queen Mother.
Why does she need permission?
Come, Kunti.
Sit.
This is Madri, Queen Mother.
Who's she?
Princess of Madra.
Your daughter-in-law.
Oh, I see, Pandu..
My blessings.
Have you taken Ambalika's blessings, dear?
I'm going there, Queen Mother.
I'm your mother-in-law now.
Did you hear, Gandhari.
The maids were saying that "Madri is very beautiful."
"Like the full moon."
Brother-in-law is like an alchemist.
Whatever he touches turns to gold.
Everyone here is an alchemist.
How else could Dhritirashtra have got someone like you?
You're the eldest sister-in-law.
Gandhari, you must look after both sisters-in-law, Kunti and Madri.
Mother, I'd like to know whether..
..Pandu will spend his entire life on the battlefield?
God forbid.
Hastinapur's borders have reached a point where..
..they can go no further.
He must now begin a family.
Now that he has two wives.
He'll have to start a family.
There, they're both here.
Madri has come to take your blessings.
Get up, Gandhari.
Madri is really beautiful.
Gandhari, Madri.
The king has made Hastinapur..
..a shining jewel of Bharat's politics in the world.
The world chants Hastinapur's praises.
Our king has returned victorious.
Does Hastinapur not have a duty towards him?
Grandsire, Bheeshma, Brother Dhritirashtra and friends.
Can we not give the king a gift?
What do you want to say, Prime Minister Vidur?
What can we subjects give the king? Except love, respect, loyalty?
Leisure, Grandsire.
The happiness of the citizens..
..is the king's leisure, Prime Minister Vidur.
Vidur is right, king.
The king is not so unusual a person..
..that he needs no leisure.
The greater the victory the greater is the feeling of tiredness.
So, in times of peace..
..the citizens have the right to ask the king and his queen..
..to take some rest.
Dhritirashtra is here to look after affairs of the State.
Grandsire, how's that possible?
Brother Dhritirashtra will accompany me, too.
What will I do there?
A blind man and his blindfolded wife.
For us, this eternal darkness is leisure enough.
Allow me to stay here, King.
Because I'm Hastinapur's shadow.
I've no separate existence, King.
Don't address me as "king", Brother.
King, what else can Dhritirashtra call a king but a king?
You're definitely younger than Dhritirashtra..
..but this throne..
..is greater than both Bheeshma and Dhritirashtra.
Victory to the king.
We've just received news that the Panchals..
..have declared independence.
What?
The king shouldn't look into these small matters.
People will say..
..why should the king bother about the Panchals?
This is Hastinapur's insult.
This is a job for Bheeshma.
I'll attend to it.
Your wish is an order, Grandsire.
But I've already left my seat.
Now I must go.
Prepare to attack.
Retreat.
Victory to King Pandu!
Greetings, Grandsire.
Live long.
Greetings, Brother.
The other day we were interrupted by the Panchal king's army..
..and couldn't complete our discussion of the king's holiday.
Isn't the time right..
..to broach the subject again, Prime Minister Vidur?
As you wish, Grandsire.
The arrangements have been made.
Then I suggest..
..that the king should leave immediately.
As you wish, Grandsire.
But before I leave I wish..
..to make brother Dhritirashtra the king till my return.
He should be shown the same respect as the king.
Come, Brother.
Please accept the crown, Brother.
Here, give it to me.
Gandhari.
Come, King.
This.. This..
This..
Look at this crown!
- Look. - This is your bedroom, my lord.
Don't bring your State affairs here.
Gandhari, how does the crown look on my head?
It must be looking good.
But remember, it's in King Pandu's trust, my lord.
I don't know!
Son of Arya.
As the eldest Kuru son, the crown was actually mine..
..but my eyes betrayed me, Gandhari.
Take off the crown, son of Arya.
- No. - Or your head will begin to ache.
No, Gandhari, not yet!
You belong to the lunar race, son of Arya.
It doesn't suit you to mistake the moon's reflection in the bowl..
..for the moon.
My lord, you're so strong..
..that you can settle this matter in a jiffy.
Why then these dreams, son of Arya?
Break these dreams. Break them, son of Arya.
No.
Gandhari, allow me to live this dream as long as it lasts.
Pandu's return will automatically break this dream.
What a beautiful and serene vista.
Not as beautiful as you are.
- Sister.. - Let's ask the king.
Keep me out of your discussions.
This will not do, son of Arya.
You'll have to answer.
Okay, but you both answer my question, first.
Is one flower fairer than the other?
Sister, did you hear that?
He's an Emperor.
He'll hardly admit defeat.
Let's go horse riding.
- Let's go. - Let's go.
What if I win?
Impossible.
What do you wager?
What will you wager if you lose?
Anything you say.
If I win, I'll take sons.. that, too, five.
Agreed.
Two and a half sons each.
No. Kunti is elder.
So, she'll give you three sons and I'll give you two.
What if you lose?
If I win, I'll take sons. If I lose, I'll give sons.
Heard that, Sister?
Heads I win, tails you lose.
In spite of that, I'll win.
Let's go.
No.
You go horse riding, I'll arrange for food.
Let's go.
Where's my first son?
Why should I give one?
Kunti is elder. Ask her.
Sage Kindam.
Welcome to my dwelling, Oh, King.
Rest here a while.
As you wish, Sage.
Here, King.
These fruits are more sweet and tasty than I've ever had.
This is for Kunti.
My blessings.
Come on, Sister.
Let's play dice with the king.
You play.
If I play alone, I'll definitely lose.
Your grandfather was of the Naga clan.
The Nagas are expert players.
The king has won great battles.
Let him taste defeat once.
His defeat will be our defeat, Madri.
- Please, Sister. - Okay.
But I won't play.
- I'll only watch. - Why will you only watch?
I don't know, but ever since Pritha became Kunti..
..my mind isn't in the game.
I've started hating it.
Every time I see the dice I feel something bad is going to happen..
Shakuni.
You're good at recognising sounds.
Then surely Hastinapur's king heard the sound of his own future, too?
My future is always with Me, Shakuni.
Every passing day brings Pandu's return closer.
That's what's got me worrying, too, Brother-in-law.
The moment Pandu returns, your head..
..will look desolate without the crown.
The crown belongs to Pandu himself, Shakuni.
Grandsire was about to crown me..
..when Vidur began to talk of ethics..
..and my blindness became the reason for my defeat.
Shakuni, I've learnt to make compromises for my fate.
Brother-in-law, that's exactly your blunder.
One compromises for friends..
..and since when has fate been our enemy?
There are just two ways of drawing the line of fate.
With brawn or brains.
But you've accepted defeat even before playing the game, Brother-in-law.
What could I do, Shakuni?
Wait for the right opportunity.
No one knows when and where life will take a turn.
Life is its own definition, lunar dynasty's king.
It's water as well as thirst.
Life is a river..
..which flows between the banks of truth and untruth.
Both commingle in the river of life.
The truthful person is one who extracts truth from the river..
..and doesn't let untruth even touch him..
Like a swan differentiating between milk and water.
Does life only mean extracting truth..
..through sieves of knowledge, experience and struggle?
What can we do with that truth?
Cast it back into the river?
One needn't spell it out..
..to the disciple of Ganga's son, great Bheeshma.
The Indian tradition is inherent in you, King.
You needn't be told..
..that once you've distilled truth you needn't cast it away.
When truth strikes you..
..the enlightened person knows that he's in debt.
He has to fulfil three debts before he dies.
God's Debt.
Sage's debt.
Ancestral Debt.
A person should fulfil these debts before death.
In case he doesn't..
..it's an insult to life.
What if he's not fated to do so, Sage?
Action should overcome fate, King.
It's not that a man's never changed his fate.
To clear these three debts..
..if fate has to be changed then the attempt must be made.
For these are no ordinary debts.
The Sage's debt is that of Lord Shiva.
The God's debt is of Lord Vishnu.
The ancestral debt is that of Lord Brahma.
How can a man escape these debts to the Gods?
But Sage, what are the three debts?
The first debt is God's debt and it can be fulfilled through charity.
The second debt is Sage's debt.
It's fulfilled by the acquisition and sharing of knowledge.
Ancestral debt is fulfilled through procreation.
What are the duties of the wife, Sage?
Woman means awakening, inspiration and enthusiasm.
Woman is the Earth, Queen.
She has the seeds of life in her.
She's the soul of the householder's life.
The householder's life itself shows a way for the son to be born to her.
[Sanskrit Verse]
The Gods bask in joy where woman is worshipped.
One who disrespects a woman is not a man.
It's a man's duty to protect a woman. It's his moral obligation as well.
Okay, King. I'll take my leave.
May you have sons! May you have sons!
What is it, Brother?
Your footsteps sound as if you're floating on clouds of joy today.
The news is such, my lord.
Really? What is it?
- Your beloved younger brother.. - What's happened to dear Pandu?
Nothing as yet, but the signs are evident.
He'd gone for recreation and is now busy with the sages.
He's started the long journey from the palace to the hermitage.
The hermitage has an important place in India.
Many Bharat dynasty's princes have retired to the hermitage.
The company of sages is a sign of a good person, Brother.
There's no one here apart from me listening to you, Brother-in-law.
I'm telling you what I feel.
Why go into the distant past?
Even King Shantanu's elder brother had renounced the world.
If it were not so..
..King Shantanu would never have been king.
The crown is where it should be.
I, too, hope that Pandu stays in the forest..
..and you rule here.
No. No.
This crown is younger Pandu's.
The crown is not Pandu's.
It's only Vidur's crooked ethics..
..which placed it on Pandu's head instead of yours.
This blind Dhritirashtra is the creation of God, not Vidur.
Brother-in-law, that's mere consolation..
I'll never forgive that slave-born Vidur..
..for his conspiring ways.
Never.
If you don't have the strength to fight circumstances..
..it's best to compromise, Brother.
Isn't it enough that Pandu's first order as king..
..was that I, too, should be called king.
No king before him has done this.
Brother-in-law, no king has lost..
..his crown like you sitting idle in the palace.
You take as a favour what is actually your insult.
No, brother Shakuni. No.
Don't poison my mind against younger Pandu.
May God grant him a long life.
Had I not been blind..
..I'd have long renounced the world.
Had you not been blind you wouldn't be a sage, either, Brother-in-law.
You'd have been Hastinapur's king.
Greetings.
This is my sister, Queen Kunti.
Welcome. Please be seated.
Sage Kindam has gone to see the king.
He'll be back soon.
Madri found a short-cut..
..but the sage will take the straight road.
I'm fond of finding short-cuts.
A human being is a strange creature.
It keeps finding short-cuts.
He doesn't think of..
..what would happen if both the Sun and Moon shortened their paths.
It's not right to take short-cuts, Queen.
The straight road is the best.
She's still young.
She'll understand when she's older.
Why were you looking at the flower?
I was thinking, the earth's womb has fertility..
..just as a flower has fragrance.
A woman has many forms..
..but her basic purpose is growth.
It's she who fulfils a man's ancestral debt.
Children are a woman's adornments.
A woman's life is fulfilled by motherhood.
The earth is the mother of life itself.
When I think of this I become sad..
..that I haven't yet fulfilled my debt to earth.
May you have sons! May you have sons!
Hastinapur will shine with the radiance of Pandu's sons.
May they be blessed by the Gods and sages and history as well.
"Let the saints give you a boon."
"Let their children live happily and live long."