The Return of Nala

नारायणं नमस्कृत्य नरं चैव नरोत्तमम्

 देवीं सरस्वतीं चैव ततो जयम् उदीरयेत्

महाभरत

Mahābharata

As retold by

Michael Dolan, B.V. Mahāyogi

The Return of Nala

As Rituparna reached Vidarbha, he was happy with the prospect of competing for the hand of a beautiful princess. His heart was joyful as the chariot flew, fast as the wind.

The king’s men watched along the ramparts as the mighty chariot drew near with a thunder. King Bhima gave the order and the gates opened. The stallions trampled the earth with their hoofbeats and neighed proudly. And as she heard the rattle of the chariot echoing throughout the walls, Damayanti was gladdened just as the earth is glad when thunder brings the rain.

When the royal elephants heard the clamour of the horses they raised their trunks and roared. 

Ayodhya

“It must be Nala,” thought Damayanti. He has answered my call. But as she looked out from her terrace high above the palace, she could see Varshneya driving the chariot with a dwarf and King Rituparna. The strange-looking dwarf was ugly, with a long nose and a coal black beard, but he was laughing as he urged the horses on. 

But where was Nala? As they turned a corner and ran the chariot out of her sight, Damayanti could hear the cries of the dwarf driving the horses on with enchanted mantras. She could hear the horses’ hoofs clapping on the cobblestoned streets.  The dwarf was strange, but the sound was familiar. The only driver capable of driving horses like that was her Nala. Finally he had come to rescue her. One of those men was Nala. Perhaps he was hiding within the chariot, guiding the horses with signals.

“It’s Nala, she thought. He is filling the streets with the thunderous sound of the horses’ hooves as a signal. He knows I will be listening. Finally, my prince has come.” 

And opening the windows of her balcony she stepped out on the terrace to behold her prince. But all she saw was King Rituparna in his chariot drawn by fine stallions driven by Varshneya and guided by the ugly hunchbacked dwarf with a long nose and big ears.

And in the yard of the palace, her father the king, Bhima, who wasn’t expecting such royal company, was surprised at the urgency of the horses. He approached Rituparna and his horsemen, saying, “Welcome. What brings you to Vidarbha?”

"What Brings you to Vidarbha?"

Rituparna was surprised. Why would the king ask such a question? Wasn’t he offering his daughter’s hand in a competition. He looked around. Where were the others? He could see that there had been no  preparations made for a swayamvara.  There were no banners or colorful tents. The palace looked quite lonely. No banquets were laid for the feast. Ordinary people were going about their business. It was a quite ordinary evening in Vidarbha. As the sun was setting, there were no great kings and princes here to compete for Damayanti’s hand. Something wasn’t right. He had been cheated.

Rituparna smiled, getting down from the chariot and offering his hand to the king. “I have come to pay my respects to you, my dear King Bhima.” He said. “We were just passing through this part of the world on our way from Ayodhya and I thought I would be remiss if I didn’t pay my respects to the great king of Vidarbha.”

But the king was surprised to see that someone would cover a distance of more than a hundred leagues with such haste. He wondered at the occasion of Rituparna’s visit. Why would he come so far only to offer his respects?  “He must have some deeper purpose,” thought the king.

“Very good sir,” said the King. “Come. You will dine with me in the palace. And then you may rest, for you must be weary.” And giving instructions to his men, the king indicated that the horses should be led to the stables and rested for the night, along with the chariot driver and the horse-trainer.”

As Rituparna went with Varshneya the charioteer to dine in the palace of the king, Nala, disguised as the hunch-backed dwarf, Vahuka took the horses to the stables. And there tending upon those noble steeds in the manner of kings, Vahuka made the horses to rest, giving them hay and water, brushing their coats, feeding them sugar lumps, and praising them for their great toil. He sat down on the chariot and considered his course of action.

Meanwhile, the baffled King Rituparna sat down with the king to eat at the great table. And as he ate and spoke with the king, he wondered that there was no svayamvara. No one mentioned the competition where the daughter of King Bhima would be given to suitors. “Perhaps, it was all a trick,” he thought. “But why? Perhaps all this has something to do with the disappearance of Nala. Perhaps the svayamvara was a ruse to bring him here and I have somehow been implicated.  Perhaps someone in my own kingdom knew something about Nala.”

And as he thought, he reflected on the strange manner of dwarf who was expert in horses. Nala had lost his kingdom by gambling. How strange that his dwarf, expert in horses, was so interested in learning how to gamble with dice. It started to make sense to him. Perhaps this hunch-backed dwarf was really Nala. Could it be?

And from the second floor balcony overlooking the palace dining hall, Damayanti studied king Rituparna. “Could he be Nala? He has none of Nala’s charm. But who rattled the war chariot and clattered the horses hooves if not Nala? Could it be that the ugly dwarf somehow knew something about Nala? Did Nala did his skill in horses to King Rituparna?

Meanwhile Damayanti was perplexed. No one could drive horses like Nala. Only her husband knew the secret of making the streets rattle with the sound of the chariot.  She looked down upon the banquet from a window in her secret chamber. Where was the strange dwarf? He had not appeared. There were King Rituparna and his chariot driver Varshneya, sitting at the banquet table with her father. She could see that Rituparna was baffled. 

She knew that this Rituparna had not come to visit her father the king, but to sweep her off her feet and marry her in the swayamvara. Rituparna had come in response to the invitation she had sent out. But there was no swaymvara. The invitation had only been sent to King Rituparna. 

He was confused and doing his best to dissimulate. Her invitation was no more than a pretext, a secret message to Nala. She was convinced that he would come. But where was he? The king’s chariot driver had nothing in common with Nala. In fact she was sure that it was the ugly dwarf Vahuka who had driven the chariot. But where was he? Perhaps he knew something of Nala.

The ugly dwarf considered his fate, waiting in the horse stables. How would this end? Why had his lady announced a new wedding? And where were the suitors?  Would she really consider marrying another? Vahuka reached up and drew a bucket of water from the horse trough above his head. Setting the bucket down before one of the fine Sindhya stallions he chanced to look in the bucket. He saw his reflection. He sat, considering his aspect in the mirror of the clear water. 

An ugly dwarf looked at him and studied his thick eyebrows  course nose and his huge ears. The dwarf winked.