Oh Lord! I am tired of these four people who rule my life. And may be yours too. These are the four people we haven’t seen in our lives, our parents never reveal their names, but yet they control our parents’ mindset; hence our lives.
Which Indian kid has not heard his/her parent tell that, “What if four people see you?”; “What will four people say if they hear this?”, blah blah blah. I have asked this question to my parents more than often, “Who four people?”. And yet, never received a satisfactory answer. I tell you they can be better than all intelligence services in the world. I mean, just four of them and they have surveillance laid on all of us. That is a feat. And for me they are the ‘Chandal Chaukdi’, or ‘The Menacing Foursome’.
Just one of these days I was going through the book, ‘Jaya- An illustrated retelling of the Mahabharata’ by Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik and I came across the phrase ‘Chandal Chaukadi’. The author mentioned that this Hindi phrase ‘Chandal Chaukdi’, or the Menacing Foursome, comes from the villainous quartet of the Mahabharata: Duryodhana, Dusshasana, Shakuni and Karna.
Thus, I thought that are these four people, the ones my parents mention, really just four living beings or four kinds of living beings I should be aware of. Are these people the modern day quartet of Duryodhana, Dusshasana, Shakuni and Karna?
Duryodhana, the eldest of the hundred sons of Dhritarashtra, was one jealous bloke. He was jealous of the Pandavas. He wanted to claim the throne of Hastinapur unrighteously. To achieve it he sorted to all kinds of unjust tactics, demeaning to a warrior of his calibre.
Dusshasana, was devoted to his elder brother Duryodhana. A part of all his schemes, he represents people who follow a certain someone without questioning their intent. He humiliated Draupadi; his sister in law; in front of the whole Kuru court. Thus, he probably is a man who does not question his deed and follows his leader blindly.
Shakuni, the maternal uncle of the Kauravas, was an extremely intelligent and clever man. But, he was equally ruthless and devious of dharma. One of the mail villains of the Mahabharata war, he instigated jealousy in Duryodhana and manipulated his nephew in committing crimes that were eventually unpardonable. His avenging nature towards the Kuru clan is an alarming sign to all.
Karna, is a tragic figure of the Mahabbharata. Like a Greek hero, he strives single-handedly to create a place for himself in the world that rejects him. A prince by birth, he lived as a charioteer’s son all his life. Extremely loyal to Duryodhana, he sided with the Kuru prince in the Mahabharata war, even though he knew he was following the path of adharma. Karna represents the kind of people who are capable of achieving great highs in life, but are stopped due to some unreasonable reasons, thus filling their hearts with rage.
So, are my parents talking about such a quartet, that consists of a jealous man, a blind follower, an intelligent adharmi and a brother whose heart is with rage?
I do not know who these people are. May be I am unable to identify them. But, it would do me or you no loss to be aware. After all;
Within infinite myths lies an eternal truth
Who sees it all?
Varuna has but a thousand eyes
Indra, a hundred
You and I, only two.
I’d like to thank Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik, for enlightening me with his books. Sir, you are truly great.
Entreproseur 