"What say you, Kanka?" King Virata asked his dicing partner. "Isn't my son Uttara a remarkable warrior?"
"Indeed, my lord!" replied Yudhishthira. "Although his eunuch charioteer is even more remarkable."
Enraged, Virata threw the dice at Yudhishthira, striking him in the forehead and drawing blood. Draupadi rushed to catch every drop, knowing that death awaited anyone who spilled Yudhishthira's blood to the ground.
Uttara was shocked, aware as he was now of Yudhishthira's identity. "Take care with that old brahmin," he warned his father. "He might curse you."
The king apologized, and Yudhishthira said soothingly, "It is already forgotten, sire."
Inspired by: The Mahabharata: A Shortened Modern Prose Version by R. K. Narayan
Notes: This story is from Chapter 10: Servitude. In Pattanaik's Jaya, Draupadi says she gathers the blood because "he is an honest man; if his blood touches the ground, there will be famine."
Notes: This story is from Chapter 10: Servitude. In Pattanaik's Jaya, Draupadi says she gathers the blood because "he is an honest man; if his blood touches the ground, there will be famine."
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