Yuyutsu

YUYUTSU: The Man Who Walked Away: Summary

The novel is framed by a monsoon evening in Patna. The author, Shankar, tells his wife Shreya about the one Kaurava who fought for the Pandavas. The rest is Yuyutsu's own first-person account.

Birth and childhood. Yuyutsu is born hours after Duryodhana to Sughada, Gandhari's closest friend and companion, here imagined as a Vaishya woman of good family. Dhritarashtra names him "the one eager to fight" and acknowledges him as a son, but court protocol counts mothers, not birth order, so he always stands last in the line. He answers with quiet observation and sharp, polite sarcasm. His little sister Dushala shares her sweets with him, and his mother teaches him that character is his real weapon.

Training. At Drona's ashram he practises apart from the others. Drona tests him by balancing a cup of water on his drawn bow arm and rewards him with the bow Vajra-Mushti. He senses Duryodhana's plot against Bhima. In the gurudakshina attack on Panchala, he holds a gateway alone so his brothers can retreat, while the Pandavas capture Drupada.

The frontier and Varanavata. Dhritarashtra gives Yuyutsu a border district. When the Lakshagriha burns, he finds the six bodies are not the Pandavas, discovers the escape tunnel, and takes a seal bearing Duryodhana's ring. Vidura persuades him to stay silent so the Pandavas stay safe. At Draupadi's swayamvara he recognises Arjuna and Bhima and keeps their secret.

Indraprastha and the dice game. Yuyutsu runs hospitality at the Rajasuya and watches Duryodhana's humiliation in the Mayasabha. In the dice hall he stays frozen at the gate while Draupadi is dragged in. Vikarna speaks up and is silenced, and Yuyutsu is haunted by his own inaction. During the exile he builds up his frontier lands. When Krishna comes to plead for peace and Duryodhana tries to seize him, Yuyutsu takes half a step forward. Krishna tells him there will be one door, on the first morning of the war, and that he should be on the right side of it.

Kurukshetra. He marches with the Kaurava army and waits. On the first morning Yudhishthira invites any Kaurava who believes truth is on the Pandava side to cross over. Yuyutsu steps down and crosses the field, ignoring Duryodhana's cries of "traitor". Krishna tasks him with guarding Yudhishthira and managing supplies. Vikarna refuses to join him and is killed by Bhima, and he finally says yes as he dies. Yuyutsu kills his brother Subahu in a duel. He is the only one to denounce the six commanders who killed Abhimanyu. After the night raid he finds the dying Duryodhana, who dies in his arms. He then cremates every Kaurava and Pandava warrior alike, leads Gandhari through the field of the dead, and stands among the cursed and the grieving.

After the war. Yudhishthira makes him regent. He builds a quiet home for Dhritarashtra, Gandhari, Sughada and the widows, and offers the water for all the dead of his house. When the elders leave for the forest, Dhritarashtra refuses to take him along. Sanjaya later brings news of their deaths in a wildfire and of Dhritarashtra's vision of past lives and karma. Yuyutsu then watches Dwarka fall, talks with Krishna about Shesha, and leads the Yadava survivors out of the city.

Ending. The Pandavas leave on their final journey and make him Supreme Regent beside the young king Parikshit. He guides Parikshit until the king can rule alone, then dies peacefully, with no divine boon to his name. The frame returns to Shreya, who asks whom we belong to when blood and truth stand on opposite sides. Shankar answers: to whichever one we would still choose when no one is watching.