The Kings' Anger and Sunitha's Defiant Consultation

The ceremony was a spectacle of power. Yudhishthira had been instated, and the final homage of the great sacrifice had been offered to Krishna Vasudeva. But in the crowd of invited kings and masses, a cold fury was spreading. Led by Sunitha, king of the Chedis, their faces paled with anger. They spoke among themselves of Yudhishthira's rise and the supreme honor shown to Krishna. A deep disgust settled over them — a sense that they had somehow deserved this insult, this elevation of a cowherd chieftain above all other royalty. They were like roaring lions dragged away from raw meat. Their well-wishers tried to restrain them, but their forms trembled with rage. Krishna, observing from the center of the assembly, understood what he saw: this ocean of kings, surrounded by waves of their own soldiers, was beginning to churn with the readiness for battle. Sahadeva, the youngest Pandava, completed the ritual formalities, paying special homage to the brahmanas and the kshatriyas (warriors) who deserved it. But the political act was done. Krishna had been honored first. Then Sunitha spoke. His eyes were copper-red with anger. He addressed the lords of men, the gathered kings, and his words were not a question but a renunciation. "Do you think that I am still the general of your army?" he demanded. The position of commander was meaningless if they would tolerate this. He made the threat explicit, casting it as a challenge to their collective will: "Do we stand here ready to fight the assembled Vrishnis and Pandavas?" He had inspired them. The vague anger was now given a shape and a target. Having stirred the assembly, Sunitha, the bull among the Chedis, turned to practical conspiracy. He consulted with the kings about a single objective: disrupting Yudhishthira's sacrifice.