Yuyutsu - The Righteous Kaurava

Dadi: "Guddu, when people talk about the Kauravas, they imagine one hundred wicked brothers united in evil. But one of those brothers made a choice that set him apart forever."

Guddu: "One of the hundred was different?"

Dadi: "Yuyutsu was born to King Dhritarashtra, but his mother was a servant woman named Sugadha. This made him a half-brother to Duryodhana and the others - part of the family, but never fully accepted."

Guddu: "Was he treated badly?"

Dadi: "Often ignored, sometimes mocked. The "hundred Kauravas" didn't count him because his mother was of lower caste. But this outsider status gave him something valuable - perspective. He saw his brothers' schemes without being bound by their bonds."

Guddu: "What did he see?"

Dadi: "He saw Duryodhana trying to poison Bhima's food and warned Bhima, saving his life. He saw the dice game rigged and felt disgust. He saw Draupadi dragged into the court and humiliated, and unlike most of the elders, he actively protested."

Guddu: "He spoke up against his own brothers?"

Dadi: "Both Yuyutsu and his brother Vikarna condemned what was happening to Draupadi. But here's the difference - when war came, Vikarna chose to fight with his brothers, knowing they were wrong. He died on the battlefield, loyal to family over dharma."

Guddu: "And Yuyutsu?"

Dadi: "On the first day of the Kurukshetra War, before any arrow was shot, Yudhishthira made an announcement: "Anyone who wishes to change sides may do so now." It was a generous offer, giving people one last chance to choose."

Guddu: "Did anyone take it?"

Dadi: "One person. Yuyutsu stepped forward, left the Kaurava army, crossed the battlefield, and joined the Pandavas. In front of millions of soldiers, his brothers, his father, he publicly chose dharma over blood."

Guddu: "That must have been terrifying!"

Dadi: "Imagine, beta. All your brothers watching. Your blind father listening. Abandoning everything you've known. But Yuyutsu understood something - he would rather live as a traitor to wrong than die loyal to it."

Guddu: "Was he a great warrior?"

Dadi: "He was! Classified as an "Atirathi" - capable of fighting thousands simultaneously. During the war, he fought bravely for the Pandavas. And when the terrible night came - when Ashwatthama slaughtered the sleeping Pandava warriors - Yuyutsu had already left for Hastinapura. He survived."

Guddu: "He was the only son of Dhritarashtra to survive?"

Dadi: "The only one among the hundred and one. All his brothers who mocked him, excluded him, called him low-born - they all died. The outsider who chose righteousness lived."

Guddu: "What happened after the war?"

Dadi: "Yuyutsu faithfully served his grieving father. When the Pandavas prepared to leave the world, they appointed him as guardian of the kingdom, watching over young King Parikshit. He went from rejected half-brother to trusted regent."

Guddu: "The people accepted him?"

Dadi: "Not everyone. Some called him traitor, kinslayer. When citizens became lawless, they hurled abuse at him. But the Pandavas' trust protected him. He had proven that his loyalty was to truth, not convenience."

Guddu: "So choosing dharma paid off in the end?"

Dadi: "The Mahabharata explicitly makes this point. Yuyutsu's survival was not luck - it was karma. Those who align with righteousness are protected by the cosmic order. Not that good people never suffer, but that the universe remembers who stood for what."

Guddu: "Dadi, was he wrong to leave his family?"

Dadi: "His family was wrong, beta. When your family chooses evil, staying loyal means becoming evil with them. Yuyutsu understood that some loyalties are higher than blood - loyalty to truth, to dharma, to the voice inside that knows right from wrong."

Guddu: "He listened to that voice when everyone else drowned it out."

Dadi: "And because he listened, he became the bridge between the old order and the new. The rejected outsider became the guardian of the future. That's the reward for choosing righteousness - not always comfort, but always significance. His choice mattered. It still matters, thousands of years later."