This episode of Mahabharata begins with Time narrating how a happy accident provided the right impetus to send Arjun out on a “marriage tour”, which will terminate in Dwarka. The scene cuts to Shakuni.
The crafty old man is seething. He realizes too late that Arjun under the guise of “repentance” has been forming alliances via marriage, and that Hastinapur is almost completely surrounded by allies of the Pandavas. He instructs Duryodhan to immediately ingratiate himself even further to Balaram and arrange a marriage with Balaram and Krishna’s sister Subhadra, so that the Kauravas gain Dwarka as their ally before the Pandavas can.
After Duryodhan completes his advanced level training in mace warfare by defeating Balaram in a friendly sparring match, he asks Balaram for permission to marry Subhadra. Balaram agrees to bring the matter up with his parents. But Arjun is already in Dwarka and Krishna has introduced Subhadra to him, keen for the two to hook up. Subhadra already has a crush on Arjun.
When Balaram brings up the matter of marrying Subhadra off to Duryodhan with Devaki and Vasudev, Krishna advises them to delay finalizing anything till the next morning. He then surreptitiously arranges for Subhadra to go to a temple at dawn, instructs Arjun to wait for her there with a chariot, then says that it is vital for Subhadra to drive the chariot away. After the two of them elope at dawn, Balaram and the other Yadavas draw their weapons in anger and stand ready to battle Arjun and bring Subhadra back. Krishna however shames them into standing down and instead welcome Arjun back to Dwarka for a proper ceremony.
Tropes found here are
- Actually, I Am Him: Krishna surprises Subhadra by introducing the “Brahmin” she’s been talking to and praising Arjun to, as Arjun himself.
- Altar Diplomacy: Arjun has been traveling the subcontinent, forming marriage based alliances with several other kingdoms, essentially isolating Hastinapur. Shakuni catches on and suggests that Duryodhan hurry up and secure a similar alliance via marriage to Subhadra, with the Yadav clan in Dwarka. Krishna realizes this and ...
- Altar the Speed: quickly arranges Subhadra’s elopement with Arjun to secure such an alliance with the Pandavas and Indraprasth instead. They elope and escape the dawn before Subhadra’s marriage to Duryodhan is officially arranged.
- Coitus Interruptus: Arjun inadvertently walks in on Yudhistir being intimate with Draupadi. A brahmin’s cows were stolen and he had come to Arjun for help getting the cows back, and Arjun went to Draupadi’s bedchamber to retrieve his weapons which he had left there. Since barging in on a couple being intimate was seen as a faux pas in those days, Arjun is banished temporarily from Indraprasth to “repent”.
- Contrived Coincidence: Shakuni suspects that the whole “walking in on his brother during sex” was all staged, as Arjun had conveniently left his weapons in Draupadi’s bedchamber. Arjun needed an excuse to be sent out of Indraprasth to covertly establish marriage based alliances with other kingdoms.
- Elopement: Before Balaram can officially arrange Subhadra to be married off to Duryodhan, Krishna arranges for her to go to a nearby temple, but for Arjun to meet her on the way, so she can escape Dwarka with him and elope.
- Exact Words: Krishna instructs Arjun to let Subhadra drive the chariot as they elope. The fact that she drove the chariot is used to convince the Yadav clan that Subhadra escaped of her own accord to avoid an Arranged Marriage she did not agree with.
- Parental Marriage Veto: Vasudev and Devaki themselves have no opinion on Arjun eloping with Subhadra. Vasudev may even secretly desire it, since Arjun is his nephew. But Balaram, Subhadra’s eldest brother is furious that Subhadra dared defy his plan to marry her off to his new friend Duryodhan. He riled up all other Yadav princes to fight Arjun and bring Subhadra back.
- Shaming the Mob: Krishna defuses an angry mob of Yadav princes, by reminding them of how they had assisted him in eloping with Rukmini, because Rukmini had asked for Krishna’s help in escaping an undesirable marriage to Shishupal. Krishna says that Subhadra was also similarly escaping from an undesired marriage to Duryodhan by asking Arjun to elope with her. Krishna reminds them that even Altar Diplomacy requires the woman’s consent, and that forcing her into a marriage she didn’t want, is wrong.
