Duryodhana's charge against Sahadeva

After the Pandavas and the Kauravas go to Heaven, Chitragupta, the assistant of Lord Yama, the God of death, conducts the proceedings of analyzing the sins, virtues and accusations against each of them. 

Duryodhana charges Sahadeva of having secretly harbored the Mahabharata war. Says Duryodhana to Sahadeva: "You have deliberately ensured that the war happened by asking me for 5 villages that were in the heart of Hasthinapur and that you knew very well that I would not consent to donate, and this ensured that the war happened."

Lord Krishna says: "I first went to Sahadeva to tell him that I was going to meet Duryodhana with a proposal for peace. I told Sahadeva that I was doing this without the knowledge of Yudhistra. Sahadeva then suggested me to ask those 5 villages that he had recommended, knowing fully well that Duryodhana would never accede to the request to donate those 5 villages to the Pandavas. I went to Sahadeva and not to Yudhistra because Sahadeva was the most underrated among the Pandavas but, on the contrary, he was also the wisest and the most intelligent. He never hesitated to utter the truth and truth is greater than Dharma. A person who utters truth can never do an adharmic act."

Says Sahadeva: "Duryodhana, I accept your charge that I could have stopped the war but didn't. Because I knew that the only way of winning over a dishonest person like you is to kill you and end your dishonest regime. If I had asked 5 normal villages, you would have accepted the request and the war would have been averted and it would have been not possible to end your dishonest regime. So, the only way to ensure that the war happened was to ensure that I put forward a proposal before you that you would never accept and I feel what I did was right."

(Courtesy "Dharmakshetra" telecast on Epic channel. Translated by me from Hindi to English)