Tuesday, February 23, 2016

Week 6 Reading Diary: Mahabharata

Reading Diary from Public Domain Edition: Mahabharata, reading part A. 

Arjuna statue in Bali
Part A

Vyasa and Ganesha
-The first interesting part of this story was that they had a crystal car that allowed them to travel through the sky.  Also it’s kind of funny they related her by her “fishy smell”

King Shantanu and Ganga
I can’t believe that she casted her son to the Ganges, usually it is the men who send away their sons.

King Shantanu and Satyavati
-The old king finds beauty in this woman even though she had a fishy smell, he even said it was perfume like.

Devavrata’s Vow
-If his daughter is not queen then he will never accept the throne, nor marry, or be a father to children.

Bhishma at the Swayamvara
 -A little fun competing happening between three daughters of the king, and the women must battle.

Amba
-The oldest daughter has her own story and does not want to become a wife with her two other sisters.  Her goal is to slay Bhishma. 

Dhritarashtra and Pandu
-Because the son was pale they named him after a word that meant “pale one”, it's just interesting to remember that there was a time that people made names up for the way one looked.  

Kunti and Her Son
-I like the way they describe the new born child, also I feel like I know this story of a baby in the basket. 

Pandu and His Wives
-I find it interesting that the King got scared, and out of his frear he took vows of celibacy and gave all of his possessions away.  Just goes to show that he is all about fairness in a way.




The Sons of Pandu
-King Pandu dies, but is it because of his own doom?  Then all the wives were fighting who would get burned with his wife.. they were literally fighting over who would die with the king

Gandhari and Dhritarashtra
-A fight breaks out between Pandavas and Kauravas.  Also interesting that they are worried about making sure someone or something will always be casted off.

Pandavas and Kauravas
-They end up living together, which I think is cool that he raises his sons but also the other five boys. 

Bhima and the Nagas
-So he was poisoned and then snakes that had the same poison only woke him up.  People thought he was dead but really he was just in a deep sleep.

Drona
-I really like the character Drona who is like a teacher, but I like that he had had a hard background story and maybe this is why he becomes such a good teacher. 

Drona Trains the Princes
-See this just proves that Drona is a great teacher because, as he teaches the sons they learned wisdom and in goodness, and were great warriors.    

Ekalavya
-It was interesting that Drona wanted the thumb, did he do it to teach a lesson?

The Contest
-Pandavas and Kauravas take what they have learned about being warriors and compete in a tournament. 

The Arrival of Karna
-Arjuna being the toughest of all the brothers it seems that he is going to be the winner of the contest.  But just as we think he is going to win Karna arrives.

Drona’s Revenge
 -Drona knows what he wants and that is that the boys should owe him for all of his teaches by bringing revenge against King Durpada

Duryodhana’s Jealousy
-Duryodhana becomes so jealous they he decides to get rid of the Pandavas and Kunti.


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