Disability, Karma, and Rebirth

There are many characters in the Mahabharatha with disabilities and impairments. Chief of which are King Dhritarashtra and the cunning Sakuni.

King Dhritarashthra is the father of the 100 Kaurava brothers, including Duryodhana. Dhritarashtra was born blind. His mother Queen Ambika had been originally wed to King Vichitravirya; however, Vichitravirya had died without having any children, so in order to continue the noble bloodline, Queen Ambika used the prestigious Niyoga method. However, while completing this method, she closed her eyes, thus causing Dhritarashtra to be born blind. Dhritarashtra fathered the 100 Kaurava brothers with his wife Queen Gandhari.

When Gandhari was born, she was cursed so that her first husband would die. So in order to get over this curse, her father set up a marriage ceremony with a goat. At the altar the moment the marriage was complete the goat died. Thereby freed of the curse, Gandhari was free to marry anyone she wished to marry. Thus she was married to Dhritarashtra. Later when Dhritarashtra found out that he had married someone who had been married before, as Gandhari's family had lied and said that she was a virgin, Dhritarashtra grew angry and imprisoned Gandhari's family and only gave each of them one handful of rice per day to survive. Gandhari's father mandated that the family give all of their rice to their one son Sakuni who was the most cunning, so that he may survive and exact revenge upon Dhritarashtra and to bring about the ruin of the entire Kuru clan once he got out of prison. Gandhari and Sakuni's father then twisted and broke Sakuni's leg so that Sakuni would always have a reminder of the twisting hunger for revenge that his family felt.

Since Dhritarashtra was blind, the crown was passed over him to his younger half-brother Pandu, who had fathered the five Pandava brothers. However, when Pandu passed away, the crown fell back to him. He appointed Sakuni as his royal adviser as per the request of Queen Gandhari.

Figure 1: We see King Dhritarashtra listening to the counsel of Sakuni. Sakuni speaks of the great war Mahabharatha

It is widely acknowledged that the entire great war was due to Sakuni's interference and trickery. He is the one who enticed Duryodhana into having negative feelings about the Pandavas. It is Sakuni who rigged the gambling dice game so that the Pandavas would lose everything. It is Sakuni who convinced the Kauravas to try to burn down the house of the Pandavas in order to murder them.

Many people have negative opinions of both characters.

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Disability is seen as a way of balancing karma that is accumulated in one's previous lives. Accumulation of positive and negative karma is usually reflected in the next life, affecting physical and mental health and prosperity. In many cases, people who are disabled or who possess physical and mental impairments are said to have accumulated negative karma in their previous lives. The pain they feel in this life is a result of the pain they caused to others in a previous life. This act of suffering is often equated to a way of paying for their mistakes, a form of recompense to balance their karma. In a way, it might also be a part of their dharma or duty in the current life to understand the pains of the world through having a disability or an impairment. Keeping this sentiment in mind, many people consider disabled people to be incompetent or evil, regardless of their rebirth into a new life and their subsequent suffering. They are extremely wary of this "evil" and despise them because of this.

This sentiment is echoed in the Mahabharatha. In this scene, Duryodhana is seething in jealousy over the fact that the people of the kingdom are waxing eloquent about Yudhishthra and not him.
"one unforgivable offence of the Pandavas in the eyes of Duryodhana was that the people of the city used to praise them openly and declare in seasons and out that Yudhisthra alone was fit to be  king. The people would flock together and argue: 'Dhritarashtra could never be king for long for he was born blind. It is not proper that he should now hold the kingdom in his hands for any longer'. "

 In recent modern times, people have also been equating disability with incompetence, although this may just be a transference of the myths and ideals that run rampant in the Western World. This is seen and reflected in the curses of disobedience section of Deuteronomy 28:37. Disobedience to God will cause immense pain and change upon you that others will look on in horror.

Infanticide

The first chapter of this abridged version of the Mahabharatha starts off with a story of Ganga, the goddess of the Ganges River. You know how one very small event, one small decision can change the course of everything? The butterfly effect? This story was what set the entire epic of the Mahabharatha into motion.

The great King Santanu fell in love with a women who was standing near a river. So he approached her and said "you must certainly become my wife, whoever you may be". She agreed, but only on a few conditions. These conditions were "that neither you nor anyone else should ever ask me who I am, or whence I come. You must also not stand in the way of whatever I do, good or bad, nor must you ever be wroth with me on any account whatsoever. You must not say anything displeasing to me. If you act otherwise, I shall leave you then and there. Do you agree?" King Santanu agreed and they lived very happily as a married couple. Ganga had many children. However, she drowned her first seven children in the Ganges river.

Figure 1: King Santanu stopping Goddess Ganga from drowning the eight child, Bhishma

Poor Santanu was horrified every time a new child was born, the next day Ganga would drown it. On the eight time, Santanu couldn't hold his horror in anymore and finally asked her why she kept drowning the innocent children. Ganga reminded him of his promise to never question her, and told him the Reason why, before she left to go back to her river. 

The Reason:
The Vasus are immortal god-like beings. The decided to visit the mortal world with their wives for a 'vacation' of sorts. During their visit to the Himalayas, they happened upon the hut of Vasishtha. In the hut's garden, the great sage Vasishtha was deep in meditation. Next to him, stood a cow and a calf. They were really beautiful and one of the Vasus' wives wanted it really badly and convinced her husband to steal it. And so one of the Vasus stole the cow and calf with the seven other brothers acting as a lookout to make sure the great sage wouldn't be roused from his meditation.

After the Vasus successfully stole the cow and calf, Vasishtha woke up. The cow and the calf were important parts of his everyday prayer/ritual to the gods. So Vasishtha cursed the Vasus to lose their immortality for a period of time and be born into the mortal realm of men. The Vasus came back and pleaded for forgiveness and for the curse to be absolved. But once a sagely word has been spoken, it cannot be broken. So Vasishtha agreed to soften the terms of the curse. "The curse must needs take its course. Prabhasa, the Vasu who seized the cow, will live a long life in the world in all glory. but the others will be freed from the curse as soon as they are born. my words cannot prove ineffective, but I shall soften the curse to this extent" (7). The eight Vasus approached the goddess Ganga to be their mother, as she is the giver of life to the entirety of the Himalayas and the North with the waters of the Ganges River. Thus, the seven Vasus were freed from their mortal curse the moment they were drowned by Ganga, but the 8th child that King Santanu saved from drowning was actually Prabhasa's rebirth, destined to live a long life in the mortal world as Bhishma.

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This chapter contained many elements of rebirth and infanticide. 

On one hand, the King is horrified by the Ganga's infanticide enough to go back on his word and break his promise of never questioning her. Like I explained in a previous post, the spoken word carries an ENORMOUS amount of weight in this ancient world, it transcends rebirths and generations. This implies that infanticide is a thing that is bad enough to break one's own word.

However, knowing the backstory of this situation brought to light many concepts that present a really complicated view of children. On one hand, after knowing that this death would free them from the pains of the mortal world and bring them closer to Brahman in the immortal world, perhaps the death of those infants can be viewed in a different way.

As I explained in a previous post, Brahman is the all-knowing one. He can be considered God. Everything and everyone is a facet of Brahman, even animals and mountains etc. Brahman sends out a soul to the mortal world with a specific Dharma. Once that Dharma or duty is completed, the soul can once again regain their closeness with Brahman and rejoin his soul. If the soul does not fulfill their dharma in one life, they must go through multiple rebirths until they achieve moksha (or the release from the cycle of rebirth) by settling their dharma and karma.

Technically, those seven babies' dharma was to be born into the living world. But once they finished that dharma, they are free to rejoin the godly realm. In many Hindu contexts, living life in the mortal world is pain and suffering. So, Ganga is offering a "mercy-kill" and saving them the pain that their 8th brother had to live through.

Considering this Hindu view on life and death and rebirth, where can we place infanticide and abortion?

Obviously, some of the most poor, rural regions of India still practice infanticide. There are numerous causes for this practice, the chief of which include a general lack of resources to support the child, the belief that female children cost more to raise than male children. With the population of India on the rise, and with the lack of proper resource management, it is increasingly hard to have enough to take care of a child. Female children are historically difficult to raise in India due to the extra costs involved in keeping them healthy and safe through the difficult puberty years. It is also common belief in India that female children are auspicious. They signify wealth and grace and prosperity, and as such, they are usually adorned with jewels and gold to match their cultural importance. This is also seen in the dowry that is presented to a groom and his family along with the bride. However, with poverty rates on the rise, less and less families are actually able to afford to raise a female child according to culture and customs. Therefore, poor families have developed a prevailing fear of raising a female child, and instead resort to infanticide and abortion.

While the infanticide in the Mahabharatha was portrayed to be a way of helping the Vasus achieve their dharma and balance their karma, these conditions do not apply to the current situation in modern times. As humans, we never actually are able to judge Karma/Dharma of others. In the situation of the Vasus, their birth and death in the mortal world was closely watched and managed by sagely and godly presences like Vasishtha and Goddess Ganga.

As such, I really do not think the case of infanticide of the Vasus can be used as a 'model' to modern infanticide. 

Environment/Animals/Vegetarianism in the Mahabharata

I actually had no idea on where to start with this topic. After doing some external research, I think I'll start with the "mechanics" of the soul rebirth cycle. All souls are fractions of Brahman (the all-knowing one, the universe, everything). Each soul is fractioned off into the world in order to fulfill their duty or Dharma. If the soul does not fulfill their dharma in one life, they must go through multiple rebirths until they achieve moksha (or the release from the cycle of rebirth) by settling and balancing their good and bad karma, and by fulfilling their dharma. It's commonly called the "Karma Dharma Law".

This cycle includes animals. Apparently the most effective way to achieve one's dharma is usually through a human birth. But if humans commit too many sins, their karma/dharma cycle will be set back and they will be born as animals. An animal rebirth has many different and conflicting viewpoints.

On one hand, animals are revered. Many gods have animal steeds on which they ride into battle on. For example, Shiva has his bull named Nandhi. Since many people idolize and pray to every part of Lord Shiva, they also pray to his steed Nandhi. As such, the bull and the cow are considered holy in Hinduism. This is paralleled in Lord Vishnu, who has Garuda the eagle as his steed. So on and so forth. Also, some of Lord Vishnu's reincarnation/rebirths onto the mortal realm of Earth were in animal forms. Lord Vishnu's reincarnations are most famously known as his Dasavatara; "das" meaning ten, "avatara" meaning avatars or reincarnations.

Figure 1: Lord Vishnu's Dasavatara. The Matsya, Kurma, Varaha, and Narasimha avatars contained animal features

Of his ten reincarnations, four were of animal forms. They played immensely important roles in the creation of the world. I encourage everyone to read up on the link I posted ^ because it explains how incredibly important they are.

There is one such example in the Mahabharatha. "one day King Pandu was out hunting. A sage and his wife were also sporting in the forest in the guise of deer. Pandu shot the male deer with an arrow, all ignorant of the fact that it was a sage in disguise. Stricken to death the rishi thus cursed Pandu: 'sinner, you will meet with death the moment you taste the pleasures of the bed, as you have robbed me of mine'" (38).

This story portrays the consequences of killing an animal. Another piece of Hindu lore, apparently a lot of celestial beings like gods and sages often travel about the mortal world in the guise of animals in order to escape notice. If one kills an animal, and if it was a celestial being in disguise, that would mean that they have killed a celestial being! Since the chance of this is high, parents usually teach their kids to approach strangers and animals with care, because you never know when a god is visiting you.

With the murder of the sage in deer form, King Pandu accrued a sin. He was also cursed. He also robbed the sage of his own pleasures, and of his chance to complete his dharma in the world. Because of the aforementioned views, many Hindus take to vegetarianism as a way to protect the sanctity of life. Vegetarianism is also a way to ensure that those people do not inadvertently commit a sin by extinguishing another's life before they are able to fulfill their dharma. For example, say that you were born as a human and you failed to complete your dharma and you die without fulfilling it. You are somehow reborn as a chicken. If another human ate you, they have committed a lot of sins. These sins include not only ending a life, but also ending a life before they can fulfill their karma/dharma cycle.

In my own life, my family raised me with a vegetarian lifestyle. I chose to continue this lifestyle as I moved on to college to living on my own in a different state. Recent press, media, and trends have given rise to the trope of the "vegan" who always rants about killing and abusing animals. While my own ethics requires me to not kill and eat any animal, I would never presume to ask others to follow in my footsteps. I would never presume to know someone else's dharma or karma; therefore, I would never turn into that "trope" of the "crazy vegan". Many people are always turned off, surprised, uncomfortable, or disgusted when I mention that I am vegetarian. This aversion is part of the reason why I wanted to write this blog post explaining the basis of my decision to remain vegetarian.

The different views of femininity

In class, we discussed at length the concepts of pornography, adultery, and sin relating to females, as it is portrayed in the Bible.

In the Mahabharatha, there are numerous instances on where the concepts of adultery, sexual desire, and femininity are discussed in the scope of ethics and Dharma. The Mahabharatha presents a model of ethics with which people should emulate and follow. This model is presented in the form of stories of different characters. I've picked a story that stuck with me, and I will explain the lesson that they are trying to teach, in regards to the sexual desire and femininity. 

In this story, we learn of how Bhishma's vow of celibacy played an important part in the story of Mahabharatha. Following his vow of celibacy, the kingdom was handed over to his half-brother Chithraganda who ruled kindly and generously for many years until he was killed in a battle. Chithraganda never had any children, and as such, the kingdom was passed down to Chithraganda's younger brother (Bhishma's other half-brother) Vichitravirya. Since Vichitravirya was only a teenager, Bhishma ruled in proxy. When Vichitravirya came of age, Bhishma went to a swayamvara (a contest in which many princes and their proxies compete in order to display themselves capable and worthy to marry the princess, the princess chooses who impresses her the most) in order to find a princess for Vichitravirya. The Swayamvara was for the three princesses Amba, Ambika, and Ambalika. The congregation spurned him for "breaking his vow of celibacy" when in reality they did not know that Bhishma was there for his little brother. Bhishma became angry and completely blew the competition out of the water. So he won and he escorted all the princesses home to the kingdom. Amba tried to protest by saying that she was secretly dating Prince Salva and had already given her soul to him. So Bhishma acquiesced and sent her to Prince Salva, but Salva's pride and manhood and ego were sorely injured and according to the rules of battle and justice, he cannot accept a prize he did not win. Salva turned away Amba saying "I have been disgraced". So when Amba returns to Bhishma asking him to take her as his wife, Bhishma denied on account of his vow of celibacy, and Vichitravirya would not marry her as she had already given her heart to another man. So Amba became angry and prayed to God Subramanya for a way to get revenge on Bhishma. Lord Subramanya gave her a boon in which in her next life, she will be able to become a man and kill Bhishma. Amba committed suicide and in her next life she was born as Sikhandini, a female, and through austerities and rituals and prayer, she became a man named Sikhandhin and she succeeded in helping Arjuna kill Bhishma. 

This story presents various views on women. On one hand, it seems to portray the individuality, power, and courage of a woman. On the other hand it portrays one of the few instances of LGBTQIA+ in Hindu culture.

To analyze this further, I want to start on the whole process of swayamvaras. But first, I want to take a detour into the literal word. In the olden days of Ancient India, the spoken word was taken extremely seriously. Anything spoken by an elder or by a celestial being was taken very seriously and was immediately put into effect, or it was considered to have already been put into effect. For example, it can be most easily be compared to God's statement of "let there be light" in Genesis 1:3. That being said, any promises that are made, are also taken very seriously. If a promise or destiny is not fulfilled, then that promise will follow that soul through every rebirth they have until they fulfill it.

Now onto swayamvaras and the discussion of the place that femininity occupies in ancient Indian lore. If a female is not of noble birth, the common practice of that time was that her parents, mainly her father, would find her a suitable husband to marry. Their search would be based on financial stability, class, how just and good the man is, and also social standing within the class they occupy. However, if the daughter is of noble birth, then commonly there are numerous people vying to meet and marry her. So the daughter's father usually arranges a Swayamvara for all the princes to gather and show off for her so that she can choose whoever impresses her the most.

Figure 1: Draupadi's Swayamvara. Arjuna is demonstrating his strength.

"Swayam" means self or soul and "vara" means groom or spouse. Only grooms of the same or better caste, and of similar or better economic status could participate. Marriage is one of the major milestones in life. Often times, if one is not married, their life isn't considered successful. In the 3rd chapter of the Mahabharatha, it explains how marriage is a gift and a stepping stone to fulfillment of one's Dharma, or path in life. Fulfillment of Dharma is actually one of the most important goals in a Hindu person's life.

The very concept of swayamvaras present a sense of individuality, power, and status. I dont know if I am verbalizing this properly, but the very concept of a female taking her own life into her own hands if mind-blowingly cool to me, especially when you consider that this story is taking place in Ancient India.

However, this story also presents a contradictory view of women being prizes to be had. They are treasures to be coveted. A lot of female descriptors used in this book begin with a compliment on appearance; for example, "beautiful Draupadi", "his wife, the princess Santha, whose great beauty soothed and pleased him", and "O beautiful maiden with bright earrings". This is objectification is also present in the way Prince Salva rejects Princess Amba when she went to him after being sent by Bhishma. He rejects her saying that, she is a prize that has already been won by some other man of justice. Vichitravirya regards Princess Amba as a tainted object for having already given her heart away to Prince Salva and for desiring him and desiring to be with him. Please note that when it mentions her giving her heart away, it just means that she loves him, not any kind of sexual connotation. Even with keeping and maintaining her virginity, and only loving a man with her heart, she is considered tainted.

This duality is confusing as it presents two very different views on femininity in the same story. It projects this idea that women are to be treasured and respected, but also that they are required to be individual and independent. They are also expected to be pure in mind, body, and soul! So when Amba gave her heart to Salva, it was a sin, as they had not yet been married. Since she had given her heart to Salva, and had thus been won by Bhishma and presented to Vichitravirya as a "taken women", it would be considered adultery if Vichitravirya has agreed to marry a women that has already been spoken for. Having been rejected by all the males around her, Amba was left without anyone to marry, thereby depriving her of her duty and path to Dharma and religious fulfillment.

There is also one instance of LGBTQIA+. The rebirth of Amba into Sikhandhini is actually an attempt and a chance for Amba to finally fulfill her life duty/ Dharma by being born into a new life. Amba vowed that her life duty shall be to slay Bhishma for ruining her life and for disrespecting her but refusing her hand in marriage. After being born as Sikhandhini, she realized that she still cannot achieve her goal, as she is female and females cannot enter battle, and it is sinful for males to raise a hand against a female. So Sikhandhini, through penance and divine intervention, became a man named Sikhandhin (as a sidenote, most female names end in -i). This can be clearly considered a case of a transgender character appearing in the founding epics of Hinduism.

This redefines the concept of femininity once again, shedding yet another perspective onto this complex presentation on femininity and sin.

Summary 4

This is it. The event that this whole book set up for. The great war. The Maha-Bharat.

Following the humiliation of Draupadi, the Pandava brothers were all sent to exile once again. If they could stay in exile for 12 years and for the 13th year, hide their identities and live in plain sight without being recognized, they can regain their kingdom. During those 12 years, they started creating alliances. The Pandavas won the favor of countless kings and achieved possession of numerous celestial and human weapons that can be used to wage war. The brothers all went on numerous quests to train and strengthen their minds and bodies to prepare for the great war. Draupadi was practically salivating at getting revenge on the Kauravas who humiliated her in public.

During the 13th year, when they were hiding in plain sight in the King Virata's territory, Duryodhana waged war against King Virata because of a water resource. King Virata was looking for a charioteer who could man his chariot while he waged war against Prince Duryodhana. Prince Arjuna of the Pandavas was appointed as the charioteer. Arjuna, however, was still in hiding. With the help of Arjuna, King Virata won and kept his access to the water resource. He then learned of Arjuna's identity and promised his vast legions and armies to the Pandavas when the time came to fight.

King Dhritrirashtra visits Yudhisthra  a few weeks before the war was scheduled to begin, and asked him to reconsider. The war would kill and destroy the lives of so many people, could it really be considered Dharma? (TL note: dharma is a way of life. a just way of life. it is also the duty and responsibility allotted to you in life. it's also the predestined path that one should take. it has a lot of meanings)

Yudhisthra answered that while it may not considered a universal dharma, waging this war is a personal dharma for him. He is doing it as a way to return to balance, pay back for all the wrongs that the Pandavas and Draupadi had suffered. The King left in sorrow.

On the battlefield, the two sides faced each other. Arjuna looked out at the other side and it was filled with all of his relatives and the people he had grown up with. And he had to grapple through the concepts of universal vs. personal dharma.

We get a really important flashback here. In the flashback, both Duryodhana and Arjuna approach Lord Krishna to ask him to join their side in the war. The benefit of having the help of a god would be tremendous. But when he was approached, Krishna noticed that only Arjuna made the correct and respectful approach of seeking blessings at his feet, instead of going directly and looking at Krishna in the eyes as Duryodhana did. So Krishna decided to offer Arjuna the choices first: Arjuna can either have 1) all of Lord Krishna's legions and armies and weapons or 2) Lord Krishna himself. Arjuna chose option 2, seeing as he valued the power and companionship that Krishna offered. Krishna, Arjuna, and Draupadi are all actually really good bros, they are tight, bffls. Duryodhana chose option 1 because all he wants is power.

This seems to have been the deciding factor in the war actually. Celestial and divine intervention is always key. Krishna helps Arjuna wrestle through his dharma dilemma by giving him a lecture. His words are now what we recognize as the Bhagavad Gita, the ethics handbook that all should follow if they want to achieve Bhraman.

The war begins, and Kaurava puts up what is known as "The ultimate defense line". So in return, the Pandavas have to put up "The ultimate attack formation". However, the secret to this formation has only been entrusted to Arjuna and Draupadi's 15 year old son Abhimanyu by Krishna. So Abhimanyu leads the troops to battle and fought bravely, but he was still killed in cold blood. Arjuna is heartbroken.

Arujna then proceeds to kill the guy who killed his son. The guy was one of King Drona's men. King Drona launches a new devastating attack, and the Pandavas know that the only way to get him to stop his attack is to trick him and distract him by saying that his son Ashwattama is dead. King Drona is so anguished that he threw down his weapons and started crying. Then, Draupadi's brother, Dhrishtadyumna seizes the chance and kills King Drona, as was prophesied before.

Arjuna and Karna have their final battle. They are both completely matched in terms of power, weapons, and skill. They are both master archers and amazing warriors. However, someone had cursed Karna earlier in his life. When he was a young boy, he disrespected a great sage and the sage cursed him by saying that "when the time comes to use your greatest weapon to save your life, you will not be able to draw that weapon and use it correctly to the full effect". And so when both Arjuna and Karna drew their greatest weapons to fight, Arjuna came out as the victor because of karma re-asserting its balance on the world by giving Karna what he had wrought upon himself.

Duryodhana died in a really sad way. Bhima struck him in his legs and left him paralyzed. Ashwattama was angry and then went to the Pandava camp in the middle of the night and killed off all of the little children of the Pandava armies. And when he came back to tell Duryodhana of this, Duryodhana just looked really sad, because those were the last heirs of the Kaurava-Pandava clan, and now they were all gone. He dies in great anguish at having caused the downfall of their entire royal lineage.

Having struck a decisive end by killing, Drona, Duryodhana, and Karna, the Pandavas established their victory. However, as they look around at the field to see the numerous corpses piling up, they are just tremendously sad.

Together, they establish a new set of ethics alongside Krishna. This war was foretold to be the first of many horrible, destructive wars. Perhaps a new set of ethics would help combat injustice.

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I loved this book so much. I can't wait to analyze it in the next half of the semester.

Summary post 3

This section kind of sets the tone for the rest of the epic. There is a particular betrayal and trap that stirs up the situation so much that it forces everyone to start picking sides and start planning for the great war.

When we left off previously, the Pandava brothers had married Draupadi and brought her to meet their mother Queen Kunthi. After this point, their exile period ends and they return to their thrones. There is a lot of character development and we learn that Draupadi is really sassy? Sassy, beautiful, arrogant, and very proficient at political and social interactions. All over, she is the very definition of #goals.

Since the exile, all of the Pandava brothers have been wary of the Kaurava brothers. As such, Yudhisthra, the old Pandava brother, made a resolution to himself that he will do his best to be nice and accommodating to the Kauravas because he doesn't want to get angry and cause a rift between the Pandava and Kaurava sides of the royal family. However, Duryodhana of the Kaurava brothers, was really mad that his plan to besmirch the name of the Pandavas by exiling them had failed. So he asked Sakuni, the evil and corrupt advisor to the King, to help him figure out a way to get rid of the Pandavas and stop them from being able to inherit the throne ever again.

One thing about Sakuni, he is the best gambler in India at the time. He is the most quick-thinking person and he takes advantage of anything he can to win. And he is one the King's most trusted advisors because he had personally increased their kingdom's territory just with his witty, silver-tongued gambling.

So, Sakuni took Duryodhana's idea to heart and suggested a "friendly game of dice" between the Kauravas and Pandavas. And Yudhisthra, having taken that vow to be amiable, was like... ok.

So they all gathered and Duryodhana feigned a hand injury and asked Sakuni to play in his stead. And Yudhisthra played for the Pandavas. And the game of dice is kind of like Poker here, people bet their possessions and titles and play. Normally, the royalty just bets low-stakes items like a small property, or like a cow, or a piece of jewelry or something.

Sakuni riled up Yudhisthra a lot and tricked him into gambling away everything he had. Even his newly regained titles, the titles of his brothers. He even somehow gambled away Draupadi.

This brought about the most wild, catalyzing scene in the book. Draupadi was at home in the Pandava castle when the Kaurava's messenger came to escort her to the main castle. When the messenger told her that she had been gambled away to be a mere maid for Duryodhana, she asked him this really awesome question, "Which prince would pledge his wife? Had he nothing else to pawn? ... O Charioteer, return. Ask of he who played the game whether in it he first lost himself, or his wife" (110). This has to be the most awesome line ever.

Even though Draupadi delivers this awesome line which establishes her independence and personal power, she was still taken to the dice game. There, Duryodhana asked her to disrobe and take off her royal clothing and put on the maid's clothing. Draupadi refused. In response Duryodhana just started to pull her sari off of her?!! Draupadi begged and pleaded for someone to come to her rescue and to save her honor. But only Lord Krishna, the 8th avatar of Lord Vishnu of the holy trinity of gods, came to her aid. He made her sari never-ending, so that the more Duryodhana pulled off of her, the more the sari kept coiling around, keeping her fully clothed.

Eventually Duryodhana stopped, and Draupadi cursed the Kauravas, and called for the utter downfall of that entire section of the clan.

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Super wild section!

Summary part 2

This section of the Mahabharatha was so wild. So many unexpected betrayals and events occurred. As established before, these two sets of brothers, Kauravas and Pandavas, disliked each other.

The chief player, a leader of sorts, for the Kaurava brothers is the dude named Duryodhana. He is the oldest of the Kaurava brothers and he also has the most hatred for the Pandava brothers as well.

This section starts off with the Swayamvara of Draupadi. A swayamvara is a combination between a contest and a marriage. Princess Draupadi of the Panchala kingdom had entered marriageable age and they were holding a ball or a contest of sorts. Princes and noble-born from all over the country were invited to participate. The prince who excels at political discourse and efficacy and who also wins the contest set by the King (father of the princess) is the one who is allowed to approach Princess Draupadi and ask for her hand in marriage.

At this point in time, we realize that Duryodhana had previously challenged the Pandava prince brothers. The rules of the challenge were that since they were in exile with their mother for twelve years, if they can live in a public town for an entire year without being identified as THE Pandava princes, they can regain their half of the original kingdom.

Here we notice that two of the stories told before connect. The two friends who grew up together but then betrayed each other end up as key characters in this story. The father of Princess Draupadi, was named Drupada. Back in the day, Prince Drupada was best friends with a common boy Drona and he promised half his kingdom to Drona when he becomes King. Drupada later took back his promise when he grew up and realized that he couldn't give his kingdom to a common man who had not accomplished anything yet. Drona later became a really accomplished weapons master who was later hired to train the Kaurava and Pandava brothers. The Pandava brothers became the best weapon users in the region so King Drupada became a bit scared that Drona would rise up against him. Guru Drona then asked the Pandava brothers to go capture and defeat Drupada as their final examination in their weapons apprenticeship under him. The Pandava brothers succeeded and brought Drupada as a prisoner to Guru Drona. Drupada agreed to give Drona his half of the kingdom, but Drupada was still salty about the whole situation and he went to pray in the mountains. The gods gave him a prophecy that Drupada's son Dhristhadumnya will be the one to kill Guru Drona.

But Drupada was still scared that Drona would attack him and his kingdom, so he wished that his daughter, Princess Draupadi, would marry Arjuna. If his daughter was married to Arjuna (the best archer of the Pandava brothers), that would mean that the Pandava brothers would never be used to strike against him, because they would be considered family through marriage!

So, when Drupada learned that the Pandava brothers were in exile and that they were hiding, he tried to schedule the Swayamvara of his daughter on the last day of their exile so that they would be able to attend.

The challenge that the Princes had to complete was to string a great steel bow and strike an arrow at a rapidly moving target. The bow was so heavy that most princes couldn't even lift it. Only Karna and Arjuna could lift it. When Karna lifted it, and shot an arrow at the target, Draupadi rode in on an Elephant to greet him, and when Karna proposed to her, she rejected him on grounds of him not being of noble birth. Then, Arjuna who was dressed like a common Brahmin man, attempted the challenge and successfully lifted and strung the bow and even shot the target with five simultaneous arrows! The audience was in uproar and they protested when Draupadi accepted his marriage proposal. Karna challenged Arjuna for a one-on-one contest and Arjuna still won.

The five Pandava brothers took Draupadi back to their house to meet their mom, Queen Kunthi. The queen blessed Draupadi.

Here is where it gets wild: One of the previous stories described how the five Pandava brothers were all parts of the same soul, who were split at birth because of their overwhelming power and destiny. So the five Pandava brothers asked if Princess Draupadi would marry them all, seeing as they were all one person, and Draupadi agreed! But when they went and asked King Drupada, he was disgusted, but eventually agreed when the Krishna, the reincarnation of Lord Vishnu, came down and told Drupada to agree.

So Draupadi married the five Pandava brothers and the Pandavas were invited back to their kingdom.

-----

This section was so wild. I was thrown for a loop almost every chapter, because the small individual vignettes told before were all re-introduced and woven so masterfully into the plotline. I had a mindblowing experience every time a new piece clicked into place! I'm so excited to read the last half of the book, because while some pieces were woven in, a few new pieces were introduced out-of-the-blue for the first time!!!

character map

Summary part 1

As I write this at 3:28 am, I realize that much of life is a product of circumstance.

After working on some lab reports and stuff at Moody library till 1:25am, my best friend and I decide it's time to call it quits, maybe go home and get some sleep. Of course as we climb into my car and try to start it, I realize that my brakes were locked, my steering wheel was locked, and my fancy-shmancy Push-to-Start button was also locked. Surprisingly, stereo and lights were still working. Perplexed, I called a few friends over to jump-start my car. Turns out, battery wasn't the problem.

Cliche as it may seem, it was at this point I actually remember a passage from the Mahabharatha that I was reading an hour previous to this fiasco. "Each and everyone has to bear the consequence of his actions. Do not give way to sorrow" (60). It all seemed really hopeless and horrible at 2:08 am when it's 38 degrees Fahrenheit outside. But I listened to the book, I did not give way to the sorrow.

Turns out that there was a circuit problem that was disabling my entire front dash. Eventually after at least an hour of googling, we decided that we were just desperate enough to completely disconnect my car battery and try the classic, "Have you tried turning it off and on again?" trick. Spoiler alert, it worked.

The hopelessness and plight was getting to me and my weak will. But I felt like everything that happened in the first quarter of the book was kind of teaching little moral story or a piece of hope.

Mahabharatha is the story of the Epic war between the two sets of brothers, the 100 Kauravas and the five Pandavas. The epic is set in a time where Gods roamed freely on the human realm and wishes were granted aplenty. Promises become the law because the when words leave the person's  mouth they are bound to it. The  concept of Dharma might be an important part of this explanation; dharma cannot be directly translated to English, but the concept is most similar to duty, goal, responsibility, or way of life.

The book culminates in a huge war between the Kauravas and the Pandavas. However, this war is the by-product of years and years and years of rivalries and revenge stories and hatred and promises. The first quarter of the book describes the early life of the Pandavas and the Kauravas. One of the five Pandava brothers, Bhima, mercilessly bullied Duryodhana of the Kauravas. Over the years, Duryodhana succumbed to the hatred he felt for Bhima and just really wanted to get the Pandavas out of the picture, whether that be by death or deceit. Removing the Pandavas would also ensure that Duryodhana of the Kauravas would be the next-in-line for King of their land, Hastinapur.

This war is huge. As such, the author is going to give a synopsis on every single character that is of the slightest importance. We learn about the childless King Santanu who fell in love with the spirit of the Ganges River. The Ganges River spirit was previously cursed to bear right children, seven of which she must kill quickly and put of their misery, and one that will live long. We learn about the backstory of the right children; in a previous birth, the 8 were brothers and they had stolen the cow of one of the great Sages. The sage uttered a curse, (and remember anything that is said aloud, will happen). We learn about Bhishma who goes and wins a wife for his brother, but due to misunderstandings and miscommunication, he has to prove that he would never have a child that would succeed the throne, by taking a vow of chastity.

The beginning of this book is really a bunch of snapshots into the lives of those whose actions directly/indirectly cause the war, or participate in the war. There is no story line yet, none of the stories connect yet, which makes it really confusing and hard to keep track of all the new characters that are introduced every single chapter... just little windows of time looking into the circumstances that were behind this war.

I really hope the story has started to make sense soon!

Introduction

Hi, my name is Dipika and I am reading the Mahabharatha for this semester.
In the Hindu religion, there are two great epics, stories that transcend time and concept, that define much of the social and ethical practices that still echo in the culture today.

The Ramayana tells the tale of Rama, the seventh avatar of Vishnu, one of the supreme trinity of Gods. The epic follows the childhood, adolescence, and subsequent maturation of Prince Rama. Through several evil forces like jealousy and greed, he was unwillingly forced into exile for 14 year with his wife and brother. His wife was kidnapped by the demon king Ravana. Rama embarks on a quest to rescue his wife and along the way he meets several important people. The culmination of this epic is in the epic battle that is fought between Rama and Ravana, symbolic of the forces of good and evil, right and wrong, and duty and desire. It is a tale of Man.

The Mahabharatha is an extremely complex epic involving hundreds of characters, each with their own web of lies, deceit, and problems. It is commonly known as the handbook of ethics. It is the determinant of most of the ethical and social practices that are still followed by most Hindus today. It follows the history of problems between two groups of brothers, the Pandavas and the Kauravas. Both were born under different sets of circumstance, with different birth rights. However, as they all vie for power and benefit, they also realize that morality and ethics determine just as much of life. Exile, marriage, deceit, blackmail, righteousness, and duty are all major factors that play into this epic war story.

Stay tuned for more!