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.

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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!