Week 6 Reading Notes: Mahabharata Part A
Vyasa, the writer, is also a character! That's interesting. Vyasa originally wrote this to the god Ganesha. Vyasa was able to tell the whole story without stopping, quite a feat.
There are many many many characters in this epic. Again, an important character in this story Devavrata is a human, like Rama, but with the power of not one, but eight gods. He is one of eight children, all the others slain, but now he has all the powers.
Vyasa's mother takes interest in King Shantanu, the main King we're focusing on so far, Devavrata's father.
Devavrata's father vows that he will give the throne to his new sons instead of him if his new girl bears them. He does and Devavrata is now known as Bhishma.
Instead of winning women like Rama, Bhishma instead won them in battle after defeating many people by himself with one arrow each.
Of the three women he wins, he is only able to marry two, but the third will reincarnate later. She loved another man and was allowed to leave.
He is unable to have sons, but Vyasa may be used as a solution to that problem.
So many important names, the next is Karna. Karna is yet another son given birth from the will of gods.
Kings have bad luck with curses it seems. King Pandu. He was cursed to die in the arms of one of his wives, so he moved far away to live in solitude with them.
Pandu did have sons, but he did die. As he died, his wife went into the fire with him and died with him.
The beginning of a rivalry starts. Sons of Pandu vs sons of Dhritarashtra. This will be a common theme throughout the story to keep up with.
The last standing wife now has to raise all five sons on her own. After they've grown a bit, she takes them to the city where they now live with Dhritarashtra's sons, and thus begins the sort of sibling rivalry.
Right off the bat, one tries to kill another. Even though the attempt is to kill Bhima, he ends up getting supernatural powers from the underworld.
ANOTHER IMPORTANT CHARACTER: Drona. Drona will be the teacher to all the sons. THough he acts like a warrior, he is actually a sage.
The Pandavas are excelling while Dhritarashtra's sons are lacking. Jealousy rises.
Ekalavya, sons of a Bhil king, wants to learn under Drona. Drona had him cut off his thumb, which he did. Now he draws his bow differently and this carried down generations.
A mock fight between cousins gets serious, but Arjuna steps in and is the most skilled of them all.
The oddly birthed Karna then appears and does not realize that he's actually Arjuna's brother. He is just as if not more skille than him too.
As payment for their training, they must fight a childhood bully of Drona. They win easily, taking more land for the kingdom.
The Pandava brothers keep winning and the jealousy grows so much that they must be dealt with. So when they all slept, the plan was to burn them alive.
From: PDE Mahabharata by multiple authors.
There are many many many characters in this epic. Again, an important character in this story Devavrata is a human, like Rama, but with the power of not one, but eight gods. He is one of eight children, all the others slain, but now he has all the powers.
Vyasa's mother takes interest in King Shantanu, the main King we're focusing on so far, Devavrata's father.
Devavrata's father vows that he will give the throne to his new sons instead of him if his new girl bears them. He does and Devavrata is now known as Bhishma.
Instead of winning women like Rama, Bhishma instead won them in battle after defeating many people by himself with one arrow each.
Of the three women he wins, he is only able to marry two, but the third will reincarnate later. She loved another man and was allowed to leave.
He is unable to have sons, but Vyasa may be used as a solution to that problem.
So many important names, the next is Karna. Karna is yet another son given birth from the will of gods.
Kings have bad luck with curses it seems. King Pandu. He was cursed to die in the arms of one of his wives, so he moved far away to live in solitude with them.
Pandu did have sons, but he did die. As he died, his wife went into the fire with him and died with him.
The beginning of a rivalry starts. Sons of Pandu vs sons of Dhritarashtra. This will be a common theme throughout the story to keep up with.
The last standing wife now has to raise all five sons on her own. After they've grown a bit, she takes them to the city where they now live with Dhritarashtra's sons, and thus begins the sort of sibling rivalry.
Right off the bat, one tries to kill another. Even though the attempt is to kill Bhima, he ends up getting supernatural powers from the underworld.
ANOTHER IMPORTANT CHARACTER: Drona. Drona will be the teacher to all the sons. THough he acts like a warrior, he is actually a sage.
The Pandavas are excelling while Dhritarashtra's sons are lacking. Jealousy rises.
Ekalavya, sons of a Bhil king, wants to learn under Drona. Drona had him cut off his thumb, which he did. Now he draws his bow differently and this carried down generations.
A mock fight between cousins gets serious, but Arjuna steps in and is the most skilled of them all.
The oddly birthed Karna then appears and does not realize that he's actually Arjuna's brother. He is just as if not more skille than him too.
As payment for their training, they must fight a childhood bully of Drona. They win easily, taking more land for the kingdom.
The Pandava brothers keep winning and the jealousy grows so much that they must be dealt with. So when they all slept, the plan was to burn them alive.
From: PDE Mahabharata by multiple authors.
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| Vyasa and Ganesha |
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