For this week’s reading, I chose to read the Public Edition
of the Mahabharata. I felt that this would be easier to read due to its
accessibility online. Thus far, the story has been confusing do to its many
characters. Below is what occurred in Part A:
·
Indra is flying through the sky and impregnates
a woman fish that gives birth to Satyavati. She then becomes the mother of the
writer of the Mahabharata, Vyasa. His name is also Dwaipayana or Island –born. The
King below is the father of this son.
·
King Shantanu marries Ganga in human form. She gets
pregnant and drowns the first seven of her children. This part is very
confusing to me because I do not know why she was doing this. The King disobeys
her demands and she leaves him with the last boy alive.
·
King Shantanu desired Satyvati, however, the
fisherman demanded that her son must be the heir to the throne. He could not
because of the boy from the previous wife Ganga. This boy’s name is Devavrata.
·
The boy helps his father get Satyvati by stating
to the fisherman that he will never take the throne. His name changes from
Devavrata to Bhishma meaning “Terrible”. I do think that this decision was a terrible
one, however, in both the epics the sons do anything for their fathers. I find
this to be very unique and something that I want to write in my story.
·
Bihishma takes three princesses in order for
them to marry Satyvati’s sons. Both these son’s die, making Bhishma go get the
sage Vyasa. He and the two princesses give birth to a pale boy named Pandu and
Dhritarashtra.
·
Kunti and Madri both marry the son Pandu. Kunti
previously had a son before she married Pandu.
·
Pandu, similarly to Dasharatha, kills someone
while hunting and is cursed. This is extremely important in both epics because
it usually brings someone into power sooner than they expected. This is vital
in the Mahabharata. He has five sons from gods before he ultimately dies from the
curse.
·
To die with their beloved king, Madri and Kunti
both want to be burned with him. The gods choose Madri to die with the king
instead of Kunti and she is burned.
·
The blind son, Dhritarashtra, raises the five
sons of Pandu in the royal city of Hastinapura.
·
The son of Dhritarashtra gets jealous of the
five sons and plots to kill them. Bhima is poisoned but instead goes into the
underworld and obtained the strength of a mighty giant.
·
Drona becomes the teacher of the Pandavas and
the Kauravas. As training occurs, the Kauravas become even more jealous of the
Pandavas.
·
Kunti son, Karna, comes into the scene of the
mock fights and displays his strength. They all prove their skills and become
warriors.
·
Duryodhana gets so jealous of every Pandavas feats
and wants to set them and their mother on fire.
Overall, this is a great story so far and I am curious to
see what occurs in the upcoming sections. Thanks for reading.
Source: Arnold, Besant, Devee, Dutt, Ganguli, Kincaid, Macfie, Mackenzie, Nivedita, , Seeger, and Tagore.
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