Author’s Note:
This week I decided to write a few letters between Draupadi
and her mother. The parents are not involved in this epic and I wanted to allow
for a mother and daughter to be talking about all of the crazy events to create
a family dynamic. I wanted her mother to be apart from her daughter in some of
the most important parts of her experiences in the Mahabharta. I decided to
leave the swayamvara completely true with Arjuna coming out of the crowd and
winning over Draupadi. I did however, change the fact the she had to be married
to either all of them or Yudhishtira only. I found that this part of the epic
was not very reasonable since Arjuna was the one who won her over. I decided to
have Arjuna elope with Draupadi to show how much he truly cared for her, but I wasn’t
quite sure if that was a good choice in my story so please let me know if you liked
it or not! Also, I decided to change the war scenes with that of peace. I feel
in a lot of these epics, greed is the killer. I did not want this to be the
same end as every other story so instead of the Pandavas losing their sons,
family, and cousins, I allowed no one to have to be killed.
Source: Wilson, Richard. The Five Tall Sons of Pandu. 1914.
Source: Wilson, Richard. The Five Tall Sons of Pandu. 1914.
Dear Mother,
Today is the day that I have dreaded for so long. I know I
will be happy with whoever wins, but it doesn’t seem right. A woman should be
able to pick their husband. One she loves and could spend the rest of her life
with, not some random man that can shoot a bow or win a sword fight. Why do I
have no choice Mother? Oh well, you have raised me to overcome anything. I can
only hope the man who wins my swayamvara is someone I can love with all of my
heart.
Love,
Draupadi
Dear Daughter of Mine,
I have heard the tales of your swayamvara. The great Arjuna
came from the depths of the crowd as a brahmin and strung the mighty bow. I
heard he shot and absolutely perfect bow! That is so awesome for you and him. I
heard he is quite the looker too so that is always a plus. I am glad that the
charioteer’s son was not able to win you. That would have been quite disappointing
to have to marry a base-born. Anyways, I sure do miss you. It has been a
hundred moons since you and I have last seen each other. I miss my daughter. I
cannot wait to hear more of you and your new husband.
Love,
Your Mother
Source: Draupadi's Swayamvara
Dear Mother,
I am so glad that you approve of my new husband. Arjuna is
the light to my world and I love him so very much. He is definitely a blessing
and someone I could spend the rest of my life here on Earth with. I have
learned that he is a true Pandavas brother and at first that was so cool. His
brother, Kunti tried to make the eldest Yudhishthira be my wife instead of my
love Arjuna. I knew I would not meet another man that I could love as much as my
swayamvara, so we eloped into the forest. At first, Arjuna was happy of his
decision, but he has been troubled lately. His brothers constantly send him
letters about some war with their cousin Duryodhana. I hope my husband does not
have to return and fight in battle. I do not know if I could take that.
Anyways, I am happy Mother and cannot wait for you to meet my husband.
Love,
Draupadi
Dear Draupadi,
I am so sorry that you almost had to marry Yudhishthira. You
should not have eloped away from such powerful men, but that is just my mother
coming out in me. I feel for Arjuna. I know he must truly miss his brothers,
but he must really love you for he has chosen you over them. I too have heard
of this war. I hope that if it happens, you are as far away as possible. I will
be praying for your Draupadi. I love you very much.
Love,
Your Mother
Dear Mother,
I am sure you have heard now, but the war has never
happened! I am so ecstatic that Duryodhana changed his mind at the last second
to make peace with his cousins. Balarama has convinced Duryodhana that making
peace instead of war will ultimately bring happiness to everyone. I am so very
pleased. We now sit around the kingdom and enjoy each other’s company. I love
my new life with my new husband Arjuna. I will send for you mother. Arjuna has
made a house for you right next to ours so you can be with us every day. I miss
you and yearn for your arrival in the great city of Hastinapura.
Love,
Draupadi
Oh! Right off the bat I was super excited to see that someone felt the same as I did about Arjuna and Draupadi. I thought it was rather selfish of the brothers to suggest they all should marry Draupadi, when they did not take the effort to win her over. I think that’s why I had so much respect and love of Arjuna throughout the story. I rather enjoyed the letters between mother and daughter, because her relationship with her mom is left for our imagination, I’m glad you gave her a relationship she could fully trust (Which she did not have in the story).
ReplyDeleteThere were only minor mistakes in the story, which wasn’t anything serious and we all make mistakes. For instance, “His brother, Kunti tried to make the eldest Yudhishthira be my wife instead of my love Arjuna.” Even though, at times Yudhishthira acted more like a child, woman (whatever) he was a man. There were also some misspellings, I’m certain I have more than a few occurrences in my own story. I also felt that there wasn’t as much story as there could be, then again it was establishing a relationship and giving a happy ending. I don’t know, anyways. It was really great and refreshing to see everyone lives (just like they should have in the story).
Great application of the story into an exchange-style dialogue. I will have to try this in the future for sure. It really lets you explore the characters' thoughts and feelings in a way that a traditional story does not.
ReplyDeleteYou did an excellent job capturing the original story in a way that was recognizable. The exchanges were short and too the point, no fluff. This adds to the letter-writing feel. You don't typically have a whole lot of space to elaborate when writing on letter paper. As I mentioned above, you did a good job explaining the feelings and actions of the characters.
Overall, the story was a pleasure to read. It was well written, easy to follow, and a pleasure to read. Great job!
Trevor,
ReplyDeleteI like that you put the Author's Note before the story content. This was a great move that allowed the reader to grasp the changes that you made from the original story line. I think you did a great job in hinting at the caste system that was such a big part of India in the passage that has her mother being thankful that her daughter didn't have to be married off to a base-born man. Great job!
Trevor,
ReplyDeleteI'm glad that you chose to have Draupadi writing letters for your story, I think this is a great storytelling style. I also like how you included her parents in the story, I haven't seen anyone do that yet.
Thanks so much for sharing your work so far, I really enjoyed reading it. Good luck with the rest of this class and the remaining semester.
Andrew
Hey Trevor. I think that not a lot of people chose to do their storytelling in the form of letter correspondence so your work will definitely present itself as a unique piece in our class. It was an interesting idea to include someone who may at times be considered a minor character. It seems as though the brothers themselves become minor characters to the main story which takes place between mother and daughter.
ReplyDeleteTrevor,
ReplyDeleteWhat an insanely cool idea for a storytelling post! The letters work so well to endear the reader to the characters and it is also really cool that you were able to change the font to look like real letters!
This was one story that I really enjoyed reading and I think that you are a great writer!