Wednesday, February 19, 2020

Reading Notes: Mahabharata Part A

  • Uparichara is the king of Chedi
  • Uparichara's semen fell from the sky into water and it impregnated a fish
  • Fisherman caught the fish and two children came forth
  • The king took the son, but left the daughter
  • Daughter's name: Satyavati
  • Ganesha would be Rama's scribe and could not stop his pen\
  • Daughter helped out her foster father
  • she became so sweet smelling that she could be smelled from 7 miles away
  • Ganges agrees to be the human mother of the Vasus so they could return quickly to their celestial forms.
  • Ganges marries the king
  • Said she would part with him if he spoke harshly towards her
  • In time Ganges had a son and she cast her son out
  • King was mad, but didn't want to say anything to lose her
  • She killed 7 more kids and was trying to kill the 8th before the king intervened
  • The king had broken his promise and Ganges died with the 8th kid taking the child's life also.
  • Old Shantu wanted to marry a young bride
  • The girl he had interest was Satyavati
  • King Shantanu sought to marry Satyavti, but her father refused to give her to the king until he promised that her son would be the king
  • Shantanu said he couldn't do that and left heartbroken
  • Ganga was called Bhisma which means terrible
  • Devaratra renoucnes his claim to the throne
  • Satyavti marries Shantanu and bares two sons
  • One of the sons becomes king as Devatara stepped down after keeping his promise.
  • Bhishma and Vichitravirya were the two sons
  • Bhishma wants to look for a wife for Vichitravirya so they can keep the throne under control
  • Bridal tournament opened opportunity for Bhishma to fight in a battle to find a wife for his brother
  • Bhishma fends off all the fighters in the bridal tournament
  • Bhishma retains the 3 brides as his prize
  • Bhishma takes the 3 brides back with him
  • Oldest bride was aloud to leave because she wanted to stay faithful to a previous king
  • King that the bride went back denied her and didn't deserve her
  • She fasted for days and weeks until she became frail and the god Shiva appeared in front of her after hearing her prayers
  • She asked the god to kill Bhishma, the god says you have my permission
  • She says she can't do it as a woman and Shiva says she can and is strong enough
  • Oldest bride blames what happened to her former love/king on Bhishma
  • The three kids that were born were reared by Bhishma and trained as warriors
  • Pandu was made king later
  • Pandu married two wives
  • Kunti came from celestial origin
  • Pandu loved Madri the most of the two
  • Kunti has a child and sends him down a river to be adopted (Like moses' mom did in the bible)
  • Pandu loved to hunt 
  • Pandu has weird encounter with deer
  • Pandu never had his own kids
  • Pandu died while walking with his favorite wife Madri
  • his sons the Pandava brothers buried him
  • Madri volunteered to have her body burned with Pandu and be buried with him
  • Pandu's blind brother had become king
  • Gandhara become the mother to 100 sons
  • Her oldest son Duryodhana was ill-omened
  • He grew up to be proud, jealous and evil minded
  • Widowed Kunti raises the 5 sons of Pandu
  • She brings the sons to their uncles kingdom (blind king) and he raises them with his own sons
  • Two families lived together peacefully without favortism being showed to either side
  • Drona was chosen to train the children
  • Drona and Drupada grew apart after similar origins
  • Drupada acts like a complete stranger and even enemy to Drona when Drona approaches him as a friend, Drupada wants nothing to do with Drona
  • Drona is heartbroken
  • Drona wanted to train the princes to take Drupada down
  • Bhisma said that was fine
  • Drona not only became the instructor, but also the family priest
  • Arjuna was the most skilled of the princes
  • Drona liked Arjuna the most
  • Drona with the sons to hunt down in the Bhil kingdom
  • guy displayed skill by shooting 7 arrows into a dogs mouth
  • guy cut off his thumb and gave it to drona as a reward for the students reward for his accomplishment
  • Drona gives epic speech/poem after the battle/tournment concludes
  • just when they thought it was over it wasn't
  • Karna says he can top whatever Arjuna did if he has Drona's blessing to try
  • Drona gives him permission
  • Crowd was split with some cheering for Karna and some cheering for Arjuna
  • Karna and his father have a nice moment
  • Karna no longer feared Arjuna
  • Yudhishthira feels that Karna is greatest hero in the world of men
  • Pandavas and Kauravas had finally become accomplished warriors
  • Drona said it was time for them to go kill Drupada and wanted them to bring Drupada's head back to him
  • The cousins did not ride together because of jealousy
  • The Kauravas went first to attack Drupada
  • The Kauravas were defeated
  • The Pandavas took their turn and fought Drupada and the Panchala
  • Arjuna seizes Drupada
  • Drupada begs for forgiveness and friendship from Drona
  • Drona took possession over half of Drupada's kingdom

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