Reading Notes: Mahabharata Movie, Part B

As Dhritarashtra married Gandhari, who gave up her sense of sight to be like him, Dhritarashtra's brother, Pandu married Kunti and Madri. It was at this time that Kunti's secret from her past in known to the audience. Kunti had a son from the celestial sun god, Surya, who she had give away because she was not married. Kunti's son was the "most beautiful thing she had seen in her life" and she could tell that he would be destined for greatness. However, even though it was heart-wrenching for Kunti, she laid her son in a basket and sent him down the river. After the secret was known to the audience, Pandu, Kunti, and Madri all set off for the forest to spend some peaceful time together. It was in the forest that Pandu made a life-altering mistake that would cost him and his kingdom dearly. Pandu shot one of his arrows at an intimate hermit couple and as a result, the hermit struck Pandu with a curse. The curse was that as soon as Pandu becomes intimate with a woman, he would die. It was because of this curse that Pandu became closed off and he sent word to Hastinapur that he would not return. In her efforts to console Pandu, Kunti told him the gift of the ability to call upon the gods and bear his sons, but failed to mention of her son that she gave up. At this Pandu was overjoyed and asked Kunti to give him children. The first child was named Yudhishthira given by the god Yama. Next, Kunti called the god of the wind, Vayu, to which she and Pandu were given their son, Bhima. Last but not least, Kunti and Pandu were given Arjuna from the god Indra, the king of the Devas. Pandu was pleased with his sons with Kunti but both felt bad for Madri, the other wife of Pandu so therefore, Kunti gave Madri two beautiful twin sons named Nakula and Sahadeva. Pandu and his family lived a happy life in the forest until one day, Kunti found him dead. He had forced himself onto Madri in a moment of passion and the next thing they knew, Pandu died. When they were cremating Pandu, Madri decided to share in her husband's death therefore died alongside him. After this, Kunti decided to take her five children and head back to the Hastinapur kingdom. Back at Hastinapur, it was during this time that Gandhari, wife of Dhritarashtra, gave birth to a lump of flesh. Gandhari was devastated and did not understand why Vyasa's prophecy of her having 100 sons was not true. Gandhari asked a servant to throw out the lump of flesh, but before that could happen, Vyasa paid and visit and told Gandhari that what he foretold her was in fact true. Therefore, Vyasa took the lump of flesh and divided it into 100 pieces and placed them into individual vases. The 100 children were born and as Gandhari held her eldest son, Duryodhan, the people around her who could see, realized that all 100 children had a demonic look about them. Nevertheless, since Gandhari and Dhritarashtra could not see, they were happy because they were their children. Just at the peak of their happiness came Kunti and the five sons of Pandu to Hastinapur to ruin the joy of Dhritarashtra and his family. As the two families came together, Duryodhan became jealous of the Pandavas especially Bhima. The Pandavas were the center of attention and had many admirers. Duryodhan became angry and extremely jealous and looked to his uncle, Gandhari's brother for comfort. Through his uncle support, Duryodhan created and executed out a plan to exile the Pandavas even to the point of pushing an unconscious Bhima into the depths of the water. Bhima woke up to serpents biting and attacking him but he got the upper hand even to the point of the serpents began to be scared of him. After fighting off the serpents, Bhima found himself in Naag Lok which was home to the most powerful serpents. It was in Naag Lok that Bhima met Vasuki who gifted him with the magic potion. As he swam back home, Bhima realized it was time for him to stand up and protect his family. Bhima came back to Hastinapur and it was around this time that their grandfather thought that they need to become trained to be men and warriors to which enters Drona, their wise teacher. Drona trained the boys to become skillful warriors, each brother with his own skill. One day the brothers met a mere boy by the name Ekalavya. Ekalavya was an archer and proved to be much better archer than Arjuna, to which made Arjuna upset. Arjuna asked Ekalavya who his teacher was and he said Drona. Arjuna was shocked and in dismay because he felt betrayed by Drona. When Arjuna asked Drona about this, Drona did not know what he was talking about. Then Ekalavya was before Drona and he told Drona that long ago he asked him if he could be his pupil, and Drona declined. Therefore, Ekalavya became a skilled archer by his own merits. Drona was upset that Ekalavya would claim him as his teacher so putting merit and justice aside, he asked Ekalavya to cut off his right thumb so that he no longer could be the world's greatest archer.

Bibliography: Mahabharata: Karmic Revolution by Epified (link)

The Five Pandavas. Source: Wikipedia. 

Reading Notes: Mahabharata Movie, Part A

The first episode of Mahabharata: Karmic Revolution begins with the phrase that Epified takes the Mahabharata from a "how every event is both a result of what happened before it as well as a cause of what follows" perspective. I thought this perspective was unique and it drew me into wanting to watch more of the videos. The first episode is about King Shantanu and his wife Ganga, and how he learned that Ganga had to drown their children for the eight Vasus. At the end, Ganga leaves Shantanu with their eighth child. In episode two, Devavrat, son of Shantanu and Ganga, is reunited with his father and brought back as the long-lost prince of Hastinapur. As time went on, Shantanu falls in love with Satyavati, who was a humble fisherman's daughter. Even though Shantanu loved Satyavati, they did not get married and Shantanu was devastated and became secluded. Therefore, as a result, Devavrat decided to take matters into his own hands and made a groundbreaking oath the he would never marry or never have any children so long as that Satyavati and Shantanu could be together. As Devavrat swore upon this oath to the gods, he became known as Bhishma. As Bhishma brought Satyavati back to his father, Shantanu was not as happy as Bhishma expected him to be. However, Shantanu realized the virtuousness of his son and granted to him the power to choose when he would die. As time passed, Shantanu dies and Bhishma gains two half-brothers to which he acts like a father to them. One of the brothers dies to which this was a wake-up call to Bhishma that he needs to find his other brother a wife; therefore, he goes into the neighboring kingdom and kidnaps the three princesses. The eldest princess was Amba and she told Bhishma that she was in love with King Shalva to which they allowed Amba to go to her love, but when she did, she was greeted with the opposite reaction that she was hoping for. Shalva did not want anything to do with her. As Amba goes back to Bhishma and asks him to marry her, he refuses because of the vow he made. Amba becomes furious and promises that she will ruin Bhishma's life as he did to hers. However, Amba could not find a warrior to take on Bhishma so she finally resorted to ask the sage Parshuram to battle Bhishma to which they did but neither one of them could defeat each other. Finally it was Parshuram who gave up and Bhishma won by default. As Bhishma returns from battle, his other brother dies, leaving the kingdom without any ruler. Satyavati begged Bhishma to break his celibacy and marry for the sake of the kingdom's future. Bhishma refused and that was when Satyavati told him of her secret son, Vyasa. Vyasa came to the kingdom and Satyavati asked him to father the children of Vichitravirya's widows. As time went on, finally there were three princes for the kingdom's throne. The sons of Vyasa were taught by Bhishma. There was contempt brewing between two of the brothers for the throne but Bhishma did not recognize it. It was Dhritrasthra that became king and for him Princess Gandhari became his wife. Princess Gandhari gave up her sight for her husband.

Bibliography: Mahabharata: Karmic Revolution by Epified (link)

Bhishma (a.k.a. Devavrat) introduced to his father, Shantanu. Source: Wikimedia Commons.