Week 14 Reading Diary B

For the part B of the week 14 reading we picked up where Buck had left us. Shaunaka is listening to Sauti tell the story of the Mahabharata he had heard recited by Vaishampayana in Hastinapura. Anyways, after the battle Bhisma is still alive. He will control his own death and must choose the perfect moment for when to pass. As in Narayan's version, Bhisma chooses to pass at the exact moment of the Winter Solstice. The Winter Solstice is the shortest day of the year. They took the body of Bhishma and burn it into ashes. They take the ashes and pour them into the Ganges. Meanwhile, Yudhisthira is in such great despair due to bringing so many people to death over the course of the battle, no one can seem to bring him back to higher spirits. He then has the dream. This dream is himself on a journey with his brothers and Draupadi. The only other accompaniment is that of a dog. However, along the way everyone dies except for him and the dog. They continue along their journey together. However, the dog was simply a test in the dream so he could get to heaven but all the sudden he realizes his brothers are not there, instead they are all in hell. He then awakens and finds Draupadi beside him and he is restored in his spirits. He then declares the war as officially over and is made king. They then have a great festival following the coronation. The very end of the Mahabharata is with Takshaka taking Askita to the naga kingdoms under the world.

Yudhisthira and the Dog

Source: Wikipedia 

Week 14: Reading Diary A

In week 14 we picked up where we left off in week 13 with the incident at the lake. Duryodhana's next step was to make the entire lake impenetrable. Yudhisthira then proposes that Druyodhana fights on of the Pandavas, so he fights Bhima. The fight takes place at the lake and brim defeats him. Druyodhana is then found in agony after Bhima smashed his thighs. However, Duryodhana is proud to have fallen in battle and proud to die that way. Ashwatthaman becomes the leading general andpreares for the night raid on the Pandavas camp. However, the Pandavas are sleeping outside the normal camp that night. The camp is guarded by a manifestation of Shiva in the form of a three eyed giant dressed in tiger skin. Ashwatthaman at first attacks the giant but then offers himself as a sacrifice to Shiva and earns his way inside the camp. He, once inside, kills many of the people inside. As soon as the news is given to Druyodhana, he passes away. After the late night raid of the camp there are not many survivors left on either side of the battle. Vyasa then takes the gift of sight away from Sanjaya. He composed the Mahahharata for the benefit of humanity. Eventually Dhritarashtra is able to embrace the Pandavas. Vyasa enters the Ganges and an army rises up until eventually the Drona leads the ghost army back into the lake. 

Duryodhana in the lake

Source: Wikipedia

Reading Diary B Week 13: The Battle

For part B of week 13 I continue with the reading of Buck's Mahabharata. This part of the diary will cover from page 247 to page 305. This week picked up with the looming battle . Vyasa goes to Hastinapura to warn Dhritarashtra of the preparations being taken. We then see Dhritarashtra admit to Vyasa that he has now ability to control his sons and they will do as they please even if he disagrees with them. Sanjay, who had been bestowed with great vision in order to see the entire battle, narrates the entire battle to Dhritarashtra. Duryodhana has a much larger army than that of Yudhishthira. The major event that happens next is when Bhishma is struck with so many arrows he falls from his chariot. The battle immediately comes to a halt as flowers begin to fall from heaven. Bhishma has the ability to choose the exact moment of his death and decides to wait until the winter solstice which is the shortest day of the year. Krishna places Bhishma into a peaceful sleep so that he feels no pain. Duryodhana promotes Drona to take Bhishma's place and orders him to capture Yudhishthira alive. Arjuna's young friend Uttara asthenia trapped behind enemy lines and killed by the Kauravas. Arjuna in return slaughters Jayadartha and causes Jayadartha's fathers head to explode due to his very own curse. Dona kills Drupada during battle but then finds out his very own son has been killed. Although it is not actually his son that his dead, he believes it is and falls into despair leading to his very own death. Karna and Arjuna then battle each other. Arjuna is able to kill Karna who is attempting to kill all of the Pandavas. The lone survivors on the side of Duryodhana go to find him hiding in a lake. However, the Pandavas hear of this and go to the lake forcing all of the survivors to hide while they confront Duryodhana.

Arjuna and Karna

Source: Wikipedia

Reading Diary A Week 13: Yudhisthira's conflict

This week I chose to continue reading Buck's Mahabharata. We picked up in week 13 with pages 191 to 246. The beginning of the section is the story of the Pandavas at the lake. Yudhishthira is sending his brothers one after another to retrieve water from the nearby lake. However, none of them return. After a while he himself goes to look for the rest of his Pandava brothers. When Yudhishthira arrives at the lake he finds the bodies of all of his brothers laying by the lake. Eventually, Yudhishthira discovers that this is a test from his divine father, Dharma. He must answer questions before he is allowed to drink any water. Yama the Dharman King, then revives all of the bodies of the Pandava brothers. Next the Pandavas are deciding where to spend the thirteenth year of exile and they decide to do so in the court of King Virata in the Matsya kingdom. All of the Pandavas take on certain roles within the kingdom in order to disguise themselves. We then meet Kichaka, one of Virata's generals, who has a desire for Draupadi. This causes quite the commotion when he assaults Draupadi. However, she gets even with him when she has Bhima crush Kichaka into a ball of flesh. Sanjay then comes to visit the Pandavas by way of Dhritarashtra. It is an attempt to settle the issues between the Pandavas and Duryodhana.

Kichaka and Draupadi

Source: Wikipedia

Week 12 Reading Diary B:

In part B of the week 12 reading we pick up with Arjuna and Urbashi. Urvashi is trying to woo Arjuna, however, he does not fall for her tap and she forces him to live for a year as a eunuch. Indra along with Chitraratha teach Arjuna music and dancing along with the use of divine weapons. Next we return to Yudhisthira and the Pandavas. Yudhisthira has a dream where the Pandavas are ased to leave the forest soon because they are scaring all the deer away. We then learn the story of Mankanaka and Shiva having to end his dancing to save the world. We then learn of Rishyashringa who was the son of Vibhandaka and the deer who had drank the sperm of Vibhandaka. Rishyashringa was growing antlers from his head. The Pandavas, meanwhile, left the forest and went on a journey to Mount Kailasa. However, they were attacked by the mountain when Yudhisthira disrupted the silence. Later on in the same place we see the Gandharvas attack. Duryodhana has to be reduced by Bhima and Arjuna. He is so embarrassed by this that he resolves to die until Kali encourages him to live. While in the woods the Pandavas are visited by Krishna and Vyasa. They tell them the love story of Savitri to please Draupadi.

Savitri 

Source: Wikipedia

Week 12 Reading Diary A: Gambling & The Fallout

In the reading diary of part A for week 12 we are reading pages 93 through 138. It picks up rather quickly with the game of dice set to take place. They begin the match with Yudhisthira representing the Pandavas and Shakuni representing Duryodhana. Shakuni is now to be a skilled dice thrower. They begin to bet many things that you would imagine such as gold and other valuables. However, when he starts losing Yudhisthira gambles away all of his brothers, himself, and eventually Draupadi. Draped is set to work in the kitchen. Then she is summoned to Assembly Hall with Dushashana who strips her dress off, however, thanks to Krishna overtime a dress is removed another one appears. Dhritarashtra intervenes freeing everyone and restoring them of their riches. Then after the final throw of the dice, the Pandavas and Draupadi agree to go into exile. Vyasa then reappears in the forest to tell Yudhisthira the story of King Nala, the king of the Nidasha people. Nala was chosen by Damayanti, as they were madly in love with each other, to be her husband. The evil spirit Kali was also in love with her and vowed to ruin their happiness. Kali eventually found a wy to take everything from Nala and eventually forced him to try and get Damayanti to return to her father's house instead of stay with Nala. However, instead she decided to search for Nala against all advice received until she was attacked. Only then did she return to ask her father for assistance in the search for Nala. Eventually the two were reunited and Nala won back his kingdom and wealth in a game of dice. Visa then taught Yudhisthira the science of gambling with dice.

Nala and Damayanti

Source: Wikipedia

Reading Diary B: Pandavas Journey

Reading part B for week 11 picks up with the Pandavas and Kunti being sent away. When the Pandavas arrive at the house they are staying in there is a plan to kill all of the Pandavas. Fire will be set to the house and trap all of the Pandavas inside. However, the Pandavas are warned and escape through a tunnel leaving six decoy corpses behind. There is a boatman waiting for them as they flee disguised as Brahmins. They arrive in a other village and decide to live there with a family that offers to take them in. However, the family is charged with paying the yearly sacrifice to king Vaka. Instead, Kunti sends Bhima out to fight the king and he defeats him with no weapons. Visa then arrives and announces he will be taking the Pandavas to Draupadi. When they arrive there, Drupada has made an archery test that only Arjuna can pass. Therefore, Arjuna wins Draupadi. Draped then marries all five of the Pandava brothers. Arjuna next takes Subhadra as his wife, the sister of Krishna. Then Agni, the fire god,  comes to burn the forest of Khandava however, Indra, the storm god, continues to save the forest. Arjuna and Krishna help hold off the storm god as the forest burns. Maya, architect of the gods, was inside the forest though and needed protection from Agni. Therefore, Arjuna protects him. In return, Maya builds the Pandavas a great palace. The part B then ends with a game of dice being planned.

Arjuna and Subhadra

Source: Wikipedia

Reading Diary A: Starting Buck's Mahabharata

For my reading diaries in week eleven I will be using Buck's version of Mahabharata. Buck immediately introduces many characters into his version of the story. From the beginning we see reference to Vishnu, Krishna, Arjuna, and Saraswati. Also, he introduces the origins of the Mahabharata with the composer, Vyasa, and his scribe, Ganesha. We learn that Vyasa composed the entire story in his head without writing it down. When he needed a way to write it down he recited the entire thing to Ganesha to put it on paper. Ganesha was the son of Shiva, he also had an elephant because when he was younger Shiva got mad at him and ripped it off. He then chose to replace his human head with one of an elephant. After the lesson of the origins Buck continues on to the Mahabharata. It begins with the ocean being milk before it turned to salt. Vishnu wanted the gods to churn the ocean to get out the nectar of immortality. While doing this they churned out many things including: Lakshmi, Rambha, Airavata, and the wish giving cow. However, there was also poison that came out and Shiva had to swallow it in order to save the world. Later on, Bhisma obtains three wives for Vichitravirya. The three women were Amba, Ambika, and Ambalika. Amba, however, has already vowed herself to a king. Vichitravirya unfortunately dies before being able to have children with the other two wives. Visa then goes to father children with the two women. This results in Dhritarashtra, Pandu, and Vidura. Bhisma appoints Pandu as king. Panda then marries Kunti who had already obtained the ability to have a son with a god. This resulted in Karna but she sent him away down the river. The next big development is the introduction of the Pandavas, the five sons of Pandu.

Pandu and Kunti 

Source: Wikipedia

Reading Diary B Week 10

Part B of this week's reading picks up with Yudhishthira attempting to make one last plea for peace. He sends Vidura to Hastinapura to speak with Dhritarashtra. However, he rejects the request for peace and justice. When the news of the rejected peace offering is circulated they all realize it is now time for war. The battle is to take place on the field of Kurukshetra. Arjuna originally does not want to fight because of the idea of fighting his family members, however, after the sermon delivering the song of the lord he is ready to fight. Bhisma plays a major role in the battle as he affects how different characters decide who and when to attack. Once he becomes fatally wounded it becomes okay for Karna to fight. They then lure Arjuna away from the battle while his son Abhimanyu is charged with breaking through the enemy lines. He knows how to do this but not how to escape and he gets captured and killed by Jayadratha. Arjuna then vows to kill him by the end of the day. When krishna uses a discus to make it seem like it is night time, Jayadratha comes out of hiding but does not realize it is a trap. It was all so Arjuna could kill him, which he did. After long days of battling the warriors are brought to their death by karma Krishna insists. Duryodhana does not believe this up until his own death. After the battle the Pandavas go to Hastinapura. They perform rituals for all of the dead along with others. Although Yudhisthira refuses to be king he is finally convinced by the other that he needs to be king. All of the Pandavas die off one by one until the only one left is Yudhisthira. He departs for heaven in his human form while the Pandava line is upheld as Arjuna's son, Abhimanyu takes the throne in Hastinapura.

Cosmic form of Krishna

Source: Wikipedia

Week 10 Reading Guide A:

This week while reading the Mahabharata we pick up after the fall out of the series of dice games between both sides. The Pandavas and Arjuna are still working with their newly acquired weapons. However, Dhritarashtra is aware of the moves they are making and the weapons because of the spies he has following them. Duryodhana then decides to humiliate the Pandavas until his plan backfires enormously. The gods draw them into a battle and the Pandavas end up having to free Duryodhana from captivity. The Pandavas then are drawn in by the deer who leads them astray and drives them to thirst. They then head to a lake to find water. Nacelle is the first to drink from the lake after ignoring the voice and dies. All of Yudhisthira's brothers follow in this trend until he discovers them all dead from the lake. Luckily, he recognizes the test and listens to the voice. After he is done at the lake all his brothers regain life. They were now in their thirteenth year of exile This thirteenth year would allow for them to live in disguise with the King Virata. They all live in disguise in various roles. Draupadi ends up being part of a big scandal and has to beg to avoid being sent away during their final days of exile. This leads to the cattle raid which resulted in Virata giving his daughter to Arjuna's son after he draws blood from Yudhisthira. Shortly after the wedding the preparations for the war begin. After appeals for peace both sides seem to realize that war ultimately looms.

Krishna and the Pandavas

Source: Wikipedia

Week 9 Reading Diary B: Games of Dice

This week for the second part of our reading we picked up with Duryodhara. He has just learned that the Pandavas are still alive. He is bothered by the fact that his father, Dhritarashtra, will not hate the Pandavas. Bhishma and Vidura give opposing advice that ends up resulting in Karna wanting war. However, Dhristarashtra gives the Pandavas land in Hastinapura. The Pandavas take this land and erect their own city, Indraprastha. Yudhisthira is named king of their great city. Duryodhana becomes very jealous of the Pandavas and Indraprastha. Duryodhana and Shakuni then plan their game of dice in order to get revenge for the Pandavas laughing at them. Yudhishthira cannot refuse the game of dice so the Pandavas and him head to Hastinapura. During the game of dice, Yudhishthira loses everything that he owns in the game of dice. This includes his family, himself, and Draupadi. Draped and the Pandavas are forced to strip in the hall. After everything is returned to everyone and they all return home. There is then, of course, a second game of dice. Yudhishthira loses forcing the Pandavas into exile. Krishna then goes to Yudhishthira and promises to punish Duryodhana. At the end of this week's reading we are left with Arjuna returning to the Pandavas with the weapons he has acquired.

The First Game of Dice

Source: Wikipedia

Week 9 Reading Diary A: A new beginning

This week we began reading Narayan's Mahabharata. The book begins with the introduction to Shantanu, the king of Hastinapura. He and his wife have an extremely strange marriage where he is never allowed to question anything she does, including drowning all of their newborn babies. However, on the eighth child's birth, he questions her a s she begins to drown the child. This is where we learn she is the river Ganga reincarnated in order to give birth to eight gods. She is drowning the children in order to return them to heaven, however, she takes the eighth child with her. She then returns Devavratha or Bhishma to his father when he is grown. Shantanu then falls in love with Satyavati. Her father forbids her from marrying him since the heir to the throne has already been named in Bhisma. Naturally, Bisma steps down and lets them get married and have their son Chitrangada take the throne. Unfortunately, he dies soon there after. Bhisma takes his place as regent for their other young son Vichitravirya. Bhisma claims Amba, Ambika, and Ambalika all for Vichitravirya. Amba then says she is already taken but then she is rejected by her husband in waiting and vows revenge. We then meet the next group of sons from Vyasa and the mistresses including the servant of Ambalika and we get Dhritarashtra, Pandu, and Vidua. The first two being flawed and the last, from the servant, not being flawed. After all of them go on to have children, Dhritarashtra rules as king. His son Yudhishthira is deemed the heir to him.

Shantanu chasing after his wife and child 

Source: Wikipedia

Reading Diary B: Rama's Return

Rama's return tot he throne is where we left off in the first part of the reading this week and it is where the second part of the reading picks up. Rama must make sure the Bharata knows he is coming so that he does not follow through with his plans to kill himself. In order to do so, Rama sends always trustworthy Hanuman ahead of him to announce his return to Bharata. Bharat is so excited that he starts crying tears of joy and greets Rama with his sandals upon his return. Rama eventually sends home everyone who had accompanied him on his journey. He and Sita rewarded all of this who had played an important role in their safety.

Although everything seemed to be running smoothly after the return of Rama and Sita, many years later things began to change. Rama started listening to the rumbling of the common people that he should not have taken Sita back after she lived with Ravana and now that she was preagnant. Rama then sends her with Lakshmana to the Ganges. Lakshmana does not agree but he knows he must follow through with Rama's command. Lakshmana leaves Sita upon the shores of the Ganges. Sita while there gives birth to Kusha and Lava.

Rama plans a great festival and invites Sita's father, Janaka. Rama eventually realizes the two boys are really his sons during the festival. The entire time he had just placed a gold statue of Sita next to him in his place. When Sita is finally allowed to plead for her innocence from Rama, Rama makes it to where if she is innocent she will go with Bhumi into the ground. After the disappearance, Rama continues to rule. Kala then goes as a hermit and requests a meeting with Rama, however if anyone interrupts they will die. Lakshmana interrupts the meeting so he must go to the river to die. Rama then begins his journey out of Ayodhya. Along the way Hanuman opens his flesh to reveal that his bones carry the name of Rama on them. Rama gives him his ring which bears the name Rama. Rama then jumps into the Sarayu river followed closely by his loyal friends and followers. The souls of all of the dead then ascend upward to heaven where they are greeted by Chitraratha.

Rama and his followers at the Sarayu River

Source: Wikipedia

Reading Diary A: Ravana and Rama

In the first part of this week's reading we got to hear a lot about Ravana. Ravana has learned form Shuka about the feeling of despair that has taken over the people of Lanka. Raven then decides to go out dancing underneath the stars. While he is dancing under the stars he creates a wind storm. Ravana is threatened by time, also Kala, but Ravana does not acknowledge the threat. The next issue we learn about is the final battle between Rama and Ravana. Rama attacks Ravana and cuts all of his heads off. However, all of Ravana's heads grow back. Indra had sent Matali to help him but Ravana maces Matali. Luckily, Rama is able revive him. Rama and Ravana then start battling each other on foot. Ravana then disguises himself as Indra, this paralyzes Rama. However, the Indra disguise does not fool Matali. Rama then slays Ravana. We then are introduced to Buck's own personal addition of the letter written from Ravana to Rama. The letter reveals that Ravana tells Rama to go and get Sita back. Rama then has to hurry back in order to prevent Bharata from killing himself as he had vowed to do if Rama did not return in time. 

Rama's welcome home 

Image Source: Commons

Reading Diary A:

This week I chose to continue reading Buck's Ramayana. We left off last week after Sita had been abducted by Ravana and taken by him to Lanka. Then all of the monkeys get together and decide that they need to send Hanuman to Lanka to rescue Sita. Hanuman then makes his way to Lanka, along the way, he encounters the sea demon Sinhika. Sinhika is a female rakshasa or rakshasi who swallows Hanuman. Hanuman manages to escape by crushing Sinhika's heart and then escaping out of her ear. Hanuman then finally arrives at Lanka and changes into a cat so that he is able to roam freely. Hanuman tries to roam everywhere in search of Sita, but is not able to find her anywhere. He even looks in Ravana's bedroom but realizes that it is just Ravana's wives and there is no Sita. He decides to give up on his search until his father, the god of wind, forces Hanuman to the ashoka grove. Ravana then visits Sita at the ashoka grove and attempts to seduce her, however, she knows not to give into Ravana. The guards begin to have conversations about killing Sita and eating her. Hanuman finally reaches out to Sita, and although she does not believe him at first she finally becomes convinced and sends Hanuman off with a message for Rama. Hanuman decides that when he is leaving he needs to cause a destruction in Lanka. He terrorizes the land and causes mass chaos. Hanuman is captured and almost killed, however, he is able to escape and set fire to all of Lanka. He does so without harming Sita and tells her that Rama will soon be coming for her.

Hanuman finding Sita

Source: Wikipedia

Reading Diary B: Search for Sita

Part B of this week’s reading starts back with where it left us regarding Sita and Rama’s journey through the forest. Sita and Rama are busy dealing with Ravana. Ravana now has Maricha working with him as he sends him to Rama as a golden deer. Sita then encourages Rama to chase the deer, however, when he kills the deer it cries out in Rama’s voice, which startles Sita. Lakshmana goes in search of Rama, but during this time Ravana appears in front of Sita in his elderly disguise. As soon as Ravana ditches his disguise he grasps Sita and takes her away against her will, obviously. Luckily, Sita lets her jewelry fall off to where the two monkeys are in hope of their realization of the situation. We then learn that Ravana cannot rape Sita because his heads would explode if he committed rape due to the curse that had been placed upon him. Therefore, Ravana captured Sita and must convince her to give into him willfully. Rama and Lakshmana return to find that Sita is gone. Luckily, they get sent in the right direction as they start to discover clues ultimately leading to the monkeys. Hanuman then is the one who takes Rama and Lakshmana to Sugriva, who reveals Sita’s discovered jewelry. All of the monkeys go out in massive search parties looking for Sita to lead her back to Rama and Lakshmana. They leave us with the squad who went to the south that has encountered Swayamprabha, she is in charge of the underground world. They are down there for about a month, but they refuse to quit and emerge from the cave ready to continue their search.

Sugriva

Source: Wikipedia

Reading Diary A: The adventure into the forest

The second section of Buck’s Ramayana opens with Kausalya awaking to find Dasharatha is now dead. Instantly they must have people go seek Bharata since Rama has been exiled and Dasharatha is now dead. Although Bharata does not approve of the decision his mother has made he is shocked to find out that he is now king. Bharata decides that he must immediately go and find Rama and convince him to come back to inherit the throne. Rama informs Bharata that he cannot return because he has to finish the fourteen-year sentence of the exile. Bharata does not want to take the throne but eventually agrees as long as he can take Rama’s sandals back to place on the throne as a reminder that he is ruling only until Rama is able to return and claim his throne back. The story skips ahead into the last summer of Rama’s exile as he is headed for the Dandaka forest where Ravana rules. Agastya stops them before they head into the forest to prepare them and give Rama a better bow as they prepare to enter into the forest. As they enter the forest Shurpanakha, Ravana’s sister, attacks Sita and proposes to Rama. She then storms off and informs the demons what has happened, they then launch an entire attack on Rama, however, Rama and Lakshmana defeat the entire demon army and Ravana is beginning to take notice of Rama and Sita. Ravana decides that he must take Sita for himself instead of Rama having her. We are then introduced to Maricha, Ravana’s uncle, and learn that Ravana and his uncle are planning to capture Sita.  

Rama, Sita, and Lakshmana

Source: Wikipedia

Week 4: Reading Diary B

Part B of this week’s reading in Buck picks up with Rama being exiled into the forest for fourteen years by Kaikeyi in favor of Bharata to be king. Rama without objection gathers Sita and they head off into the forest after giving away all of their possessions. Rama appears to be one of the only people accepting of the situation, including his own father Dasharatha whom he has to persuade to not be angry with Kaikeyi. The citizens of Kosala as well attempt to follow Rama into the forest. Theelders of Ayodhya, however, raised the river in order to block Rama’s path. Rama, Sita, and Lakshmana meet the sage Bharadwaja who convinces them to build a house in Chitrakuta. Lakshmana builds the entire house for them so that they have a place to stay. Back in town after Rama and Sita venture into the forest with Lakshmana, Dasharatha realizes he did not have to do what Kaikeyi asked of him but it was too late. Dasharatha thenis reminded of his time when he accidentally killed a boy in the forest, the next morning Kausalya find Dasharatha dead.

Rama, Sita, and Lakshmana with Bharadwaja

Source: Wikipedia