Reading Notes: Narayan’s Mahabharata (Part A of Week 5)





·      Dhritarashtra, Pandu, and Vidura
-       Vichitravirya dies without having sons, so Satyavati (woman that Shantanu falls in love with)  begs Bhishma to sleep with his widows
-       He thinks that is morally wrong and he doesn’t want to break his vows
-       So she wants the widows to sleep with her son vyasa
-       A rishi (poet) named Parashara fell in love with Satyavati and he slept with her and they had Vyasa
-       Vyasa was summoned to sleep with the widows, and he looked strange because he had been performing religious rituals 
-       One of the widows, Ambika, is repelled by him and closes her eyes, so their son, Dhritarasha, is born blind
-       Ambalika (another widow) turns pale when she sees him, so their son, Pandu, is born looking pale
-       Ambalika makes her maid sleep with Vyasa and likes him, so their child, Vidura, was born without any flaws
Image result for mahabharata satyavatiSatyavati
 This is a statue of Satyavati from the first few stories in Mahabharata


·      Dharma throughout all the stories
-       behaviors that make life and universe possible (rights, laws, duties)
-       Means cosmic law in Buddhism
-       Proper religious practice and path of righteousness
-       The God Yama is referred to as Dharma
-       In India, legal rules require that people live per dharma
-       Yudhishthira is the son of Yama and Kunti

·      Escape from the fire
-       Dhritarashtra made yudhishthira as his heir to the throne (he is very popular)
-       Dhrrit.’s son wants to exile the Pandavas (the sons of Pandu) but makes an extremely flammable house for them to trick them
-       They figure out the trick and escape even though everyone thought they died

·      Krishna
-       avatar of the god Vishnu
-       Recognizes the Pandavas


This story, unlike Ramayana, is full of scandals and morality issues, this will be great for my stories in my portfolio. I could definitely write about dharma and how these characters are not living by it.


Bibliography:

 R. K. Narayan
The Mahabharata: A Shortened Modern Prose Version of the Indian Epic
Mahabharata

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