Week 11 Reading Diary B: The Pandavas

This section of Buck’s Mahabharata is mainly focused on the Pandavas, who are basically forced out of their house in Varanavata because Duryodhana and Duhshasana order the minister, Purochana, to devise a fire trap to kill the Pandavas. After hearing of these plans, the Pandavas construct a tunnel that allows them to escape the house. They also leave six corpses to try and fool Duryodhana and disguise themselves as Brahmins. I thought this part of the reading was pretty intense because they were basically about to be ambushed by a fire. Luckily, they made it out!

I enjoyed reading the part about Draupadi’s swamyavara. I find it an entertaining section of the reading because Arjuna is my favorite character and because he wows everyone watching with his talents. The audience is so surprised because he is disguised as just a wandering Brahmin at the time. I have watched the Mahabharata and this scene in the show is very intense because it is supposed to be very difficult to string the bow and hit the moving target. This is definitely one of my favorite parts of the Mahabharata. After winning this competition, Arjuna wins Draupadi and she ends up marrying all five of the Pandava brothers. I still don’t understand why she marries all five of the brothers.

This section was definitely a good read because so much stuff is going on. I want to read more about Krishna and Arjuna’s friendship so I hope that Buck touches on that a little more than Narayan did.

Arjuna at Draupadi's swamyavara; Wikipedia

Week 11 Reading Diary A: Starting Buck's Mahabharata

I liked the idea of the Mahabharata being told by another character as a story in Buck’s version of the Mahabharata. Vyasa asks his companion, Vaishampayana, to recite the Mahabharata to Janamejaya. I still find it crazy that it takes Shantanu seven children to finally question Ganga about her drowning their children. I would expect a king like him to take control of the situation at hand and figure out Ganga’s reasoning for her questionable actions. Shantanu finally does so when their eighth child is born, which Ganga gives to him after he begs her to let the child live. He names this child Bhishma.

I found the story of Satyavati to be kind of comical because the way she is born is so unorthodox. At this point though, I’m not surprised because a lot of things that have been happening in the Mahabharata are so random and crazy. Satyavati is born in the belly of a fish that became impregnated when a hawk carrying the semen of the King of Chedi accidently drops the semen into a river. A fisherman comes across this fish and takes the baby girl as a child of his own. Shantanu and Satyavati have a child named Vichitravirya.

Reading Narayan’s version of the Mahabharata first helps me when I read Buck’s version because I am already familiar with most of the characters so it’s easier to keep track of who’s who and what’s actually going on. So far, I think I like Buck’s version better but I’ll decide for sure once I’ve read more of this version! 

Shantanu tries to woo Satyavati; Wikipedia

Week 10 Reading Diary B: The War

First off, I’m still trying to keep all the characters and their names straight in my head because there are just so many! It’s sort of difficult to keep track of who is who and which character does what! I thought this section of the book was pretty intense and eventful, obviously because it focuses mainly on the war.

The main thing that stuck out to me in this section of the Mahabharata was the part when Bhima kills Duhshasana and then proceeds to drink his blood after mutilating his body. I thought it was a pretty dark and vivid scene and it wasn’t something I was expecting to read at all. It was interesting to say the least!

I also found it ironic how the Pandavas end up on opposite sides of their guru Drona in the war. That makes the war scene even more interesting because everything the Pandavas know was taught to them by Drona so you would think that Drona has the advantage over them. I was surprised that he was depicted dying by sheer trickery on Krishna’s part although it does make sense that Drona would despair over the “death” of his son. A lot of the deaths in the war were unexpected and random in my opinion.

It was sort of funny how Krishna dies since it’s so random and unexpected. He dies because a hunter thinks the soles of Krishna’s feet are two birds. I didn’t really understand why Gandhari cursed Krishna because he did technically help the Pandava’s win the war against Duryodhana. 

Karna confronts Arjuna in Kurukshetra War; Wikipedia

Famous Last Words: Week 9

So far, this has been one of the busiest semesters I have ever had. The seventeen credit hours are finally catching up to me...needless to say, I've been slacking a bit when it comes to this class. I'm still on track to get an A because I started off this course strong, but I need to make sure I keep up with ALL of the weekly assignments from here on out so I can finish the class before dead week if possible! That's my goal so I can focus on studying for my difficult courses when the time comes.

I’m enjoying the course as it goes on! I’m glad we finally started the Mahabharata because Arjuna is one of my favorite characters when it comes to Indian Epics. He’s pretty interesting to read about and I’m looking forward to finishing up the Mahabharata as we wrap up the course! As I mentioned earlier, my goal is to end the class a couple weeks early with an A so I can focus on studying for finals those last two weeks. I’ll have to pick up the slack these next few weeks if I want to get that done, but it should be manageable!

Other than class and working at CASP, I’ve been keeping up with The Walking Dead and I cannot wait for Season 5 of Game of Thrones to premiere next month! Those are probably my two favorite shows at the moment. I have also been keeping up with the Cricket World Cup as India advances to the semi-finals! I don’t follow cricket regularly but I always try and find time to support India when the World Cup rolls around because it’s such a big deal. We’re only two games away from winning the whole thing! Hopefully it ends up happening because that would be a huge accomplishment. People in India are ready to go nuts if we win the CWC!

CWC 2015; Web Source

Google Timer Tech Tip

I think the Google Timer would be a good way in managing the time you spend on the computer or for doing anything in general. The way I manage time is by blocking out certain times of the day where I just focus on school work. During those times, I put my phone on silent and put away anything that will distract me. Then I study in short intervals and take even shorter breaks in between so I don't get burnt out. This helps me control and take advantage of the time I have available.

Right now, I don't use a timer to manage my time. I just check the time on my phone or laptop and go from there to see how I'm doing.

Week 9 Reading Diary B:

In this section of Narayan’s Mahabharata, I found the game of dice to be an interesting read. I’m not even really sure how to play dice, but it seems like that game was the game to play back then. I found Duryodhana’s jealousy and hate towards the Pandavas to be quite comical actually. He’s like the annoying little villain who never gives up on getting rid of the protagonist. I don’t get why Yudhishthira doesn’t just quit the first game of dice when he realizes how bad he’s losing instead of losing all his possessions. I mean, he loses his wife, Draupadi, his clothes, and even his brothers! Luckily, Krishna comes to Draupadi’s rescue when Duryodhana forcefully tries to undress her. He somehow makes another sari appear on Sita when the original is removed.

Luckily, Dhritarashtra gives Draupadi three wishes that he vows to grant. She uses the first two wishes to set Yudhishthira free, as well as her other four husbands. She refuses to request a third wish so Dhritarashtra gives the Pandavas’ possessions back to them and lets them return to Indraprastha without any further trouble. I really don’t understand why he let them go so easy after the trouble of building the assembly hall and setting up the game of dice with the Pandavas. Although the second game of dice would go in Duryodhana’s favor as well, it’s weird that he let them go so easy. The second game of dice results in the Pandavas being exiled for thirteen years; twelve years in poverty and one in disguise.

The game of dice; Wikipedia

Week 9 Reading Diary A: Intro to the Mahabharata

The main thing that caught my attention in Narayan’s Mahabharata was the fact that there’s an abundance of new characters introduced very quickly. I was kind of overwhelmed trying to keep names associated with their characters but I think as I keep reading I’ll be able to sort it out and keep it straight in my head.

I was immediately curious at the beginning of the book when it was mentioned that Ganga would only marry Shantanu, the king of Hastinapura, if he never questioned her actions. That seemed very sketchy and odd to me because everyone questions everything. When Ganga starts throwing the babies in the river I was shocked and then curious to know her reasoning behind doing so. It’s surprising how it took Shantanu seven drowned babies to finally question Ganga’s motive behind doing do. Ganga then explains that she is actually the river Ganga reincarnated as a human to give birth to eight gods, called the Vasus. The Vasus are being punished by being reincarnated as humans for stealing a cow. Ganga explains that she is just returning the gods to the heavens by drowning the babies.

As the book goes on, character such as the Pandavas, are introduced. The Pandavas are the sons of Pandu, who eventually dies along with one of his wives. Pandu’s other wife, Kunti, is left to raise the five sons. The names of the five Pandavas are Yudhishthira, Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula and Sahadeva. I’m excited to finally be reading about Arjuna because I have always been intrigued by his character. The Pandavas all marry Draupadi, whom Arjuna wins over in a competition.

Draupadi and the Pandavas; Wikipedia