Wednesday, September 23, 2015

Reading Diary A: PDE Mahabharata


  • Vyasa was the composer of the Mahabharata and a character
  • Vedas-everything man should know about heaven and earth
  • Vyasa was born from a fish swallowing the semen of a great king.
  • Devavrata was born from the Goddess Ganga who had taken human form and married a King. By drowning 7 of her children, she freed gods from their humanly form and allowed a bit of their powers to be absorbed into her 8th son. 
  • Satyavati-Vyvasa's mother 
    • Vyasa goes to meditate but will return to Satyavati in times of need if she thinks of him
  • King Shantanu wont marry Satyavati because he refuses to make Vyasa heir
  • Devavrate becomes Bhishma once he denounces his thrown in to allow his father to marry Satyavati (this was part of the deal Ganga made all along)
  • Lady Amba is embarrassed of her rejection and isolation, is told by Shiva that she will reincarnate as a man and defeat Bhishma, who she is hellbent on destroying. 
  • Dharma, God of justice, was born as Vyasa's son
  • Kunti (wife of King Pandu) gives birth Karna, son of Surya, god of the sun. 
    • Kunti was ashamed of her affairs and sent Karna down the River Aswa in a basket and picked up by a couple who had been wishing for a child for a long time. 
    • Karna wore celestial earrings and armor that grew as he did. 
  • King Pandu has a mishap in the woods, killing a brahmin and his wife in deer form, and is told he will die in the arms of one of his wives.
    • this causes him to renounce all of his possessions to the brahmins, and went into hiding with his wives. 
  • Rivalry between the Pandavas and the Kauravas
  • Kauravas plot to kill Bhima, but they ironically make him stronger. 
  • Drona-guru of the cousins 
  • Pandavas
    • Arjuna-warrior
    • Yudhishthira-scholar
    • Bhima-Club
    • Nakula-taming steed
    • Sahadeva-swordmans/astronomer 
  • Karna shows up to the contest and strikes fear into the hearts of Pandavas
File:Purochan with Pandavas.jpg
Purochan with Pandavas: Wiki Commons  

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