Reading Notes: Epified. Mahabharata
This week for the “reading” I decided to watch some videos
on YouTube that were retellings of The Mahabharata. Found here
In the first video, Shantanu the Unfortunate, the intro kind
of explains that if you view the stories as how Karma works, then you will
understand that everything is the result of what happened before it and the
cause of what happens next. I thought that was a really interesting perspective
to take on these and kind of explains how a lot of the stories interconnect.
The first story, Shantanu and the Unfortunate, is how he
married a woman and the woman made him promise that he would ask no questions
about her judgement. After they were married, she drown 7 of their children. On
the eighth, he questioned why she was doing this. She answered that she had
promised to free 8 celestial beings from mortality for crimes that had been
committed long ago. Because he has asked her questions, she left with the eighth
child and he was devastated. I still think this story is crazy! How could a
mother drown all her kids? And how heart broken Shantanu must have been to see
all his children die at the hands of his wife and then not be able to ask her
why she was doing that! Not sure how I would turn this into a story without
getting really dark, but this is definitely a tale that sticks with you.
Link to video here!
So in Episodes 3 and 4, Devavrat, son of Shantanu, makes a
vow to never take a wife and give up his rights to the throne so that his father
could marry a woman who wanted her kids to have those rights. I mean…….this son
was wayyyy too giving to his father. Because of his vow, he became known as
Bhishma, he of the terrible oath. All so that his father could be happy. In the
second video, Bhishma taught his half brothers how to be the best kinds they
could be. All while knowing that he gave up the right to take the throne.
Link to video 3 is here!
The next video was of Amba, who was promised to marry
Bhishma. Since he had no interest in marrying her, she released her to go and
find her true love and marry him instead. When Amba went to the other man, he
said he didn’t want to marry her because she was promised to Bhishma. So she
returned to Hastunapra and begged Bhishma to marry her since the other man did
not want her. This would rid her of her shame. Because of the vow that he took,
he told her he could not marry her. This made her very angry. (Hell hath no
furry like a woman scorned!) and she sought out someone who would get her
revenge. Poor Amba though probably just felt rejected by everyone and that’s
not going to be a fun feeling. Because of Bhishma’s reputation for being a
great warrior, she couldn’t find anyone that would seek her revenge.
Link to video here!
The next video is about Satyavati’s, Bhishma’s mother,
secret. She had another child before Bhishma, before she had met his father.
She wanted Bhishma to father some children because there was no heir to take
the throne, but because of the vow that he made, he would not do it. He was
happy now that he had a half-brother, Vyasa, that could father the children to
take over the throne.
Link to video here!
The woman that Vyasa was supposed to have children with were
afraid of him. The first woman closed her eyes and because of this, her child
would be blind. Satyavati was upset because she didn’t think a blind king would
be good. The next woman was scared of his as well. Satyavati told her to keep
her eyes open. She kept them open, but turned pale with fear. Her child would be
known as the pale one and would become the pale king if he were to inherit the
throne. This made Satyavati mad and she told her son to visit the second woman
again. In her place, she sent a servant to make a child with him. This servant
was not scared of him and accepted him in her heart.
Link to video here!
The last story was about the blind prince that married a
woman who chose to give up sight as well. He became the king of the kingdom.
Link to video here!
After hearing these stories again, it was interesting to see
what I took away from them this time with a different retelling. Most of the
stories were pretty sad actually. Or about death or giving up something for
someone else and being unhappy with what they have. Not sure I could turn any
of these into a version of my own, but it was great to hear someone retell them
in their own version Hoping that the reading for the rest of the week inspires
more of my own words to play around in my head and come out onto paper as
something interesting. I don’t like to retell them with the same settings and
characters. I like to keep the point of the story the same, but completely
change everything else. That is more fun to me than just rewriting the same
thing.
Title: Kaapi
Source: Wikimedia Commons
Although this picture has nothing to do with the stories, I am currently drinking my good 'ol cup of coffee as I do homework this morning. It's cold and rainy and super windy, so I need coffee more than ever! This is Kaapi, a South India version that is super tasty. I think I will be doing this for my Wikipedia trails assignment this week. Which can be found here! (I will add a link to the here part once I do the assignment)
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