Mahabharata Reading Notes: Part B

 Mahabharata Reading Notes Part B

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Sources used: Arnold, Besant, Devee, Dutt, Ganguli, Kincaid, Macfie, Mackenzie, Nivedita, Seeger, and Tagore.

21. Here, we become familiar with the character Vidura. Vidura is the brothyer of Pandu and Dhritarashtra. He is not eligible to be king since his mother is a servant. He is loyal to the sons of Pandu. He warns them of Duryodhana's plan to burn them alive, so they build an escape tunnel. 

22. The Pandavas are living out in the forest. Here, Bhima meets the rakshasa chief Hidimba, who plans to trap the Pandavas. The two go and fight in the forest.

23. Hidimba's sister, Hidimbi, meets Bhima and becomes smitten with him. She betrays her brother for Bhima and they have an affair. Hidimbi has a child as a result: Ghatotkacha.

24. Kunti and the Pandavas go out to the town of Ekachakra, where they find that the chief Baka is terrorizing the village. Bhima decides to solve this and has a scuffle with Baka. Bhima absolutely bodies Baka and snaps his backbone in half. Baka is not a problem anymore.

25. Kunti and her sons go to visit Drupada (in disguise) to witness the birth of his daughter Drupadi. She has been prophesied to become a Pandava queen, and people were flocking all over to see her birth. 

26. Draupadi has a Swayamwara (suitor ceremony). Draupada wanted Arjuna to win his daughter, so he set an archery challenge that only Arjuna could do. Arjuna, in disguise, competes and wins Draupadi.

27. Draupadi receives all five brothers as her husbands. Vyasa provides a loophold: Draupadi in a previous incarnation was a pious woman who prayed five times for a husband and never received one. So this was to be her answer. Additionally, Vyasa posits that the five brothers are all incarnations of Indra, so they are of the same essence. 

28. Nalayani, Draupadi's previous incarnation, prays to the god Shankara (Shiva) for a husband. 

29. Yudhishthira becomes ruler of a great stronghold at Indraprastha. 

30. The brothers have strict time with Draupadi and they are not to interrupt each other's time, lest they face an exile of 12 years. Arjuna stumbles onto Yudhishthira's time, so he is exiled. There, Arjuna meets Ulupi, princess of the nagas, and has an entanglement with her. They have a child named Iravat. 

31. Arjuna rescues some water nymphs. 

32. Arjuna meets Chitra, the princess of Manipur. They have a child so that she can have a successor to the throne after her father dies. 

33. Arjuna marries the sister of Krishna, Subhadra. Subhadra and Draupadi had a small spat at first but then they are all good. 

34. Krishna and Arjuna help Agni to consume a forest in exchange for celestial weapons.

35. Maya was spared in the forest fire and agrees to build a palace for the Pandavas as repayment. 

36. Yudhishthira declares himself a supremem monarch by performing a Rajasuya sacrifice. Krisna beheads Shishupala in a fight. 

37. Shakuni challenges Yudhishthira to a gambling match. Shakuni cheats and Yudhishthira gambles away his brothers rights, his own rights, and Draupadi's rights? That's rough, buddy.

38. Draupadi naturally resists and does not like being enslaved. 

39. The Pandavas commiserate in jail. This revenge serves as a motivator for the next parts to come.

40. Pandavas, Kunti, and Draupadi are all sent to exile. 

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(The Burning of Khandava Forest - image credit)