Week 6 Reading Notes: PDE Mahabharata Part A

PDE Mahabharata

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

#7
In this story, Vyasa sires three sons - one is blind, the other is pale, and the third is with a handmaiden. I think it is really interesting that Vyasa totally takes himself down with respect to his looks. He basically calls himself disgusting and makes that the reason his son is born blind - because the woman who gave birth could not look at Vyasa. At the same time, Vyasa is writing himself out to be good. He calls himself a mighty sage and praises his own asceticism and devotion. This guy cannot pin himself down, and I think it is pretty funny.

A Sadhu, which could be similar to what Vyasa looked like. Source: PDE Mahabharata

# 8

Karna's origin story is like that of Moses from the Hebrew Bible, except his mother was not seeking to protect him. Rather she was ashamed that she gave birth to the sun god's child and was trying to cover up her actions. It seems like Kunti is filled with regret, but still loves her baby. Karna seems like he will grow up to be a really strong character, and in some ways reminds me of Rama from the Ramayana. I liked how he was born with earrings and other attire. It's like imagining that a really strong fighter was born as a smaller version of themselves rather than a regular baby just like the rest of us.

I think this one is weird, with the brahmin and his wife doing animal roleplay in the forest. Really this all could have been avoided if they were not disguised as deer. I find it interesting how people in these stories just seem to hang out in the forest. It is like Pokemon where you just encounter random strangers who want to battle you or animals that want to attack. Yet in Indian epics if you kill these animals you get cursed like King Pandu in the Mahabharata and King Dasharatha in the Ramayana. Also, I think "don't kill deer while they are having sex" is an interesting virtue to impart, and must be related to a cultural value toward animals that I don't understand in the modern day.

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