bellalee

Mahabharata

19 min read

Author: Vyasa • Retelling: Carole Satyamurti

annotation key

  1. Overview
  2. Context
  3. Core themes
  4. Writing style
  5. What gave me the fizz
  6. Connections
  7. Well-written passages
  8. Quotes
  9. Questions

thoughts & analysis

  • 20% in: reading this feels like somebody spiked my drink without me knowing and I’m realizing too late that I’m high

notes

  • 4‍⃣ I think this is a great retelling because the pace and cadence of the verse is captivating, especially when it comes to fight scenes

A text that represents another text may be a translation (“faithful”), an adaptation (somewhat “loose”), a retelling (relatively “free”), or even a reworking (“creative”). In the past two decades, literary theorists have argued persuasively that all these categories can be placed on a single conceptual gradient called “translation” in the broadest sense, which moves from the most literal rendering of a text at one end to the most approximate at the other. In the late seventeenth century, John Dryden suggested brilliantly that the three defining positions on this spectrum be labeled “metaphrase,” which is a word-for-word or interlinear version; “paraphrase,” which deviates from the letter of a text, but not its spirit; and “imitation,” which ignores the letter, and also merely “strives after” its spirit. In general, translators may pursue any of these shades of rendering legitimately, provided they identify the genre of their output without ambiguity—that is, as a translation, a paraphrase, an adaptation, an imitation, and so on. (Afterword)

  • Translation is an act of violence
  • Some of these stories are high key funny as hell
  • 2‍⃣ Transmits life experiences without being didactic; generational wisdom
  • 2‍⃣ Story is passed through different hands
    • Captures culture
    • Community story

plot

Note

It is impossible to make these chronological without making them confusing. Thus, the notes are grouped in the order that my mind makes connections between events rather than by time.

Part I: The Book of the Beginning

  • Satyavati: daughter of a fisherman or royal seer
    • Parashara: great sage, rapist
      • Vyasa: son, became grown instantly
  • Vasus: eight celestial beings cursed to be born mortal
    • Wanted Ganga to bear them and drown them in a river to release from the hardships of a mortal life
  • Bharatas: lived in Hastinapura
    • Shantanu: leader
      • Ganga: river goddess, wife
        • Had known each other in a prior existence
        • Devavrata: last and only son that was not killed; celibate so Shantanu could marry Satyavati → renamed Bhishma
      • Marries Satyavati after Ganga leaves
        • Vichitravirya: son, king
          • Amba: after getting kidnapped, refuses to marry him, instead marrying King Shalva
          • Ambika: wife
          • Ambalika: wife
        • Chitrangada: son, became king first, then died
  • Satyavati wants Vyasa to father the widows’ children since Bhishma will not break his vows
    • Vyasa is dirty and stinky
    • Dhritarashtra: blind son of Vyasa and Ambika
      • Ghandari: daughter of King Subala, wife
        • Duryodhana: large, muscular first-born son
        • Kauravas: hundred sturdy sons
      • Yuyutsu: son with lowborn woman
    • Pandu: pale son of Vyasa and Ambalika
      • Kunti: Yadava princess, wife
        • Yudhishthira: child with Dharma
        • Bhima: child with wind god Vayu
        • Arjuna: child with Indra
      • Madri: daughter of Madra King, wife
        • Nakula and Sahadeva: child with twin deities, Ashvins
        • Kills herself after Pandu dies to a curse of death the moment he is overtaken with passion
      • Pandavas
    • Vidura: wise son of Vyasa and maidservant
  • Sharadvat: worthy sage’s son, brahmin with mastery in weaponry
    • 3‍⃣(Spontaneous ejaculation) Spontaneously ejaculates onto a reed after seeing a beautiful asparas
      • 9‍⃣ {Why are there so many stories of spontaneous ejaculation? I wonder if a birth is considered more “pure” without the presence of a woman—the key characteristic of these births is being conceived in anything but a woman’s body.}
      • Kripa: gifted fighter
      • Kripi: sister
        • Drona: husband, brahmin expert in weapons and astras
          • 3‍⃣(Spontaneous ejaculation) His father had spontaneously ejaculated after seeing an asparas and kept the seed in a jar, hence his name
  • Karna: sees Arjuna as his rival
    • Son of a driver, Adhirtatha, and Radha
      • Found him on the Ganga
        • 6‍⃣ {Folktale motif of the exposed child, cf. Oedipus Rex, Romulus and Remus}
      • Named Vasusena, “armed with riches”
      • Secret son of Kunti and Surya
    • Installed as king of Anga by Duryodhana so he can challenge Arjuna
  • Ekalavya: nishada, forest tribal, who is better at archery than Arjuna, so Drona makes him cut his thumb off, yet he keeps practicing
    • 3‍⃣(Devotion to a cause) {This scene really stuck with me—Ekalavya is so completely devoted to Drona, his teacher without being his teacher (he fashions a wooden idol of him and practices tirelessly every day), and his craft, that he does not harbor any resentment toward Drona’s demand. Instead, he single-mindedly focus on his one passion, archery.}
  • Drona takes the Pandavas to conquer Drupada’s land
    • Drona has beef with Drupada because they were besties as children, but once Drupada became a king he looked down on Drona
    • Drupada prays for a son to kill Drona and a daughter to become Arjuna’s wife
      • Dhrishtadyumna: son
      • Krishnaa (Draupadi): daughter
        • Marries all five Pandavas because Arjuna wins her love at her svayamvara, but when the brothers come home with her, Kunti was like “y’all have to share whatever you got today”—by all marrying her, then their mother won’t be a liar {what the helly}
          • 6‍⃣ {The Pandava’s return to society (though recognized in the moment by Krishna and Balarma only) reminds me of Odysseus, still dressed as a beggar, stringing and shooting the arrow through twelve axes to “win” Penelope’s hand}
          • 9‍⃣ {I wonder why so many heroic mythological figures are archers, as opposed to swordsmen?}
  • Duryodhana asks Dhritarashtra to send the Pandavas into exile and secretly plots to burn them down in a lacquer house
    • Pandavas fake their deaths
      • In the forest, an ogre, Hidimbaa, falls in love with Bhima
        • Bhima kills her brother, Hidimba
        • She wants to marry Bhima, so Yudhishthira is like “aight bet but bring him back every day by sunset”
        • “Now Hidimbaa, summoning her supernatural powers, took Bhima off on blissful honeymoons to secret places where time stopped for them in their exquisite lovemaking” and they have a kid, Ghatotkacha {WHAT THE HELLY}
  • Krishna and Balarma: Kunti’s brother’s son; the Pandava’s cousins
    • Yadavas
  • To teach Indra “a lesson for [his] overweening pride”, Shiva traps Indra in a cave with four other Indras
    • To be set free, they would have to be born in the mortal world
    • They ask if they can have gods as fathers, at least
      • → Pandavas
      • Shri, goddess of royal fortune, would be their shared wife as Draupadi
    • With this explanation, Drupada allows the five way marriage
  • Duryodhana wants to fight the Pandavas with a surprise attack
    • Dhritarashtra says Bhishma, Vidura, and the council must support it because he must remain neutral
    • Instead, Yudhishthira gets half the kingdom, the Khandavaprastha
      • Khandava tract is barren
  • Khandavaprastha → Indraprastha
  • Narada: great and subtle seer
    • Cautionary tale against brothers fighting over woman
    • They vow to go into a celibate exile if they ever see each other sleeping with Draupadi
      • This happens to Arjuna when he needs to fetch his bow from the quarters where Yudhishthira and Draupadi are hanging out to save a brahmin from thieves
        • He bangs three women because technically he only has to be celibate relating to Draupadi
          • Ulupi: snake princess
            • Basically says “I will die if you do not quench my thirst for you” {BRUH}
          • Chitrangadaa
            • Stays for three months and gives her a son
          • Subhadra: Krishna’s sister
            • Forcefully takes her as bride
            • Draupadi is salty as hell
            • Abhimanyu: son with Arjuna
  • Draupadi has a son with each Pandava in five years
  • Arjuna and Krishna fight the gods to allow Agni to consume the Khandava forest
    • Varuna: keeper of weapons
      • Arjuna
        • Gandiva bow
        • Two self-replenishing quivers
      • Krishna
        • Discus that always returns
        • Great club
      • Vishvakarman: celestial craftsman
        • Horse-drawn chariot with image of divine monkey

Part II: The Book of the Assembly Hall

  • Maya, a demon Arjuna spares during the Khandava forest fire, builds Yudhishthira a great assembly hall
  • Narada comes back and tells Yudhishthira he has to do the rajasuya sacrifice so Pandu can enter Indra’s realm of light
  • To gain allies, Krishna says the Pandavas must defeat Jarasandha of Magadha
    • Bhima rips him in half
    • They free 86 kshatriya princes and gain their allegiance
  • Yudhishthira does the rajasuya sacrifice and becomes king of kings
    • Vyasa tells him that after thirteen years of suffering, there will be a great war
  • Krishna: embodiment of Narayana, the self-created
  • Arjuna: embodiment of Nara, the eternal seer
  • Durodhyana is so jealous that he tells Dhitarashtra he will kill himself if Dhitarashtra doesn’t invite Yudhishthira to gamble his kingdom away
    • 3‍⃣(Honor) Shakuni cheats on behalf of Durodhyana
    • Yudhishthira becomes a gambling gambler
      • “Until the dreadful day when the passion for gambling possessed you, no one was more virtuous than you, Yudhishthira” (493) {LMFAO}
    • 3‍⃣(Honor) Draupadi is dishonored and nobody speaks up for her
    • Finally, Dhitarashtra returns everything to Yudhishthira because the Kauravas—Durodhyana and Duhshasana—have taken it too far
      • Durodhyana persuades him to call them back and gamble for thirteen years in exile; they would have to pass the final year in society, unrecognized

Part III: The Book of the Forest

  • Yudhishthira prays to Surya to feed his companions
  • Durodhyana and Dhitarashtra are shitting their pants at home because they know they messed up
  • 9‍⃣ {Is the great sage Maitreya related to the Buddha of the same name?}
  • 3‍⃣(Dharma, fate) Yudhishthira, Draupadi, and Bhima argue about dharma and free will
    • {Why is Draupadi lecturing the Dharma king on dharma LOL}
    • 3‍⃣(Devotion) “I choose to follow dharma, and I do it because it is right, not to obtain rewards” (494) {that is so metal}
  • Arjuna goes to the Himalaya to obtain Shiva’s weapon, Pashupata, the ultimate destroyer
    • Yama, Varuna, and Kubera give Arjuna weapons, too
      • Yama: god of death
      • Varuna: god of the ocean
      • Kubera: lord of treasures
    • Indra takes him to his kingdom, Amaravati
  • Chitrasena: music teacher and gandharva king
  • Indra asks Arjuna to make war against Nivatakavacha demons
  • The Pandavas go on a pilgrimage
  • 2‍⃣ {I find it interesting how characters are treated differently or expected to do different things based on their social class, e.g. kshatriya dharma as being the pursuit of virtue, wealth, and pleasure (498)}

locations

  • Kurukshetra: plain
  • Yamuna: river
  • Hastinapura: city on river Ganga, City of the Elephant, home of the Bharatas
  • Panchala: Drupada’s kingdom
    • Kampliya: capitol
  • Dvarka: Krishna’s land
  • Indraprastha (Khandavaprastha): Yudhishthira’s land

terms

  • Rishis: enlightened ones
  • Ashram: a spiritual hermitage or a monastery
  • Asparas: nymph or fairy
  • Astra: godly weapon
  • Rakshasa: “a race of usually malevolent beings prominently featured in Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Folk Islam. They reside on Earth but possess supernatural powers, which they usually use for evil acts such as disrupting Vedic sacrifices or eating humans.”
  • Svayamvara: “matrimonial tradition in ancient Indian society where a bride, usually from Kṣatriya caste, selects her husband from a group of assembled suitors either by her own choice or a public contest between her suitors”
  • Indian caste system
    • Brahmins also includes teachers
  • Asura: “power-seeking beings related to the more benevolent Devas in Hinduism”
    • In Buddhism, “The asura realm is one of the realms in which one can be reborn as a result of experiencing the fruits of wholesome karma, while engaging in unwholesome karma.”
    • “According to the Bhagavad Gita (16.6-16.7), all beings in the universe have both the divine qualities (daivi sampad) and the demonic qualities (asuri sampad) within each. The sixteenth chapter of the Bhagavad Gita states that pure god-like saints are rare and pure demon-like evil are rare among human beings, and the bulk of humanity is multi-charactered with a few or many faults. According to Jeaneane Fowler, the Gita states that desires, aversions, greed, needs, emotions in various forms “are facets of ordinary lives”, and it is only when they turn to lust, hate, cravings, arrogance, conceit, anger, harshness, hypocrisy, cruelty and such negativity- and destruction-inclined that natural human inclinations metamorphose into something demonic (Asura).”
  • Rajasuya sacrifice: “The rajasuya is associated with the consecration of a king and is prescribed as a ritual to establish a king’s sovereignty.”
    • Yudhishthira performing the rajusaya sacrifice
  • Danavas: “a mythological race of asuras, the half-brothers to the devas and daityas that are found in a range of Hindu texts. The danavas are a part of a larger group of the asuras, and are typically portrayed as opposed to the Hindu deities.”
  • Kali: “also called Kalika, is a major goddess in Hinduism, primarily associated with time, death and destruction”
  • Ghandara: “a member of a class of celestial beings in Indian religions, such as Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism, whose males are divine performers such as musicians and singers, and the females are divine dancers. In Hinduism, they are regarded to be the celestial demigods who serve as the musicians of the devas.”
  • World guardian gods
    • Indra
    • Yama
    • Varuna
    • Agni

related art

Abhimanue Badh by Nandalal Bose (1882–1966)

highlights

Note

Page numbers from KoReader on an epub version. There are a total of 1748 pages.

This is the tale of a tragic dynasty; a narrative of hatred, honor, courage, of virtue, love, ideals and wickedness, and of a war so terrible, it marked the threshold between one age and the next. (74)

Note: 1‍⃣

Although the poem tells of huge events, battles, armies of a million men, and though it speaks of gods and demons acting directly in the human world, the gist— the conflicts and dilemmas, the regrets the way that good and bad, wisdom, delusion, strive for dominance in each of us — is still played out in every human heart and always will be. (81)

Note: 3‍⃣(Dharma), Epic poetry reflects the divinity within the human psyche

He himself was both author and actor in his story— as we are in our own lives and, besides, all is permitted to the storyteller. (89)

Note: Stories are powerful

The poem was a map of the labyrinth, the moral maze, that is our life on earth. It told of choices and of mortal error, of how even the saintly go astray while, even in the worst, glimmers of gold reveal themselves to a compassionate eye. (89

Note: 7‍⃣

Thought became language — that was the alchemy that led in turn to deeds. (144)

Note: this is a really pretty phrase

Now he had understood what it means to aim, but without straining. He had a glimpse of how one may become a channel for the world's natural forces to play themselves out. How, without striving, without attachment to the end result, abandoning desire and memory, an arrow can be loosed, and find its home. (168)

Note: 無為, to navigate life as water does the stream.

[The Master] has without possessing, and acts without any expectations. When her work is done, she takes no credit. That is why it will last forever. The Dao De Jing 道德經

Desire points to the future, memory the past. Thus to take aim without straining can only happen in the now. Only an arrow loosed within this pocket of time can effortlessly find its home.

5‍⃣3‍⃣(Effortless action, Dharma)

The most powerful forces in the world are often born in darkness. Think of fire, the molten fire that sleeps beneath the ocean but will erupt at the apocalypse to engulf the earth. The mightiest rivers have unimpressive origins; their greatness grows as they make their journey through the world joining with others, broadening, deepening, meeting barriers, overcoming them. That’s how it is with the noblest warriors. (218)

Note: 7‍⃣

The Kauravas were routed. They had learned that a thirst for victory was not enough. (223)

Note: 3‍⃣(Character) patience in war and in life

“So, you see,” said Vyasa to Drupada, “what seems to you contrary to dharma is, in fact, celestially ordained.” (299)

Note: celestial vs. human law, cf. Antigone

The air was still and heavy with expectation, earth begging for rain as though the whole of life were in suspense. (332)

Note: 4‍⃣5‍⃣7‍⃣ this scene is so picturesque!! Beautiful!!

Maya, a gifted demon, dodging the flames, about to be cut down by Krishna’s discus, cried out, “Arjuna! Save me, Arjuna!” Appealed to in this way, Arjuna called, “Have no fear.” And Maya was protected.

Note: speaks to Arjuna’s ego

As his boon, Krishna asked that Arjuna should be his friend lifelong, both in this world, and in world’s to come.

Note: 3‍⃣(Friendship) similar to friendships in Greek epics

"Yudhishthira," said Krishna with a smile, "time flows on, day by day, and waits for no one. We do not know when we will meet our death. To hesitate, to turn away from dharma, never prolongs life. But it costs a man his honor—and that loss is worse than death. Do not divide your mind against itself through doubt and paralyzing cogitation. The great man acts, as time demands of him." (371)

Note: 5‍⃣7‍⃣ he’s spitting bars holyyy

We behold in Krishna the source of everything that’s valuable. As Mount Meru is the greatest mountain, as the eagle is the lord of birds, as the ocean is deepest among waters, so is Krishna foremost among beings ina all the worlds, past, present and to come. Good people everywhere pay tribute to him. Contained within him is the universe, its origins, its being and its end. (389)

Discontent and jealousy are good for a kshatriya. Contentment weakens the ambitious striving which can bring success; so does fear, and so does limp compassion. In pursuit of prosperity, any means, any means at all, are justified. Think of Indra, who cut off Namuchi’s head even though he had promised not to kill him. An enemy is onee whose interests, like the Pandavas’, run counter to one’s own. Peaceful coexistence with an enemy is the way of fools and cowards. (413)

Note: 3‍⃣(Honor, character) contrasting with Yudhishthira’s philosophy. Ego-centric versus an honorable king’s outlook.

But what man is there who is not subject to the blinding power of fate that dazzles us, depriving us of reason? What will happen is what time ordains. (417)

Note: 3‍⃣(Fate)

“It is the work of fate,” sighed Dhritarashtra. “I always try to make the best decisions, but when the gods intend someone’s defeat they first make him mad, so that the wrong course seems to him the right one. The power of fate can be simply this twisted view of things. All else follows … Yet my foolishness, my great love for my son, will bring about the all-consuming tragedy of war.” (462)

Note: 3‍⃣(Dharma, fate) Dhritarashtra passively accepts fate, whereas the Pandavas struggle between upholding their honor and attempting to defy it. Ironically, Dhritarashtra has the power to determine the fate of the nation when Durodhyana is born, yet in his weakness, he is unable to make a decision for the greater good. However, his dilemma is also a very human dilemma, and he suffers seeing the consequences of his actions unfold—this is his karma.

They have their gaze fixed on eternity and that helps me achieve a kind of peace when otherwise I would be overwhelmed by grief and guilt. (491)

Note: 3‍⃣(Ego)

“But Draupadi, as the wise know, sinful acts arise from overhasty rushing to revenge. One who is wronged and who responds with anger is prone to bad judgment, liable to act impulsively. Good rarely comes of it. If every person with a sense of grievance struck back immediately, where would it end? Unceasing death inflicted, death returned. An endless round of blow and counter-blow allows for no reflection or repentance and only leads to sorrow upon sorrow. A peaceful world is founded upon patience and only when a kingdom is at peace can children flourish, cows grow fat, and farmers plant seeds with confidence, watch their crops grow, and gather a rich harvest. “I believe that forbearance is the strength of the strong. One who is forbearing retains power. Anger is not strength but, rather, weakness; is is not the same as authority … ” (492)

Note: 3‍⃣(Ego)

The Almighty is not like a loving parent but, like a child playing with its toys, manipulates our limbs, controls the strings as though we were wooden puppets. I believe there’s no such thing as freedom, no mastery over ourselves or anybody else. (494)

Note: 3‍⃣(Fate) Draupadi’s perspective after being utterly humiliated—understandable. What does the Almighty refer to? Dharma?

I choose to follow dharma, and I do it because it is right, not to obtain rewards. (494)

I don’t despise dharma. But one who does nothing in the face of evil Is an unfired pot, worn away by water. You preach forbearance above everything, but every living human being must act. From the infant, sucking it mother’s nipple, to the dying person’s final labored breath, we fight to stay alive. What we achieve is not just fate, nor is it mere chance but the fruit of all we try to do. We have to strive with what strength we possess, using reason and determination, to convert our actions to achievement. That way, we do not need not reproach ourselves. A peasant from the soil and plants the seed. Then he waits for rain. If the monsoon fails, and the seedlings with the ground, he will, at least, have acted as he should. Without faith and chance he cannot prosper. But without his action, best of husbands, fate, and chance have nothing to work upon. (496)

Note: 3‍⃣(Character, fate) a sound argument against Yudhishthira’s inaction by Draupadi. However, inaction in some cases is also action. By sticking to his principles, Yudhishthira upholds dharma, which is action in itself. Rather than acting hastily, he bides his time with patience to reap results tenfold.

If you take the long view the wicked do not flourish. They are like plants with showy flowers but weak and shallow roots. The virtuous are well grounded in dharma and, through devoted discipline, they weather bad times and good, seeing them as the same. Like the demons before them, wicked people lose direction, and fall prey to discord. Given to restless searching after pleasure, true and lasting happiness eludes them. (534)

Note: 3‍⃣(Character)

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