Reading Notes: Mahabharata A
Mahabharata Online: Public Domain Edition
The Mahabharata contains everything a person would need to know of things on earth and heaven.
The story starts with Vyasa's, the author of Mahabharata, origin story. A king called Uparichara got a crystal car from Indra because the gods feared that he was trying to usurp them. One day on his flying car, Vyasa's semen fell into a river (???) and a fish ate it who eventually gave birth to a boy and a girl 10 months later. A fisherman found this, told the king, and the king kept the boy but gave the girl to the fisherman. The girl, Satyavati, ended up having a very fishy smell but when she was ferrying the rishi Parashara, he convinced her to yield to his embraces and Vyasa was born from this after.
The next story was the origin story of Devarata. His mom is a goddess called Ganga who married King Shantanu. Her criteria to marry him is that he'll let her do whatever she wants and he will never talk harshly to her. Before all this happened, the eight Vasus, attendants of Indra, angered Vashishta who cursed them to become human. So the Vasus asked Ganga to become their human mom so whenever they are born, she will throw them into the Ganges so they can become their celestial forms again. Anyways, her and the king had 7 kids and she threw each of the boys into the Ganges and when she was getting ready to throw the eighth one in, the king was super pissed and yelled at her. Ganga left but not before leaving a child for the king, who had the virtues of the Vasus, and this kid was Devarata.
After he was born, Vyasa went away to meditate and said he'll come back if his mother needed him. Later, King Shantanu wanted to marry Satyavati but her dad said she'll only let her get married if Vyasa became the king but Shantanu wanted Devarata to be the king so he left.
Devarata went to find Satyavati and said that he will never sit on the throne if she decides to marry his dad and they end up having a boy. The gods were upset so they named him Bhishma. Satyavati then married the king and they had two boys: Chitrangada and Vichitravirya. When the king died, Chitrangada became king but he sucked so Vichitravirya became the king. He was a little kid tho so Bhishma ruled as regent instead.
Bhishma needed to get wives for his brother so he went to the King of Benares and fought a bunch of people so he can take his daughters: Amba, Ambika, and Ambalika.
Amba was already married to another king and she told Bhishma so he let her leave. Amba went to her king but the king pushed her away because he's a terrible guy. Amba was humiliated and blamed all her problems on Bhishma so she created a funeral pyre, walked into the fire, and asked for a reborned body to kill Bhishma.
Bhishma's brother died and he didn't have any sons so Satyavati called her son Vyasa to have sons but because he was in the forest for so long, he's kinda gross. Ambika closed her eyes when they were having kids so her son, Dhritarashtra was blind. Ambalika was pale with fear so her son Pandu was super pale. Bhishma wanted a son with no defects but Ambika instead sent her handmaiden and she gave birth to a son named Vidura (it also just so happened that the god of justice Dharma chose Vidura as his vassal). Bhishma decided that Pandu was the next king since Dhritarashtra was blind and Vidura's mom is a handmaiden.
Pandu had two wives, Kunti and Madri. Turns out, Kunti had a son when she was little, named Karna, who was blessed by the gods with an invulnerable coat of mail and magical earrings. She sent him away though to hit her shame and Karna was eventually picked up by a girl named Radha (who could not have a son with her husband Adhiratha).
Pandu likes to go hunting but one day he accidentally killed a brahmin and his wife in deer form so the brahmin cursed him and said that he's going to die in one of his wives' arms. Pandu then swore a life of celibacy and went to a solitary place with his wives.
Pandu doesn't have any sons himself but the gods were the fathers of his wives' sons. Kunti was mother of Yudhishthira, son of god of justice Dharma, mother of Bhima, son of Vayu the wind god, and mother of Arjuna, son of Indra. Madri received from Kunti the charm which Durvasas had given her, and she became the mother of Nakula and Sahadeva, who's dads were the twin Ashwins, the sons of the sun god Surya. These five princes are the Pandava brothers. One day, king Pandu was out with his wife Madri and then he just died so they made a funeral pyre for him and Madri went into the fire too since she was his favorite wife.
Since Pandu died, the next in line was Dhritarashtra whose wife, Gandhari, had a hundred kids. The oldest of the kids was Duryodhana and when he was born, he started to cry a lot and crows / vultures started crying and there was heavy winds. The counselors wanted to get rid of Duryodhana but Dhritarashtra did not have the heart and even favored Duryodhana to become the next king. So Duryodhana grew up proud and evil-minded.
The widowed Kunti took her 5 children, the Pandavas, to Dhritarashtra's city and he decided to raise her kids along with his own, known as the Kauravas. Duryodhana was jealous of the Bhima from the Pandavas because he was so cool.
Duryodhana poisoned Bhima's food and he fell unconscious. He then through Bhima into the Ganges where the nagas (snake people) started biting on him but their poisoned counteracted with Duryodhana's poison and Bhima woke up. He then found that he sunk to the underwater city of the nagas and he gained a lot of power from the king of the serpents because he recognized Bhima's power. Bhima then went back to the city, super strong, and told his secrets to his brothers but told them not to tell their cousin, the Kauravas.
Bhishma chose a guy called Drona to be the boys' teacher. Drona's backstory is that he used to be childhood friends with King Drupada but Drona tried to give some of his heavenly weapons to Drupada (since they're friends) but Drupada said Drona did not have the same lineage that he has and their friendship cannot continue. Now Drona hates him.
Drona's only criteria to become the teacher is that once these boys are trained warriors, they will help him fight Drupada. Bhishma agreed so Drona, his son Ashwatthaman, the Pandavas, and the Kauravas began training. The Pandavas excelled as his students with the best one being Arjuna. Duryodhana was jealous of all of them but was especially jealous of Arjuna.
Ekalavya, this aboriginal boy, wanted to be one of Drona's pupil and he said he wanted to do anything. Drona told him he wanted his right thumb and the kid agreed. He then started to shoot his bow with his middle finger and Arjuna liked that so now it's a custom even today.
Everyone is trained now so there was a tournament to test their skills. Bhima fought with Duryodhana that escalated in intensity but Arjuna showed off his skills and everyone was impressed.
Karna crashed the tournament but neither him nor Arjuna knew they were brothers (Kunti was their mom). Karna said that he can match whatever Arjuna did only if Drona let him. Drona and the brothers allowed him and Karna showed that his skills did match Arjuna's. Duryodhana then recruited Karna to be soldier which Karna agreed to so now Duryodhana isn't afraid of Arjuna since he has Karna on his side.
It was time to fulfill Drona's original promise so they attacked Drupada's kingdom. Arjuna told everyone to stop since King Drupada and their city were friends. Drona forgave Drupada but only if he got half of the kingdom. Drupada agreed and then the Pandavas started to expand the kingdom by fighting neighboring countries.
King Pandu and Arjuna's skill in capturing the kingdoms made Duryodhana even more jealous. So he lied to his father about the Pandavas and said they conspired to overthrow him. Dhritarashtra believed him and they created a plan where they would build this wooden castle covered in oil and set it on fire, killing everyone.
The Mahabharata contains everything a person would need to know of things on earth and heaven.
Statue of Arjuna in Bali
The story starts with Vyasa's, the author of Mahabharata, origin story. A king called Uparichara got a crystal car from Indra because the gods feared that he was trying to usurp them. One day on his flying car, Vyasa's semen fell into a river (???) and a fish ate it who eventually gave birth to a boy and a girl 10 months later. A fisherman found this, told the king, and the king kept the boy but gave the girl to the fisherman. The girl, Satyavati, ended up having a very fishy smell but when she was ferrying the rishi Parashara, he convinced her to yield to his embraces and Vyasa was born from this after.
The next story was the origin story of Devarata. His mom is a goddess called Ganga who married King Shantanu. Her criteria to marry him is that he'll let her do whatever she wants and he will never talk harshly to her. Before all this happened, the eight Vasus, attendants of Indra, angered Vashishta who cursed them to become human. So the Vasus asked Ganga to become their human mom so whenever they are born, she will throw them into the Ganges so they can become their celestial forms again. Anyways, her and the king had 7 kids and she threw each of the boys into the Ganges and when she was getting ready to throw the eighth one in, the king was super pissed and yelled at her. Ganga left but not before leaving a child for the king, who had the virtues of the Vasus, and this kid was Devarata.
After he was born, Vyasa went away to meditate and said he'll come back if his mother needed him. Later, King Shantanu wanted to marry Satyavati but her dad said she'll only let her get married if Vyasa became the king but Shantanu wanted Devarata to be the king so he left.
Devarata went to find Satyavati and said that he will never sit on the throne if she decides to marry his dad and they end up having a boy. The gods were upset so they named him Bhishma. Satyavati then married the king and they had two boys: Chitrangada and Vichitravirya. When the king died, Chitrangada became king but he sucked so Vichitravirya became the king. He was a little kid tho so Bhishma ruled as regent instead.
Bhishma needed to get wives for his brother so he went to the King of Benares and fought a bunch of people so he can take his daughters: Amba, Ambika, and Ambalika.
Amba was already married to another king and she told Bhishma so he let her leave. Amba went to her king but the king pushed her away because he's a terrible guy. Amba was humiliated and blamed all her problems on Bhishma so she created a funeral pyre, walked into the fire, and asked for a reborned body to kill Bhishma.
Bhishma's brother died and he didn't have any sons so Satyavati called her son Vyasa to have sons but because he was in the forest for so long, he's kinda gross. Ambika closed her eyes when they were having kids so her son, Dhritarashtra was blind. Ambalika was pale with fear so her son Pandu was super pale. Bhishma wanted a son with no defects but Ambika instead sent her handmaiden and she gave birth to a son named Vidura (it also just so happened that the god of justice Dharma chose Vidura as his vassal). Bhishma decided that Pandu was the next king since Dhritarashtra was blind and Vidura's mom is a handmaiden.
Pandu had two wives, Kunti and Madri. Turns out, Kunti had a son when she was little, named Karna, who was blessed by the gods with an invulnerable coat of mail and magical earrings. She sent him away though to hit her shame and Karna was eventually picked up by a girl named Radha (who could not have a son with her husband Adhiratha).
Pandu likes to go hunting but one day he accidentally killed a brahmin and his wife in deer form so the brahmin cursed him and said that he's going to die in one of his wives' arms. Pandu then swore a life of celibacy and went to a solitary place with his wives.
Pandu doesn't have any sons himself but the gods were the fathers of his wives' sons. Kunti was mother of Yudhishthira, son of god of justice Dharma, mother of Bhima, son of Vayu the wind god, and mother of Arjuna, son of Indra. Madri received from Kunti the charm which Durvasas had given her, and she became the mother of Nakula and Sahadeva, who's dads were the twin Ashwins, the sons of the sun god Surya. These five princes are the Pandava brothers. One day, king Pandu was out with his wife Madri and then he just died so they made a funeral pyre for him and Madri went into the fire too since she was his favorite wife.
Since Pandu died, the next in line was Dhritarashtra whose wife, Gandhari, had a hundred kids. The oldest of the kids was Duryodhana and when he was born, he started to cry a lot and crows / vultures started crying and there was heavy winds. The counselors wanted to get rid of Duryodhana but Dhritarashtra did not have the heart and even favored Duryodhana to become the next king. So Duryodhana grew up proud and evil-minded.
The widowed Kunti took her 5 children, the Pandavas, to Dhritarashtra's city and he decided to raise her kids along with his own, known as the Kauravas. Duryodhana was jealous of the Bhima from the Pandavas because he was so cool.
Duryodhana poisoned Bhima's food and he fell unconscious. He then through Bhima into the Ganges where the nagas (snake people) started biting on him but their poisoned counteracted with Duryodhana's poison and Bhima woke up. He then found that he sunk to the underwater city of the nagas and he gained a lot of power from the king of the serpents because he recognized Bhima's power. Bhima then went back to the city, super strong, and told his secrets to his brothers but told them not to tell their cousin, the Kauravas.
Bhishma chose a guy called Drona to be the boys' teacher. Drona's backstory is that he used to be childhood friends with King Drupada but Drona tried to give some of his heavenly weapons to Drupada (since they're friends) but Drupada said Drona did not have the same lineage that he has and their friendship cannot continue. Now Drona hates him.
Drona's only criteria to become the teacher is that once these boys are trained warriors, they will help him fight Drupada. Bhishma agreed so Drona, his son Ashwatthaman, the Pandavas, and the Kauravas began training. The Pandavas excelled as his students with the best one being Arjuna. Duryodhana was jealous of all of them but was especially jealous of Arjuna.
Ekalavya, this aboriginal boy, wanted to be one of Drona's pupil and he said he wanted to do anything. Drona told him he wanted his right thumb and the kid agreed. He then started to shoot his bow with his middle finger and Arjuna liked that so now it's a custom even today.
Everyone is trained now so there was a tournament to test their skills. Bhima fought with Duryodhana that escalated in intensity but Arjuna showed off his skills and everyone was impressed.
Karna crashed the tournament but neither him nor Arjuna knew they were brothers (Kunti was their mom). Karna said that he can match whatever Arjuna did only if Drona let him. Drona and the brothers allowed him and Karna showed that his skills did match Arjuna's. Duryodhana then recruited Karna to be soldier which Karna agreed to so now Duryodhana isn't afraid of Arjuna since he has Karna on his side.
It was time to fulfill Drona's original promise so they attacked Drupada's kingdom. Arjuna told everyone to stop since King Drupada and their city were friends. Drona forgave Drupada but only if he got half of the kingdom. Drupada agreed and then the Pandavas started to expand the kingdom by fighting neighboring countries.
King Pandu and Arjuna's skill in capturing the kingdoms made Duryodhana even more jealous. So he lied to his father about the Pandavas and said they conspired to overthrow him. Dhritarashtra believed him and they created a plan where they would build this wooden castle covered in oil and set it on fire, killing everyone.
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