Tuesday, April 25, 2017

Reading Notes: The Five Tall Sons of Pandu- Part A

The Indian Story Book: The Five Tall Sons of Pandu by Richard Wilson


  • This is the story of the Pandava brothers: Yudhishthira, Bhima, Arjuna, and the twins Nakula and Sahadeva.
  • Dhritarashtra, Pandu's brother, takes over as king once Pandu dies
    •  Dhritarashtra has 100 sons and is blind 
  • Duryodhana is the eldest son of Shritarashtra
  • Karna challenges Arjuna to a duel
    • Karna is the son of kunti, which makes him a half brother to the Pandava brothers
      • But, he does not know that 
  • Duryodhana is furious when Yudhishthira is named heir
    • I thought this was interesting especially compared to the Ramayana where Rama's brothers had no desire for the thrown
    • Its a different division of power 
  • One element of this story that was changed from the original was that Kunti declared that Draupadi would marry Yudhishthira since he is the oldest
    • This is slightly better than the first version where she becomes the wife of all five brothers
  • Duryodhana tricks Yudhishthira in a game of dice because he is jealous that he gets his own kingdom 
  • I didn't know that Duryodhana needed the Pandava's help when he got stuck in the jungle

    • This was an interesting element that I feel could have transformed the entire series

Arjuna versus Karna. Web Source

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