Reading Notes: Mahabharata Part B

• Pandavas are the sons of Pandu, Kunti and Madri
• There are five sons and they are all married to Draupadi
• The Pandavas build their own city called the Indraprastha
• Duryodhana the eldest of the Kauravas, the hundred sons of blind king Dhritarashtra and Queen Gandhari
• Hates the Pandavas because they are the rightful heirs to the throne and because they have built this magnificent city 
• The games they play in the part 2 of the readings remind me of the games played in 
• 1st dice game: Yudhishthira loses all of his possessions his brothers and his wife Draupadi- they get it back with the help of a god
• 2 dice game: They Pandavas lose and must spend 13 years in exile: twelve years in poverty, followed by one year in disguise. Yudhishthira loses, and the Pandavas go into exile
• Surya, the Sun God, who gives Yudhishthira a copper bowl with an endless supply of food
• This is like magic, in the Great Hall feasts that the students attend 

The Pandavas and their wife Draupadi. Web Source 

Mahabharata by Narayan

Reading Notes: Mahabharata Part A

• Shantanu is a king and he rules the city Hastinapura
• Marries the incarnation of the rive Ganga 
• Ganga will give birth to eight gods 
• She downs each child to send them to heaven and takes the eight baby only to return him when he is older
• I like that Bhisma is willing to denounce his claim to the throne, just so his father may marry again 
• This is the same kind of theme we saw in the other Indian Epic, when Rama's brother was willing to give up the throne to him 
• The King marries Satyavati ( who early on reminds me of the evil queen from the Ramayana 
• Swayamvara- I had to look this up, it is basically a coming out party, where a father picks husbands for his daughters 
• It is interesting when Satyavati has her son Vyasa sleep with Vichitravirya's widows 
• The results are even more interesting when one is born pale skinned, one is born blind and one is born without flaws
• All due to the way the widows reacted to Vyasa 
• One thing that might be interesting to explore in this story is the idea that when Ganga takes Bisma away she takes him to Hogwarts
• After all, Hogwarts in my mind acts as a walkabout or some other coming of age ritual 
• Kuntis Story was interesting because she had a baby with the sun god then sent the baby floating down the river in a basket 
• this reminds me of the story of the pharaohs and Moses 
• On thing that confuses me about this story is that Bhisma disappears, or at least seems too, maybe I need to read more carefully.

Ganga returning Bhisma to his father. Web Source 

Mahabharata by Narayan