Week 9: Reading Diary B

Why is the minister cunning?  I feel like that's so contradictory... I think it’s good that Bhishma and Vidura push Dhritarashtra towards making peace.  For one thing, it’s a good thing to do – having enemies isn’t good and oftentimes, tension can be resolved by simply communicating.  Two, in this world, people all over are being cursed so if he wants to avoid worse things happening, this may be a good first step.  Also, I think it’s really strange that it was frowned upon to kill a deer, but now someone is being rewarded for burning down a forest full of birds and animals so that Agni could consume the animal fat as he chose.  I think that’s pretty confusing- either it’s not acceptable to kill animals or it is (in their culture).  I suppose in today’s world, we are split on that but in terms of punishing/cursing someone, I feel like there should be a more definite answer so someone would know what he/she was getting into.  I think that it’s wise that Draupadi doesn’t use all of her wishes up – she basically asks for things to be in the state they were before the gambling, and she doesn’t ask for anymore.  I think this is smart because it helps avoid an unnecessary war.  I find it slightly strange that Draupadi is not criticizing Yudhishthira for being forgiving when before it seemed as if she was really trying to make peace when she didn’t overstep her bounds on her wishes.  As for the whole mantra, I feel like that’s totally unfair to be able to say some magical words and automatically get weapons and have an advantage over one’s enemies.  I’m glad that Arjuna is actually blessed out of the initial curse – I feel like there’s so much war, death, and deceit in this story it’s nice to see that every once in a while, some people have good stuff happening.