Week 10: Reading Diary- The Day I Questioned Reality

A long time ago, my brothers and I were living in the forest.  We enjoyed the woodland creatures as well as the fresh plants and meats available for our consumption whenever we got hungry.  One day, a Brahmin found us though and was in desperate need of help.  He told us that his staff and kindling were taken.  He was on his way to make a sacrificial fire and out of the blue, a huge buck took it.  The Brahmin was elderly and frail, so we agreed to try and help.  My brothers and I ran after the deer for hours.  It’s large graceful bounds outpaced our shorter strides.  Our bodies had been conditioned by living in the forests, but we were not ready for this kind of physical challenge.  We tried our best to beat the deer and save the brahmin’s belongings- after all, if we caught the deer, we would have a dinner out of the meat. After a couple hours, we gave up.  We lost sight of the deer and were far from the area of the forest we typically reside in.  Luckily, we all stumbled upon a river flowing into a lake with cool, crisp water.  My brother Nakula was the first to find the lake so he took a drink first.  I’m not sure what happened, but he died on the spot.  It was horrifying.  My brothers and I were talking and then when we looked back up, Nakula was on his side and had stopped breathing.  My conclusion was that maybe he ran to hard and his heart had given out.  It was extremely sad.  Before we could carry his body back to bury it, the rest of us still needed water.  Sahadeva was the next to take a drink.  He made some sort of weird hand motion as if he was shushing someone but no one but us were there and we certainly weren’t talking in memory of our brother.  Crazy enough, he died on the spot as well.  I could not believe my eyes.  I was extremely distraught but also couldn’t really believe what was happening.  Arjuna and Bhima took a drink at the same time and they, as well, died from some mysterious force.  I was extremely upset and didn’t know what to do.  My body was crying from fatigue and my heart was broken by this point.  I went to get a drink and heard a voice.  I talked to the voice out of curiosity.  Sure enough, it turned out to be my father Yama.  My whole world was turning upside down at this point…my brothers came back to life…and I remain very confused.

Large deer.

(Source:  Wikipedia)

Author's Note:  When I read this tale in the book, I could not even begin to put into words the emotions that would have been felt throughout this whole experience.  One minute, the brothers are chasing a deer together and the next minute, all but one are dead.  Thus, I wanted to try and explain the thoughts that may have accompanied this scene.

Buck, William (1973).  The Mahabharata.

Week 10: Reading Diary B

This last part of the story was really confusing to me.  Thus, I’m very glad there’s a reading guide to clarify things for me.  To start, I’m glad someone is finally getting the peace and justice thing right – however, that is merely a wish and Duryodhana knows that but still plans on being aggressive and wants to abduct Krishna.  I wanted to laugh when Duryodhana realizes he can’t take him captive – thank goodness.  Someone cannot do something as terrible as they want to.  Krishna is also divine so even if Duryodhana was able to abduct him, there would probably be some pretty severe consequences for abducting a divinity.  So really, Krishna was almost doing him a favor by not being abducted.  Anyways, Bhishma obviously doesn’t get the memo and wounds Krishna.  I wonder why Arjuna shot Bhishma – I feel like Krishna is more than capable of fighting his own battles.  For sure, it was helpful for Krishna but if I was Krishna, I would want an opportunity to show off my powers in an attempt to get people to realize they need to leave me alone.  Skipping forward, is Bhima a vampire or what?  Drinking blood is super nasty and was destroying the body not enough.  That was very disturbing to read.  The ending is sort of unexpected and crazy.  It surprises me that Krishna is killed.  He’s a divinity—can he really even die?  Also, it was in such a not epic way and was a little crazy.  I guess maybe it’s better to go out not in a violent battle but in peace, but I’m just really surprised that a divine being would be killed by a misconception.  To me, it was unexpected.  In conclusion, I liked this book but found it a lot harder to follow along than the “Ramayana.”  Also, I’m a sucker for love stories and heroes and like justice so reading this was a bit harder since there wasn’t much love if any (depending on how you see it) and there were lots of curses and I didn’t feel there was a lot of justice.  However, I definitely respect the work as a whole and just because it is not my favorite, that doesn’t mean it isn’t an admirable piece of writing (which it is).  I am planning on reading the D2L readings for my other reading diaries to help change it up and hope I find them more interesting.

Week 10: Reading Diary A

I think it is so not smart that Durodhana decides to make a royal camp near the Pandavas for the mere reason mock them.  One, he fell into peer pressure if Shakuni convince him to do it and two, I feel like it’s so stupid to make more enemies than necessary.  I mean really, if I were him, I’d try to keep as much peace as possible.  When he gets kidnapped, I feel bad for him but at the same time, maybe it’s good for him to learn to not assume so many of the others are weak and couldn’t cause havoc.  It’s super creepy with the voice and the lake thing.  For one, if that happened to me, I would assume that I was going crazy/was in desperate need of water and would ignore the voice.  If I were in their shoes, that would have resulted in death.  I’m surprised Yudhishthira actually does answer the voice.  Also, I’m surprised he didn’t yell at the voice – after all, his brothers are dead! I mean what kind of person would remain calm after that.  Anyways, I’m glad Yama brings them back but I would at least be a bit frustrated with my dad if he killed me.  Sure, he brought them back to life but still, that’s a little extreme.  It is really frustrating that the king and queen wanted to exile Draupadi for the mere fact that she was the victim of rape.  That’s a terrible thing in it of itself and now she is having to pay the consequences?  I understand that the king and queen are probably shaken up by the aggressive acts in the kingdom but still, I feel as if they are not really being reasonable at this point.  I also wonder why Draupadi wanted to remain in the court.  If I was in that position, I would want to get away from a place with such terrible memories.  Honestly, I don’t really like this book as much as I liked the “Ramayana,” since it seems so sad and depressing.  I just feel like everyone gets cursed or something terrible happens to them and then they must pay for it.  I wonder if this is considered to be as classic as the “Ramayana” and if so, that’s really strange to me since it’s so dark.   I wonder what lessons people are supposed to get out of this book and would be curious to find out.