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My blind date

My local library had this wonderful blind date with a book shelf around valentines day. The book is wrapped with clues on it. You pick one, unwrap and find what is inside :)

I took this one. I hope to read it soon :)

Characters of Mahabharata: C

Chitrangada:

A short-lived son of King Shantanu and Satyavati. Satyavati, who wanted her sons to be successors to the throne, ended up with sons who never reached anywhere near fame. 

Chitrangada:

Princess of Manipura who was married to Arjuna during his period of exile. She never left manipura due to matrilineal customs and her son Babruvahana was the successor of Manipura's throne.

Chitrasena:

A Gandharva(heavenly beings well versed in singing and dance) who was also Arjuna's teacher. During the exile of Pandavas, Arjuna went to the Himalayas to perform penance to acquire the Pashupatastra from Lord Shiva. Pleased by his devotion, Lord shiva blesses him with the divine weapon and asks him to pay a visit to his father Indra in Heaven. There, he learns singing and dancing from Chitrasena.

Chitrasena, also defeated Duryodhana, Karna and Shakuni who camped near Dwaitavana where the Pandavas were living in exile. He tied Duryodhana against his chariot and was later rescued by the Pandavas.

Characters of Mahabharata:(B contd)

Balarama

Balarama, son of Vasudeva and brother of Krishna, is the guru who taught the nuances of mace to both Duryodhana and Bhima. That being the reason, he denies to take any side in the Kurukshetra war and stays out of the battle field. It is noteworthy that Duryodhan's end came in a mace fight with Bhima.

Brihatbala

Brihatbala fights against the Pandavas and is one among those who trapped Abhimanyu in the Padmavyuham.

Babruvahana

Babruvahana is the son of Arjuna and Chitrangada, the princess of Manipur whom Arjuna married during his period of exile. He is not mentioned to be part of the Kurukshetra war. Post the war, when Yudhistra decides to perform the Ashwamedha yaga, the sacrificial horse enters Babruvahana's kingdom and a fight ensues between Babruvahana and Arjuna. Babruvahana kills Arjuna as a result of a curse by vasus against Arjuna for having killed Bhishma. Arjuna's naga wife Ulupi then brings back Arjuna to life.

Characters of Mahabharata: B

Bhishma

Son of Ganga and King Shantanu

Grandfather of Pandavas and Kauravas

Bhishma, the actual heir to Hastinapura sacrificed his throne and took the vow of celibacy to make his father's love with Satyavati materialize. And there started the contention for the kingdom generation after generation. Bhishma was the eighth vasu who abducted Nalini, the divine cow from Sage Vashista and was thus cursed to take human form. Throughout his life, he had struggled to protect Hastinapura and the princes of the clan. He got the boon of choosing when and how he would die. At kurukshetra war, Arjuna requested Bhishma himself to show him the way to slain him and as per his suggestion took Shikandi's help. Shikandi being a woman, Bhishma refrained from fighting with her. There are so many retellings of the epic from the point of views of various characters. I wish someone comes up with Bhishma's version as well :-)

Bhima

Strongest of the five pandavas in physical strength, son of Pandu and Kunti blessed by Lord Vayu, thus making Hanuman his brother. There is a mention in the epic of Bhima meeting Hanuman when Bhima went in search of Saugandhika flower as per Draupadi's wish. As a child, Bhima's strength became multifold with the blessing of Vasuki, the Naga King when he was poisoned by Duryodhana.

Bhima married Hidimba and had the famous son Ghatokacha. He was also married to Valandhara and had a son Sarvagga through her. Sutasona was his son through Draupadi.

Bhima had a ravenous appetite and was also a great cook. During the incognito exile, he spent his year as a cook at Virata kingdom.

Bhima killed Duryodhana in a mace fight at Kurukshetra war. His significant defeats include Bakasura, Jarasandha, Kichaka and Dushasana.

Bhagadatta and Bhanumathi

Bhagadatta was the son of Narakasura and the king of pragjyotisha.He married off his daughter Bhanumathi to Duryodhana. Bhagadatta along with his elephant Supratika was known for his ferocious fight in Kurukshetra. His vaishnavastra aimed at Arjuna was  intervened by Krishna and the astra turned a garland in his neck. 

Bhanumathi does not get much mention despite being the wife of powerful Duryodhana. The incident where she plays a game of dice with Karna and is being snatched by him playfully demonstrates Duryodhana's deep trust and friendship with Karna.

Bakasura

The asura who was killed by Bhima when the pandavas were disguised as brahmanas living in ekachakra post the wax palace incident. The village made an arrangement with the asura that large quantities of food will be delivered to him in turns by the villagers which the asura consumed along with the persob who delivered them. Kunti offered to send Bhima in place of their landlord's son when it was their turn and thus came the end of the asura.

Brihannala

Arjuna disguised as eunuch Brihannala during the incognito thirteenth year of the exile. During their exile, Arjuna had a chance to visit Indra's court and was cursed by Urvashi that he will spend an year as eunuch when he turned down Urvashi's love for him. He learnt dancing from Chitrasena at Indraloka and taught dancing to Uttara, the princess of Virata during his disguise as eunuch.

Characters of Mahabharata: A(contd.)

Abhimanyu

• Son of Arjuna and Subhadra
• Husband to Uttara. Arjuna, as an eunuch, taught dancing to Uttara during his incognito exile and was offered her hand when his identity was revealed. Arjuna, instead took her as his daughter-in-law.
• Father of Parikshit, the heir to Hastinapura throne post Kurukshetra war. Abhimanyu died even before the birth of Parikshith.

The widely known and most memorable fact about Abhimanyu is that he learnt the nuances of Padmavyuham, a war strategy when in womb as Arjuna explained it to Subhadra. As destiny would have it, Subadhra dozed off before Arjuna could explain how to come out of the battle formation thus leading to his death in Kurukshetra.

Abhimanyu was the most valiant and notable of warriors of his generation. None of the sons of other Pandavas or Kauravas were as glorified as him. On this note, it may be noted that he was brought up under the tutelage of Vasudeva himself(sons of Draupadi grew up at her father and brother's palace).

Abhimanyu was ordered by Yudhistra to break the Padmavyuha as Arjuna was caught up in another fight. He was promised to be followed by other Pandavas and their army but was prevented to do so by Jayadratha. Abhimanyu who managed to cause great destruction to the Kaurava army single-handedly, was trapped with great efforts  by veterans such as Drona, Bhishma, Duryodhana and Karna. Even after being deprived of weapons one after the other, the brave-heart continued fighting with a broken wheel of his chariot. It was the son of Dushasana, who finally killed Abhimanyu with his mace and still, it is Abhimanyu's name that is remembered by history for his valour.

Aswathama

Son of Drona and Kripi(Kripacharya's sister). 

Aswathama begins his life as a humble son of poor Drona who fakes his desire to drink milk with a paste of flour and water, triggering the events that turns friends Drona and Drupad into foes. Aswathama becomes an ally of Duryodhana in the gurukul and goes on to become one of the few survivors of kurukshetra war. He vows vengeance to dying Duryodhana and sets fire to the pandavas camp at night killing Draupadi's father, brother and sons. This, being an act against codes of war, he does against the warnings of Kripacharya and Kritavarma. He quotes, as justification, the breach of war code by pandavas to kill his father. He is finally captured by the Pandavas and the jewel that he wears on his forehead to ward off fear of snakes, demon and such adorns the throne of Yudhistra. He is cursed by Lord Krishna that he will roam without companion and compassion from others for 3000 years.

Amba, Ambica and Ambalika:

Daughters of the King of Kasi.

Ambica and Ambalika were married to Vichitraviriya and begetted Dhritarashtra and Pandu respectively. 

Bhishma won over the suitors at the swayamvara of the trio on behalf of Vichitravirya but Amba refused as she was in love with King Salva only to end up being rejected by Salva as well. Furious Amba vowed to kill Bhishma in her next birth and was reborn as Shikandi, sister of Draupadi. It is with the help of Shikandi that Arjuna killed Bhishma.

Ambica and Ambalika were subjected to Njyoga, the arrangement of bearing a son with help from a revered person. It is through this act, Vyasa helps them conceive Dhritarashtra and Pandu.

Agastya and Ashtavakra:

Stories of Agastya and Ashtavakra are part of the Mahabharat in the form of narration to the Pandavas on their yatra during exile. It is noteworthy that Ashtavakra, meaning eight deformities, was born with the deformations owing to  his distress(causing the womb to squirm) caused by errors in his father's recital of vedas. Ashtavakra and Abhimanyu indicate that what an expectant mother feels, hears and see have a direct effect on the baby in the womb. On a similar note, Ambica closed her eyes during the act thus making Dhritarashtra blind and Ambalika turns pale resulting in a pale-complexioned Pandu. 

Characters of Mahabharata : A

Arjuna

It is indeed befitting that this series of Mahabharata characters starts off with someone as heroic as Arjuna. 

• Son of Pandu and Kunti(through invocation of Lord Indra)
• Winner of Draupadi's hand, Husband to Subadhra(Krishna's sister), Chitrangada and Ulupi
• Father of Shrutakirti, Abhimanyu, Babruvahana and Iravan respectively
• Grand father of Parikshit, the sole survivor for the throne of Hastinapur post kurukshetrawar
• Favorite and devoted student of Drona
• Converser of the Bhagavad Gita 

It seems to me that the universe or the fate, if I could say so, was hell bent on making Arjuna what he was(compare with the ill fated Karna). First, it was Guru Drona who asked for an unfair guru dakshina from Ekalavya to ensure Arjuna's supremacy in Archery. Then it was Kripacharya and others who prevented Arjuna from fighting with Karna quoting Karna's lineage. Then it was at the swayamvara of Draupadi where Karna, who was then a King was denied a chance(lineage, again) whereas Arjuna disguised as Brahmana was allowed. Then there was Krishna all the time from removing his doubts and hesitations to faking a sunset to kill Jayadratha, slayer of his son Abhimanyu to pushing him to attack Karna at an inappropriate time. Then there was Chitrangada who brought back Arjuna to life when he was killed in war by his own son Babruvahana. Then there were the gods who presented him with divine weapons on many occasions. Even the curse by Urvashi turned out in his favour as he spends the thirteenth year of exile as Eunuch by the name Brihanalla. 

On a different note, Arjuna was blessed with Darshan of Shiva(through penance at Himalayas during the period of exile) and Vishnu(Cosmic form of Lord Krishna at Kurukshetra). However his pride, not tamed even by his encounter with Hanuman becomes the reason for his not attaining the Heavens in mortal form.

More on alphabet A to be continued...

Mahabharat

Whatever is here, is found elsewhere. But what is not here, is nowhere else.

So says the Mahabharata.

As a kid, I enjoyed the stories of Mahabharata but they did not mean anything more to me than the obvious. As I read and re-read, I think am getting an idea of what a great epic it is! So, here I am, trying to read as much as possible on Mahabharata and to inspire myself to do so, am going to do a series of posts related to it. Currently am reading Mahabharata by C.Rajagopalachari. It is more of a compilation of stories than a retelling or translation. The Mahabharata by Ramesh Menon (My next read) is a modern rendering in two volumes. A sneak peak into it makes me want to read it. 

There are so many resources on Mahabharata. Below are the ones that kindle my interest.

• The blog recommendbooks lists a lot of interesting books on the Mahabharata. 
• Mythologist Devdutt pattanaik has a handful of articles in addition to his book Jaya.
• English translation from original sanskrit text by Kisari Mohan Ganguli is available in Project Gutenburg. Also available is the play Chitra by Rabindranath Tagore based on Chitrangada. 
• There is Ashok Banker's MBA series
• There are few books that offer Mahabharata from the point of view of various characters. The famous among them being The Palace of Illusions by Chitra Banerjee Devakaruni, from Draupadi's point of view. A translation of Bhim's point of view available for download here. 
• I found a podcast here and I am planning to listen to that as well
• Then there is The Difficulty of being Good by Gurucharan Das, an analysis of Mahabharata.

Obviously, there is never going to be an end to this list. Hoping to read as much as possible!