SouthAsian challenge and SheReadsSA

I have been reading a handful of books from Indireads and have mentioned in my previous post about the quality of writing and the stories. I just found about the SheReadsSA initiative and found it interesting and wanted to share. I found the bookmarks so adorable :)

Check out more about it @ http://www.indireads.com/shereads-south-asia/#!prettyPhoto 

Updated Reading Bingo

Here is my Reading BINGO updated,

Characters of Mahabharata: D

Dhritarashtra, Duryodhana, Dushsana:

Dhritarashtra, the doting father of Kauravas. One among those who could have changed Mahabharata, had he chosen to. The blind king, surely deserves respect for being an able king of Hastinapur and a brave warrior inspite of his blindness. 

Duryodhana, the eldest of the Kauravas and the successor to throne after his father takes repeated action to rule of Pandavas from the right to the throne in vain. Even after reaching a consensus, Duryodhana is envious of the Pandavas and with his uncle Shakuni's misleading invites Pandavas for a game of dice, paving way to the fateful Kurukshetra war. On the other hand, Duryodhana is not just depicted as a negative character. His friendship with Karna and his trust on his wife Banumathi get a mention as well!

Dushasana, the second of the Kauravas, devoted brother to Duryodhana and his ally in all plots against Pandavas. He was the one to have dragged Draupadi by her hair to the court and disrobe her. He was killed by Bhima in Kurukshetra as per his oath during Draupadi's humiliation. 

Drupad, Drishtadyumna, Draupadi

Drupad, King of Paanchal and father to Draupadi. A friend of Dronacharya during his gurukul days, had assured him half his kingdom but failed in his words quoting the difference in status. Hence Drona asked for defeating Drupad as his guru dakshina. Arjuna defeated Drupad and Aswathama became the king of half the kingdom, the rest of which was returned to Drupad. Drupad repaid his vengeance by begetting Drishtadyumna through a Yagna and eventually he became the one to kill Drona in the kurukshetra war.

Draupadi, the most sung female of Mahabharata and the most ill-fated one. She was the one to break many conventional rules like being married to five husbands, having a male friend(Krishna), rejecting a suitor(Karna) in her Swayamvar and much more. She lived both a nomadic life in exile as well as the queen of the most illustrious palace of the times. She had the presence of mind to question Yudhisthra's rights to put her at stake in the gamble and the courage to challenge the righteousness of the those present in the court. Her eventful life only justified her being a witness to the the happenings at Kurukshetra war through a boon by Sage Vyasa. 

Drona

Teacher of Pandavas and Kauravas. A doting father who took his son's side and thus the Kauravas' as against his favorite student Arjuna. A biased teacher who favoured Arjuna by asking for an unjust gurudakshina from Ekalavya.

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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.