Week 10: Narayan's Mahabharata (pp. 83-179)Assignments - Reading Guide A - Reading Guide B - Mahabharata Resources |
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Your Reading A for this week is Narayan's Mahabharata, pp. 85-131.
You might want to read over the previous
reading guide to remind yourself of what has happened so far.
p.
85.
Duryodhana and the gandharvas. Through his spies Dhritarashtra knows
what the Pandavas are
doing and about the weapons Arjuna has
acquired. Urged by Śakuni, Duryodhana decides
to make a royal camp near the Pandavas in order to shame and humiliate them.
The gods, however, send a gandharva who
provokes Duryodhana and in the battle the gandharvas take Duryodhana captive.
The Pandavas free Duryodhana from captivity. Duryodhana's plan to humiliate
the Pandavas has backfired completely.
p.
88. The voice in the lake. While they are living in the
forest, the Pandavas are approached by a brahmin who
is desperate because a mysterious giant deer has stolen his staff and the kindling
he uses to make the sacrificial fire. The Pandavas chase after the deer, but
cannot catch it. Tired and thirsty, they look for water. Nakula finds
a lake but a voice tells him that, before drinking, he must answer some questions.
Nakula ignores the voice, drinks, and dies. One after another, Sahadeva,
Arjuna and Bhima meet
the same fate. Yudhishthira comes
and finds his brothers dead at the lake. He too hears the voice, and he answers
the questions. (You can read the complete
list of questions and answers if
you want!) This was a test by his father, Yama,
the god of death and of Dharma.
The brothers are revived, and they are given the gift of unrecognizability
for their thirteenth year of exile.
p.
93. In the court of King Virata. After twelve years of
exile in the forest, they spend the thirteenth year in disguise at the court
of King Virata.
Yudhishthira, in disguise, is the king's companion and plays dice with him.
Bhima is disguised as a cook, Nakula as a stable boy and Sahadeva as a cowherd.
Arjuna takes the name Brihannala and disguises himself as a eunuch,
living in the women's quarters. Draupadi is
Sairandhri, the hairdresser
of Virata's queen. The Pandavas hang their weapons in a tree in a burial ground
when they go to Virata's court, and they are not recognized. Draupadi
is raped by Kichaka,
one of Virata's generals and the brother of the queen. Draupadi
begs Bhima to avenge her so he waits in Draupadi's place and when Kichaka comes
to her again, Bhima squeezes him to death. The King and Queen are deeply alarmed
by these events and want to send Draupadi away. Draupadi must beg for
permission to remain at the court for the last days of their term of exile.
p.
99 The cattle raid. The story of Kichaka makes
Duryodhana suspicious. Suśarman,
one of Duryodhana's allies, is glad to hear of Kichaka's death and proposes that
they attack Virata and steal his cattle.
Suśarman takes King Virata prisoner, but Bhima rescues him and captures Suśarman.
Meanwhile, 
Prince Uttara,
the son of Virata, hears the news of the cattle raid. He takes Brihannala as
his charioteer. Uttara is terrified as they approach the enemy and he tries to
run away. Brihannala tells Uttara to drive the chariot
and he will fight. Brihannala and Uttara retrieve the weapons from the burial
ground, and Brihannala reveals his identity to Uttara. They ride into battle
and Arjuna fires arrows that fall at Drona's feet
and brush his ears as a salute. Losing his fight with Arjuna, Karna has
to withdraw. Arjuna tells Uttara not to reveal the Pandavas' identity and King
Virata rejoices in his son's victory. In a moment of anger, Virata throws
dice at Yudhishthira and draws blood. Virata is then amazed to discover the Pandavas'
real identity. He apologizes to Yudhishthira and gives his daughter Uttarâ to
Arjuna's son Abhimanyu in
marriage.
p.
114. Preparations for war. Krishna and Balarama attend
the wedding of Uttarâ and
Abhimanyu (Abhimanyu is the son of Arjuna and Subhadra,
Krishna's sister). Krishna proposes that a messenger be sent to Duryodhana
to ask that half the kingdom be given to the Pandavas. Satyaki,
Krishna's charioteer, urges that they prepare for war with Duryodhana. Both
the Pandavas and Duryodhana begin recruiting allies for the coming war. Duryodhana
and Arjuna later visit Krishna to request his support. Krishna says that to
one of them will go his million soldiers, while he, Krishna, will be the ally
to the other. Arjuna chooses Krishna, and Duryodhana is delighted to have Krishna's
million soldiers at his command.
Śalya, the father
of Madri, is compelled
by a mistaken promise to serve as Duryodhana's general, but he makes another
promise to Yudhishthira: at a future battle, when he will be Karna's charioteer,
Śalya will discourage Karna at the crucial moment.
p.
122. Dissension at Hastinapura. The Pandavas make another
bid for peace. Yudhishthira tells Sanjaya to
take this message back to Hastinapura:
all he asks is that they be given five villages, one for each of the brothers,
and the war can be avoided. Sanjaya urges Dhritarashtra to stop supporting
Duryodhana. Vidura pleads
with Dhritarashtra to make Yudhishthira his heir and banish his own sons from
Hastinapura. Dhritarashtra wants to agree, but when he is near Duryodhana he
cannot resist his will. Even the great rishi Sanatsujata is
not able to persuade Dhritarashtra to make the peace.
Dhritarashtra despairs when he hears about the mighty Pandava army, but Duryodhana
insists that he will defeat the Pandavas because his armies are even greater.
Karna announces that he has obtained the Brahmastra weapon
from
Paraśurama. Bhishma then
tells Karna that he is boastful and conceited, which enrages Karna, who swears
that he will not join in the battle so long as Bhishma is still on the field.
Gandhari denounces
the war and the actions of her son Duryodhana.
Vyasa tells Dhritarashtra
that the war will be their doom.
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Modern Languages MLLL-4993. Indian Epics. Laura Gibbs, Ph.D. The textual material made available at this website is licensed under a Creative Commons License. You must give the original author credit. You may not use this work for commercial purposes. If you alter, transform, or build upon this work, you may distribute the resulting work only under a license identical to this one. No claims are made regarding the status of images used at this website; if you own the copyright privileges to any of these images and believe your copyright privileges have been violated, please contact the webmaster. Page last updated: January 15, 2005 1:35 AM |