Indian Epics Blog

                Duryodhana sat alone in his study and puzzled over the popularity of his cousins. Earlier in the day he had walked through the market and only heard mention of his cousins. He heard no mention of him or any of his brothers. This omission angered him greatly. He wanted to step out of the shadow of his cousins and into the light of the public eye. He wanted to be the king. Finally, after he could take no more of the anger he felt, he retired to his bed chambers. Duryodhana wake the next day and left for the palace to meet with his father, Dhritarashtra. On his way he listened for any talk of him and his brothers. He heard nothing. Instead he heard that Yudhistira had been crowned heir apparent. Enraged by this news, he stormed to through the gates of the palace and into his father’s study. He slammed his hands on the desk and demanded that his father explain why he named Yudhistira as heir a...

This section starts with the tensions between the Pandavas and their cousins very high. Duryodhana has refused the peace proposition from the Pandavas. Yudhistra again attempts to make peace with Dhritarashtra, but even though Dhritarashtra is amenable to peace and wants to meet with Krishna, Duryodhana has decided to disrupt the peace talks.Krishna, being a divine being, is able to dissuade Duryodahana from attempting any sort of intervention in the talks. Krishna also talks to Karna, who has is still thinking about his battle with Arjuna. Krishna tells him his true identity and lineage. He then tries to convince him to no longer follow Duryodhana, but Karna, too focused on battling Arjuna, refuses, but he does promise to only fight Arjuna and spare the other Pandava children. At this point in the story, the long-awaited war between the two clans is about to happen. The book spends little time on the more general preparations, but instead focuses on the commanders and how they...

This week we picked back up the Mahabharata and continued where we left off last week. The first half of the story focused on the rift and the competition between the two sets of brothers. The Pandavas were banished from the kingdom previously and now they live at the edge of a River. Dhitarashtra, with his multitude of spies, keeps tabs on the Pandavas. He learns where they are living and that Arjuna has acquired magical weapons. He consults with his son Duryodhana, and they try to work out what to do because they are scared by the weapons that Arjuna possesses. Duryodhana thinks that they should attack and destroy the Pandavas, but Sakuni thinks this is foolhardy and suggests that Duryodhana embarrass the Pandavas by showing his royal splendor. Duryodhana does this but is attacked and is saved by the Pandavas. After this story, the setting switches to the Pandavas in the forest. They are engaged by a brahmin who tells them that a deer stole all of his tools and asks them to f...