Reading Notes Mahabharata Reading Part A

Mahabharata Part A was really detailed and upheld a quickly developing plot. Almost every "chapter" introduced a new character that somehow circumvented back to previously mentioned characters. Each character's vows and hardships became increasingly complicated. One of the running theme that I noticed was that men always yearned for children; however, it remained inevitable that there was a cost behind being able to conceive. Following conception of a child, the family would either fall apart or the child would die. If the child did live, they were displayed and treated as a prized possession or cursed. There was a lot of "an eye for an eye" requests and activites being carried out.
Surya.Wikimedia Commons

I noticed that several of the stories in this part of the Mahabharata had several biblical influences that I am aiming to utilize in my own story post. One of the most distinct biblical moments I captured were in the chapter, Kunti and Her Son. Kunti concealed her baby, wrapped himi in a basket afloat on the river to never be seen again by her. Kunti's mother prayed to Surya, hoping that her baby would be shielded. This baby was found by a husband and wife who could not conceive and was raised to become a powerful youth and bowman. This story is directly related to the story of Moses and his mother at the Nile in the Bible. Moses' mother wrapped him up in a wicker basket and drifted him down the river to one day be found by a loving family and raised in peace. Both stories end idealistically and happily, however, there is one story that takes a twist, The Arrival of Karna. Karna was found as an infant, but was raised by a low-cast charioteer.



Bibliography: Arold et. al. Mahabharata: Public Domain Edition.web 

Comments

  1. Laura GibbsFebruary 21, 2017 at 11:54 AM

    Hannah, you got to start the reading: fantastic! And listen, about Kunti and baby Karna, there is a famous book by Otto Rank about The Birth of the Hero which has Karna, Moses, Hercules, and Jesus, plus more. Such a cool book! If you are curious, you can find it here:
    The Myth of the Birth of the Hero by Otto Rank
    Keep an eye on Karna; he is my favorite character in the epic! :-)

    ReplyDelete

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