Reading Notes, Mahabharata Part A

 TinyTales Part A

                                                                        Vyasa and Ganesha

Page 1

- Mahabharata first came from Ganesha writing it as Vyasa spoke
- King Shantanu married a woman and they had a son. The queen then drowned their child but was never questioned. 
- King Shantanu's wife was Ganga the river goddess who said their children were the eight Vasus, gods of the eight elements cursed to be born as humans
- The eighth child that King Shantanu would not let be drowned became Devavrata, who learned the arts of was from Parashurama
- King Shantanu wanted to marry Satyavati but only could if her son would become the heir but it was already promised to Devavrata
- Devavrata made an oath to renounce all women and gave up his heir to the king, therefore Satyavati married King Shantanu. 
- They had two sons, Chitrangada and Vichiravirya, and Chitangada ruled once Shantanu died

Page 2

- Bhishma was determined that his half brother Vichiravirya would marry King Kashya's daughter so he kidnapped all three to take to Vichiravirya
- Shalva (one of 3 princesses) was rejected everywhere because of Bhishma and wore she would kill him
- Amba went to Parashurama to try and have Bhishma killed, but he couldn't be defeated
- Amba was told to wait until the next life to kill Bhishma but she didn't wait and threw herself into the flames to be reborn as Shikhandini, daughter of King Drupada. 
- Vichitravirya dies and leaves behind two widows leaving Satyavati to summon her son to marry the widow
- Satyavati summons her son Vyasa and he has 3 sons, Pandu the Pale was the one that became king

Page 3

- King Pandu then gets married to Kunti but she had no children so he marries Madri but she also had no children
- Pandu shot a stag named Kindama who cursed him that he could never touch a woman again, so Pandu went to live in the wilderness and Dhritarashtra became king
- Dhritarashtra wanted a son but his wife was pregnant for two years and never gave birth so he had a son (Yuyutsu) with a servant but he could not inherit the throne
- Dhritarashtra's wife then had 100 sons and one daughter that grew from the pots
- Pandu was seized with desire one day and touched his wife and died

- Duryodhana was the eldest son of Dhritarashtra, he tried to kill Bhima and threw him in the river but he did not die - In the river, Bhima met the Naga king who gave him a potion to make him stronger than ever

Page 4

- Bhishma's son engaged Drona to be their guru - Drona then began to teach the Pandavas and Kauravas in warfare (archery) - Drona was attacked by a crocodile one day and Arjuna saved him so he gave him a secret weapon - Eklavya wanted Drona to be his guru, but Drona refused. So he trained under a statue he made of Drona - Drona saw this as unacceptable and demanded Eklavya's right thumb and he cut it off so Arjuna would never be rivaled as an archer - Karna came to the archery tournament and got named the King of Anga to fight Arjuna

- Karna then becomes Parashurama's disciple

Page 5

-Drona never got his guru fee, so for his fee he made the Pandavas and Kauravas attack king Drupada but he didn't have him killed - Drupada then prayed for his own children, a son to kill Bhishma and Drona. The son was born a daughter but raised as a son named Shikhandin - Since Shakhandin was a woman and was marrying a woman, King Hiranyavarna declared war on King Drupada for this - Shikhandin was about to leap into the flames when the yaksha gave her manhood to prove to her father - The Kauravas and Pandavas keep trading insults so

- King Dhritarashtra decides to send the Pandavas away once and for all, then Dhritarashtra, Duryodhana, and Shakuni hatched an evil plot, hoping to put an end to the Pandavas once and for all.

Bibliography

TinyTales from the Mahabharata, Laura Gibbs. https://sites.google.com/view/tinymahabharata/home?authuser=0