Reading Notes: Mahabharata Part A

 Source: Tiny Tales from the Mahabharata by Laura Gibbs

https://sites.google.com/view/tinymahabharata/home

Tiny Tales: 1-10

-first version of Mahabharata: Vyasa composed a poem and Ganesha (elephant-head god) was the scribe

    -Ganesha used one of his own tusks to write (sacrifice) (passion for work)

-King Shantanu marries a woman he meets while hunting

    -she asks him to never question her actions, she drowns their first baby and he says nothing

-King Mahabhisha was banished from Indra's heaven for staring at a Ganga's breast which were accidentally exposed

    -Indra told Ganga to be reborn as another women to break Mahabhisha's heart

    -Mahabhisha was reborn as Shantanu

-Shantanu's wife drowned seven children, he forbid her to drown the eighth (Devavrata), their children were the gods of the eight elements, wife reveals she is Ganga and leaves him

-Devavrata gives up the throne for his father's love, becomes Bhishma

Tiny Tales: 11-20

-Bhishma stole the three daughters of King Kashya for his half-brother

-Amba swears to be the cause of Bhishma's death (revenge)

-Satyavati had a sone named Vyasa

    -she summoned him to become king, he accepted

Tiny Tales: 21-30

-King Pandu married two women, neither bore children

    -Pandu marries Gandhri, who blindfolds herself to share her husband's blindness

-Pandu is cursed to never touch a woman again, so he leaves for the forest with his wives Kunti and Madri

-Kunti summoned Surya for a child, when the child was born she placed it in a basket on the river

-Pandu then has Kunti summon many gods for sons

-King Dhritarashtra has a child with Sughada while he awaited his child with Gandhari

-Vyasa placed the ball of flesh from Gandhari's birth into 100 pots so she would have 100 sons and one daughter

-Pandu's son Sahadeva ate some of his father's flesh to gain wisdom and keeps the knowledge to himself

Tiny Tales: 31-40

-Drona becomes guru to the Pandavas and Kauravas

    -Arjuna was the best student

-Arjuna saves Drona from a crocodile

    -Drona gives Arjuna a weapon that will destroy the universe if he uses it on an inferior opponent

-Ekalavya turned out to be better than Arjuna, so Drona asks him to cut off his right thumb so he can no longer be better than Arjuna

-Kunti's first born son Karna challenges Arjuna

-Drona desires revenge on Drupada, a king who refused him help

Tiny Tales: 41-50

-Drona gets revenge on Drupada by taking half his kingdom

-Drupada asks for a son to kill Drona, a son to kill Bhishma, and a daughter to destroy Hastinapura

-Shikhandin was refused by a bride and enters a forest

-Shikhandin meets Sthuna, who offers to switch genders

-Dhritarashtra sends the Pandavas away as a trick to put an end to them

I found a pattern of revenge in the stories, everyone is seeking revenge on another

Revenge