Reading Notes: PDE Mahabharata, Part B

The image of a burning house, like in “The House of Fire,” is a really strong one—and the possibility of arson or pyros is always fun to play with. So I’ll keep that in mind moving forward.

In "Bhima and Hidimba," there's another reminder that this version of demons are able to shape shift, which could be interesting to use too.

Also, I was really intrigued by the fact that, in “Bhima and Hidimbi,” Bhima ended up marrying the demon woman who'd fallen in love with him despite her brother, unlike Rama's experience in the Ramayana. That pairing is really interesting—a monstrously strong human and a monster who only wants to be human—especially because of their dynamic: he helps her be human, and she protects him from monsters and other dangers. So that could be a fun concept to try out. Of course, their halfling son has potential, too: that element of being caught between two worlds, a freak to both the monsters and the humans. (Lorcan story?)

Then there's the idea of the blood-tax in "Bhima and Baka." At regular intervals, a lord ruling over a small town requires that a family sends him one of their members and a cart of rice as a sort of blood-tax sacrifice. If the family doesn't send anyone, he goes to their house anyways, and slaughters all the members. I find the idea of a blood-tax really interesting, especially if opened up for different interpretation, and then there's also the interesting tradition of stories where a village youth is sent to the local "dragon" as a sacrifice—it could be fun to twist that around in a way that suits my storytelling interests more, give it more of a modern fantasy flair.

Later, in “Birth of Draupadi,” two different things caught my eye. The first is the birth of the twins themselves to the former king and friend Drona took down: “the miraculous births of Drupada's son and daughter from sacrificial fire.” It’s a fascinating idea with tons of potential, and just think of the characters themselves: what kind of people would these kids be, born of vengeance and sacrificial fire instead of love and happiness? Answer: my kind of kids.

The fire-born daughter’s fate sounds interesting, too, especially in a male-dominated story like this: A voice out of heaven said, "This dusky girl will become the chief of all women. Many kshatriyas must die because of her, and the Kauravas will suffer from her. She will accomplish the decrees of the gods." Talk about a legacy to live up to. Also, though, now that I think about it, it would be really interesting if her fate were to live as a sort of fixer/enforcer for the gods instead: the fire-born girl carrying out their dirty work, blood on her hands.

Also, this is kind of an aside from the point of all my other notes, but will anyone ever quit putting Karna down? Take the latest scene in "Draupadi's Swayamwara," for instance. The guy deserves better, and I'm waiting from the day he quits accepting everything with a sardonic bow and a bitter smile and starts putting everyone in their place: At length proud Karna strode forward; he took the bow and bent it and fixed the bowstring. Then he seized an arrow. Drupada and his son were alarmed, fearing he might succeed and claim the bride. Suddenly Draupadi intervened, for she would not have the son of a charioteer for her lord. She said, speaking loudly, "I am a king's daughter, and will not wed with the base-born."

Karna smiled bitterly, his face aflame. He cast down the bow and walked away, gazing towards the sun. He said, "O Sun! Be my witness that I cast aside the bow, not because I am unable to hit the mark, but because Draupadi scorns me."

In the introduction notes for "The Burning of the Forest," I found the description of the goddess Maya really interesting: she's "the goddess of the illusion that we call reality." That immediately conjures up something along the lines of a Gaiman Sandman character, but I do think it has potential, so it's worth keeping in mind.

Then there's the concept in "Pandavas Victorious" that caught my eye: as the intro notes state, "It is now time for Yudhishthira to declare himself a supreme monarch by performing a Rajasuya sacrifice. This will require that he confront a rival king..." I'm really fascinated by the Mafia, and this reminds me a lot of the way members are usually required to kill someone else to become "made" within the ranks. Thinking about that connection makes me think it would be interesting to take modern crime concepts and conflicts and transplant them into genre settings, so I'll look into doing that sometime.

Finally, I also loved the bloody weight of the line that Draupadi gave before they left on their exile, about her husband and their new enemy: "From this day my hair will fall over my forehead until Bhima shall have slain Duhshasana and drunk his blood; then shall Bhima tie up my tresses while his hands are yet wet with the blood of Duhshasana."

Bibliography: Mahabharata Online: Public Domain Edition. Source: Laura Gibbs's Indian Epics blog.

Image Credit: "The birth of Science" by Sergio Boscaino. Source: Flickr.