Week 9 Reading Diary A: Starting the Mahabharata

I like the Mahabharata a lot so far, but it is for sure a little less straightforward than the Ramayana. There are so many characters to keep track of! I definitely needed to refer to the Reading Guide a number of times to remember who was who and who did what.

The birth stories are really interesting. I like the rivalry between the Pandavas and the Kauravas. The competitiveness and conflict between them is fun to read about, and I find myself always cheering for the Pandavas. I think I’m supposed to feel that way. But I have a superstar sibling, so I can feel sympathetic to the Kauravas, too.

My favorite part of the first reading was when Vidura warned them that the house they were staying at in Varanavata was going to be burned down, so they built a long tunnel right in the middle of it! The code part was cool, and I bet that was a neat engineering feat, as well.

(Draupadi and Pandavas)