Week 11 Reading Diary B: The Pandavas Leave Hastinapura

I really enjoy the story of the Pandavas escaping Duryodhana’s fire through a tunnel. What a victory! They live as brahmanas for a while, but they still find opportunities to do amazing things, like Bhima defeating the demon and Arjuna stringing the bow to win over Draupadi. Their cousins are always putting them at a severe disadvantage, but they just keep on winning.

I liked the story about Arjuna and Krishna helping Agni. Those two took on a whole host of gods and won, but it seemed like an epic battle. I definitely enjoyed Buck’s description of it, and I think many of the characters in it are very likeable.

(Agni Meets Krishna and Arjuna)

One thing I like better about the Mahabharata than the Ramayana is that we have more characters to cheer for. With the Ramayana, we had Rama and friends, but there was really only one hero. It’s cool that there are five Pandavas that each have their own incredible strengths and talents. It’s kind of like reading a comic book about one superhero versus reading a comic book about a team of superheroes. 

Week 11 Reading Diary A: Starting Buck’s Mahabharata

When I read Narayan’s version of the Ramayana and Buck’s, I found them to be pretty comparable as far as how easy they were to follow. With the Mahabharata, however, I am noticing a very significant difference in how well I am able to keep up with Buck’s version. It is straightforward, and he frequently restates the relationships between characters, which I find super helpful. Since my comprehension is so much better, I am finding Buck’s Mahabharata a lot more enjoyable than Narayan’s.

One of the stories I wrote in my storybook was about Kurma the turtle, an incarnation of Vishnu that helped the gods hold up Mount Mandara when they were trying to churn the ocean of milk. I thought it was super interesting that this story was included in the Mahabharata, but Kurma was left out of it. There were also some notable differences from the Kurma story I read. For example, I originally read that the reason the gods needed the nectar of immortality was because Indra had gotten them cursed and they all had become mortal. I’m sure there are a lot of variations to the story, so it’s neat to read the different ways it’s told.

(The Churning of the Ocean of Milk)