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.