Tuesday, October 6, 2015

Reading Diary B: Peter Brook's Mahabharata

Peter Brook's Mahabharata film can be seen here.
Step by step reading guide for film can be seen here.

Yudhistira is questioning meditating Krishna
Image Source: Wikimedia
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  • Krishna awakes to find the five Pandavas and Draupadi around him.
    • He tells them that the world needs a king, and that happens to be Yudhishthira. 
    • Yudhishthira is very unsure about being the correct choice for king
  • Duryodhana is being a hater
    • He doesn't want his father to treat the Pandavas as his sons, for one of them might jump in line in front of him for the throne.
    • King Dhritarashtra gives them a piece of the kingdom. Duryodhana is not happy about this. I'm sure his father will hear about this...
  • Meanwhile, Yudhishthira is pleased, Bhima is pissed. 
  • Duryodhana throws a fit, declares war against the Pandavas. 
  • Bhishma agrees with what the King decided to do, but will end up siding with Dhritarashtra and his sons in the end. 
  • Duryodhana travels to the Pandava's kingdom; the crystal palace
    • The reflective mirages around the palace cause him to stumble about, the Pandava's mock him
  • Duryodhana is fueled by anger from the mockery and embarrassment he suffered
  •  Gandhari's brother, Shakuni, offers to play Yudhishthira in dice. He assures he will beat him and take everything from the Pandava's. 
    • Yudhishthira is apparently bad at gambling, but loves to do it anyway
  • The Pandavas show up to the palace
    • Yudhishthira does not do well at all. He bets everything he has
  • Draupadi is the last thing to be gambled and lost.
    • She is dragged to the main hall by her hair.
    • Humiliated by the the court, she is about to be stripped of her garments 
    • As she is about to be stripped, she begs Krishna to help her, and her sari becomes never ending as it is torn off of her. 
  • Duryodhana keeps teasing her, asks her to choose a new husband, while baring his thigh. 
  • Draupadi "I will wash my hair in your (Duhshasana) blood, and Duryodhana will die from a blow to the thigh" 
    • King Dhritarashtra grants her two favors and she asks for her husbands freedom. 
  • Duryodhana urges his father to ask them to come back for a second game. 
      • The stakes:
        • 12 years of exile in the forest 
        • And one year after that of exile in a city but they must not be seen, or else be subjected to yet another 12 years of exile in the forest
  • Shakuni wins again. The Pandavas go into exile.
    • Kunti stays behind 
  • Amba looks for Bhima during their exile.
    • She asks Bhima to kill Bhishma. She blames him for the world rejecting her.
    • "Hate keeps me young. I only live to kill Bhishma. I swore it, but all the men to whom I turn, even you Bhima, tell me he can't be killed. None the less, I will kill him" 
  • Arjuna leaves to find divine weapons, 
    • "Ever since childhood I have been marked for war..." 
  • Duhshasana has a bad dream about the vengeance that the Pandavas will seek. 
    • Duryodhana cannot strike now because of their exile. 
  • Hidimbi and Hidimba, rakashas, stumble across the Pandava camp. Hidimba asks his sister to bring him their corpses
  • Hidimbi falls in love with Bhima and transforms into a beautiful human woman.
    • Bhima kills her brother, Hidimba after he attacks
      • May I add this part was VERY entertaining. 
    • Bhima and Hidimbi marry.
    • They have a son, who leaves with Hidimbi to another world but promises to come back should Bhima ever need him. 
  • Bhima is found by Duryodhana in the forest. 
    • He finds the rest of the Pandavas
    • Vyasa interferes in their attack. 
  • Vyasa suggests they go listen to stories during exile
    • Vyasa sends Duryodhana back home.
  • Boy asks Vyasa why he cannot stop the war, if he interfered here in this instance
    • "There are some acts a word can check; others nothing can block
  • Arjuna receives the Pashupata weapon from a hunter he met on his journey. 
    • This hunter is actually Shiva and he appears in his true form to Arjuna. Arjuna worships him. 
  • Duryodhana sees this all happening using powers, he is afraid, because Arjuna has this weapon from Shiva.
  • Urvashi meets Arjuna in the mountain and tries to seduce him; he refuses
    • She is offended and curses him
      • Women will see him as a eunuch
  • Karna is cursed by Parashurama, who had given him Pashupata.
    • He is cursed because he denied being a warrior (kshatriya)
    • He is found out when a worm burrows into Karna's thigh and he does not cry out.

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