Week 5 Reading Diary: Mahabharata

Mahabharata PDE

Vyasa and Ganesha from The Mahabharata, A Summary by John Mandeville Macfie (1921)

The Story of Vyasa's birth is WEIRD. I think it would be a good story to go into why Vyasa wanted the story of Mahabharata to be written and why he thought no one on earth was worthy. I would also like to go more into depth of the scribe. What makes him so worthy? Also another good story would be of the sister Satyavati. Her interaction with the rishi and her desperation to get rid of her "fishy smell".

Ganga brings Devavrata to Shantanu from Wiki Commons

Ganga and King Shantanu  Indian Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie (1913).

Ganga really intrigues me. I love how she is first described. She must have been quite beautiful. Her story of striking her children almost reminds me of Kronos eating his children until Zeus. I am glad the father of the children took action. I think it could be interesting to kind of intertwine the story with Ganga with Kronos. Maybe they could be at a "I tried to kill all of my children" group and talking about their experiences and why they did it. How did they react to their spouse turning on them? 

Bhishma at the Swayamvara from Myths of the Hindus and Buddhists by Sister Nivedita (1914).

I really like the idea of the tournament to win the brides. I would love to maybe go more into the festivities and tournaments. I always loved the stories of knights and chivalry and tournaments. It would be so fun to combine this story with that love.