From Here To India- My Epics of India Course Blog

     For my last week of reading, I'm finishing Peter's Mahabharata film. When it ended the great war had just started. And that is where the story will pick up.       The story begins at night, the soldiers are not fighting but resting as agreed before the war started. Duryodhana is questioning Bhisma about who's side he's fighting on, because Bhisma's strength is supposed to be legendary but he keeps getting pushed back. Bshima gets defensive and eventually asks them to leave. He then talks to Drona (who seems like a very interesting character). After Drona leaves, Amba returns to talk to Bhisma, claiming that she has strange news for him. After waiting for news about how Death can outwit Death, she built a fire and threw herself into it. She died, but was reborn? Apparently now she is also a man and is going to take part in this battle. Her (now his) name is now Shikundi.     A few of the Pandavas go to Bhisma and ask how they can kill him. He states that

Draupadi and the Pandavas Dear Diary, Several years in exile later and I still cannot believe we're here, kicked out of the beautiful palace we called home. You don't realize how much you take for granted the finer things in life until you suddenly don't have them anymore. This is all because one of my husbands gambled away EVERYTHING. Even me. I was humiliated, dragged before everyone while my husbands did nothing. I had a lively debate with Yudhisthira today. I still don't understand why he doesn't act! If they take up their arms they can win back the kingdom. Many years later Dear Diary,  Our exile in the wilderness has finally ended, we are in disguise in the court of a palace. Yudhisthira, ironically, spends most of his days playing dice and no longer loses. Bhima is a cook. Arjuna teaches dance. I spend my days as a handmaiden. Though we enjoy more comforts than in the forest, it would seem that this new life is still not without it'

This part of the story ends with the Pandavas and Draupadi in Virata's court. They all go into hiding there. Virata's general finds Draupadi beautiful and wants her for himself. Draupadi manages to escape and finds Bhima. Then Bhima tricks the general and kills him. This luckily happens at the end of the exile period, and so they're able to safely reveal themselves. They then turn to leave to take back what is there. Virata asks Yudhisthira about what will happen, and Yudhisthira makes a very dark premonition.     Krishna goes to the palace to try one last attempt to make peace. It doesn't go very well. They try to take Krishna captive (why?) but they're stopped. Before Krishna leaves, he decides to have a talk with Kunti, the mother of the Pandavas. They prepare for war. Draupadi sends Yudhstrhitra off. The two armies meet and discuss the rules for war. Yudhisthira asks for permission to strike at Bhisma and Drona. They give it. Arjuna makes ready to give the sig

     I'm continuing to work on the Peter Brook film this week. Part C opens with Amba looking for Bhima. She wants him to kill Bhisma. Bhima will not kill him though, he respects him too much. Amba still looks incredibly young, they claim this ordeal happened over 40 years ago. To which she replies "Hate keeps me young." Draupadi tells Amba to call upon the invisible forces. Eventually she leaves.     Draupadi tells of how they used to have a kingdom. She asks Yudhisthira how he could've played to lose EVERYTHING. Including his brothers and her. Yudhisthira talks about how they have the same questions as her. Why is one act rewarded? Why is another not? They debate about Dharma and how he could just sit there and do nothing. Why won't he act? She cannot understand it. Bhima begs Yudhisthira to stand up and fight. After a long debate, the group is relatively pacified, and Arjuna decides to go deep into the mountains, where he can obtain weapons for them. They&#

       For this week I decided to do the Story Lab over Language. There were eight videos in the playlist that I was supposed to watch and I'll be recording my thoughts here.      The first video talks about how languages evolved. The Earth was less populated and as people moved their languages changed until we developed the languages you see today. Languages can be divided into different families. This was a very short video but it gave me a lot to think about, like how language may have come about.     The second video, also very short, describes how the English language that we speak came about. First, the Celts were being occupied by the Romans, and they protected the Celts. Then the Roman Empire fell and the Germanic tribes took over with their Anglo-Saxon language. This is referred to now as Old English. Eventually through various conquests the English adopted words from French and Latin. This grew and expanded the language into what we know today.     The third video w

After everything, we open with Krishna appearing and saying that the kingdom needs a good and just king. The Pandavas are sent away to live in a different kingdom. They're to build a dazzling city. They are starting to be sent along the path to war.     They go to visit the city, and it's designed by Maya the great architect. They're stumbling around, he's made a fool of. You almost feel bad for him, if he wasn't plotting to kill everyone and cause chaos. They start plotting to take Yudhistera's kingdom away from him. He loves gambling, but he doesn't know how to gamble properly. So they invite him to a game of dice.     Duryodhana is always angry, he is resentful of the Pandavas, he feels second-best because his father was born blind. He has a long talk with Bhisma abou how whatever happens at the game, he must not interfere. And so the game begins. There is a whole spill about how there's no cheating involved...     His oppenent keeps winning. It