From Here To India- My Epics of India Course Blog

     We come to the final part of the movie now. So the movie picks up right where we left off. They Pandavas and Krishna plot to kill Drona. Bhima kills an elephant named Ashwattaman, who coincidentally bore the same name as Drona's son. They're going to trick Drona. Bhima tells Drona that Ashwattaman is dead, and he killed him. "From a certain point of view" that is true, but it's not the whole truth. Drona suspects a lie, and asks Yudhisthira to tell him the truth. Yudhisthira, confirms that Ashwattaman (the elephant- he hides those words behind his mouth like a child) has been killed. Yudhisthira talking to Drona .      Drona dies, and the battle rages one. Dushasana attempts to kill Bhima. but Bhima prevails and drinks Dushasana's blood just like he promised. Draupadi washes her hair. So several vows have been fulfilled that day. Then there's a conversation between Karna and the Bhramin he tried to help. Karna then makes a battle cry and goes to

     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

     For my free choice reading for the rest of the semester, I chose to watch the Peter Brook film about the Mahabharata. The film opens with a little boy traveling through a palace, and Vyasa begins telling the story of the Mahabharata.     He opens with the story of how he was born. He talks about how his mother was born because the sperm of a king was taken on a leaf and dropped into a river. The sperm found it's way to a fish, and that fish was caught. When a fisherman caught the fish, he cut it open, and inside was a baby girl who smelled of fish. One day a hermit told her that if she lay with him, he could make the smell go away. And so Vyasa was born.      Now the King fell in love with Satyavati. Bhisma promised that he would never marry and have children so that his father could be happy. They had a son, and he was frail. Bhisma stole away three brides, but the new king died on his wedding night, thus no children. So Vyasa was called in. One son was born blind because