Vrish
What sort of a husband was Dhritarashtra? From this story, one would get the idea that he was an ancient day abusive husband, who tortured his wife for her shortcomings despite having a major one himself.
You would think that being blind, Dhritarashtra would be grateful that any princess would be willing to marry him - which he was, in the original story. But not here. The moment Satyavati blasted Gandhari for entering the wedding blindfold, Dhritarashtra hated her to his marrow, and later, enjoyed torturing her by condemning her decision to forsake jewellery for flowers so that he could enjoy that, making her find him while blindfold, and enjoying as she trips on the pottery b4 mocking her, and then throwing her to the ground. Essentially, a man who would make Viraj Dobriyal proud 😆
The icing on the cake, if one will, is Dhritarashtra's torture of Gandhari during her pregnancy, where he accuses her of manufacturing the story of her boon to get herself married into this family. This gets aggravated when Yudhisthir beats Gandhari's son out of the womb, despite Gandhari being pregnant for 15 months. Dhritarashtra celebrates that news by going to her puja garden, blasting her, and later on, openly sending for Gandhari's maid for him to consummate 😡🤢 Of course, Gandhari, as the modern bahu, orders Sukhda to go, ignoring whether Sukhda herself has any rights or not.
In the original story, Gandhari herself injured her fetus out of jealousy herself that Kunti had beaten her to the punch - no Dhritarashtra abuse was needed. However, how can one whitewash Gandhari w/o blackwashing Dhritarashtra even more?
Vrish
The renunciation of Satyavati after the death of Pandu. Due to Dhritarashtra's policy of pampering his sons, she decides to go w/ Vidura to invite Pandu to return - something that she'd have had little power to do, the way this track is written. Once she sees Pandu dead, she asks Vidura to take Kunti & the Pandavas back to Hastinapur, while she gives up her royal life and retires to the forest for good. Kunti is welcomed back by, among others, Ambika & Ambalika.
In the original story, Satyavati never went to fetch Pandu, but after the news of Pandu's death, Vyasa advised her to renounce the palace and retire to his ashram, and she moved there, along w/ Ambika & Ambalika, so that none of them would have to see the bickering that took place b/w their grandchildren.
Although thinking of it, why would Ambika leave for the forests if her son has been made king? Doesn't make as much sense as it would for Ambalika, who had lost hers. At any rate, this spin made it look like Ambika & Ambalika were still available in the palace, if needed by Duryodhan or Bhima. 😆
Vrish
So who do you think had his or her character blackened beyond belief? While you'd be right in guessing any of the Kauravas, the surprise entry this month - who caused an upset in the way she was depicted - the innocent & gentle Madri, mother of Nakul/Sahadev. (At least that's how she's described in the original epic)
Right from the moment she arrived @ Hastinapur, she feigns sympathy w/ Kunti, and then within the same conversation, issues a veiled threat against competing. Following that, she loses no opportunity to insult or otherwise belittle Kunti, whether it's snide remarks @ her Yadu origins (itself questionable, given that she was adopted out to Kuntibhoj) or her objections to Pandu abdicating, or her lashing out @ Kunti for having children, while she couldn't. A minor twist in the tale here - making it look like Kunti out of generosity taught her the mantra, when in fact, Pandu requested her on Madri's behalf.
Not just that - during her brief time in the serial, after the birth of her sons, she is rarely shown in a family moment, even w/ just Nakul/Sahadev or just Pandu. The Pandavas have a brief moment w/ Pandu, a brief moment w/ Kunti, but that's it. One would think that the CVs have no use for Madri once she gave birth.
The saas-bahufication of her character was completed w/ her ending - like a villain sometimes reforms before exiting a story, so did Madri. After Pandu's death, she recounts her sins. Here too, when Kunti declines her request to die, Madri ignores her and dies anyway 😕 (In the original, she humbly thanked Kunti for acceding to all her requests to date, and asked her for one last favor - the right to take her place in Pandu's pyre, since she was responsible for her death. I grant that modern serials can't show instances of sati, but still, this twist was unneeded
.Bhavani.
Shiv Shakti
