'Mahabharat- Different Versions -Perspectives'

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Sabhayata

@Sabhayata

Sparkler

+ 4

Posted: 11 years ago

#141

@Rehanism:Thanks for telling more about 'Yuganta'.

I dont know why some writers try to see Dwapar yug from 21st century lenses.Yes i agree rebirth,curses and boons dont really exsit in our world.God only exists in our prayes not in physical form whom we can actually meet or who can actually have children but this is a differnet yug what is real and human in this yug may not necessarily be real or human in Dwapar yug.

Dawapar yug coud be a yug of magic and gods where human's could physically meet god's ,get boons or curses, god could bless some one with human children.Yes its not real in the world we live today but it could be very real in the dwapar yug world.God could take a form of krishan ji and come and establish dharma in the world i dont see anything unrealistic in this.

Hence i dont appreciate attempts to devoid Mahabharat of its divinity to make it appear real it could be very real for dwapar yug.In any case will give yuganta a try

@Anjana:I agree with using hate as mask for your feelings but there is a limit to everything.How can a man who loves a woman instigate her disrobing or how can a woman have feelings for a man who instigated her disrobing.

Edited by Sabhayata - 11 years ago

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AnjanaYYZ

@AnjanaYYZ

Stunner

+ 6

Posted: 11 years ago

#142

@Sabhayata - your rationale is the reason I dont personally believe that Draupadi had any such weakness 4 Karna... karna as a man I can see being attracted even if considered her a courtesan, etc. Attraction 2 me is not love - if he didnt find her attractive there why participate in her swayambara.

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daenerysnow

@daenerysnow

Inactive

Posted: 11 years ago

#143

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5wzwr9I554&feature=youtube_gdata_player
Guys for those interested in the Indonesian version, here's a yt link to a serialized version of Indonesian Mahabharata

Unfortunately there is no subtitles! Also there are only 4 parts so its pretty short

Edited by rangeeni - 11 years ago

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Ashwini_D

@Ashwini_D

Navigator

Posted: 11 years ago

#144

Originally posted by: Medha.S

Ok.
Had you given a link for MB resources?
Because i was just going through one, and there it states that in Malyalam retelling of MB, Karna along with Shalya, Shishupal and Jarasandh simply fails in the Swayamvar ...

And also it wrote explicitly about Aswathhama not having milk to drink 🤓

In the disrobing incident, Draupadi's call to Krishna is described that is followed by the verbal abuse of Draupadi by Karna followed by calls for help by Draupadi addressed to Yama, Indra, Wind, Asvins, Bhisma, Drona, Gandhari and Dhrtarastra.

Followed by??
Also, does Vyas MB narrates her call for help to these mentioned people??

Also in Karna Parva, Bheema's recounts of all the wrongs done by the Kauravas and includes the Disrobing incident.❓

No I have not posted any link in MB resources as I myself have not laid hands on the critical edition. Whatever I have posted is a result of my discussions with a few people who have read it. I am not familiar with the Malyalam version. Thanks for pointing out the similarities though.😊

Edited by ashwi_d - 11 years ago

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Ashwini_D

@Ashwini_D

Navigator

Posted: 11 years ago

#145

Originally posted by: Rehanism
Good to see this thread.

One thing I would like to discuss is the topic of Draupadi's feelings for Karna. Of course puritans love to hate this topic for allegedly destroying a 'Maha-sati''s character and such shit, but it begs the question - Why did so many authors come up with this same idea? Obviously Mahabharat by Vyas doesn't mention anything even miles close to that, but it seems the root of this idea is in Mahabharat itself. I think the fact that Krishna offered Draupadi to Karna behind her back led some to the conclusion that Krishna being Draupadi's biggest benefactor and well-wisher won't hand her over to a loathsome person whom she completely abhors. So the choice of inference (from their POV) of the event were - 1. Either Krishna was simply being a cunning politician and treating her as a bait to win an ally without caring for her happiness OR 2. He knew Draupadi's heart secretly loved Karna and marriage to Karna won't be completely reprehensible or punitive for Draupadi. Perhaps the former was too cruel for them to admit so they went ahead with the latter and then the imaginations ran wild.

Regarding Palace of Illusions, I once liked it, but later on when I went through it, I realized that the author behaves like a complete fan-girl of Karna while describing him. Also she white-washes Draupadi's character too much to the point where she completely omits Draupadi's vow of not tying her hair and Bhim's killing of Dushasan for her sake. However I would encourage people to read Karna's Wife by Kavita Kane.

Appreciate you bringing this up and your thoughts on it. I think the root of this fictional Karna-Draupadi unfulfilled romance would lie in popular perception of Karna as the tragic hero. Perhaps people could relate to his trials and tribulations in fighting hurdles of caste and social standing and still establishing his identity as a fierce warrior (the way they see him) who is loyal to his friend. He is your quintessential underdog, who's victory is rooted for by people.

Hence whenever there is a contest between Arjun and Karna about who was better, you'll always find more people supporting Karna than Arjun, giving Karna more brownie points out of sympathy for him. Arjun, on the other hand, is seen as this privileged person who still got everything in the end: the most beautiful woman in the world, a kingdom for his brother, victory in battle with Karna along with many others, guidance and friendship of Krishna and eternal glory as the best archer of his time. So as a remedy to the supposed injustice to Karna, and to compensate partially if not fully for his miseries, why not have the heroine of the novel and the most beautiful one at that, fall for him and secretly pine for him in spite of having 5 husbands? With one stroke, these authors succeed in painting this as an affront to Arjun, with his wife falling for his rival, and in declaring their affection for Karna.This has also to do with the belief that Draupadi's putative infidelity resulted from the Pandavas failure to protect her during the vastraharan. It's a case of wishful thinking out of a misguided sense of justice for both Karna and Draupadi IMO.

Edited by ashwi_d - 11 years ago

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Ashwini_D

@Ashwini_D

Navigator

Posted: 11 years ago

#146

Originally posted by: Rehanism
Just completed reading Yuganta. The book attempts to be more of a critical review of MB, rather than a narrative. It tends to approach the epic in a secular way where all references to divinity or magic events, boons, curses, even divine weapons are treated as later addendum or metaphors with the remaining skeleton as events from human history (dated around 1000 BC) rather than mythology. For instance it claims Pandavas and Karna to be Kunti's illegitimate children rather than demigods. Further it has a rather unflattering view of Karna, projecting him as an all round loser, and claims that all curses inflicted on him were interpolations made to make people sympathize with him. Dunno how I feel about this book, except that its very tasteless. More about it later, perhaps.😕

The book does leave you shocked and reeling in a sense, as the author goes against many popular perceptions of characters. In my case , I still don't agree with some of her opinions and arguments against some characters. But I still appreciate her effort to rationally analyse everybody in a time when a lot of people prefer to view the MB through rose-tinted glasses. Her perspectives, though point out the harsh reality sometimes, are very fresh most importantly are formulated from evidence in the text. Apart from her views on characters, being an anthropologist, she also gives you an insight into how society might have functioned at that time, which I must admit I was more interested in.

Edited by ashwi_d - 11 years ago

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AnjanaYYZ

@AnjanaYYZ

Stunner

+ 6

Posted: 11 years ago

#147

@Ashwi - Agree with you about the enhancement impact on Karna's characterization. But, I don't know that it helps the characterization of Draupadi to theorize she secretly loved Karna as the Pandavas were unable to protect her. The flaw in that theory is that Karna is the one that insults her. Guess because he is a rejected suitor one can theorize he may have made a better husband for her. But, when said rejected suitor turns into her abuser - how can it in anyway enhance her characterization to theorize she loved him?

Edited by AnjanaYYZ - 11 years ago

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Ashwini_D

@Ashwini_D

Navigator

Posted: 11 years ago

#148

Originally posted by: AnjanaYYZ
@Ashwi - Agree with you about the enhancement impact on Karna's characterization. But, I don't know that it helps the characterization of Draupadi to theorize she secretly loved Karna as the Pandavas were unable to protect her. The flaw in that theory is that Karna is the one that insults her. Guess because he is a rejected suitor one can theorize he may have made a better husband for her. But, when said rejected suitor turns into her abuser - how can it in anyway enhance her characterization to theorize she loved him?

Agree with you totally, one can hardly account for the theory that Draupadi loved Karna. It is just that I have observed, that those who refuse to see Karna with any faults, imputing everything to his fate than his actual misdeeds, also conveniently forget his insult of Draupadi. Or they somehow view this as an instance where he was forced to insult her out of loyalty to Duryodhan.

But I think you theory of the classic hate-turning-into-love saga (the one that Ekta Kapoor specialises in, based on whatever little I have seen of her work ) fits here better. 😊

P.S- I wanted to change my username, but can't 😭. Would prefer being called by my actual name now, Ashwini. 😊

Edited by ashwi_d - 11 years ago

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bheegi

@bheegi

Stunner

+ 5

Posted: 11 years ago

#149

Hi everyone

I've read POI and 'Yajnaseni' and have just started reading 'Jaya'. Next in line would be 'Yuganta' I am also reading 'Difficulty of Being Good' written by Gurcharan Das. He has analyzed all the main characters of MB and tried to explain how their character traits influenced their lives and the main story of MB. He has also tried to tie these character traits and their relevance in the current political/economic scenario. It's interesting how these 2000 + year old character traits are still relevant in this day age. Even though there are many versions of MB, I feel the basic character traits of the main characters were same across the versions (with minor variations). For me, MB is all about characters, their actions and how they reacted to different situations. It doesn't matter if Draupadi loved one man more than another (or Karna for that matter)- what matters to me is how she handled the various situations in her life- polyandry/vastraharan/exile etc. That's where Draupadi's resilience and character shines through.

I am one of those who liked both 'POI' and 'Yajnaseni' as the strength of her character is highlighted in both. Whether she had the feels for Karna is immaterial for me. In fact, POI was more Karna centric than 'Yajnaseni'

I felt, in 'Yajnaseni' she always craved for Arjun- Phalguni as she called him. Karna was there but he was more of a 'what if' for her and I never felt that she was attracted to him. Karna, on the other hand was more attracted to her in 'Yajnaseni' Her obsession and possessiveness for Arjun is the highlight of 'Yajnaseni'

I guess that's the beauty of all these versions- even the readers will have their own perspectives after reading them - not all of us would agree on everything.

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Srishti

@srishtisingh

Voyager

Posted: 11 years ago

#150

I started reading jaya.it is written so simply and also author own perception of character is there.I read a bit of kmg and I found jaya and kmg differ.somehow jaya is not as grabbing as poi
does anybody have yajnaseni ebook link? I would like to read it

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'Mahabharat- Different Versions -Perspectives' - Page 15

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