Posted:
@ Srishti and Sukanya - thanks a million for telling me about that page, it's incredibly interestinging and informative! By inspiring such a fb group, it appears the show has done some good after all 😆
@ Anjana - I did some digging and found the relevant chapters in KMG all by myself 😆 It starts here, in chapter 23 of Udyoga Parva, and the conversation keeps going for the next 10 chapters or so: http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/m05/m05023.htm
The translation appears to be highly abridged though - things like Nakul and Sahadev's victories as protectors of the state are mentioned as line items, but all those details the article had about ambidexterous dhanush-handling and whatnot are omitted. I'm going to ask Varaali or Sema to clear up more of what's in the shloks themselves. The Critical Edition/translation by Bibek Debroy may spell out more clearly what gets revealed about Dhrit and Duryodhan's failings as an adminstrator in this conversation, but even from KMG it's clear that every cryptic question Yudi asked is actually a barb - e.g. "I hope there's no dacoits plaguing the kingdom" is him saying "I hear there are dacoits plaguing the kingdom... good job 🤔"
The main takeaway, though, is that everybody's saying Yudi was "back in character" as of yesterday's episode - I think that was true only during the conversation with Bhishma, because avoiding unnecessarily bloodshed by other kings was the *only* reason he desired peace. His conversation with Sanjay and the message he sent back to Dhrit proves that he was not afflicted by any sort of moh/attachment for the Kuru elders when he attempted peace talks. Epic Yudi, at that point, is *so done* with Dhrit's partiality that he calls him out on every single injustice including VH and says you want us to fight Bhishma and Drona? Bring. it. on. Arjun's beaten them before and he'll do it again. My other brothers are no less. Given that they distorted the Viraat war they can't have him say exactly that, but I do wish they kept him free of attachment in that second half of yesterday's episode because contrary to what most people commented about the episode, that second half was not epic Yudi.
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