Reading Notes: Pattanaik's Jaya, Part B

Reading Notes: Pattanaik's Jaya, Part B

(Madri and Pandu)

Story Source: Jaya: An Illustrated Retelling of the Mahabharata by Devdutt Pattanaik (2010).


Birth: Satyavati's granddaughters-in-law

• Yamuna
• Kunti's swayamvara
• Pandu
• Note:Dhritarashtra was blind, so Pandu became king, but he was also disabled (sterile and impotent) but less disabled than Dhritarashtra

Birth of Kunti's Children

• Pandu kills sage in the form of an antelope mating, cursed Pandu to die after trying to conceive
• divine sires
• Note: 4 men is okay, but 5 makes a woman a whore (like Draupadi, but not Kunti)

Birth of Gandhari's Children

• kauravas incubated in jars for years before becoming humans
• The world could tell Duryodhana was evil
• Dusshasana, Dusshala the girl, Yuyutsu from the maid capable but disqualified from throne

Birth of Madri's Children

• divine sire
• Kunti limited Madri's children because she wanted to keep her power 
• Yama, Indra, Vayu, and Ashwini twins, never in the form of gods

Death of Pandu

• pandu gives in to lust
• Madri dies with him
• Sahadeva put a piece of body in his mouth and knew everything about the world but was told to never tell anyone

Education: Kripa and Kripi

• Drona is rejected by Drupada when he asks for help
• Drupada goes against dharma since kings are supposed to take care of Rishis
• Drupada and Drona compared to Krishna and Sudama: For Krishna, there can be no dharma without the spirit of generosity. Without genuine love, laws and rules are worthless. (58)

Drona, The Teacher

• Drona promised to never share knowledge he learned in Parashurama

Arjuna, The Greatest Archer

• Drona taught his son Ashwatthama more than Arjuna
• Arjuna saved Drona from a crocodile, so Drona admired Arjuna's persistence, determination, hard work, and focus, and vowed to make him the greatest archer in the world
• childhood parrot story
• Note: Yudhishthira represents royal authority, Bhima force, Nakula splendor, Sahadeva wisdom, Arjuna poise and balance (neither as aggressive as elder brothers nor passive like younger) (63)

Ekalavya

• Ekalavya did similar to what Arjuna did
• Arjuna was shaken by the cruelty of Drona
• Drona is hypocritical to Ekalavya since Drona broke his family chain too

The Graduation Ceremony

• tournament
• Karna enters
• Bhima dismissed Karna based on class even though he had skill
• Duryodhana: "merit matters more than birth"
• Yudhishthira: "Dharma states that a man should be what his father is."
• Yudhishthira is justice?
• Duryodhana defended Karna. Swore allegiance to Kauravas
• Indra and Surya fight. Ramayana prefers Surya, while Mahabharata prefers Indra
• "Karna embodies a man who refuses to submit to the social station imposed upon him by society" (67)

Karna's Story

• Kunti recognized Karna, her first son that was an accident when she was a child testing out her power, and she left him in a basket floating down the river (like Moses)
• Karna learned from Drona's teacher, Parashurama
• Parashurama: "Only a Kshatriya is strong and stupid enough to suffer such pain silently"
• Note: Parashurama thought to be Vishnu to keep military power in check
• "father" is the man married to the woman
• underlying intent matters more than vocation

Castaway: Bhima and the Nagas

• Bhima bullied Kauravas
• Kauravas tried to poison him and throw him in the river 
• Vasuki welcomed Bhima since Bhima had Naga blood

A House of Lac

• 5 Pandavas were more powerful than all the Kauravas
• Arjuna knows that Indra is his father
• Arjuna makes a bridge of arrows to get Indra's elephant down to earth for Kunti's ceremony
• People liked the idea of the Pandavas, but felt bad for Duryodhana who was bullied by the Pandavas
• Vidura built a tunnel for the Pandavas to escape
• Yudhishthira is son of Yama and sees Vidura as a father figure since Vidura is Yama (77)
• This story is when the Kauravas become villains and lose all sympathy

Killing Baka

• Bhima carried fam all at once
• Bhima got half the food and the rest split the other half
• Baka the Rakshasa
• Bhima took the place of the generous family so he could eat the food and kill the rakshasa
• "is it not the dharma of warriors to protect the weak without seeking either reward or recognition?" (79)

Hidimba and Hidimbi

• Bhima kills Hidimba, brother of Baka the rakshasa, and Hidimbi the sister wants to marry Bhima
• Bhima has son with Hidimbi, Ghatotkacha
• Kunti thought this might distance Bhima and the other Pandavas so they left

A Gandharva Called Angaraparna

• Pandavas attacked by Gandharva, Angaraparna
• Shows importance of marriage to mark manhood
• disapproval of anger, even justified