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Reading Notes: Mahabharata Part D


  • The Forest and its Ghosts
    • kingdom was prosperous under Yudhishthira's government
    • "blind old" Dhristarashtra mourned the death of his son and decided to retire to the jungle to live in a humble dwelling
      • Queen Gandhari, Kunti (mother of the Pandavas), and Vidura 
      • all also very old 
    • Yudhishthira, his brothers, and Draupadi journeyed to the place of their elders in the jungle
    • when they get there everyone is present but Vidura who has gone to the banks of the Ganges basically to wait for death
    • they all went to him and waited with him until he died
    • while they mourned Vidura Vyasa the great sage came to them and told them to bathe in the holy waters of the Ganges and that when night falls all of their loved ones will return to them
    • when night fell the waters foamed and parted and the heroes slain in the war began to rise in chariots, on horseback, or on elephants 
    • a host of minstrels came with the risen dead and sang of the deeds of the heroes and beautiful girls danced before them 
    • rivalries were no more and in death everyone was peaceful companions
    • all of the ghostly warriors crossed the Ganges and were greeted by those who waited on the bank
    • the night passed quickly and when the sun began to rise the dead returned to their horses, elephants, and chariots
    • Vyasa told the widows who had lost their husbands that they may leave with their dead husbands
      • he chanted mantras so that the drowned widows could depart for heaven with their husbands 
    • the Pandavas returned to Hastinapura and 2 years after seeing the ghosts they were sorroful once again, the sage Narada told them that a fire had swept through the jungle and killed all of the elders that lived there including their mother, Kunti
  • Storytelling notes
    • This story stuck with me from this reading because who doesn't like a good ghost story
    • this isnt a ghost story that is fightening, its more about celebration and actually reminded me a lot of Dia de los Muertos - spending one night a year with deceased loved ones
    • I feel like I can do something fun with the parting of the Ganges and the rising of dead heroes.
  • Bibliography: Indian Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie (1913).
(Vyasa Summons the Ghosts from MLLL 4993 Image Library)


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