Reading Notes: Mahabharata Part C

Reading Notes from The Mahabharata by R.K. Narayan

There were a lot of little moments in this story that piqued my interest and I'm very excited to spin a whole story out of one of them. I will list each moment below and spent a moment brainstorming each one in more depth.

Bhima and Arjuna's rescue of Durodhana at the request of Yudhistira was very intriguing. I was impressed by Yudhistira's beliefs that even while in a disagreement with each other, he still wanted to protect his family. I could spin this into a prodigal son sort of story: two brothers fight and the younger brother leaves his family to gather resources and exact revenge. While away, the younger brother is captured and his older brother, full of love for him despite their feud, rescues his brother. Instead of remaining bitter and scheming like Durodhana does in The Mahabharata, the younger brother should reconcile with his family.

The tale with the pond that kills four of the Pandava brothers because they do not heed its owner's command is another one I'd like to retell. The more I think over it, perhaps there's a way to weave this in with my previous brainstorming. The younger brother, in his foolish pride, leaves his family with plans of revenge. He arrives at a crystal clear pond and immediately desires to quench his thirst in it. He is warned by a voice to not touch the water without first answering the voice's question, but the younger brother laughs haughtily before drinking the water anyway and falling into a deep sleep. The older brother arrives at the pond in the pursuit of his brother and frees him through answering the questions of the voice.

After sketching out my story with these two instances, I know this is the only story I want to tell from this section of The Mahabharata. It will be interesting to see how this story goes!

(A Beautiful Lake, Wikimedia Commons)