Reading Notes: Mahabharata Part C
For the first part of my week 7 reading, I read part C of the public domain version of the Mahabharata. \
For this reading, I chose to focus on the conflicting morals that are highlighted throughout the stories. The first one which is discussed is forgiveness. Often the Pandavas discuss the importance of forgiveness, that it is the truth, and yet Arjun, eager for battle, seems to generally be fairly unforgiving. He wrecks an entire city of demons, slaying all that come before him. I know they’re Econ’s, but it still doesn’t seem very forgiving to go attack them without being provoked and destroy their entire city.
Another concept which seemed odd was Bhima’s killing animals for fun. He was amused by the monkey that he could not move, and was often described as being the thoughtful and selfless caretaker of his family, but he was killing elephants and then using those dead elephants to kill more elephants for fun. It seems odd to include this and doesn’t seem very fitting.
Lastly, the way woman are described throughout the story seems odd to me. They are often treated poorly, even by the supposed “good guys”, and death generally seems to follow them, which is often blamed on their “frailty”. I understand it was a different time, but still, it seems excessive.
For this reading, I chose to focus on the conflicting morals that are highlighted throughout the stories. The first one which is discussed is forgiveness. Often the Pandavas discuss the importance of forgiveness, that it is the truth, and yet Arjun, eager for battle, seems to generally be fairly unforgiving. He wrecks an entire city of demons, slaying all that come before him. I know they’re Econ’s, but it still doesn’t seem very forgiving to go attack them without being provoked and destroy their entire city.
Another concept which seemed odd was Bhima’s killing animals for fun. He was amused by the monkey that he could not move, and was often described as being the thoughtful and selfless caretaker of his family, but he was killing elephants and then using those dead elephants to kill more elephants for fun. It seems odd to include this and doesn’t seem very fitting.
Lastly, the way woman are described throughout the story seems odd to me. They are often treated poorly, even by the supposed “good guys”, and death generally seems to follow them, which is often blamed on their “frailty”. I understand it was a different time, but still, it seems excessive.
Image of Arjuna and Krishna
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