Reading Notes: Nivedita. Mahabharata, Part A

Reading Notes: Nivedita. Mahabharata. Part A

Drone trains the young princes
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Plot:
The prince sons of Pandu and the prince sons of Dhritarashtra play ball and the balls are rolled into a deep, dark well. A brahmin (Drona) decides to try to receive the ball back by throwing his ring in, shooting an arrow into the well, and then retrieving the ring. The boys tattle by telling their great-uncle Bhishma and he hires Drona to teach the young princes how to be trained. The princes are made to promise that they should help Drona after they are trained for battle. Arjuna says yes. Arjuna immediately is favorited by Drona. Ekalavya tries to join the school but Drona says no. Ekalavya stays in the forest and creates a statue out of Drona and calls it his guru as he too trains to be an archer. Ekalavya eventually loses his thumb due to paying the fee to Drona and he is no longer able to be an archer. Eventually, Yudhishthira enters the pictures and comes to a gambling match between himself and King Dhritarashtra and loses all his earnings. These earnings result in gambling away his own brothers, himself and Draupadi. Now he is a slave to Duryodhana and Draupadi claims that say Yudhishthira loses himself, then he doesn't get to gamble her away because he's not even his own anymore. The pandavas eventually return and Shakuni wins the entire contest. The Pandavas enter into a season of exile for twelve years and the year after their exile ends they go into a season of the utmost disguise. Yudhishthira then appoints Arjuna to seek out more celestial weapons in order to gain more power. In the Himalayas, Arjuna encounters a holy man in disguise of his real father Indra. Indra tests him

Characters:
Pandu
Brahmin
Drona--the brahmin
Bhishma--the boys great uncle
Drupada
King of Panchala
Arjuna-son of Indra
Ekalavya--low-caste, non-Aryan Nishada boy
Bhima
Duryodhana
Karna
Kunti
Yudhishthira
Dakshina
Draupadi
Indra-the god and father of Arjuna

Setting:
The Court
The Himalayas

Bibliography:
Myths of the Hindus and Buddhists: Mahabharata, Sister Nivedita, Reading Guide