The Mahabharatha

[Susanth]

The world's longest epic is the Mahabharatha.

This is your platform to discuss it..

The Full Mahabharatha series with English Subtitles can be found on our Youtube Section..
http://nushindusociety.org/test/index.php/topic,1042.0.html

[arcanecenturi21]

Hi guyzz!

Yup the Mahabharata is the world's longest epic/poem, said to abt 10 times the length of the Iliad and the Odessey put together! 'Mahabharata'- the great story of the Bharata Dynasty- describes the struggle for the throne of Hastinapura. The eventual Kurekshetra War is one of the main features in this epic..but the Mahabharata is more than just the story of the feud between the Pandavas and the Kauravas....

The epic- spaning generations- tells a tale of Duty, Honour, Dharma and the workings of Karma on humans...Unforgettable characters like Bishma, Drona, Arjuna, Karna, Eklavya...

I rem there was even a tv series by Doordarshan a loooong time ago haha...
Cheers! 

[Adai]

Hmm, since the trivia's that i posted in Ramayana's section got good response, i thought i will post some trivia's here too.

How many children did Kaanthari have ?
Why did Kaanthari blindfolded herself even though she can see ?
What is the relationship between Kaanthari and the Panja Pandavarkal ?
Who is Kunthi Devi's brother ?
Who is Karnan's father and mother ?
Who brought up Karnan ?

I will answer them later.I think the above questions provide a quick view into this long epic.

[Susanth]

Wow!
Interesting questions Adai!

Time to read up the Mahabharatha, looks like I only know the answer for one of your questions!(oops!) haha..

Why did Kaanthari blindfolded herself even though she can see?
Her husband is visually chalenged right? So she chosed to blindfold herself as she did not want to see what her husband can't..
Is there anything more to add?

[Adai]

Answers:

How many children did Kaanthari have ?
100

Why did Kaanthari blindfolded herself even though she can see ?
Yes, you are right Susanth.

What is the relationship between Kaanthari and the Panja Pandavarkal ?
Kaanthari is Panja Pandavarkal's periamma

Who is Kunthi Devi's brother ?
Krishna

Who is Karnan's father and mother ?
Karnan's father is Surya Baghavan and mother is Kunthi Devi

[Priya J]

Hey everyone!

You can listen to Mahabharatham podcasts on podbazaar.com. It's a popular downloaded programme. But there are only 10 or so podcasts. The author couldn't continue with the story telling. So don't miss to listen to it. The author reads it from Cho Ramasamy's Mahabharatham Paesukiradhu. And that's the title of the podcasts.

Most of the themes discussed in Mahabharatham are still relevant today. That's the speciality of Mahabharatham.

-Priya-

[Adai]

More questions on Mahabaratha:

1)What are the names of the five Panja Paandavarkal ?
2)Who are Panja Paandavarkal's parents ?
3)Who was Panja Paandavarkal's father's brother ?
4)Who was Panja Pandavarkal's enemy ?
5)What is the relationship between Dhronar and Duriyodaran ?
6)What is the name of Dhronar's son ?
7)Was Tirutaraastirar (Kaanthari's husband) born visually impaired or became  visually impaired during his lifetime ?
8)What is the name of the "Sangu" that was 111111111n in the battlefield by Krishna ?
9)Did Kaanthari and Tirutaraarstirar send off thier sons with well wishes to return with victory or opposed their sons intentions to go to war ?
10)What was the most significant line/phrase uttered by Kaanthari when she sent off her sons to war ?

That is a lot up there for you to asnwer/ponder over the many facets of humans and relationships.

[Adai]

More Answers on Mahabaratha:

1)What are the names of the five Panja Paandavarkal ?
-Dharman, Bheeman, Arjunan, Nagulan and Sahadevan

2)Who are Panja Paandavarkal's parents ?
-Mother is Kunthi Devi and father is Pandu

3)Who was Panja Paandavarkal's father's brother ?
-Tirutaraastirar

4)Who was Panja Pandavarkal's enemy ?
-Gauravars

5)What is the relationship between Dhronar and Duriyodaran ?
-Dhronar is chief of Duriyodaran's army

6)What is the name of Dhronar's son ?
-Aswatthama

7)Was Tirutaraastirar (Kaanthari's husband) born visually impaired or became  visually impaired during his lifetime ?
-He was born visually impaired

8)What is the name of the "Sangu" that was 111111111n in the battlefield by Krishna ?
-Paanchajanyam

9)Did Kaanthari and Tirutaraarstirar send off thier sons with well wishes to return with victory or opposed their sons intentions to go to war ?
-Yes they did send off their sons with well wishes.

10)What was the most significant line/phrase uttered by Kaanthari when she sent off her sons to war ?
-"May justice prevail"

[Priya J]

A Controversial part of mahabharatham is Kanikar's politcal advice given to Yudistra.

- Punishment is the key to rule people.
- A king should not show his weaknesses to his people.
- When you deal with enemies, completely finish them off.
- If your enemy is stronger than you, wait for the right opportunity and then finish him off.
- When you are in a situation when you cannot openly punish your enemy, don't show it off. When opportunity strikes, finish him off.

These are the political advice given to dharma thalaivar Yudistra from Kanikar. Machiavellian's mind at work. Haha There's more... Later in the epic, Naarathar gives advice to Yudistra in the form of questions:

- How are your ministers like? Are they equal or higher in intelligence to you and loyal to you? Are your ministers materialistic?
- Are you taking decisions on your own or are you letting your ministers take decisions for you?
- Does everyone only know your activities only after they have ended?
- Are everyone aware of your activites while they are on-going?
- Are you ensuring that your workers are not suffering from poverty and are therefore satisfied with your rule?
- Are you taking care of people and their families who have lost their valuables because of you? (something like insurance today..)
- Are everyone satisfied under your rule?
- Are there enough wells in your country to collect water?
- Are your merchants fair and just? (like good privatisation today...) {Businessmen are as important as are businesses}
- Sleep, fear, laziness, anger, animal-like nature and telling things even before its done. Have you conquered these 6 bad habits?
- Do you think of what activities to carry out the next day before going to bed?
There's more...

Such questions are posed to Yudhistra and he answers them. This advice is more diplomatic than what Kanikar gives Yudhistra. You can relate these advices with today's political systems and leaders. Interesting isn't it? There are lots of interesting things in Mahabharatham that are even true today. All those things that were said in the past, are happening now. I'll post more on some of the interesting stuff.

~Priya~

[Priya J]

Hi everyone,

You know how sometimes its very confusing about Who's Who is Mahabharatham. I'm sure many of us are, especially those of us who are not familiar with the epic. I'll jut briefly give you the family tree here. I will keep posted of a series for the story behind each of the persons in the family tree.




I hope this helps...

~Priya~

Source: http://www.geocities.com/narenp/history/history/mahabharat.htm

[adityab88]

Recently, over the summer, I was talking to some family members about the Mahabharata. As a kid, I viewed the Mahabharata as a story about war and about the Pandavs having eventual victory over the Kauravs. The last time I heard the story, I was very young and this was all I thought the major plotline was about.

However, after again hearing the story I was surprised to find out that Karan had the most interesting role in the story (and not Arjun, like I thought before). Karan was the bold, wise, and courteous man who never had fortune favoring him ... His life is very sad and beautiful. For example, whilst he was always a good-hearted individual, he had to join forces with the Kauravs. Even his death eventually to his rival Arjun was partly due to a curse he had gotten earlier. Whilst Karan represented the ideal, perfect man that Hinduism portrays (sort of like Ram in Ramayana), his life was full of sorrow. I wonder why Vyasa wrote the story in this way ...

On the other hand, another part of the story that I found very interesting is Arjun learning about life from his charioteer Krishna (of course this is the Bhagawad Gita). Arjun was never the "perfect" man that Karan was, yet he tasted victory in the end. Can someone help me understand why this was the case?

[Priya J]

Hi Aditya,

You raised a very good point. I too have pondered about why there's such a divide. Sometimes in life we get to wonder why the good people are suffering and the bad are prospering. However, this is not the exact case here.

Both Arjuna and Karna are good virtuous men. However, victory was on Arjuna's side simply because he was with God! Karna, eventhough he was morally upright, loyal and with all virtues, was on the side of the Kauravs who have committed many sins to gain material wealth. He was on the wrong side. He has had many opportunities to go into the right path. However, to him, friendship and loyalty to his friend was more important than being on the right side. This is what I think. Any other views of this? I'm also quite at a lose about this.. Haha.

~Priya~

[HinduRulz1]

hey guys,
Nice to be back after a long time, interesting discussion.

Anyway, isn't being loyal to someone who trusts you also dharmic, though he was on the wrong side?

So Karan(Karna), was once again performing dharma BUT why then is he wrong?

What do you guys think?

[adityab88]

Hi all,

Priya, I agree with you that Karna was not in the side of God throughout the story, unlike Arjun. However, is that a sufficient reason to have such horrible misfortune? Let me remind you that it was actually "fate" that led Karan to join forces with Duryodhan and the rest of the Kauravs. Indeed, it was usually "fate" again that led Karan to do anything that we might consider "evil". Like hindurulz said, isn't being loyal to someone also dharmic? Karan's loyalty to Duryodhan never faltered.

So I'm confused on a much higher level now: is it more important to simply be on the "side" of God than to be a righteous, perfect person as a whole? Is this what Vyasa was trying to say? Is this entirely fair?

-Aditya

[adityab88]

Just as a side note, I will remind you all that Karan's birth was also sort of brought about by fate. Kunti merely wanted to test a wish given to her by some sage that would allow her to have a child in a God's name. Kunti was not even married when she tested this boon and she was not intending to have a son at the time, if I'm not wrong.

A lot of Karan's life is related to fate in general. It's often fate that had shaped Karan's life. There are many, many instances where we can see Karan's bad luck. It is not directly Karan's fault that he did not join God's side in the battle, it was instead that the course of events in his life forced him to join Duryodhan and his brothers. Karan was in full knowledge that the Kauravs did not have an entirely just cause. Karan, himself, did not like some of their actions. Yet, despite all this, he never wavered in his morals or get annoyed with what was happening to him, but instead showed immense loyalty to Duryodhan because he had helped him earlier. Let me remind you that Duryodhan was about the only person who had shown friendship to Karan early in Karan's life. Was Karan supposed to ignore this gesture later and give up their friendship so that he can join the side of God?

Haha, I have a lot of questions about this because the story does not satisfy me entirely. That is why I said that the story about Karan is perhaps the most interesting part of Mahabharata as a whole ...