Reading Diary A: Week 5

Bhishma at the Swayamvara:

In this episode Bhishma, the son of Shantanu, takes the three brides for his brother Vichitravirya. It is interesting to me how the Ramayana and the Mahabharata have so many similarities. In both books, the sons take on terrible responsibilities to benefit their fathers. I think a common trend among these epics is always respecting and serving your parents no matter what they request of you. Another common theme is that Bhishma and Rama both have a bow as their weapon of choice. They are also both put into positions where they have to secure brides by accomplishing some impressive feat to earn them. An interesting idea for a story would be to make Rama and Bhishma meet at this competition for a bride. It would be a complete tangent from the original work but since the stories are so similar, I could make them both competitors for a bride. It would be an awesome battle. I also liked this story because of the imagery and description put into each sentence. I think a lot of the reading that we do in this class share similarities among them.

Amba:

In this episode, everyone rejects Amba. She then blames all of her problems on Bhishma. An interesting aspect of this episode is how she obtained help from Shiva. It is crazy how a lot of the characters in these epics can obtain great wishes form the gods just by praying a little. It is also interesting that the gods are so quick to take sides. The fact that she has to change gender to become effective in battle shows the gender roles in this time period. Women were meant to be housewives and bear children, and men were meant to rule and enter battle. What if she did not have to commit suicide so that she can become a man in her next life? That would be an interesting twist to the story.

Bhima and the Nagas: This episode of the Mahabharata was super interesting. I like how the two families have a rivalry. I wonder if this will spiral into further conflict down the road. In this episode, his cousin Duryodhana poisons him but he does not die. Instead he arrives in the underworld, and emerges back into the real world with supernatural strength. This reminds me of Hercules and Clash of the Titans. In all three of these stories someone has to go into the underworld and emerges victorious. This story was super interesting. This is a picture of Bhima in the underworld.

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