Reading Notes: Epified Mahabharata Part B

Part B: Epified's Karmic Revolution

The Intro Scene to Epified's Karmic Revolution
Source: Google Image

Title

I meant to include this in my first post, but realized I forgot to! I wanted to discuss the title of this version of The Mahabharata because it is very essential to the theme of the epic. The idea that everything happens for a reason is extremely prevalent in this story. For instance, in the beginning, Ambika and Ambalika are forced to mate with Vyasa because they treated him poorly due to his appearance. Despite his sage status, he was not attractive, and therefore, the princesses were reluctant to sleep with him. One of them closed her eyes, and therefore, had a blind child. The other was paralyzed with fear, therefore, her child was born white as a ghost and in very poor health. The servant of the three princesses was more than willing to be intimate with a sage, and therefore, was given a beautiful child. 

The theme of karma carries into part 2. Bhima has been nothing, but good throughout the entire story yet his relative Duryodhana attempted to kill him due to jealously. Even though he should have died, his good karma kept him alive, and he was able to not only prevail, but get stronger in the process. 

New Stories 

In Part B, Ecklavya's Story is introduced, a story not found in Narayan's version of the Mahabharata. In this story, Arjuna shows his lack of self-esteem by becoming so angry when he meets an archer who is just as good as him. He throws a git to Drona who eventually convinces the young archer to cut off his own thumb so Arjuna can remain the greatest the archer. I think this story really highlights the privilege and entitlement the Pandavas represent. This may be an unpopular opinion, but I am not fond of the Pandavas and can easily see how his cousins grew to hate them. Everything comes easy to them, they do nothing to share their wealth with their cousins, and they have everyone's admiration for doing nothing. This story shows just how truly ugly the Pandavas can be. I find it interesting that it was not included in the other version. Perhaps, it was excluded in order to make the Pandavas more likable and the war against the cousins and them seem like a good versus evil dichotomy.

Bibliography: Epified's Karmic Revolution