Week 9 Storytelling: Dazed and Confused

Dear Diary,

I know I have gone on and on many a time to you, dearest diary about how amazing and beautiful my wife is. But, she is. She is the most beautiful woman that I have every laid my eyes on. Her voice is like the north wind on a hot day, refreshing and pleasing. Her hair is as soft as the mossy banks of an old river, and as long as a stalk of wheat. And oh, how she moves like a river, graceful and lovely on a calm day and brash and tumultuous when she is hyped up. Before I pull myself off topic talking about how amazing she is again, I would like to say that she is pregnant with my child and I could not be happier! Even with my wife’s quirks that I am not allowed to question, I find myself to be the happiest man right now.

Signing off happily for today,

Santanu

About 9 months later

Dear Diary,

Today my wife gave birth to our child. Yes, I know I should be overcome with joy. However, she then took it out of this palace and drowned it in the river. I am in shock as to why she could do such a thing. She returned to me acting as if nothing had happened, as if the child hadn’t existed in the first place. Oh, why can I not ask her why she has done such a thing? I made her that idiotic promise that I would never question her about any of her actions. Yet, she has gone and killed our child. There must be a reason she has done this, right? If I am not allowed to question her actions, there must be a reason behind them. No matter how crazy that reason may be. Oh, how will I heal from this pain of losing my child?

Moping and regretful I will be,

Santanu

About 6 years later

Dear Diary,

She has done it yet again. My beautiful wife has drowned our seventh child in the river. I have gotten to a point where I cannot even be happy when I learn that she is with child. I have become numb to my child growing in her womb throughout those long nine months. I love my wife; I love her quite a bit actually. But, I want to know why she is doing this. But of course, I had to make that stupid promise to never question her acts. I can’t take it anymore, though. I love her, even with this crazy quirk of hers and she will forever be the most beautiful woman that I have ever seen. I want a child, though. I want someone to carry on my name, but I doubt that I will ever have that happen. Instead, my wife will only continue to kill every child that we conceive. So, I’ve had it. If we are to conceive another child, I will stop her and finally ask her why she has been drowning our children. Screw the consequences; I don't care if she leaves me for asking her about it. I love her, but I also want to love a child. 

Biting my tongue for now,

Santanu

About 1 year later

Dear Diary,

I feel stupid. As you know, my beautiful wife and I had conceived another child and she was due to give birth today. And she did. So, living up to the promise I had made myself when our last child had been born, I went to stop her from drowning it. I knew there would be consequences and she would be angry, but I just didn’t care. I then learned that she had been drowning our children for a reason, and that she is actually Ganga. Yeah… You would think that after this many years of marriage, I would have known about that, right? Not at all. So, she is gone. Obviously it was because I went against my promise, but she swore that she would return my son to me one day. I think I’m walking out of this situation as a winner, right?

Still confused,

Santanu

Image Information: Santanu meets Ganga; Web Source: Wikimedia Commons.

Author's Note:

One day while by a river, Santanu whom is the ruler of a kingdom, comes across a very beautiful woman. He instantly falls in lover with her, and she also falls in love with him. So, he asks her to marry him and she agrees only if her never questions anything that she does. He promises. So, they then have a child, which the woman drowns in the river, then as they conceive six more children she does the same thing. When the eighth child is born, Santanu breaks his promise and asks her what she is doing. She reveals that she is Ganga, and that their children were deities which had been cursed in their past life, which was why she was killing them. She then leaves with the child, promising Santanu she would return it to him one day.

I thought this was a very interesting way to start a story, and wanted to get into Santanu’s head and what he must have thought about the entire situation, so I decided it would be fun to write a diary from his perspective.

Bibliography:

• Narayan, R. K. (1978). The Mahabharata.
• Image from Wikimedia Commons

Week 9 Reading Diary B: The Exile of the Pandavas

• Dhritarashtra had taken on the five Pandavas brothers to raise after their own father had died, and deeply cares for them as if they were his own sons. So, of course he will want to bring them back when he is urged to by Bhishma and Vindra.  (Pages 41-43)
• Of course the Pandavas prosper in their new land given to them by Dhritarashtra and make a desert into a beautiful land. They even have the helpful sage visit them and council Yudhishthira on how to run the kingdom (page 45).
• Duryodhana is of course jealous of his cousins, which is no surprise. He has spent so much of his time hating them, that seeing them so happy in their land makes him angry. (Page 48) Although thankfully, Dhritarashtra doesn’t agree with his son’s woes (page 51), and neither does Vyasa who warns the brothers that something is afoul with his brother inviting them to their kingdom (page 52).
• Of course, as Vyasa had warned them, the dice game goes badly…. Very badly. Yudhishthira is stupid enough to gamble away quite literally everything, including his brother and himself (pages 56-60). Dhritarashtra luckily gives them back all possessions, only for Yudhishthira to idiotically accept yet another game that lands them in exile (page 68). Why did no one try to stop in the first time?
• I did really like Draupadi’s call to the gods which left her clothed as they tried to remove them (page 64).
• Honestly, I would be just as angry as Draupadi is about the exile, and I would not let Yudhishthira qualm my anger, it is his fault that they are out there, after all (pages 76-79).

Image Information: Giving Draupadi Away in the Dice Game; Web Source: Wikimedia Commons.

Week 9 Reading Diary A: Starting The Mahabharata

• Right off the bat, I can see a scary side to this story. Santanu sees a woman and asks her to be his wife. She agrees only if he promises to never question her about anything she does. That just spells trouble, especially once she starts drowning their children (page 1).
• But alas, it is none but Ganga in human form who has a purpose for doing so.
• Devaratha (Bhishma) reminds me a lot of Rama. He promised his stepmother’s father that he would remain celibate so that her children could succeed the throne, and kept to that promise even when it was needed for him to come forward and marry his deceased brother’s wives (page 5).
• And then Satyavanthi’s third son, Vyasa (conceived in quite a story) is asked to come and take the wives of his younger brother and they have children that have things wrong with them. But, his child with a maidservant is a normal one, it is Vidura. (Pages 6 and 7)
• Wow, the first chapter introduces quite a few characters and stories.
• The conglomeration of cousins are raised and trained together, and then Kunti’s long lost son appears and fights with his family in a performance (pages 16 and 17).
• So the family does not quite get along very well, and the Pandavas have to fake their deaths to run away (page 26).
• And Bhima ends up with a child born from a rakshasa mother. That’s something that would definitely not happen in The Ramayana.
• I kind of like Bhima’s character. He is quite the trickster, and his fight with Baka is interesting (pages 29-30).
• And Draupadi has to marry all five brothers? What must that poor woman think of that? (Pages 35-39)

Image Information: Bhima Fighting Baka; Web Source: Wikimedia Commons.