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Week 6, Reading Notes: Mahabharata B

This week, we continue reading the Mahabharata, part B of the Public Domain Edition (PDE).

The first interesting parallel within this reading is of the competition to shoot the fish in the eye with the heavy bow. This is reminiscent of King Arthur and the magic sword, where no one, no matter how mighty, was able to lift the sword from the stone until King Arthur came along. That many people could not even lift the bow, let alone shoot it, makes Arjuna's accomplishment all the more impressive. This ultimately does beg a question though: why did no one ever question how much better they were at the competition than all of the other competitors? Consider a dunk contest or any physical requirement: if one athlete is so much more dominant than all of the others, it would surely raise eyebrows. So why does it not here?

The lack of logical questioning comes up again during Duryodhana's gambling game where Yudhishthira continues to lose game after game after game. At one point, it seems to be odd that he will continuously gamble away so much, but it doesn't quite make sense why. Assuming decent odds per game, one should think that Yudhishthira should just accept a pyrrhic loss and move on with life, but there is no stopping him, and he continues to lose and lose and lose (as opposed to gamble, and gamble and gamble) until he is forced into exile.

This is the final interesting thing within the epic and also a parallel of the Ramayana, the punishment of exile. Presumably other societies exist, so it is a wonder why these people do not just join another society, or what exactly the rules around exile are in the first place. This makes one wonder what exactly the societal impact of exile is on the people that receive it, and whether or not it is meant to be a social punishment or a justice based punishment.


Arjuna shoots a silver bow to win a competition, Source: Defense.gov


Bibliography: Mahabharata, Public Domain Edition, Link.
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