Hari Om,
We started our class with opening prayers. We reviewed last week’s story until Pandu married Kunti and Madri. We began with the birth of the Kauravas.
Dhritarashtra and Gandhari had 100 sons and one daughter. Duryodhana, the first son, brayed like a donkey when he was born causing many
bad things to happen in the kingdom like fires randomly starting, and more. Vidura
predicted Duryodhana would cause much destruction to the world and told Dhritarashtra to sacrifice him. But he was too attached to his first son and
kept him despite Vidura’s warnings.
Meanwhile Pandu went hunting one day, and saw a deer and a
doe. Naturally, he killed them. They were actually humans in disguise and the
father of the deer was a Rishi. He cursed Pandu saying that if he went near his
wives, he would die. Pandu sadly retreated into the forest with his wives and
stayed there. There, Kunti taught Madri used the mantra to bear children and they
both had children, Madri had two and Kunti had three. Kunti called upon Yama, god of
death and received Yudishtira or Dharmaraja. Next, she requested the wind god,
Vayu, and received the almighty Bhima. Last, she consulted Indra, and received
Arjuna. Madri called upon the Ashwinikumars, the heavenly doctors, and received
handsome twins, Nakula and Sahadeva. These 5 sons became the Pandavas. Many
years later when Madri and Pandu were together, the curse
came into effect and Pandu died. During the funeral pyre, Madri jumped in
feeling that Pandu had died because of her. Kunti, who was lost and confused,
returned to Hastinapura to Bheeshma. Yudishtira was 16 at the time.
Kripacharya taught the Pandavas and the Kauravas fighting
skills. After the first few lessons, Duryodhana realized Bhima was a suitable enemy for the throne. He began scheming for a way to get rid of his competitor. He invited everyone to a picnic on the banks of the Ganges. He poisoned Bhima’s
food, tied Bhima up (who had fell asleep), and threw him into the river which
had spikes on the bottom. Bhima, very luckily, missed the spikes by an inch. He
instead fell into a pit of poisonous snakes. The poison of the snakes was like
an antidote to the poison he had previously eaten. Bhima emerged from the river
8000 times stronger than he originally was. After the rest of the Pandavas
found out this incident, they told Vidura in secret.
Drona was the son of Rishi Bharadwaja. He was very poor. Drona and Drupada, son of King Panchala, went to Gurukula together and became good friends. Drupada used to joke saying that when he grew older he would give
Drona half of his kingdom. Many years later, Drona went to King Drupada seeking
alms. Drupada had grown arrogant and said he could only be friends with kings
and immediately sent away Drona. Drona was humiliated, angry, and seething with
vengeance.
The Pandavas and Kauravas were playing when their ball
fell in a well. They had many failed attempts but couldn’t get the ball. When
they were starting to get very frustrated, they heard an old man laughing
behind them. This man was none other than Drona. Yudishtira challenged Drona to
get his ring and the ball out of the well, he will give dinner at his guru’s
house. Drona agreed and quickly constructed a rope of reeds and arrows and
retrieved the ball and ring. Bheeshma saw this and requested Drona to be the
teacher. He accepted on one condition which was that his disciplines had to
accomplish everything he taught. The Kauravas were silent, but the Pandavas
readily agreed. From the day on, he was called Dronacharya. Arjuna practiced
day and night and Drona promised him that he would be the best archer in the
world.
One afternoon a boy walked up to Drona and eagerly
requested him to be his archery teacher. His name was Ekalavya and he was the
prince of the forest tribal’s. Dronacharya declined saying that he could only
teach kshtriya prince. Ekalavya went back to the forest, slightly discouraged, but
nevertheless constructed a statue of Dronacharya and practiced in front of him. Many years later, the Pandavas went for hunting and found their dog with many
arrows lodged in its tongue. Arjuna wanted the archer who did this amazing
feat. He began to question that was he really the best archer in the world. They found Ekalavya and questioned on how he could shoot so well, who was his teacher? He replied that he was a student of Dronacharya and told his
story. Arjuna immediately questioned Dronacharya about the skillful archer
Ekalavya. Dronacharya went to Ekalavya and requested Gurudakshina. He asked for
Ekalvya’s right thunb which was needed for archery. Ekalavya cheerfully sliced
off his thumb and presented it to Dronacharya. Arjuna was very pleased.
Drona decided to test the boys at the end of their
education with him. He hid a bird in a tree and told his students to shoot the
eye of the bird. He asked Bhima what he saw. He replied, “I see the sky, a
tree, and all of you.” The rest of the Pandavas and Kauravas replied in the
same way. When Drona asked Arjuna what he saw, Arjuna said “I only see the eye
of the bird.” Drona was very pleased and told him to shoot. The bird’s head was
on the ground the next second. Another time, Dronacharya was bathing in the
Ganges when a crocodile bit him on the thigh. Although he could have easily
freed himself, he called for help. With only five arrows, Arjuna killed the crocodile.
Dronacharya still wanted to take revenge on King Drupada. He asked Karna and Duryodhana to capture him, but they both failed. When he asked Arjuna, he returned with King Drupada captured alive. Dronacharya said to him, “I have conquered you which mean I have conquered your kingdom as well. When we were kids, I told you I would give you half of my kingdom. So take it as a charity.” Drupada was freed as an angry and humiliated man. He did tapas and asked for a boon that he would be given a son to kill Drona (Dhrishtadyma) and a daughter to marry Arjuna (Drupadi). Duryodhana began to recognize Arjuna as a suitable match for the throne.
Dronacharya still wanted to take revenge on King Drupada. He asked Karna and Duryodhana to capture him, but they both failed. When he asked Arjuna, he returned with King Drupada captured alive. Dronacharya said to him, “I have conquered you which mean I have conquered your kingdom as well. When we were kids, I told you I would give you half of my kingdom. So take it as a charity.” Drupada was freed as an angry and humiliated man. He did tapas and asked for a boon that he would be given a son to kill Drona (Dhrishtadyma) and a daughter to marry Arjuna (Drupadi). Duryodhana began to recognize Arjuna as a suitable match for the throne.
Dronacharya held a ceremony displaying all the prince's talents. Throughout the ceremony, the people singled out Arjuna as the best. Suddenly, a boy named Karna said he was better than Arjuna. Whatever was hard
for Arjuna, Karna did with ease. Finally, he challenged Arjuna to a duel. Kunti, in the audience, recognized Karna as her first son from the Sun god. She
fainted to see her two sons fighting and was carried away. Meanwhile,
Kripacharya introduced Arjuna to the crowd as the prince of Hastinapura. .
But Karna had nothing to say when it came his turn. His “father”, who was an
old charioteer, came out to the crowd saying, “Oh my son, you are doing such a
great job!” The people laughed at him
and Karna was embarrassed. But Duryodhana, seeing this as a perfect time to
beat Arjuna, made him King of Anga. Karna than pledged loyalty to Duryodhana. Soon after the duel, Indra went to Karna’s house in the disguise of a Brahmin
begging for alms. He requested Karna’s kavacha and kundalas. Karna, without a
second thought, he gave it in. This is how he got his name,
Karna, which means “cutter“.
At the very end, we got the
crossword puzzle with a word bank and clues for homework. It helps us to
reinforce and remember all the characters and stories we have learned so far from Mahabharata.
We were reminded to register for the upcoming CORD Walkathon to support our fellow folks, who are
deprived of their basic needs.
We will get together as a class at Mercer County Park and walk for a worthy cause, next Sunday, Oct 28,2012 at 10:00 AM.
See ya!
Hari Om,
Anjali Akula
