Reading Notes: PDE Mahabharata, Part B

This is from the public domain edition of the Mahabharata, by Vyasa.

Because I missed this part of the reading last week, I am making it up now.

The House of Fire
Not sure how well thought out the plan was to soak a palace in oil. It would be pretty obvious, I think. Everything would be slippery, there would be an oily smell in the air...

Also, how convenient was it that there happened to be a woman with five sons that came by? Poor woman though. Burned alive in her sleep. At least they died with full stomachs.

 Bhima and Hidimba
Ah! A rakshasi who falls in love with Bhima and refuses to kill him. It's like the plot of one of my stories, Savanad, but in my story, Savanad is a rakshasa who wants a human female as a mate. But still, I think it would be cool to explore this possibility further - certain subsets of beings that defy the expectations of their own race. It IS possible for a rakshasa to be good. There's nothing that stops them from transforming into a human.

The pride of Bhima, though, is a little unsettling. He basically has no regard for his mother or his brothers because of his own pride in his strength. "Who cares about your rakshasa brother, girl? I'm huge - let him come."

Bhima and Baka
I'm seeing a trend here for Bhima's favorite way to kill someone - Bane style, that is, breaking them over his knee.
(Bane breaking the Bat, from Wikipedia)


Draupadi's Swayamwara
It's a bit unfair toward Draupadi to be put up as a prize for a contest of strength, I feel. What if she doesn't like the person that won?

Well, with her reaction to Karna, it doesn't look like that's a problem. Poor Karna. He likely would have been the first to win Draupadi, but didn't shoot because she refused to marry him due to his low birth. And she shamed him in front of the whole assembly!

Wife of the Five Pandavas
Talk about speaking before thinking. Couldn't Kunti just have said, "Oh, my bad! hohohoho!" instead of her words being binding? What, is everything she says a contract or something? Times were different back then, I guess.

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